Seminar 2011-12

Scalable Link Interface

Seminar 2011-12

Scalable Link Interface

Scalable Link Interface

Nidhin Chandran, S7 CS 12093625 Guided By : Rejin Joseph October 10, 2011

Dept. of Computer Engineering

CE Cherthala

Seminar 2011-12

Scalable Link Interface

Introduction
SLI is a brand name for a multi-GPU solution developed by NVIDIA. SLI links two or more video cards together to produce a single output. SLI is an application of parallel processing for computer graphics.

Dept. of Computer Engineering

CE Cherthala

Seminar 2011-12

Scalable Link Interface

History
The name SLI was first used by 3dfx, Scan-Line Interleave. After buying out 3dfx, NVIDIA acquired the technology. NVIDIA later reintroduced the SLI in 2004 the PCI Express (PCIe) bus. SLI became Scalable Link Interface.

Dept. of Computer Engineering

CE Cherthala

Seminar 2011-12

Scalable Link Interface

SLI Hardware
SLI-certified motherboard. PCI Express video cards that support SLI. ATX 2.x PSU (min 450W). SLI connector.

Dept. of Computer Engineering

CE Cherthala

Seminar 2011-12

Scalable Link Interface

SLI Hardware (cont)

PSU

Motherboard & Graphics Cards Dept. of Computer Engineering CE Cherthala

SLI Connector

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Scalable Link Interface

SLI Switching
For enabling SLI, there are two basic methods depending on the motherboard.
Hardware switching. Software Switching (BIOS).

Software/BIOS Switching

Hardware Switching
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Scalable Link Interface

How SLI Works ?

SLI enabled s/m can treat both GPUs as one logical device. Five SLI rendering modes available:
Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR) Split Frame Rendering (SFR) Boost Performance Hybrid SLI SLIAA. Compatibility mode.
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Dept. of Computer Engineering

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Scalable Link Interface

Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR)

The driver divides workload by alternating GPUs every frame.
For example, on a system with two SLI-enabled GPUs, frame 1 would be rendered by GPU 1, frame 2 would be rendered by GPU 2, frame 3 would be rendered by GPU 1, and so on.

This is typically the preferred SLI mode. Requires little inter-GPU communication.

Dept. of Computer Engineering

CE Cherthala

Seminar 2011-12

Scalable Link Interface

AFR (cont..)

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Scalable Link Interface

Split Frame Rendering (SFR)

The driver will split the scene workload into multiple regions and assign these regions to different GPUs.
For example, on a system with two SLI-enabled GPUs, a render target may be divided vertically, with GPU 1 rendering the left region and GPU 2 rendering the right region.

Rendering is also dynamically load balanced. Some of the work is duplicated. Communications overhead is higher.
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SFR (cont..)

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Seminar 2011-12

Scalable Link Interface

SFR (cont..)

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Scalable Link Interface

Boost Performance Hybrid SLI

The driver behaves much like it does in AFR mode. However there will most likely be a large performance difference between GPU 1 and GPU 2. The driver will separate the workload based on the capabilities of the GPUs.
For example if GPU 1 is about double the performance of GPU 2, the driver is likely to draw multiple frames on GPU 1 for a single frame on GPU 2
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Scalable Link Interface

SLIAA
SLIAA increases antialiasing performance Splits the rendering workload for each frame across multiple NVIDIA GPUs. The visual quality of each rendered frame is increased by the use of more samples in for antialiasing, while the performance level is maintained.

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Scalable Link Interface

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Scalable Link Interface

Compatibility mode
In this mode only GPU1 is used by the device and any other GPU in the system may be idle The other GPUs can be used by other applications. This offers no graphics performance scaling but ensures compatibility. This is the default setting for all applications that dont have an SLI profile .
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Other Implementation
Two GPUs on one PCI slot. Quad SLI Hybrid SLI Quadro PLEX

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Two GPUs on one PCI slot

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Quad SLI

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Quad SLI (cont..)

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Quad SLI (cont..)

Combines two dual GPU video cards. Total four cores in action. Standard SLI connector is used.

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Hybrid SLI

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Hybrid SLI (cont)

Combines dGPU and mGPU. mGPU performance is not wasted. Requirements
Hybrid power supply Hybrid SLI GPU. Minimum 2GB RAM

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CE Cherthala

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Quadro PLEX
Dedicated visual computing system. It combines up to eight NVIDIA Quadro FX GPUs into one. Available on a single configuration or can be combined together in rack-mounted clusters .

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Quadro PLEX (cont..)

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SLI Disadvantages
Expensive Low efficiency. High power consumption. High heat dissipation.

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CE Cherthala

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Conclusion
NVIDIA SLI technology allows to combine multiple graphics solutions in an SLI-Certified motherboard. Using proprietary software algorithms and dedicated scalability logic. SLI technology delivers up to twice the performance (with 2 cards) and 2.8X the performance (with 3 cards) compared to a single graphics solution.
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References
[1]http://developer.download.nvidia.com/whitepapers/201 1/SLI_Best_Practices_2011_Feb.pdf [2] http://www.slizone.com [3] http://nvidia.com [4] Tom's Hardware, Preview of the Double Whopper ATI's Rage Fury MAXX,(November 8th 1999) retrieved November 5th, 2010
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Thank You