Conclusions
NVIDIA says it intends to begin selling SLI configurations through system builders as part of complete systems. Given the specialized motherboards and power supplies that will no doubt be required, this move makes some sense. Consumer versions of SLI will become available, but not right away.

For now, NVIDIA plans to take its fancy new SLI tech on a road show to introduce it to the world at a number of upcoming industry events, including the Electronic Sport World Cup, Fragapalooza, the CPL Championships, Siggraph, and Quakecon. The initial SLI configs for show will include GeForce 6800GT and 6800 Ultra cards, along with Quadro FX 3400 cards for perhaps SLI's biggest potential market, workstations.

I'm intrigued to see how this new incarnation of SLI will be received by gamers and PC hardware freaks. On the one hand, it's very cool tech that should allow astounding graphics performance previously unthinkable; we're talking about 32 parallel pixel pipes cranking out gaming goodness in real time.

On the other hand, this version of SLI faces some obstacles that may limit its appeal compared to the original SLI. The graphics card world ain't what it used to be. Since the days of the Voodoo 2 SLI rigs, we have gorged for years on regular and massive improvements in overall performance. Most recently, the GeForce 6800 and Radeon X800 more than doubled the speed of the previous top-end cards. Games have not kept pace with our hardware, in many cases, leaving us to wait longingly for Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 so we can flex our graphics cards' pixel shaders.

Also, this can't be anything close to cheap. The cards themselves will cost at least $299 a pop, with competing single-card options available for up to $500. Motherboards with the proper slots are exceedingly scarce and no doubt pricey, and may always be. (I should note, though, that VIA's PT890 and K8T890 chipsets will have 20 lanes of PCI Express connectivity on the north bridge, offering a glimmer of hope.) And just thinking about the power and cooling requirements of such a setup—especially with dual Xeons involved—gives me a headache.

Still, NVIDIA's new SLI will find its niche. Some folks are always hungry for more graphics power, particularly in the workstation world, and they will pay to get their hands on this. Also, provided that motherboards with the right mix of PCI Express slots become widely available, SLI may become something more than a niche product or a showpiece. SLI could become a tipping point in choosing between a Radeon and a GeForce. Why not buy one GeForce 6800GT and add a second one later, when the price comes down? It's always nice to upgrade on an installment plan.