【技術貼】多顯卡的設置 ： 交火和升級基礎

1. AMD or Nvidia ? 选用哪个公司的显卡呐？

Motherboards with multiple PCIe slots are becoming the norm these days, and the trend is being fueled by multi-GPU configurations. Configuring Nvidia's SLI and AMD's CrossFire technologies is easy, but how much more performance can you expect from them?

帶有多個PCIe插槽，這已經成為最近生產的主板上的標準配置，由於多顯卡配置的需求，這一趨勢，變得越來越火。安裝NVIDIA公司生產的顯卡，和安裝AMD公司生產的顯卡，是簡單的。但你期望能從中得到多大的效果吶？

AMD calls it CrossFire, Nvidia calls it Scalable Link Interface (SLI). In essence, both companies are using a similar concept to distribute the workload presented by your favorite game across two, three, or four graphics cards.

多顯卡的配置，AMD公司叫做“交火”，NVIDIA公司则叫做“聯通界面攀升”。其實質是，这兩家公司都使用了相似的概念來表述：用兩個、三個，或四個顯卡，來玩你所喜愛的遊戲。

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2. Driver Installation On Nvidia Cards

N卡驅動的安裝

譯者redhill1225按：爲簡便起見，下文翻譯中，所有涉及NVIDIA公司生產的顯卡，皆簡作“N卡”，AMD公司生產的顯卡，皆簡作“A卡”。 第2部份（顯卡驅動的安裝），分為兩小節，第一小節介紹“一塊N卡驅動的安裝”；第二小節介紹“爲了使用3D功能而使用的兩塊顯卡的安裝”。

The installation of multiple video cards is a piece of cake under Windows Vista and Windows 7, even if the cards or GPUs are from different manufacturers. Cards from AMD and Nvidia cooperate splendidly in multi-screen scenarios. If you want to increase 3D performance, however, CrossFire and SLI modes always require at least two graphics cards from the same chip manufacturer. Increasing 3D performance by mixing AMD and Nvidia cards is not possible (Ed. : Though this is true in most cases, Lucid's Hydra technology facilitates the mixing and matching of GPUs on boards equipped with its hardware, such as MSI's Big Bang Fuzion).

在win vista 和 win7 操作系統之下，顯卡的安裝，別管是哪個公司生產的卡或GPU，都是小菜一碟。在多顯示屏領域，AMD公司和NVIDIA公司，顯卡生產的合作，如火如荼。如果你想增加3D功能，無論是A卡還是N卡，都需要在同一主板上，安裝至少兩塊同一廠家生產的顯卡。增加3D功能，不能通過A卡和N卡的混用而獲得（原文編輯的按語：不同廠家的顯卡，許多時候是不能混合使用在同一主板上的。但Lucid's Hydra的技術，支持不同廠家GPU的混用和匹配，諸如微星公司的一款主板“Big Bang Fuzion”所使用的“Fuzion（融聚）”技術，即支持不同廠家顯卡的混用）。

譯者按：下圖是N卡驅動的安裝方法：

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双显卡交火所使用的连接通道（AMD CrossFireX – bridge connector）实物图（正面和背面）：

双显卡以及显卡连接通道（crossfire bridge）在机箱中的实际位置图：

器材:奥林巴斯 E500 [奥林巴斯数码相机]
时间:0000-00-00 00:00:00  快门:1/80  光圈:F/3.5  焦距:40毫米  感光度:100  

Our benchmarks demonstrate interesting, if not expected, results. Performance is almost doubled by SLI bridging the two GeForce GTX 280 cards, while the additional GeForce GTX 275 has no effect on performance.

如果不出意外的话，这些基准测试的结果是有趣的：利用完全相同规格的两块GeForce GTX 280显卡，组成的双卡“联通界面攀升” （译者按：Nvidia公司称这种形式的显卡组合，叫做“Scalable Link Interface”，而AMD则叫做“crossfire交火”，参见本帖一楼的《概论》中提到的两公司对双显卡使用的定义） ，性能会有几乎成倍的提升，而额外再增加另外一块GeForce GTX 275显卡，却对性能的提升没有影响。

After installation, all necessary drivers are installed automatically and assigned to the respective graphics cards. If the installation is fresh, the driver announces an SLI configuration, and all you have to do is to activate it by checking a box. If everything goes well, the configuration then works and the graphics cards diyide the 3D rendering workload as soon as you start a game with an SLI-profile assigned to it in Nvidia's driver. The feature can also be activated without using a physical bridge connector between the cards.

显卡安装之后，显卡各自的驱动，也要安装上去。如果是第一次安装，驱动安装界面会有提示，进行“联通界面攀升”（SLI）的设置，我们仅需按照提示，照做就是了。以上这些完成之后，当我们开始玩游戏的时候，就可以感受Nvidia公司生产的双显卡工作状态之下的3D渲染效果。即便不用双显卡连接件，来连接双显卡，也可以有这些效果。

3. Driver Installation On AMD Cards

AMD公司生产的显卡（简称A卡）的安装

AMD's driver installation either goes just as smoothly as Nvidia's or get ornery. The best-case scenario is that you plug the graphics cards into the mainboard, connect them with a CrossFire bridge, start the system, and install the driver. The worst-case scenario is that cards aren’t recognized by the drivers. If you drop back to only having one card inserted, the driver will install, but as soon as the second card is plugged in, the Catalyst Control Center (AMD's graphics driver interface) returns error messages complaining about missing files, preventing access to the CrossFire settings.

AMD公司生产的显卡的安装，和Nvidia公司生产的显卡的安装一样简单，最顺利的通关是：将两个显卡插入主板，用交火桥（连接两个显卡的连通件，参见楼上的相关附图）将两卡连接，打开操作系统，安装显卡驱动。最坏的情况是：驱动不认显卡。如果把卡拔出来，驱动将装入，但第二个卡一旦插入的时候，催化剂控制中心（AMD公司叫自己公司的显卡交火驱动作“催化剂”，简单说就是显卡交火驱动调控显卡的界面）就会出现提示界面：文件丢失，请安装交火驱动。

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