Scan-Line Interleave
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Scan Line Interleave (SLI) from 3dfx is a method for linking two (or more) video cards or chips together to produce a single output. It is an application of parallel processing for computer graphics, meant to increase the processing power available for graphics. SLI from 3dfx was introduced in 1998 and used in the Voodoo 2 line of graphics accelerators. However also Voodoo Graphics and VSA 100 were SLI-capable.
NVIDIA Corporation reintroduced the name SLI in 2004 (renamed as Scalable Link Interface) and intends for it to be used in modern computer systems based on the PCI Express bus.
[edit] Function
3dfx's SLI design was the first attempt, in the consumer PC market, at combining the rendering power of two video cards. The cards were connected by a small ribbon cable inside the PC, and a VGA-to-VGA cable from card-to-card that shared graphics and synchronization information between the cards. Each card rendered alternating horizontal lines of pixels composing a frame.
