Gigabyte GV-3D1 Dual Video Card Review :: Bundle and Setup

• Thief The Dark Project
• Joint Operations
• Driver CD
• 71.24 drivers
• PowerDVD
• DVI to D-Sub adapter
• Output adapter
• 6-pin PCI Express power connector

The GV-3D1 came with the Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI motherboard with the full bundle of one of their 6600GT cards. I like to see comprehensive bundles with video cards. I remember the days when 20 games and game demos came with my Monster3d (Voodoo 1) card. Most manufacturers don't include modern games with their bundles if they include games at all. One addition to the bundle is the 6-pin PCI Express power connector. This is not found on the retail 6600GT from Gigabyte, but is necessary for operation of the GV-3D1.

This includes two of the best games of 2004, Joint Operations and Thief The Dark Project. Thief Deadly Shadows is the sequel to Thief Dark Project. You play the role of a thief trying to get through the game by stealth and guile instead of indiscriminately shooting everything that crosses your path as in a FPS (first person shooter). The game features some Pixel Shader 2.0 effects in the water and is a lot of fun. Joint Operations is similar in concept to Battlefield 1942.

Gigabyte includes a driver CD that contains NVIDIA reference driver 71.24 (latest on NV's site is 66.93 WHQL and 67.66 betas on nZone), newer than NVIDIA's currently released official and beta drivers. Also contained on the driver CD is Gigabyte's utility for graphics cards the Gigabyte Video card Utility Manager. Gigabyte includes PowerDVD as the DVD player for the card. Power DVD is my 2nd favorite DVD player after WinDVD.

Setup of the board is similar in many respects to setup of any SLI capable board. There's a little card with SLI mode and Normal mode on two sides. To enable SLI mode with 2 regular NVIDIA video cards, simply spread the levers, slide out the card, and turn it around. If you are using 2 6800GTs, for example, you will need to attach a 6-pin power connector to each card and the SLI link bridging the two cards. The 3D1 is a bit of a different story. To install it in SLI mode you will need to set the SLI card to Normal mode. After plugging in the 3D1 card into PCI Express Slot #1, and attaching the power connector and VGA cable, simply start the computer. After the drivers are installed the system will detect the system as being SLI capable and will be enabled by default.