The Gigabyte 3D1 and NVIDIA's SLI are interesting concepts in video cards. When it works, it works great and is a very cool concept for a video card. In games that take advantage of the SLI rendering modes SFR and AFR, the combinations of two 6600GTs are as powerful as a single 6800GT and sometimes better. Unfortunately, at the moment, SLI has a very limited selection of games supported, according to NVIDIA's website. We need to wait for NVIDIA to make profiles for each game to determine if a certain game works in either of the SLI modes, or if it defaults to single card mode. NVIDIA really needs to step to the plate with driver releases to support more and more games with their SLI. The latest official NVIDIA driver on their site are the 66.93 drivers from last year. Hopefully we'll see drivers released on a more frequent basis to add applications to support SLI.
As to the Gigabyte 3D1+GA-K8NXP-SLI combination, Gigabyte has done an excellent job of combining two worthwhile technologies (nForce4+SLI). Unfortunately, there isn't support for this card on any other motherboard at the moment. The two will be sold as a package deal for a MSRP of around $500. This is in-line with other 6600GT SLI+ SLI motherboard combos from other manufacturers. The bottom line on the 3D1 is if you're looking for a SLI system with a price range of $500 for the motherboard and video cards, the 3D1 is a great choice. You get all of the features of the nForce4 SLI and the ability to buy more powerful cards to SLI in the future. I thought the Voodoo 5 5500 was a cool card and I think the concept of the 3D1 is a cool card as well. One thing I wish we'd see in the near future is a dual 6800GT card. Now that would be cool.
