CES 2006: Dell’s Quad nVidia SLI XPS System

Quad-SLI Brings New Meaning To Power Consumption

Once we got over the initial shock of the the Quad-SLI cards we started to think about power consumption. After taking a closer look at the 4 Printed Circuit Boards (PCB’s) we noticd that only two of the cards had the 6-Pin PCIe power connector. Knowing that these nVidia GeForce 7800 512’s need more power than what was shown we looked even closer.

After moving over to the working Dell XPS 600 Renegade system we looked at the back we noticed a couple extra cables plugged into the video card that didn’t look normal. They were not your normal VGA or DVI type ends.

So we looked under the table top and saw this:

Each video dual video card is connected to another power supply to feed the cards the power they need to perform their best. We spoke to nVidia about the power consumption of the system and we were suprised, but not shocked when they told us it needs 850 Watts. The Dell XPS model on display came with a 650 Watt power supply for the system and then each video card gets additional power from these individual 12V power adapters made by Delta Electronics Inc (model # ADP-150BB B). If it looks like an AC Adapter (12v 12.5A output) that a notebook would use don’t worry, because that is what it is. Each of these are rated at 150W by Delta Electronics. Adding the 300W from the video card AC/DC Adapters and the 650W from the ATX Power Supply we get a system with 950W of power! If you drive a Toyota Pirus this is not the system for you! Then again after hearing that Dell will be selling these system for $7,000 to $8,000 when launched we don’t think many of our readers are going to be running out and buying one right away.

In closing here is one last look at the Dell XPS 600 Renegade at the Intel booth. The paint job on the case is really amazing and is even better in person. If you have the money to spend and want Quad-SLI then this is your system. We asked nVidia if they were going to sell these cards to the public and they informed us that it is a Dell exclusive and that we shouldn’t expect it in the near future. As always corporate muscle reigns supreme at the end of the day.