Despite of formal announcements and strong hype, Nvidia Corp.’s technology called quad SLI that allows four graphics cards to work together cannot be obtained by end-users. Furthermore, system builders anonymously claim that they are allowed to sell systems to clients, but not rent them to press. 

When announcing its new flagship GeForce 7900-series and 4-way SLI technology in early March the leading designer of graphics processing units (GPUs) proclaimed availability of systems featuring four Nvidia GPUs. A press release by the company stated: “Nvidia Corporation, the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, today announced that PCs powered by Nvidia quad SLI technology are now available from the world’s top system builders”.

At press time in mid-April the world’s leading maker of high-performance systems – Alienware, a part of Dell Inc. – could supply quad SLI systems no earlier than on May 18, 2006. Dell Inc. itself did not take pre-orders on its famous Dell XPS 600 Renegade system. Velocity Micro, a launch partner of Intel Corp.’s dual-core Pentium D processor, also could supply quad SLI systems no earlier than on the 9^th of May. Bolton, England-based Scan Computer said it could ship quad SLI computer “in 10 to 14 days” after online order when phoned during the week.

Nvidia quad SLI technology uses special GeForce 7900 GX2 graphics cards, each of which has two GeForce 7900-series graphics processors. Quad SLI allows to turn on 32x antialiasing, the maximum level possible today, or to play the latest games in 2560x1600 resolution. Even though quad SLI may not mean the highest performance possible, users buying systems featuring four GeForce 7900 GPUs may expect better graphics quality than those who use one or two graphics cards. 

When asked for comments in regards of quad SLI systems availability in the middle of the week, Nvidia Corp. did not respond, even though it continued to send press releases in.