It is offical: NVIDIA allows SLI on Intel X58!

[Donnie27]

BTW, does anyone here know exactly what a NF200 chip does?

Thanks,
-Chris.

Great read Chris! I'm told this bridge chip acts just like a SPD ROM chip on a stick of RAM. Hacks try to emulate it. Again, this is just speculation.

If Intel has to pay $30 for SLI, I wished they paid to have nVidia not block it in Drivers instead the Chip.

[Logos]

BTW, does anyone here know exactly what a NF200 chip does?

Thanks,
-Chris.

that's the big question: there was never a review proving that an NForce chip was necessary for SLI to work properly, compared to how SLI would (probably) run on an Intel mobo with no implemented NForce chip - if the drivers allowed it The NForce chip could be a "PCIe bridge (similar to those allowing CF) + NVidia kinda have you got the CD in the drive", or a very specific NVidia PCIe bridge, absolutely necessary for SLI to run well, and that's what noone seems to know...

[WhiteFireDragon]

1. x58 will natively support CrossFire, NOT 'cos they don't want to give nvidia ANY permission but 'cos ATI supports CrossFire on Intel chipsets w/o ANY charge!
2. Intel DOESN'T want to sell to nvidia "QuaickPath" licence so nvidia can't make SLi chipset (or any other chipset) for Nehalem.
3. In this situation only thing left for NVIDA to sell SLi on Intel chipset is to:
a) "unlock" their drivers
b) "unlock" their drivers and charge money for that by selling something touchable to mainboard makers (I guess if NVIDIA try to sell them "patch" for ForceWare, they would go mad)

oops sry this is what i meant lol. just worded it wrong

[Nedjo]

If Intel has to pay $30 for SLI, I wished they paid to have nVidia not block it in Drivers instead the Chip.

Intel doesn't pay to nvidia nothing!

mobo manufacturers do pay, and reimburse from the customers... who are willing to donate

[Donnie27]

Intel doesn't pay to nvidia nothing!

mobo manufacturers do pay, and reimburse from the customers... who are willing to donate

If it is an Intel branded board they do Please also note, I've said many times Intel and the Board manufactures can use the chip anytime.

[saki_bomber]

Not that I'd ever need an Nvidia mainboard

i avoid them like the plague

[JohnZS]

What nVidia should do, is offer X38 and X48 board owners the chance to get SLi to. The way they could do this is charge money for a connector which also has that oh so important SPD Chip on it to, nVidia could chage £15 or even £20 for that chip and I bet it will sell well as folks with a G92 GTS could slap in another one likewise people have the choice for SLi.
John

[L7R]

Good news, im happy, as ive always wanted a unified motherboard to support both ATI crossfire and SLi, i wish they didnt need that chipset tho, as im sure its going to have some sli slow downs, just like the 790i kicked the 780's arse when it came to sli.

+1.

[Omastar]

So does this mean no tri-SLI on X58 boards either, since they're using the same old MCPs?

[JohnZS]

So does this mean no tri-SLI on X58 boards either, since they're using the same old MCPs?

Tri SLI is about as stable as a 3 legged ballerina, I would say it is a good job Intel do not want that on their boards....

[Tony]

All I see here is a way of getting video cards working with a new cpu when you can't make your own chipset to support it. I doubt Intel are involved with this as its just added in later on the boards, i remember talking to many board manufacturers who were going to do this with X38 boards, but NV looked to have killed that idea...now it looks like they need it.

SLI is an awesome platform, im just wondering when NV will develop their own CPU away from X86 with their own OS to run games, without a total platform solution the future looks to be getting harder.

AMD have a complete platform, Intel will have a complete platform soon, and both are X86
NV has chipset and GPU, but no CPU, this has me worried being honest.

[Donnie27]

oops sry this is what i meant lol. just worded it wrong

No, it isn't. Any board manufacturer can buy these chips just like buying a BIOS chip for example. These are comodities and you don't need a license for them.

First, I though this was just Charlie being himself.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?op...5197&Itemid=37

Intel's engineers told us a funny story that the hottest chips on their Skulltrail motherboard are Nvidia's bridge chips. Skulltrail has two of these and they tend to get extremely hot.

You need two Nforce 200 bridge chips to have all PCIe slots SLI capable and at the same time you can plug four Radeon 3870 cards inside, at least when we talk about Sapphire Atomic edition, single slot cards.

Intel engineers are far from happy with Nvidia’s behavior and the fact you need to buy these chips, too. It is not the cost that upsets the Intel chaps, it is the amount of heat that they dissipate, and it makes the already hot thing run even hotter.

We’ll see how long this friendship will last, as Intel was so happy to show us the Radeon 3870 X2 running well in its X48 based motherboard.

They're using the 200 version. Others are saying the same thing.

[Logos]

oh no... the problem is that it will probably be impossible to avoid those NForce chips on high end boards...

[Donnie27]

oh no... the problem is that it will probably be impossible to avoid those NForce chips on high end boards...

Yepp and no way to disable them from what I understand.

[lowfat]

I think this is awesome news. Having both Crossfire + SLI on the same board opens things up. If I decide to move from SLI to crossfire no need to change the board

[Blacky]

I hope they enable 3-way and that would be the perfect platform...

[Logos]

I hope they enable 3-way and that would be the perfect platform...

they do, read the article in the news on NVidia web site
http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1216019719164.html

[virtualrain]

All I see here is a way of getting video cards working with a new cpu when you can't make your own chipset to support it. I doubt Intel are involved with this as its just added in later on the boards, i remember talking to many board manufacturers who were going to do this with X38 boards, but NV looked to have killed that idea...now it looks like they need it.

SLI is an awesome platform, im just wondering when NV will develop their own CPU away from X86 with their own OS to run games, without a total platform solution the future looks to be getting harder.

AMD have a complete platform, Intel will have a complete platform soon, and both are X86
NV has chipset and GPU, but no CPU, this has me worried being honest.

That's an interesting post. However, as many have pointed out, if NVIDIA really just wanted us to have SLI, we wouldn't need a chip on the Mobo, they could just unlock the drivers. This NF200 is a pure cash grab if you ask me. It's their way of getting another $30 of every enthusiast with little or new R&D or value add.

As for your bigger subject here, you seem to be suggesting that the gaming platform of the future will be a single vendor solution... are you implying that gaming PC's will be closed systems... basically becomming upgradable consoles?

I'm not sure I agree. AMD has all the pieces as you point out yet they aren't pushing a Crossfire only on AMD CPU's and chipset mentality like NVIDIA. In fact, they are more "open" than NVIDIA by enabling full multi-GPU functionality on their largest competitors platform. Likely this is wise because they realize that they will earn more revenue by being open than closed.

I belive NVIDIA's past thinking of keeping SLI as proprietary only to NV chipsets was flawed (however, no one can be sure without studying the economics of their chipset business).

I think now NVIDIA is smarter by effectively offering SLI on any platform with the addition of a chip. But as I said above it's only a cash grab now. With ATI building momentum, this may be more flawed thinking from NV when people realize they can save a couple hundred bucks on graphics cards and a hundred bucks or more on a motherboard for the same or better performance!

[Blacky]

they do, read the article in the news on NVidia web site
http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1216019719164.html

Thanks Logo you made my day

[Logos]

just for those who missed it: the NVidia "tax" has been widely commented in this thread:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/Forums/...d.php?t=194314

[k|ngp|n]

Dreams do come true Sampsa

[Miss Banana]

Tri SLI is about as stable as a 3 legged ballerina,

Hah, not very stable indeed.

[Miss Banana]

All I see here is a way of getting video cards working with a new cpu when you can't make your own chipset to support it. I doubt Intel are involved with this as its just added in later on the boards, i remember talking to many board manufacturers who were going to do this with X38 boards, but NV looked to have killed that idea...now it looks like they need it.

SLI is an awesome platform, im just wondering when NV will develop their own CPU away from X86 with their own OS to run games, without a total platform solution the future looks to be getting harder.

AMD have a complete platform, Intel will have a complete platform soon, and both are X86
NV has chipset and GPU, but no CPU, this has me worried being honest.

Wasn't nvidia turning to VIA for the CPU?
I remember some sort of cooperation being announced...

[Logos]

Wasn't nvidia turning to VIA for the CPU?
I remember some sort of cooperation being announced...

they refuted it in an interview

[initialised]

yeah agree... this sound like a desperate move



also does this mean X58 boards iwthout the n200 SB will support SLI as well?? anyone??

ATi slaughters GTX280 SLi with R700 (4870x2) so nVidia lat Intel do SLi, sound business sense from nVidia and Intel's busy playing divide & conquer.