X38/X48 based boards can get SLI

[CyberDruid]

I have yet find a single useful piece of info from FUD that has not already been chewed to death. Ditto that with links to articles from that bastion of truth: The Inquirer.

[Fixxxer]

and yes I have a set of hacked drivers to prove it.

[Brother Esau]

I know, many extreme ppl won't think this is a smart idea.

But if you really wanted sli on intel, you'd simply stop buying nV graphics, go ati for now and crossfire, and force nvidia's hand.

A year of that would easily be enough, with even a group like xs, to have nvidia change there ways.

But since this will never happen, I guess we'll just have to wait, til we can pay extra for sli on an intel board.

Now Greg you should know better that requires taking a stand and actually doing something about a problem

[jbartlett323]

If you guys want to make a point to nVidia on this take the time to get together 50,000 names on a petition.
Hit all the forums, start a grass roots movement to tell them your sick of this BS from them.
Simply state that you are tired of being the pawns in this di*k slapping contest between nVidia and Intel. That you choose Intel cpu's and you choose nVidia graphics but if they continue this game you are being forced to move to ATI. Set a 180 day timetable,demand an answer and then stick to it and stop buying nVidia after that time.
You have immense power if you get together.
In business, money talks and BS walks and that is what companies listen to and ALL they listen to.
Speak with your purchases and they will hear you VERY fast!
Even though I don't use 2 cards my next purchase will be ATI just from principle on this.

you got a point here... i have been thinking the same thing for awhile now but don't know how to go about it... would love to see it happen and i know many of you would too... i'm sure there are enough people out there who would like to see this happen that they would put their names on a petition... the problem lies in that those using sli are us, the proformance chasers... if the best hardware on the market is Nvidia then we are gonna want to buy Nvidia... and therefore they will not take the petition seriously... i mean why would they? yeah lots of people want it but its not hurting sales so why bother?
I have strongly been thinking the next card i buy will be ATI just for this reason also...

The point is: buy ATI, hurt Nvidia, sign the stinkin petition... now wheres it at so i can sign it!?

[Donnie27]

you got a point here... i have been thinking the same thing for awhile now but don't know how to go about it... would love to see it happen and i know many of you would too... i'm sure there are enough people out there who would like to see this happen that they would put their names on a petition... the problem lies in that those using sli are us, the proformance chasers... if the best hardware on the market is Nvidia then we are gonna want to buy Nvidia... and therefore they will not take the petition seriously... i mean why would they? yeah lots of people want it but its not hurting sales so why bother?
I have strongly been thinking the next card i buy will be ATI just for this reason also...

The point is: buy ATI, hurt Nvidia, sign the stinkin petition... now wheres it at so i can sign it!?

But nVidia doesn't make the best motherboard IMO. That and to keep their board prices high are the main reasons they're blocking Intel. SLI or not, I don't like their motherboards anyway.

[Donnie27]

Now Greg you should know better that requires taking a stand and actually doing something about a problem

Why not? That's what I did

[jbartlett323]

But nVidia doesn't make the best motherboard IMO. That and to keep their board prices high are the main reasons they're blocking Intel. SLI or not, I don't like their motherboards anyway.

well no its not the best motherboard and i'm sure it wouldn't get bought if not for SLI... but they do presently have the best gpu's and we as preformance hungry group want the best graphics... and SLI is the only way to obtain "THE BEST" graphics therefore the vicious circle of life dictates that we must buy their mediocre products or deal with "OK" or "DECENT" graphics paired with a beast of machine... Damn it i want my beast to have "THE BEST" graphics! Thats really the only way we have to show our friends and family that our machine is the best! show them numbers and they look dazed... show them crysis at very high settings and everyone oo's and ah's...
so i ask again... where's the petition?

[Bobsama]

I already spoke with my money (or directing money). $180 for a 3850... so yeah, where's that petition?

[JoeBar]

Oh no, not again...

[SmaKKed]

Yes this Nvidia Intel Bull sucks, i know im about to follow Movieman's move and go to ATI just on this bull alone. I want dual cards but in not keen on nvidia chipset it is flaky and unreliable (for overclockers).

[revenant]

FYI dude, just about ANY PCI-e board with dual PCI-e 16x slots can support SLI and I guerantee it.

it's just a matter of it being made available in the drivers.

and yes I have a set of hacked drivers to prove it.

yes, it's call peer-to-peer writes, and it's the protocol or what-have-you that exists in the chipset which then SLI and CF use to work.. the mfgs disable p-to-pw at the driver level if they deem the chipset to not be authorized or whatever.. so hacked drivers can allow SLI and CF on any board with enough pci-e slots and enough bw between them to make it worth while..

[Sentential]

Guys: Listen to the old fart.
Don't get mad, force the issue. Show your strength.
Get a petition and make them see what can happen when people get together.
That old line of "There's strength in numbers" is so true.
Here's an opportunity for you to show them how you feel.

Or you could do what I did, stop buying nVidia completely until they do.

[WRC]

So with the 9800X2, does it have the mcp chip or whatever it is, to enable SLI? And if you get one, and then install the SLI driver or whatever, if you put another 9800X2 in an X38 mobo, will it also work then?

sli cannot be enabled on an intel chipset, it's not that there's no support but rather nvidia doesn't want to write drivers for it because nobody would buy their boards

[virtualrain]

That is not necessarily true. If you go and get a 9800X2, or a 7900X2 or any other variant of a dual chip card, it enables SLI to do that right? Or is that the part I am getting wrong?

If I have that part right, what I wonder is, once the SLI is enabled for a dual-die card, will it then work with a second card?

You are correct...dual PCB cards such as the GX2 series do use SLI.

However, I'm sure quad SLI is not possible on an Intel Board.

How they differentiate is surely based on the driver detecting the card and chipset and determining what is and is not possible.

The bottom line is that the 9800GX2 is giving Intel SLI... if rumors are correct, the equivalent of dual 8800GTS 512MB cards. In fact, you get SLI with only one fan/cooler instead of having the noise of two fans... What more do you want?

If everyone with an Intel motherboard was serious about wanting SLI, they would buy a GX2 and NOT buy an nVidia POS motherboard... this would send a message to nVidia that there is a real market for SLI on Intel while you also benefit from having the most kick-arse graphics solution available. Whether they offer it in discrete cards or two high-end cards sandwiched together... do you really care?

[GripS]

Nvidia....... take note you greedy bastards! You will STILL MAKE MONEY if you allow SLI on intel chipsets. God damn the people in charge there must be borderline retarded.

I don't get it. What is nvidia known for? Video cards. How will they make more money? Allow SLI on intel chipsets. Seems like a no brainer to me. Who cares if you lose a percentage of sales on your motherboards!!?? The money you make selling more video cards should offset that. Stupid.

[virtualrain]

Nvidia....... take note you greedy bastards! You will STILL MAKE MONEY if you allow SLI on intel chipsets. God damn the people in charge there must be borderline retarded.

I don't get it. What is nvidia known for? Video cards. How will they make more money? Allow SLI on intel chipsets. Seems like a no brainer to me. Who cares if you lose a percentage of sales on your motherboards!!?? The money you make selling more video cards should offset that. Stupid.

Dude, the 9800GX2 is SLI for Intel. Honestly, I think it's a more elegant solution than a pair of discrete boards.

[GripS]

Dude, the 9800GX2 is SLI for Intel. Honestly, I think it's a more elegant solution than a pair of discrete boards.

That's great. But what bout the people that don't want to shell out a mint for a dual-gpu card?

[virtualrain]

That's great. But what bout the people that don't want to shell out a mint for a dual-gpu card?

If you are not using high end cards in SLI then WTF are you doing SLI for? Just buy a better single card! Crappy cards in SLI cost more and perform worse than a top performing single card.

[mdzcpa]

Crappy cards in SLI cost more and perform worse than a top performing single card.

Mmmm...this depends on what you term as "crappy." 2 GT cards, or 2 GTS cards perform better than an Ultra hands down. If you shop wisely, you can pick up 2 of these cards cheaper than an ultra as well. Getting better performance for less money running SLI is a nice deal.

[virtualrain]

Yeah, I agree... A GT pretty much performs on par with an Ultra at typical resolutions... any 8800 is going to work well in SLI and provide good bang for the buck... which is why a 9800GX2 is probably a really good choice for Intel owners who wish they had SLI. But someone who wants to SLI an 8600 is fooling themselves if they think that's a good solution... they should just buy a GT instead.

[GripS]

If you are not using high end cards in SLI then WTF are you doing SLI for? Just buy a better single card! Crappy cards in SLI cost more and perform worse than a top performing single card.

You're not getting the point that i'm trying to make. Sure i know that it's pointless to do SLI unless you are running higher end cards. But your average consumer does not know this. Hence nvidia will be able to sell more cards and make more $$$ which is what it's all about anyway. Nvidia's bottom line will get bigger if they use their freakin heads and allow SLI for all. That's the point i'm trying to make here.

[Pete]

sli cannot be enabled on an intel chipset, it's not that there's no support but rather nvidia doesn't want to write drivers for it because nobody would buy their boards

No it's cos Intle upset them. End of the day Intel need them as ATI is going bye bye no thanks to AMD

[Timbosan]

The bottom line is that the 9800GX2 is giving Intel SLI... if rumors are correct, the equivalent of dual 8800GTS 512MB cards. In fact, you get SLI with only one fan/cooler instead of having the noise of two fans... What more do you want?

If everyone with an Intel motherboard was serious about wanting SLI, they would buy a GX2 and NOT buy an nVidia POS motherboard... this would send a message to nVidia that there is a real market for SLI on Intel while you also benefit from having the most kick-arse graphics solution available. Whether they offer it in discrete cards or two high-end cards sandwiched together... do you really care?

Dude, the 9800GX2 is SLI for Intel. Honestly, I think it's a more elegant solution than a pair of discrete boards.

lol are you trying to sell 9800's you sound like a sales rep

2 cards (8800's of course) used well could and would detroy a single 9800GX2. better for power supply to cores & mem, better for cooling (both gpu & mem), if you stuff up something and blow a card its not a 2 for 1 deal in that regard too, and 2 cards will always be more attractive than one because, well , its 2 cards

the fact nvidia have not implemented SLi on intel chipsets is realy beginning to demonstrate their fear. nvidias chipsets used to be good performance wise, but now they suck badly, and it appears they are desperately clinging to SLi to keep their mobo market afloat. who in their right mind would buy a POS nvidia mobo now if it wasnt for SLi lol? They have castrated their potential total profits by this, its really poor marketing imo. I love nvidia cards, but they can do without my cash for keeping the full potential of the 8800's from me.