It is offical: NVIDIA allows SLI on Intel X58!

[Sampsa]

NVIDIA has published PR saying SLI will be supported on Intel X58 motherboards via NVIDIA nForce 200 SLI processor (just like on Skulltrail):

"New SLI motherboards will feature the NVIDIA nForce® 200 SLI processor, Intel Bloomfield CPUs, and Tylersburg (X58) chipsets."

"Our SLI technology allows us to combine the power of hundreds of GeForce processing cores in multi-GPU configurations with Intel’s latest CPUs for platforms that are sure to excite our customers." sais Jeff Fisher, senior vice president of GPU business at NVIDIA.



http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1216019719164.html

[kromosto]

i think this is a great win of nvidia. they carry sli to nehalem without giving it to intel.

[Seraphiel]

Thanks!

Good news but is this something that will be forced on all X58 chipsets, or limited to only some?

i think this is a great win of nvidia. they carry sli to nehalem without giving it to intel.

They make some money by this, but it may not have been the best option.

[Macadamia]

I'll be sure to get one without the MCP200. Less heat, less $, more to spend on DDR3 instead.

[Logos]

thanks for posting about this confirmation. I've been among those not quite happy about having to pay an NVidia tax on X58 (knowing that SLI could probably work well without the NForce chip)...see recent thread about that, but well, this is probably better after all, at least a first step, allowing to avoid the purchase of a full and buggy NVidia mobo...so all in all better than the previous situation.

[Zucker2k]

This is utter bollocks, AMD gets my money. Think about it, with Nvidia, you buy the GPU and the chip, with AMD, you buy the GPU, and don't have to worry about potential hardware conflicts. ATi FTW!

[perkam]

Hopefully the ones with the SLI chip are optional or can become obsolete once Nvidia get's the full license to make their own LGA 1366 motherboards.

Perkam

[situman]

So much for ATI's revival.

[SKYMTL]

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't SLI performance on the Skulltrail quite poor?

[NeedMoMegaHurtZ]

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't SLI performance on the Skulltrail quite poor?

This can be explained in part by the use of slower FB-DIMMS on that platform

[Neuuubeh]

I'll be sure to get one without the MCP200. Less heat, less $, more to spend on DDR3 instead.

Same here .
Whats still not all that clear to me is the status of Nvidia's license for Nehalem.. Guess we'll have to wait it out and see what the official word is. Not that I'd ever need an Nvidia mainboard

[Zaskar]

I'll be sure to get one without the MCP200. Less heat, less $, more to spend on DDR3 instead.

If there will be any High end boards without them (aside form the first production models, which always have a newer "better" one a few months later), for that price its hard to believe companies will still have 2 separate high end branches for ATI only and Nvidia, since they can now just make one board that does both.

[Donnie27]

Once you think about it, it's actually misleading. A true license would mean Intel, the Mobo makers and etc.. would get Driver support, not a MCP Chip. On the bright side though, at least its PCI-E 2.0 and will not downgrade like MCP-100.

So much for ATI's revival.

Not really, I know plenty of folks who'll stick with AMD's Radeon, I know I will=P

[Jamesrt2004]

Nice premium on the boards with the chipset i bet (n)

[GAR]

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.

[Neuuubeh]

If there will be any High end boards without them (aside form the first production models, which always have a newer "better" one a few months later), for that price its hard to believe companies will still have 2 separate high end branches for ATI only and Nvidia, since they can now just make one board that does both.

In the other thread there were links/rumours claiming $30 price of the chip in 1000 unit batch. If it were like 15 bucks, I can see most companies slapping it on, but at $30 its sure gonna make them think first

[Donnie27]

This can be explained in part by the use of slower FB-DIMMS on that platform

FB-DIMMs might not be the problem. It can be explained by the fact that MCP-100 is PCI-E 1.1. MCP-200 is 2.0 wouldn't downgrade Skulltrail's support for PCI-E 2.0.

[bowman]

I'll be sure to get one without the MCP200. Less heat, less $, more to spend on DDR3 instead.

Same.

Maybe I'll stick some 'AMD GPG' stickers on the entire thing just for the sacrilege value.

[Jimmer411]

So much for ATI's revival.

Since when was ATi dead? 2900XT? Thats about it. SLi isnt the end all to GPU sales... Prices win, and $750 GPU isnt the way to do it, hence the multiple price cuts before and immediatly after launch

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.

This would be awesome tho somehow I really doubt Nv would allow its competitor to use the same board. There will be some sort of lockout Im willing to bet.

[Zaskar]

In the other thread there were links/rumours claiming $30 price of the chip in 1000 unit batch. If it were like 15 bucks, I can see most companies slapping it on, but at $30 its sure gonna make them think first

I don't know, when you think of the costs to manufacture, and get resellers to buy 2 top tier high end boards, with that being the only difference, its hard to think that they would still make 2 separate lines. I really think for their top models, it will include this chip.

[Neuuubeh]

Time will tell

[Mk]

So do that mean we gonna see X58 Nvida motherboards from Xfx EVGA and other nvidia only boards retails?

[[XC] gomeler]

Interesting. Not a huge fan of having these little "SLI chips" added to the boards but then again, a single board to do SLI and CF is good in my book.

[Donnie27]

So do that mean we gonna see X58 Nvida motherboards from Xfx EVGA and other nvidia only boards retails?

Sure nVidia and Intel will pay for each other's tech, I think!!

[Scubar]

This just screams FAIL. nVidia are going to ruin X58 with their SLI chip since they cant produce a decent chipset of their own i just hope theres an option to get a board WITHOUT the SLI chip.