Intel X58 To Be First Non-NVIDIA Chipset To Get SLI

Vigile writes "In a somewhat surprising move from a company that is used to holding its proprietary technologies close to its chest, NVIDIA has announced that it is opening up a 'certified SLI motherboard' program for boards using the upcoming Intel X58 chipset. The X58 is Intel's core logic offering for Nehalem/Bloomfield processors and many people wondered how NVIDIA would support SLI on a platform for which they had admitted to not developing a chipset. At first, NVIDIA was pushing the use of their dedicated nForce 200 chip, but have instead decided to open up the SLI technology to X58 motherboards that meet certain NVIDIA requirements. This leaves a lot of questions about NVIDIA's previous SLI statements, how the pricing of the certification affects partners, and if NVIDIA's chipset business is truly at its end now."

Comments

Re:hmmm

[confused one]

Intel chipset also supports ATI Crossfire. so there's no "teaming" intended apparently. Some software is already heavily optimized for AMD vs Intel cpu and nVidia vs ATI gpu.

Re:Maybe a result of simple business?

[jensend]

If nV really were getting QPI in exchange for this, then this would be a big win for consumers all around. However, the news I'm seeing says otherwise, for instance this bit from Tech Report:

[nV spokesman Tom] Petersen also told us Intel wasn't a party to Nvidia's decision to allow SLI on the X58, so there's no apparent quid pro quo here.

Nvidia does not plan to abandon its chipset business entirely and will continue to make core-logic products for other Intel platforms, like the current Core 2 one.

So "we'll keep making chipsets, but only for old technology which soon won't be manufactured any more." Sounds like the death knell for 3rd party chipsets- a huge loss for consumers.

Re:3dfx

[bigstrat2003]

Same name, different tech. nVidia SLI vs 3dfx SLI.

nForce boards

[linuxpng]

have been problematic for me. I've recently purchased my first intel system board (since I don't overclock) and can say that I've had much better stability. There is no downside to having intel stability applied to SLI. That being the case, maybe more games will not have such half assed support (or none) for multiple GPUs.

Re:SLI

[bigstrat2003]

And what, exactly, makes you think I'm joking? I'm serious: SLI is not a scam. I've seen people I know run SLI, and it gives you a performance boost. It's not 2x performance, but it's not zero either. I won't say it's the most cost-effective way to go, but it's not a scam.

Re:When will geeks learn?

[Colonel Korn]

Crysis. Everybody spends and spends and builds mammoth PCs to get the highest FPS in it but no one actually *plays* it as a game, it is just a benchmark and eye candy demo. Then they sit back and whine when all of the "blockbuster" games don't utilize a fraction of their uber systems. WoW, Warhammer: AR, GRID, Assassins Creed, Spore, etc. all run fine on systems over 4 years old.

WotLK is bogging down below 30 fps on systems with a brand new 4870 using the new shadow options, and even without that on 30" screens, which seem to be the target for SLI. So WoW benefits from SLI. Warhammer slows to the teens at 1920x1200, which is becoming a common resolution (seen on 22-28" monitors) in large RvR encounters on a 4870, but not on a 4870x2 or a couple gt280s. So Warhammer benefits from SLI. Assassin's Creed is slow at points on an 8800 GTX at 1680x1050, so with higher resolution it should probably benefit from SLI. I finally played Crysis, and when it's modded a bit it's actually a really good game. Not a 96, but easily a 91. People ignore the good gameplay because they're focused on the graphics, which certainly benefit from SLI and end up truly enhancing the gameplay. Love it or hate it, Oblivion even benefits from SLI at high resolution with HDR and forced AA. Half Life 2 E2 slowed down occasionally on my 4870 at 1920x1200, so it would benefit from SLI. Company of Heroes looks okay on a 4870, but I can't make it look great without framerates dropping to the teens. I could if I had SLI.

My point is that most popular games do have significant, tangible benefits from SLI.

I don't have SLI, though, and I don't want it. I don't think the cost and power usage justify the benefit, despite believing that the benefit is quite real, even with it being partially diminished by microstuttering.