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

News for nerds and all that

[Anonymous Coward]

But this is the most intensely boring summary I have ever read on /.

Maybe a result of simple business?

[bestinshow]

Maybe they got a CSI interconnect license from Intel in return for the SLI technology.

Or the days of proprietary GPU ganging technology are coming to an end. Intel already does Crossfire in their chipsets, and AMD's GPUs are best right now so that's two hits against NVIDIA for their GPUs for the people that buy Intel-based computers.

Re:Maybe a result of simple business?

[citsacras]

All OEM X58 motherboard manufacturers will have to submit their boards for certification by NVIDIA. NVIDIA will also be charging an undisclosed certification fee. If the board passes certification, NVIDIA issues a BIOS key enabling SLI. The NVIDIA SLI drivers check for the presence of this key. NVIDIA will continue to design chipsets for Penryn based platforms, but it will not be making any QPI enabled chipsets for Nehalem. Thus, with Nehalem, the only way to get SLI support with an LGA-1366 MB would be to use an Intel chipset. NVIDIA will be making LGA-1160 based Nehalem motherboards (dual-channel DDR3) for the low end and mainstream markets, but that platform isn't expected to debut until late 2009.

Stop it already!

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Will you stop posting that stupid bloody rumour? There is no evidence, it has been flat out denied by nVidia, and it would be a stupid move. It is a made up outright lie, propagated by idiots like The Inquirer and fools who never read the multiple retractions. Frankly, I wish nVidia would start suing anyone and everyone who insists on reposting that stupid crap.

I don't even like nVidia, but this sort of stuff just pisses me off.

There goes the nVidia motherboard business

[Catalina588]

I have a Foxconn-built 590i nVidia reference board that supports SLI and has a raft of other features like smart Ethernet, RAID, yada yada, yada. I also use a Skulltrail with SLI chips in it.

The reason most gamers buy nVidia reference boards is to get SLI. With nVidia now certifying other vendors, starting with Intel's X58, the nVidia reference SLI motherboard market is RIP 2008.

Correct me if I am wrong...

[phoenix.bam!]

But doesn't SLI mean NVIDIA sells two high end graphics cards? Why wouldn't they do this? It makes perfect sense in every way possible.

Re:Nvidia

[pak9rabid]

Sounds to me like Nvidia has something up their sleeves.

Such as licensing their SLI technology to Intel so that they can get an x86 license in return?

When will geeks learn?

[rAiNsT0rm]

OK, I am a longtime gamer (Atari 2600 onward) and have been building PCs for over 15 years. History has repeated itself time and time again, yet everyone still falls for the same crap. Game's cost a lot to produce, no game maker is going to make a game targeted at some minute fraction of their audience. When 90-95% of the PCs in homes aren't even SLI capable what deludes people into buying such a niche product and then expecting to be catered to?

Tech demo "games" are what people always point to each time SLI tries to enter the market (way back to Voodoo days) and today with a title like 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. Because that is the middle-of-the-road developers are going to target for the most profit. Sure they may throw in an "ultra high mode" for the few bleeding edgers but it is always an afterthought and either buggy or incomplete.

None of this is new. Stop throwing $500 into SLI video cards and $300 mainboards, IT ISN'T WORTH IT. Also, another rule of thumb that has always been proven right over time: If a card (video included) requires 2 slots or more for either cooling or "daughter cards" then it is an immature technology and will be streamlined into a single slot solution soon for much cheaper due to the reduced manufacturing costs.