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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."
I'm a girl,
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int 21h
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.
Sounds to me like Nvidia has something up their sleeves. Or maybe not. Being a participant in the Intel Chipset might just mean they are trying to keep their foot in the door. they probably have a better grasp on whats going to happen in the future. Being compatible with intel chipsets (i think) is a big step in keeping their dominance in the Graphics adapter world. Without Intel acceptance, they might have problems with market share in the future when Intel releases their GPU. Way to go Nvidia, for keeping your pants on.
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.
The going rumor is that Intel and Nvidia struck a deal where Intel would get a license to make SLI chipsets, and Nvidia gets a license to make chipsets for teh upcoming i7 (Nehalem) platform.
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.
What is a Bloomfield and why should I care?
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
competition is good .. keeps prices low and performance only goes up. .. they are one now) and intel/nvidia I don't think is good. How long before software heavily optimized for intel/nvidia or ati/amd? Or worse: only works on intel/nvidia || ati/amd??
but teaming amd/ati (nothing to do here
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int 21h
Opening up a larger market for their bread-n-butter card sales can't hurt. Probably a bigger win for nVidia than trying to continue to cut in on chipset sales. Intel's X38 & X48 chipsets have been major successes, and have probably boosted sales of ATI (er, AMD) boards. Both nVidia and Intel have a vested interest in reducing the market share of AMD...so it's not completely off the wall. Makes you wonder what sort of tradsies are involved. Probably not an x86 license.
Didn't 3dfx have SLI capability 10 years ago?
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.
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.
Isn't SLI a con?
No.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
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.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
Machines that is. If I only support the very latest then my sales will be a fraction of what they are.
No sig today...
You were surprised there was more heat? That seems like a major "DUH"
Also you aren't gonna see much gain if the cards are not equivalent.
From AFA:
At the Nvision event in San Jose, California, Nvidia outlined another plan: it will certify certain Intel X58-based mainboards for SLI compliance and will provide âoeapproval keys that will be integrated into the system BIOS for boards that pass certificationâ. The company said that it will charge mainboard makers for SLI compliance, but right now the terms are unknown.
This smells like yet another "we'll put arbitrary software restrictions in our stuff because we're greedy. Wonder why they are the only ones with no free drivers whatsoever?
I call bullshit. I stopped using their chipsets long ago, but now I'll actually switch to AMD for video. No more NVidia - hello, software freedom.
Now if I could only find a P45-based board that can run FreeBIOS....
Please think before posting. Previously, you could only get SLI with a nVidia (nForce) motherboard. nVidia is certifying Intel's X58 chipset (not a nVidia chipset) as a SLI chipset. You will be able take two nVidia cards and put them in an Intel-chipset board and run SLI.
SLI is a nVidia technology. This doesn't have the slightest bit to do with Intel's graphics cards.
I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
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.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
Is it just me, or is Intel "releasing" a new chipset every 6 months that does fuckall better than the last one ? It's like they've gotten an NVidia DNA transplant.
Just like the Geforce 9 and GT2 have been craptacular rehashes of existing tech, the X38/X48 and now X58 are errily similar and in many cases worse performers than the P35 they're supposed to replace.
X38 was supposed to have "unofficial" SLI support. X48 too. Now X58 has "official" SLI. Big whoop! Given the inflated price of these boards, I suspect many people will continue buying NVidia boards at an equally inflated price, but with the guarantee of the latest and greatest SLI support.
I'm really unimpressed with both parties on this one. Driver modders have already demonstrated that NVidia's "secret SLI tech" is nothing but a software-enforced restriction. Any board with proper bus topology can handle two GPUs via point-to-point communication. NVidia created the problem artificially, and they want money to kinda sorta make it go away.... methinks they should lay off the legal team and spend that money on R&D so they just might come up with a product that is worth my money to upgrade, you know - their core business!
-Billco, Fnarg.com
Intel wants the SLI certification so that their chipsets can support SLI'ed NVidia based cards, just as how they currently support Crossfire'd ATI video cards. While Intel does make graphics chipsets, I wasn't under the impression they were attempting to SLI their own GPUs.
And for all intensive purposes (commercially available chips/cards), any single Nvidia and ATI card will outperform any of Intel's current offerings (sli'ed or not).
Without a QPI license they can't make dual 16x slot motherboards (the DMI interface doesn't have that kind of bandwidth) so they are relegated to making low end motherboard chipsets only ... that is not a place they want to be.
AMD can't really save them there, since AMD is pretty much dead in the high end in the moment ... and they are in bed with ATI, which makes it hard for NVIDIA to compete on the integrated front.
If they don't get a QPI license they will phase out their chipset business, the "denial" was just damage control ... as was the planted misinformation about them having a QPI license through third parties (they would sing it from the trees if they really did).
I only see it as useful for the highest end cards where the only way to get more speed is to add another card. As an upgrade path it is cheaper to buy a next gen card which gives better performance and less heat than 2 last gen cards.
Quite true. However, "scam" would apply if it didn't do anything at all. No one ever promised you that SLI was the best value. ;)
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
So...
Everyone forgot already that there was a time SLI worked fine on Intel boards?
Really?
1920x1200 is becoming a common resolution? Hardly, check out the Half Life 2 survey, a cool 2.29% of users are running it.
http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html
1024 x 768 and 1280 x 960 are still what most users are running by far. At those resolutions, a decent midrange card is more then any average user needs. Their games will run great.
Basicly SLI is great for those who are willing to pay through the nose to run the game at crazy resolutions, AA and AF maxxed to the tits. Because god knows that just improves the game experience so much that its worth shelling out more $$$.
Scam doesn't necessarily mean nothing. It just means it's not as good or it doesn't do as well as it was marketed to do. SLI is a perfect example - "not 2x performance" is a shocking waste of money when another card is ~$400 and it's helping to fry the rest of your components.
ilovegeorgebush
I always saw SLI as a "cheap" upgrade path -- IE you buy that brand new, hot off the manufacturing line top tier gfx card today for $500, and 12-18 months later when your gaming isn't as great as it was at the start you "upgrade" with that card, which is now a second tier card (and significantly cheaper).
Total cost to you, about $750-$800* or so instead of the $1000* or so that you'd have spent to get the new "latest and greatest" card.
* prices determined after buying *both* cards, assuming the "latest and greatest" are ~$500 each, and tier 2 cards are ~$250+
Unless it's not intesnive.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
Is this anything more than an Nvidia driver change, or was SLI lurking in the X58 all along and Intel was just waiting for permission to turn it on? Just what is required from a chipset to support SLI anyway? The implication is that it's more than the connecting cable between the cards. Could SLI have been running on non-Nvidia boards long before now? So many questions.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Unless it's not intensive.
But it's not intensive, why bother with SLI? Does SLI save power, cost, etc? I was under the assumption that the only reason to SLI was that the end cost of using two lower performing GPUs was less than the cost/availablity of a higher performing GPU.