Help me understand X38 and PCI-E 2.0

[sbazzle]

I'm nearing the start of this year's computer build, and for the last six months, my parts list has constantly been updated. Recently, I decided to update the list to PCI-E 2.0 and DDR3. I'm therefore going toward Intel and their X38 chipset, plus Nvidia and the 8800 GTS 512. But with that, I seem to have got myself stuck at a mental road block.

I found out that X38 does not support SLI - Crossfire, yes, but no to SLI. Now this may sound like a dumb question, but does that mean I can't use any Nvidia cards on the board, or is that really only referring to using two cards (SLI) on the board? I'm very much assuming that since it's PCI Express 2.0, putting a PCI Express 2.0 video card in the slot will work just fine.

Also, at the moment, I will not be pursuing dual graphics, but if Intel and Nvidia can come together on this, and if my original assumptions with PCI-E 2 are right, then it would simply take a driver update to support SLI. Correct?

 

[Zenoth]

First of all you should think about Dual-GPU solutions, do you really want or think you'll really need two graphics card working in unison to play your games ? I'm asking this because if after all you wouldn't need either CrossFire nor SLi at all, not even in the long term, then the "no-SLi" argument is irrelevant, meaning that you'll now be able to look into X38/X48.

 

[Zenoth]

Oh and by the way Welcome to the Anandtech Forums!

 

[sbazzle]

Zenoth, yes, that's what I'm asking. At the moment, and in the foreseeable future, I have no desire to go to dual GPUs. I was just wondering that since X38 doesn't support SLI, that doesn't mean they don't support Nvidia cards period, which still seems like a stupid question in my mind.....but there it is.

 

[Zenoth]

Oh hey sorry I forgot to answer that one !

Yes you can easily and without any problems run nVidia GPU's on a Motherboard that doesn't support SLI, in fact it's not the "Mobo" that doesn't support it but the Chipset on the Mobo, because a "Mobo" is more than a mere Chipset. It's using PCI-Express and any PCI-Express GPU's will run on it, SLi/Crossfire or not.

 

[sbazzle]

Yep, that's what the smart part of my brain kept telling me. Now if Intel began SLI support on the X38, would that simply be a driver upgrade, or would the hardware have to be changed?

 

[Zenoth]

That's a good question.

Without knowing the details on the X38 "constraints" for SLi, I would take a chance and say that a mere driver update would not be enough to make SLi work on a Chipset that Intel - when they fabricated it - deliberately "locked" (I don't know if the context fits the word) SLi support in favor for CrossFire.

Now the real questions might be: How did they restrict X38 from supporting SLi ? Is it an hardware-based (Within the Chipset itself, physically) limitation ? If that's the case then, for sure, no driver would make it work.

 

[sbazzle]

I like the idea of my components to be future-proof, but if it is the chipset causing the "problem", I guess I can just sell the non-SLI X38 on ebay and throw down the cash for SLI X38 if/when it comes out.

 

[SexyK]

I seem to remember reading that X38 (and even some of the older Intel chipsets) can support SLi with a software update if the necessary licensing agreements were to be put in place between Intel and nVidia. Can't remember where I read that, but Google may hold the answer. Either way, I wouldn't worry about SLi/CF if you're not planning to include it in your build - by the time you're ready to upgrade with a second card, there will most likely be a faster single care available anyway. Good luck and have fun.

edit: typos

 

[Zenoth]

On the extreme side of the gamble you could always get an X38/X48 Motherboard and risk waiting for AMD/ATi's R700. If R700 ens up being worth consumers' time and money against GeForce 9 then you'll have a CrossFire Motherboard ready to go.

 

[sbazzle]

Yeah, that's a good point, SexyK. But I bet that when the technology comes around to merge two video cards into one, we'll have support for dual-merged cards. What will they call that....Dual-Merged Criss-Crossfired SLI Express 2.0???