New Driver's allow for non-bridged SLI...

[SVT Cobra]

man Nvidia is pulling out all their hidden stops to beat CrossFire before it comes out, becuase people were disapointed when they foudn out Xfire needed a connector also


Its also probably to bring down the cost of the boards that they plan to sell under 100$


EDIT, forgot the link

link

 

[SynthDude2001]

Details? Link?

 

[rise]

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2005/nvidia/Forceware%2077.72/p2.htm

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: rise4310
http://www.ocworkbench.com/2005/nvidia/Forceware%2077.72/p2.htm

Nice. :thumbsup:

 

[Rage187]

OCW Article : NVIDIA's SLI without bridge, with new driver 77.72
Posted by overclocker at 11:13

Today, NVIDIA announce that the 6600 will be able to run in SLI. It wouldn't be difficult to guess that both cards do not need any BRIDGE to interconnect the cards to run in SLI mode.

According to various source, it seems that the new driver allows one to run two cards in SLI mode. In fact, even 6600GT, 6800GT and even the 7800GFX can run in SLI mode without the bridge. Although it works, there is a drop in performance. In fact, I heard that 6200 can be run in SLI too.

Is this NVIDIA's strategy to ensure its position in both the graphics and platform chipset by introducing this software update ? The answer is very clear.

Sounds like a bad translation.

What I gather:

1. Newest drivers allow you to run any 2 cards in SLI w/o a bridge.
2. Right now it works but theres a drop in performance.
3. Sounds like just the first driver to get it to work and I would expect that newer ones will increase performace dramatically.
4. Nv's retort to Crossfire.



Q. What happens when you SLI 2 cards together that lack the same feature sets?

 

[Todd33]

Pull the high bandwidth plug and watch the FPS drop, great plan.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Todd33
Pull the high bandwidth plug and watch the FPS drop, great plan.

Well, I think it's nice to have the option, at least (for example on an NF4 Ultra/non-SLI motherboard).

 

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: Todd33
Pull the high bandwidth plug and watch the FPS drop, great plan.

Well, I think it's nice to have the option, at least (for example on an NF4 Ultra/non-SLI motherboard).

acutally everyone knows SLI is msotly software controled...in future drivers (before Xfire comes out) they will have the gap narrowed

 

[blckgrffn]

As long as you have a NV board and have two true 8x slots, I don't think bandwidth will be a problem. I am thinking about buying another 6600 identical to mine right now and waiting for a nice SLI board at a reasonable price... I already am able to play everything @ 1280*1024 pretty well, including HL2 and D3, so this would be just a nice shot in the arm for my rig, not to mention fanless to boot! I am pumped

 

[imported_humey]

The new Asus NF4 premium does it hardware wise without a bridge, you can go from 1 to 2 cards in sli from desktop.

They showed it long ago on prebuild mobos new one has no fan cooling chipset but a heatpipe instead.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: humey
The new Asus NF4 premium does it hardware wsie without a bridge, you can go from 1 to 2 cards in sli from desktop.

They showed it long ago on prebuild mobos new one has no fan cooling chipset but a heatpipe instead.

This isn't what they are talking about. You are talking about the single x16/dual x8 selector, they are talking about the bridge chip that physically connects the two video cards together.

IMO, this is probably more interesting from a development standpoint for nVidia than it is for endusers. Who cares if you have to use a bridge chip or not.

 

[imported_humey]

No i aint, im saying you dont need pop side of case to add/remove the sli bridge, asus does this, not need a bridge on premium.

I said exactly what i meant.

 

[Rage187]

Originally posted by: humey
No i aint, im saying you dont need pop side of case to add/remove the sli bridge, asus does this, not need a bridge on premium.

I said exactly what i meant.

/shakes head

 

[imported_humey]

""Asus A8N-SLI Premium Allows SLI to be Enabled in Software "" < old from tomshardware

And now the new mobos with heatpipe

""Lets start with what the A8N-SLI Premium has going for itself. The layout of the board is excellent- amongst the best we?ve seen for an nForce4 SLI motherboard. We like how ASUS keeps the gap between the two PCI-E x16 slots and the lack of the SLI bridge is how it should be on all nForce4 boards.""

http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/article.php?id=382

 

[knyghtbyte]

ooohh, its all very confusing...hehe


who cares if u need the bridge or not....

u still need two slots in the computer for the cards.....

i do like the way ATi says crossfire needs no bridge....just a little dongle on the outside connecting the two cards....lmao...its teh same flipping thing, just outside, not inside...lolol....cant believe they honestly thought people wouldnt twig that....and for those who havnt twigged it then u dont wanna be delving into a computer cuz u'll end up with a big bang and some smoke...

 

[nitromullet]

I have an Asus A8N SLI Premium and it comes with an SLI bridge... The Premium doesn't have the little card SLI selector between the x16 slots on the motherboard though.

 

[imported_humey]

If you have the new Premium without Chipsetfan ( i was sure that wasnt a release mobo) and have a heatpipe instead, you dont need sli bridge, but i not sure if only on certain cards ie asus, im sure its for any cards on that mobo.

 

[nitromullet]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131540

I ordered it from newegg on Sunday, it just arrived yesterday and it came with an SLI bridge.

from the article you linked to:

Another thing that?s not to be found on the AN8-SLI Premium is the SLI connector between the PCI slots that lets you switch between Single and Dual card modes. ASUS makes the SLi selection process automatic and this is how it should be.

and...

ASUS also provides backplate for external SATA connections as well as four USB ports, one Firewire, one Serial and one midi port. Being an SLI board, the SLI bridge is also included in the package and a plate to hold the bridge steady in its place.

this is what they are talking about:

http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/fullimage.php?image=9909

There is no selector. The selection is handled from the BIOS or software.

Here is what the A8N SLI Deluxe looks like between the x16 slots:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2284&p=4

 

[imported_humey]

Well very bad wording on their part with this > ""and the lack of the SLI bridge is how it should be on all nForce4 boards."" :disgust:

 

[Kogan]

Cool man, I'll be able to SLI my new AGP GF 6800 with a GF 5200fx PCI on my old ass nforce2 motherboard.

Nah, that probably wouldn't be worth the effort

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: humey
Well very bad wording on their part with this > ""and the lack of the SLI bridge is how it should be on all nForce4 boards."" :disgust:

agreed...

back on topic...

I wonder if these drivers will enable SLI for PCI-E cards like the 6600 without the SLI connector, or do these cores not have the capability at all?

 

[Mullzy]

What's the bid deal with the presence of the "bridge" anyway? Board layout issues?

Sorry... been out of the loop for about 6 months. =)

 

[coomar]

Originally posted by: blckgrffn
As long as you have a NV board and have two true 8x slots, I don't think bandwidth will be a problem. I am thinking about buying another 6600 identical to mine right now and waiting for a nice SLI board at a reasonable price... I already am able to play everything @ 1280*1024 pretty well, including HL2 and D3, so this would be just a nice shot in the arm for my rig, not to mention fanless to boot! I am pumped

i don't think it will let 6600's use sli though, though it does open the door for someone else writing drivers that do

 

[aka1nas]

Is there any reason you could'nt buy a non-sli board with two x16 slots and plop two 6600Gts or 6800 based cards and buy the little bridge connector to hook them together and not lose performance? Or IOW, does the little switch thing on an SLI board do anything other than tell the driver you have a genuine SLI setup?

 

[SVT Cobra]

Nvidia will probably diasable non GT cards working like this i the new drivers...just like they did with people modding the ultra boards