NVIDIA Brings SLI Technology to Intel Bloomfield

[Foxery]

This just popped up on my news ticker, and I know it was a hot topic here recently

By PR Newswire
Last Updated: 07/14 09:00AM

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PC enthusiasts, manufacturers, and developers around the world have a lot to be excited about today with NVIDIA Corporation's announcement that it will be bringing the power and performance of its SLI(R) multi-GPU technology to Intel's upcoming line of Bloomfield CPUs. With this winning combination, consumers will have an SLI platform designed for current and future graphics-intensive games and applications; these platforms can be powered by one, two, or even three NVIDIA GeForce(R) GPUs, including the new, award-winning GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 GPUs.

New SLI motherboards will feature the NVIDIA nForce(R) 200 SLI processor, Intel Bloomfield CPUs, and Tylersburg (X58) chipsets. The nForce 200 SLI processor features patented SLI technology for graphics bandwidth management and multi-GPU peer-to-peer communications, both required to optimize graphics performance.

 

[AmberClad]

Damn, you just beat me to it .

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: Foxery
This just popped up on my news ticker, and I know it was a hot topic here recently

By PR Newswire
Last Updated: 07/14 09:00AM

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PC enthusiasts, manufacturers, and developers around the world have a lot to be excited about today with NVIDIA Corporation's announcement that it will be bringing the power and performance of its SLI(R) multi-GPU technology to Intel's upcoming line of Bloomfield CPUs. With this winning combination, consumers will have an SLI platform designed for current and future graphics-intensive games and applications; these platforms can be powered by one, two, or even three NVIDIA GeForce(R) GPUs, including the new, award-winning GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 GPUs.

New SLI motherboards will feature the NVIDIA nForce(R) 200 SLI processor, Intel Bloomfield CPUs, and Tylersburg (X58) chipsets. The nForce 200 SLI processor features patented SLI technology for graphics bandwidth management and multi-GPU peer-to-peer communications, both required to optimize graphics performance.

It will come at a premium, if in fact it materializes at all.... have heard this about every Core Logic Chipset since 975x

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Mr Fox

Originally posted by: Foxery
This just popped up on my news ticker, and I know it was a hot topic here recently

By PR Newswire
Last Updated: 07/14 09:00AM

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PC enthusiasts, manufacturers, and developers around the world have a lot to be excited about today with NVIDIA Corporation's announcement that it will be bringing the power and performance of its SLI(R) multi-GPU technology to Intel's upcoming line of Bloomfield CPUs. With this winning combination, consumers will have an SLI platform designed for current and future graphics-intensive games and applications; these platforms can be powered by one, two, or even three NVIDIA GeForce(R) GPUs, including the new, award-winning GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 GPUs.

New SLI motherboards will feature the NVIDIA nForce(R) 200 SLI processor, Intel Bloomfield CPUs, and Tylersburg (X58) chipsets. The nForce 200 SLI processor features patented SLI technology for graphics bandwidth management and multi-GPU peer-to-peer communications, both required to optimize graphics performance.

It will come at a premium, if in fact it materializes at all.... have heard this about every Core Logic Chipset since 975x

As does all the latest technology PC components. You want the best/fastest/latest? You pay for it. Everyone knows this. However, there is no pricing yet for these product.
SLI on Nehalem was something a lot of people were saying would never happen. I'm not sure why. Rumours I guess.

 

[Extelleron]

Good that we are finally going to see SLI on an Intel chipset, and seemingly nVidia is giving up on building Intel motherboards, finally. Once Intel chipsets have SLI... the only reason to buy an nVidia board is gone. Unless of course SLI on X58 is going to be crippled compared to what it would be on an nVidia board. In that case it's just dirty dealing by nVidia as usual.

It still pisses me off that they are forcing Intel to use the power hungry nForce 200 chipset for no reason whatsoever. You don't see a special ATI "Crossfire chip" on Intel boards to make Crossfire work. There is no need for such a chip other than cluttering up the motherboard and increasing power consumption.

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: Mr Fox

Originally posted by: Foxery
This just popped up on my news ticker, and I know it was a hot topic here recently

By PR Newswire
Last Updated: 07/14 09:00AM

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PC enthusiasts, manufacturers, and developers around the world have a lot to be excited about today with NVIDIA Corporation's announcement that it will be bringing the power and performance of its SLI(R) multi-GPU technology to Intel's upcoming line of Bloomfield CPUs. With this winning combination, consumers will have an SLI platform designed for current and future graphics-intensive games and applications; these platforms can be powered by one, two, or even three NVIDIA GeForce(R) GPUs, including the new, award-winning GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 GPUs.

New SLI motherboards will feature the NVIDIA nForce(R) 200 SLI processor, Intel Bloomfield CPUs, and Tylersburg (X58) chipsets. The nForce 200 SLI processor features patented SLI technology for graphics bandwidth management and multi-GPU peer-to-peer communications, both required to optimize graphics performance.

It will come at a premium, if in fact it materializes at all.... have heard this about every Core Logic Chipset since 975x

As does all the latest technology PC components. You want the best/fastest/latest? You pay for it. Everyone knows this. However, there is no pricing yet for these product.
SLI on Nehalem was something a lot of people were saying would never happen. I'm not sure why. Rumours I guess.

The MCP is $30.00 wholesale so it will be proportionate but inflated by the Partners that chose to build that Bill of Materials.

Skull trail was a joke... requiring Skt 771 FBDIMMS etc.etc.etc. and then many have compatibility issues on top...

All those "Premiums" don't add-up.

All because Grand Nagus Huang can't play well with others.....

Well the Galaxy is getting pretty tough out there... sounds like profits will be down... fer awhile....

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: Extelleron
It still pisses me off that they are forcing Intel to use the power hungry nForce 200 chipset for no reason whatsoever. You don't see a special ATI "Crossfire chip" on Intel boards to make Crossfire work. There is no need for such a chip other than cluttering up the motherboard and increasing power consumption.

Yes, but does Intel pay anything to AMD to use the CrossFire license?

Making the board manufacturers buy a nForce 200 chipset might be a way to recoup the losses that would result from fewer end users buying an Nvidia board.

Just a theory anyways.

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: Extelleron
Good that we are finally going to see SLI on an Intel chipset, and seemingly nVidia is giving up on building Intel motherboards, finally. Once Intel chipsets have SLI... the only reason to buy an nVidia board is gone. Unless of course SLI on X58 is going to be crippled compared to what it would be on an nVidia board. In that case it's just dirty dealing by nVidia as usual.

It still pisses me off that they are forcing Intel to use the power hungry nForce 200 chipset for no reason whatsoever. You don't see a special ATI "Crossfire chip" on Intel boards to make Crossfire work. There is no need for such a chip other than cluttering up the motherboard and increasing power consumption.

I for one welcome any Intel chipset based motherboard supporting both SLI and Crossfire. However, I will not pay Skulltrail type pricing for the luxury. Really, it would need to be below $250 for me to even consider switching motherboards. These $300+ motherboards for SLI are just ridiculous.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Extelleron
Good that we are finally going to see SLI on an Intel chipset, and seemingly nVidia is giving up on building Intel motherboards, finally. Once Intel chipsets have SLI... the only reason to buy an nVidia board is gone. Unless of course SLI on X58 is going to be crippled compared to what it would be on an nVidia board. In that case it's just dirty dealing by nVidia as usual.

It still pisses me off that they are forcing Intel to use the power hungry nForce 200 chipset for no reason whatsoever. You don't see a special ATI "Crossfire chip" on Intel boards to make Crossfire work. There is no need for such a chip other than cluttering up the motherboard and increasing power consumption.

Well, apparently Intel wanted SLI support on their mainboards, else this product would not have come to pass. Utilization of the 200 chipset just might be a way for Nvidia to protect their technology. When you're dealing with Intel, I can't say I blame them.

In your post here, you list a lot of "could be" tidbits without any backup data yet. It's much too early for these kinds of speculations. Such as:

Nvidia is giving up on building Intel motherboards
SLI on X58 will be crippled
Dirty dealing by Nvidia (And we havent even seen a spec of a bench yet).
Only reason to buy an Nvidia board is gone? (I have 3 SLI mobos that have yet to give me any problems. Overclocking is decent, but then again, I'm not an o/c enthusiast).

So, without further ado, I suggest you wait and see how things go before making these kinds of claims. Hey, for all you know, the 200 chipset could have undergone a die shrink itself. I don't know. But that's just it, we don't know. Wait and see bud.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Mr Fox

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: Mr Fox

Originally posted by: Foxery
This just popped up on my news ticker, and I know it was a hot topic here recently

By PR Newswire
Last Updated: 07/14 09:00AM

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PC enthusiasts, manufacturers, and developers around the world have a lot to be excited about today with NVIDIA Corporation's announcement that it will be bringing the power and performance of its SLI(R) multi-GPU technology to Intel's upcoming line of Bloomfield CPUs. With this winning combination, consumers will have an SLI platform designed for current and future graphics-intensive games and applications; these platforms can be powered by one, two, or even three NVIDIA GeForce(R) GPUs, including the new, award-winning GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 GPUs.

New SLI motherboards will feature the NVIDIA nForce(R) 200 SLI processor, Intel Bloomfield CPUs, and Tylersburg (X58) chipsets. The nForce 200 SLI processor features patented SLI technology for graphics bandwidth management and multi-GPU peer-to-peer communications, both required to optimize graphics performance.

It will come at a premium, if in fact it materializes at all.... have heard this about every Core Logic Chipset since 975x

As does all the latest technology PC components. You want the best/fastest/latest? You pay for it. Everyone knows this. However, there is no pricing yet for these product.
SLI on Nehalem was something a lot of people were saying would never happen. I'm not sure why. Rumours I guess.

The MCP is $30.00 wholesale so it will be proportionate but inflated by the Partners that chose to build that Bill of Materials.

Skull trail was a joke... requiring Skt 771 FBDIMMS etc.etc.etc. and then many have compatibility issues on top...

All those "Premiums" don't add-up.

All because Grand Nagus Huang can't play well with others.....

Well the Galaxy is getting pretty tough out there... sounds like profits will be down... fer awhile....

Ok, so what does "then" have to do with, "now" or more exact, the "future"?
You know these will be pricey when first launched, as is all latest tech (oops, you're not going to turn me into a broken record for fear you are not hearing me are you?) ;

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: Mr Fox

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: Mr Fox

Originally posted by: Foxery
This just popped up on my news ticker, and I know it was a hot topic here recently

By PR Newswire
Last Updated: 07/14 09:00AM

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PC enthusiasts, manufacturers, and developers around the world have a lot to be excited about today with NVIDIA Corporation's announcement that it will be bringing the power and performance of its SLI(R) multi-GPU technology to Intel's upcoming line of Bloomfield CPUs. With this winning combination, consumers will have an SLI platform designed for current and future graphics-intensive games and applications; these platforms can be powered by one, two, or even three NVIDIA GeForce(R) GPUs, including the new, award-winning GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 GPUs.

New SLI motherboards will feature the NVIDIA nForce(R) 200 SLI processor, Intel Bloomfield CPUs, and Tylersburg (X58) chipsets. The nForce 200 SLI processor features patented SLI technology for graphics bandwidth management and multi-GPU peer-to-peer communications, both required to optimize graphics performance.

It will come at a premium, if in fact it materializes at all.... have heard this about every Core Logic Chipset since 975x

As does all the latest technology PC components. You want the best/fastest/latest? You pay for it. Everyone knows this. However, there is no pricing yet for these product.
SLI on Nehalem was something a lot of people were saying would never happen. I'm not sure why. Rumours I guess.

The MCP is $30.00 wholesale so it will be proportionate but inflated by the Partners that chose to build that Bill of Materials.

Skull trail was a joke... requiring Skt 771 FBDIMMS etc.etc.etc. and then many have compatibility issues on top...

All those "Premiums" don't add-up.

All because Grand Nagus Huang can't play well with others.....

Well the Galaxy is getting pretty tough out there... sounds like profits will be down... fer awhile....

Ok, so what does "then" have to do with, "now" or more exact, the "future"?
You know these will be pricey when first launched, as is all latest tech (oops, you're not going to turn me into a broken record for fear you are not hearing me are you?) ;

Never Keys.. I'm one of the people that is glad you are here !!

I just hope that the Partners work out the little issues, before dumping it upon the Market !!

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Mr Fox




Never Keys.. I'm one of the people that is glad you are here !!

I just hope that the Partners work out the little issues, before dumping it upon the Market !!

Thanks for that!

And I share your sentiment. We all want issue free goods to be sure.

 

[Toonces]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Ok, so what does "then" have to do with, "now" or more exact, the "future"?
You know these will be pricey when first launched, as is all latest tech (oops, you're not going to turn me into a broken record for fear you are not hearing me are you?) ;

"There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee -- that says, fool me once, shame on -- shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again." Text

Yeah, like those 4850's and 4870's that sure were pricey at launch, eh?

People should be skeptical based on Intel's history with Nvidia and SLI. If they come out with great motherboards at good prices no one will be complaining, but until then we only have past performances to guide us.

 

[tuteja1986]

So Intel and Nvidia negotiate out of brutal court case.

Nvidia gets Nehalem license and Intel gets SLI.

 

[Foxery]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986
So Intel and Nvidia negotiate out of brutal court case.

Nvidia gets Nehalem license and Intel gets SLI.

Er, no they don't. Hexus updated their story later this morning to say that it's a one-way street right now. nVidia gave Intel the ability to add SLI to their own boards, and got..... only the ability to keep selling 2 video cards to gamers.

edit: And of course, none of this relates to AMD platforms at all.

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Ok, so what does "then" have to do with, "now" or more exact, the "future"?

"But when will then be now?"
"Soon!"
(Spaceballs)

 

[SunnyD]

Ironically, not one motherboard vendor at Computex has a single X58 board with SLI present, let alone even planned.

 

[Nemesis 1]

Talk about justic . NV sticks Intel skulltrail with that stupid heat sink chip. and now NV has to use it . or unlock sli. Good for intel . Still NO QPI . Can you imagine the added cost for the manufatorors of routing and stuff + the added cost of the chip and power consumption. NV is getting exactly what the gave. nothing.

With cheaper Top of the line ATI cards who really cares about it anyway . one card is enough . The 4870x2. is the only way to go for awhile. Not only that these highend setup seem to perform really will on AMD platiforms. AT High res.

 

[AmberClad]

Here's the official Nvidia press release.

From the sounds of it and also what isn't mentioned in the press release, I'm not sure there's much to be celebrating -- NV still doesn't get a QPI license and Intel still doesn't get a SLI license that lets them have SLI on X58 without the extra nForce 200 chip. Bah.

 

[Nemesis 1]

No amber

The article you linked says exactly this, The only way sli works on X58 is with the chip . Intel won this round. Gave NV exactly back in kind what NV gave intel .

The pairing of the NVIDIA nForce® 200 SLI MCP with Intel?s new Bloomfield CPU and Tylersburg core logic chipset will deliver NVIDIA 3-way SLI technology for an unmatched PC gaming experience, providing up to a 2.8× performance boost over traditional single graphics card platforms. When playing the most cutting-edge games, including current titles such as Crysis and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, 3-way SLI technology lets gamers ratchet up the resolution to 2500 × 1600, while turning on all of the tasty eye candy, including high-dynamic range lighting, motion blur, and realistic environmental effects.

 

[taltamir]

notice that they aren't licensing it to intel to include in their chipset, they are allowing the inclusing of the nforce 200 SLI bridge.

So it will be like skulltrail, with the south bridge handling single card / crossfire, and with a second chip call the nforce 200 sli bridge sitting on there chugging power, making heat, and taking space...
They really need to agree on one standard multi-gpu motherboard interface... it will solve so many problems.

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: taltamir
notice that they aren't licensing it to intel to include in their chipset, they are allowing the inclusing of the nforce 200 SLI bridge.

So it will be like skulltrail, with the south bridge handling single card / crossfire, and with a second chip call the nforce 200 sli bridge sitting on there chugging power, making heat, and taking space...
They really need to agree on one standard multi-gpu motherboard interface... it will solve so many problems.

Yes exactly. That's why I was grumbling. I don't think Nemesis understood the point I was getting at. Because you need that extra chip, which adds to the cost of the boards that support it.

I want SLI and Crossfire, I want it at no additional cost, and I don't want an extra chip on the board just to support it, especially when CrossFire doesn't require it.

 

[toslat]

Whichever way you cut it, as long as there is an extra chip to be added to get SLI, those boards will always be more expensive than the xfire counterpart. The deal is highly in favor of Intel as they can check and balance either AMD or Nvidia by using the the other, pending when (and if) they have their own competitive GPU.

I think nvidia was pressured into the deal by the success of the 4800 series, cos if they failed to get a foothold in the Nehalem platform, they would be in some trouble. At least this move keeps them in the multi-GPU game and gives them an opening to throw back some punches of their own.

Without the QPI license, Nvidia would have been limited to competing in the low end to mainstream segment, as it seems they would need to fight fire with fire at the high end.

Wonder how licensing would go with AMD if their 45nm are competitive, they might also want to squeeze nvidia out in the chipset market.

 

[thilanliyan]

Apparently NF200 will cost $30 which is a lot for a simple bridge chip. These mobos are gonna be damned expensive.

I'm sure if they wanted to that it could be enabled in the drivers...but then they wouldn't make any money so they gotta have the "necessary" SLI chip.

 

[idiotekniQues]

Originally posted by: AmberClad

Originally posted by: taltamir
notice that they aren't licensing it to intel to include in their chipset, they are allowing the inclusing of the nforce 200 SLI bridge.

So it will be like skulltrail, with the south bridge handling single card / crossfire, and with a second chip call the nforce 200 sli bridge sitting on there chugging power, making heat, and taking space...
They really need to agree on one standard multi-gpu motherboard interface... it will solve so many problems.

Yes exactly. That's why I was grumbling. I don't think Nemesis understood the point I was getting at. Because you need that extra chip, which adds to the cost of the boards that support it.

I want SLI and Crossfire, I want it at no additional cost, and I don't want an extra chip on the board just to support it, especially when CrossFire doesn't require it.

yes that does make sense to me.

 

[lopri]

I really don't know who to blame here. But the first blame goes to Intel, from my point of view. Have you guys seen the X58 diagram? What does X58 look like?

Yeah, a PCI Express switch. They add some proprietary stuff there (my guess: 98% to prevent others from making boards for Intel CPUs, and maybe 2% for the 'official' reasoning like performance, etc.) give it a nice name and tada.. a new north bridge and the birth of QuickPath Interconnect. And of course the most important, 'license'. It's such a shame that there is no public/governmal entity that is technically savvy to control things like this.

Then there is NV which can't give up the SLI 'license' under any circumstances. No one believes that Intel chipset is not capable of running SLI and worse yet, NV always overcharge for their SLI chipsets. Then happens NV chipsets' fragile nature, which didn't really show in the past thanks to AMD CPUs having north bridges built-in, exposing itself in a catastrophic fashion. In the end, it's the end-users who suffered.

Now we're going to have motherboards with two chips that can do the same things, just because of these two companies' vested interest. It's tragic.