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*REMINDER* Not all Intel X58 motherboards support SLI

AuDioFreaK39

AuDioFreaK39

Senior member
Not all Intel X58 motherboards support SLI

Don't be fooled

Back in late August, Nvidia decided to give Intel and its partners a chance to implement SLI on X58 boards. Nvidia offered two options, hardware SLI support with its Nforce 200 chip, or software support for a nominal fee. Additionally, some sources suggested that Nvidia charges mainboard manufacturers around $5 per unit for its SLI licenses.

It has been known for several months now that most X58 boards support both Nvidia SLI and ATi CrossFire technologies. According to a recent report, however, one Gigabyte user over at the Guru3D Forums has reported that the GA-EX58-DS4 he purchased does not support SLI but only supports CrossFire.



No Self Promotion


esquared
Anandtech Senior Moderator
 
It was my understanding from the start that it would be left up to the mobo manufacturers to decide which models would support one or both. Buyers need to look closely at what they are buying when it comes to selecting a X58 mobo.
 
Uh.... gigabyte doesn't even claim that it does support SLI.
so I don't see what the issue is.
that user should of actually looked at the spec's.
 
Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Uh.... gigabyte doesn't even claim that it does support SLI.
so I don't see what the issue is.
that user should of actually looked at the spec's.
Click to expand...

Just a reminder.
 
Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Uh.... gigabyte doesn't even claim that it does support SLI.
so I don't see what the issue is.
that user should of actually looked at the spec's.
Click to expand...

The UD5 does support tri- SLI and Crossfire - have a look at item 5 of the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 spec:

5. Scalable ability to both 3 way CrossFireX and 3 way SLI support for ultimate graphics performance

I'm probably going to buy this MB and another X2.
 
Originally posted by: daw123
Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Uh.... gigabyte doesn't even claim that it does support SLI.
so I don't see what the issue is.
that user should of actually looked at the spec's.
Click to expand...

The UD5 does support tri- SLI and Crossfire - have a look at item 5 of the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 spec:

5. Scalable ability to both 3 way CrossFireX and 3 way SLI support for ultimate graphics performance

I'm probably going to buy this MB and another X2.
Click to expand...

Yes, but this wasn't about that mobo. It was about GA-EX58-DS4 which doesn't support SLI nor did it claim to.
 
Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Originally posted by: daw123
Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Uh.... gigabyte doesn't even claim that it does support SLI.
so I don't see what the issue is.
that user should of actually looked at the spec's.
Click to expand...

The UD5 does support tri- SLI and Crossfire - have a look at item 5 of the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 spec:

5. Scalable ability to both 3 way CrossFireX and 3 way SLI support for ultimate graphics performance

I'm probably going to buy this MB and another X2.
Click to expand...

Yes, but this wasn't about that mobo. It was about GA-EX58-DS4 which doesn't support SLI nor did it claim to.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I thought you were talking about WaitingForNehalem's MB, which is the UD5. And you are correct that it doesn't claim to support SLI - it only supports Crossfire.
 
Even if NVIDIA has the fastest card on the market (at the moment of my purchase), I've decided not to go with them anymore. The requirement for the nforce chip is nothing more than a Dongle approach for them to nickel and dime people. There is no good reason that cards can't function just fine in a 16x +16x +8x.

I used a dremel tool to notch out the ends of my (2) 1x PCIe slots, and (2) 4x slots. I put 3 16x cards in my Dell XPS420 and they work just fine. I'm sure I'm suffering a very minor performance loss, but I sure don't see it in the 3dmark numbers compared to people who have pure 16x slots.

I was relieved to see a picture of a new motherboard last week that finally features removed ends on the (less than 16x) PCIe slots. It's just plain rediculous that PCIe spec allows you to put a 4x | 8x | 16x PCIe card in a 1x and all the motherboard makers are using the sealed ends preventing it. I put a 9800GT in my 1x slot just to act as a physix card and it works great!
 
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