[digitalwanderer]

Is any mobo out there SLI & Xfire certified?

[Davros]

arnt the i5 boards cos the pci-e controller is on the cpu ?
i think some x58 boards are as well

[pcchen]

Originally Posted by digitalwanderer

Is any mobo out there SLI & Xfire certified?

Some X58 boards are both SLI and CrossFireX certified, such as ASUS Rampage II Extreme, or Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5. Currently there are no CrossFireX certified P55 boards, but many P55 boards are claimed to be able to support CrossFireX.

[ChrisRay]

So support and certification are different on the AMD camp? For Nvidia you have to be certified for them to enable SLI.

This is my P55 motherboard and it claims Quad Crossfire support and is supported for 3 Way SLI Way.

http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_I...1kF&templete=2

[pcchen]

To my understanding, AMD does not "require" a motherboard to be CrossFireX certified to be able to enable CrossFireX. However, NVIDIA requires a motherboard to be SLI certified for its driver to enable SLI.

[ChrisRay]

Originally Posted by pcchen

To my understanding, AMD does not "require" a motherboard to be CrossFireX certified to be able to enable CrossFireX. However, NVIDIA requires a motherboard to be SLI certified for its driver to enable SLI.

That is how I understood it. Thanks.

[Silent_Buddha]

Originally Posted by pcchen

Some X58 boards are both SLI and CrossFireX certified, such as ASUS Rampage II Extreme, or Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5. Currently there are no CrossFireX certified P55 boards, but many P55 boards are claimed to be able to support CrossFireX.

From what I see, anything with 2xPCIE x16 physical slots on Intel platform will work with Crossfire.

For SLI MB makers have to pay 5-15 USD per MB to "allow" them to SLI Nvidia cards.

At least that's how it is for any of the Intel Chipsets.

[Edit] Just saw your followup...

Regards,
SB

[caffeinated]

Laptops are where it is at. That is the one market that no one, especially PC vendors, dare market add-in video solutions.

Sooner or later, it is going to be time to rethink that strategy. Intel is rabidly against it. AMD has only flirted with it. USB 3.0 and new LCD technologies may change it. You aren't going to be able to push different sized things that do the same thing they did last year forever. That is essentially what the latest crop of notebooks has taught us - they do the same thing they did last year, they are just package differently and still have awful graphics. Unless you bought a behemoth.

We are moving away from behemoths. I have 3 myself, and I won't buy another one. It's a dumb investment at this point. Now we need something thinner, lighter and with longer battery life that does the same thing, with decent graphics. Intel is not innovating that. They should, or a third party is going to have to take it into their own hands to develop an add-in of some sort that can easily add graphics to a laptop, and not with some wonky third party display. On the LCD, in the laptop, as a mobile solution. No one wants to do it because it might cut into new laptop sales. It's cutting into them already, because people aren't buying huge new laptops that cost a fortune. It's just forcing makers to create cheaper ones.

[Groo The Wanderer]

I was referring more to peripherals and the like. Since Nvidia managed to come up with a new technology that enabled SLI to work on Intel chipsets, a lot of the older certifications have gone out the window.

If you look what happened with PSUs about 2 years ago, you had three examples of the same exact PSU, one with SLI certs, one with Crossfire certs, and another with none. Other than the color of the paint and the box, there was no difference between them, but certain SKUs seemed to cost less. I wonder why?

I am not sure if those peripherals are still certified, while it was a dumb idea then designed to milk money from the stupid, it is now still a dumb idea designed to milk money from the stupid.

I think the whole era of 'licensing' SLI is pretty much over, it had legs as long as NV had the performance advantage, and there was a need for more GPU power. Neither are really true any more. Unless Fermi is a killer card that destroys the thing ATI has up it's sleeve, the next round of SLI protection money will be pretty hard to drag out of OEMs.

-Charlie

[Sxotty]

BTW on the intel nvidia merger talk
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/te...p.html?_r=1&hp

Armed with a hybrid law that spans consumer protection and antitrust concerns, the agency said it was seeking to prevent Intel from using its dominance in the market for microprocessors, the main control chips in personal computers, to squelch competition in video graphics chips and certain chip-related software. The graphics-chip market is currently quite competitive, with Intel facing off against Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices...

As a remedy, the commission is seeking an order that would prevent Intel from using threats, bundled prices, or other offers to encourage exclusive deals, hamper competition, or unfairly manipulate the prices of its microprocessors or graphics chips.

Sounds a bit familiar eh... and yes I am talking about more than one thing it is familiar with

[Silent_Buddha]

Amazingly enough there's also been a new suit filed accusing Intel of preditory practices in the GPU market. Stating that intels practices with promoting their integrated GPUs was hurting rival Nvidia's efforts with turning GPUs into general computer (GPGPU) devices. And that Intels dominant graphics chip marketshare (again Integrated) was directly hurting Nvidia's GPGPU efforts.

Absolutely amazing...

Regards,
SB

[Sxotty]

SB who brought the suit? There is so much legal wrangling it gets confusing. The link I posted is the FTC itself getting upset, but I imagine someone may have been whispering sweet nothings in their ears (and obviously intel was one of those with a bullhorn doing the whispering as well)

[Silent_Buddha]

It's the FTC also... Anandtech has a bit of a blurb on it that goes into details about what the suit entails.

Regards,
SB

[trinibwoy]

Originally Posted by Silent_Buddha

Absolutely amazing...

Is it that amazing when you look at what's happening with ION? OEMs and consumers obviously want it but Intel is doing its best to make it an unattractive option while peddling their own mediocrity.

[Davros]

bundled prices, or other offers to encourage exclusive deals, hamper competition

isnt nv hampering competition with its we wont certify your psu if its xfire certified ?

[Florin]

Originally Posted by Davros

isnt nv hampering competition with its we wont certify your psu if its xfire certified ?

This is the FTC. These people concern themselves with real issues like antitrust law. They're not the moral relativism police.

[Sxotty]

Originally Posted by Davros

isnt nv hampering competition with its we wont certify your psu if its xfire certified ?

Do you know what a monopoly is?

[thop]

So NVIDIA was at the SIGGRAPH Asia conference this week. Plenty of slides in the article.

http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs...18_336947.html

[2senile]

Originally Posted by Davros

isnt nv hampering competition with its we wont certify your psu if its xfire certified ?

Nothing to stop the manufacturer putting a sticker on their PSU saying "Guaranteed to work in all multi-GPU configerations".

[argor]

Nvidia GTS360M is a renamed GT240
http://www.semiaccurate.com/2009/12/...renamed-gt240/

[Silent_Buddha]

Wow that has GOT to be a good chip. Not only is the GTS360M a generation up on the GT240 (3rd gen instead of 2nd) it's also a whole speed category higher (x6x instead of x4x) AND it's a GTS and not just a plain GT. This thing MUST absolutely blow the doors off the GT240.

Well at least they let people know it's a mobile part... :P

Regards,
SB

[neliz]

It's on the level of selling G92 as a gt200mobile.

But kids, wait! CES is around the door, while everybody is waiting for Furby to be announced (it won't) nvidia has a slew of new cards!

Yes, expect the impossible from nvidia, they will launch so many new products you won't believe your eyes.

First, they will downclock a handful of cards and introduce a completely new "Green" product line (guess how much they cost compared to the original products) and then, the big bang of the show Will be a revelatION.

Get tissues ready.

[trinibwoy]

Lol, how ever would you entertain yourself if Nvidia ever shaped up?

With respect to the GTS360M I wish people would just accept it as Nvidia's standard operating procedure. The pretend outrage about the renaming is getting far more annoying than the renaming itself. It's a victimless crime after all (i.e the people who actually care what graphics card is in their laptop are going to know the deal).

[Sontin]

Originally Posted by neliz

It's on the level of selling G92 as a gt200mobile.

Or selling Juniper as 58xx mobile.

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Originally Posted by trinibwoy

Lol, how ever would you entertain yourself if Nvidia ever shaped up?

With respect to the GTS360M I wish people would just accept it as Nvidia's standard operating procedure. The pretend outrage about the renaming is getting far more annoying than the renaming itself. It's a victimless crime after all (i.e the people who actually care what graphics card is in their laptop are going to know the deal).

I don't see why it should be accepted just because Nvidia won't stop doing it. It is misleading, and designed to market old products to those who think they are getting something new. It's like trying to excuse a con-man who's selling old stuff in new boxes by saying "everyone who's getting fooled deserves it".

It's generally considered bad form in lots of industries, and I don't see why Nvidia should get a clean pass on it. It's just another symptom of Nvidia's inability to execute, but that doesn't stop them shifting that problem to the customer in the form of "fake new products". It's a shame you're asking for us to accept that as standard operating procedure.