Intel SLI

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Rufus

Newcomer
Surprised a thread hasn't popped up for this. I don't think this comes as much of a shock (it's been a long time coming), but Intel finally looks to have an SLI board:

http://theinq.net/default.aspx?article=40123

It's Gen2 PCIe (sigh, the tag says PCI-X x16, which obviously is nonsense) so we're talking next get GPU, nothing immediate (G90 is PCIe2?).
 
A bit of a misnomer since the very first boards used to demonstrate Nvidia's SLI was running an Intel Chipset.
 
Nvidia better have a really great chipset ready, because the prime reason to own an Nvidia-based Intel motherboard is about to disappear.

BTW, I am surprised that it took Intel so long to do something about the embarrassing fact that making the fastest possible Intel CPU+Intel Chipset system requires $800 worth of AMD hardware.
 
Isn't it reasonable to conclude that this is part of the deal that Intel and NVidia have struck?

Jawed
 
Geeforcer said:
Nvidia better have a really great chipset ready, because the prime reason to own an Nvidia-based Intel motherboard is about to disappear.
Click to expand...
NVIDIA's strategy for the Intel market is to reuse the single-chip southbridges they have for the AMD market, and couple them with a discrete northbridge. I don't know how that will change with Nehalem and CSI, however.

Anyway, the specifications you are seeing around for MCP72 are the same ones you'll see for future NVIDIA Intel chipsets, in terms of southbridge. Most 650i are currently based on the MCP51, while the ultra-high-end 680i variant was based on MCP55 but is sneakily shifting to MCP65 right now AFAIK.

The northbridges tend to be developed at NVIDIA Bangalore, though, and I really don't have any clue what's their roadmap there. I'd personally expect a northbridge refresh (with DDR3? Maybe, maybe not, who knows) before the end of the year, and probably with extra PCIe Gen2 lanes. This would imply that it will likely also be used with the memory controller disabled for redundancy with the AMD MCP72, in order to support 2x16 PCIe Gen2 SLI.

I'm surprised I'm not seeing any indication of MCP72 having native support for NAND though, since SB700 does. That does look like a pretty cool feature AMD (and Intel?) will support and that NVIDIA won't have, can't wait to see how that one turns out. I'm not a big fan of NAND HDDs or caching, but considering how cheap NAND is nwoadays, it certainly is fairly attractive anyway.
Jawed said:
Isn't it reasonable to conclude that this is part of the deal that Intel and NVidia have struck?
Click to expand...
Yeah, probably. :) I'd be surprised if it was just that though, because NVIDIA apparently got a lot out of the deal. I'd suspect an updated patent agreement was also part of the deal, so that Larrabee doesn't risk having IP problems.

Intel putting NVIDIA MCPs on their own motherboards is also an interesting factor, but that's really mutually beneficial imo. I'm sure Intel was ready (and forced) to pay a lot to get all the necessary patent protection though, so it wouldn't surprise me if there wasn't much more to it than that, because obviously they wouldn't have been able to get that from AMD otherwise.
 
I had to laugh a bit at Charlie's latest story on this....as he seems to think NVIDIA's chipset business is doomed due to Intel possibly having an SLI license. Has he forgotten that NVIDIA elected to give Intel this license? As a result, what company in their right mind would voluntarily concede a huge part of their revenue to another company unless it was a part of some larger strategy? Per usual, we have no solid info on what that strategy is...but it seems certain this is a very deliberate and calculated move on NVIDIA's part if this all proves to be true...
 
What I can gather from the story is that x38 may have SLI, and Charlie definitely dislikes Nvidia.

I don't think the death knell for Nvidia's chipset business has been sounded yet. I feel his confidence in that prediction is unfounded.

Granted, Nvidia's chipsets could slowly lose share until Nvidia stops. Whether it's in two years or twenty, Charlie can claim he was right.

If Nvidia's chipset volumes falter and it enters some niche status, then it will be "as good as dead".
 
3dilettante said:
...

If Nvidia's chipset volumes falter and it enters some niche status, then it will be "as good as dead".
Click to expand...

One thing is certain....NVIDIA's ability to offer an IGP for the Intel platform will definitely provide a significant amount of volume (albeit likely at lower margins).

I have to admit, this is definitely a strange and somewhat confusing move on both Intel and NVIDIA's part...NVIDIA's conceding their "secret sauce" on the enthusiast front and Intel conceding part of their "bread and butter" IGP segment...Factoring in everything we know, we can see any of the following happening:
  • Intel gradually concedes more chipset business to NVIDIA before finally granting the majority (if not all) chipset business to NVIDIA. Given the "risk" Intel is assuming during this time, they'll be granted "bonus extras" such as the SLI license...
  • NVIDIA backs out of discrete chipsets on Intel front and is given 100% of the IGP market (doubtful given FUSION-type upcoming designs - Larabee)
  • Intel merges with NVIDIA (possibly spinning a new "combined company" that is a subset of Intel...doubtful that Jsen-Hsun would allow NVIDIA name to die)
  • Intel buys NVIDIA
  • etc...who knows....lol
Here's something interesting to throw yet another curveball into the mix this morning...albeit loosely related...

What if someone like Dell or HP bought NVIDIA? Imagine if the only place you could buy the latest flagship NVIDIA card was with a Dell system......Revving the rumor mill even harder...imagine if AMD stopped producing an ultra hgih-end enthusiast part.....the only place to get a high-end card would be with an OEM system provider! "The horror..........the horror....." ;)
 
Things aren't exactly adding up here. Why would NVIDIA, which very rarely comments on rumors, take the time to deny that it was licensing SLI to Intel without that being the case?
 
NVidia's trying to play as if it holds all the cards, and that companies such as Intel bow down before it?

Jawed
 
So, let's look at this question from another perspective... Where's NVIDIA's high-end Intel northbridge (ala C55) refresh? I'd expect this to be released in Q4, so it is rather surprising that nothing leaked about it yet. Which might imply it simply doesn't exist.

My guess is that NVIDIA's strategy is to systematically couple single-chip IGPs (MCP78/9) in the high-end along with a single-chip southbridge (ala MCP72). So the low-end is MCP78/9, the mid-end is MCP72, and the high-end is MCP72+MCP78/9.

Eventually, they could probably integrate an IGP on the single-chip 'southbridge', and disable the IGP for redudancy on one of the other. Remember that this is in the Nehalem timeframe, where they wouldn't need a memory controller for Intel platforms either. Ideally, they will be able to use the exact same chips for both platforms then, but we'll see about that in due time...

So what am I *really* trying to say? That my guess is this decision is based around two things: a) NVIDIA wouldn't have anything to compete against X38 on the memory controller front in the necessary timeframe anyway. b) They think the lack of Hybrid SLI on future Intel high-end platforms will make their SLI support much less attractive. c) It leaves them the mid-end market for nForce-only SLI.

As for why NVIDIA would explicitly deny the whole thing, then... I am far from convinced Derek Perez would have access to that information in that timeframe. Either way, who knows exactly how he worded it, too. Maybe if we had his response verbatim, it would mean it was X38-only or something along these lines. Who knows.
 
Or Charlie, god forbid, is wrong.

I am definitely convinced that Derek had access to that information. It is a big deal for NVIDIA PR to comment on a rumor. They do it once in a blue moon. Think of how many rumors there are that they don't quash. Usually when they comment is has to do with a potential product defect that isn't true.

If I'm not mistaken, someone asked whether NVIDIA would license SLI to INtel at analyst day, and the answer was "no".
 
Well if the X28 can do Crossfire and Sli and if you bought one with DDR2 and DDR3 memory sockets then I think you would have a pretty flexible and longlasting base for a system and give you plenty of permutations for when "the price becomes right".

I've just bought a cheap 680LT based board because I have 2 x 7900GS but it might have been better to wait the X38.
 
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