More SLI

[PatrickL]

According to SiS, the 756FX will also support two PCIe express graphics cards. In addition to supporting Nvidia’s SLI (scalable link interface) solution, SiS claims it is developing a part that will support ATI PCIe cards.

From here.

I already don't think there is a significant market for dual pcie-cards so i wonder why SIS will go thru the hassle to build a new proprietary technique for ATI cards on top of the Nvidia one.

 

[Tim]

I already don't think there is a significant market for dual pcie-cards so i wonder why SIS will go thru the hassle to build a new proprietary technique for ATI cards on top of the Nvidia one.

Maybe they could license the alienware tech.

 

[Rolf N]

"Me too". Even if it's only remotely useful, not having the feature would be a competitive disadvantage. SiS, with their current budget basement image, certainly needs more high-end exposure.

 

[jvd]

eh i think its a waste of time . But i guess more sli choices are good for the hand full of people (realtively speaking of course ) that would go for sli .

 

[MDolenc]

Doesn't this just mean that their boards will be equipped with two 16x PCI Express ports? Why would they have to specifically support NVIDIA SLI and ATI SLI?

 

[Nick]

I already don't think there is a significant market for dual pcie-cards...

Did everyone forget the success of Voodoo 2 SLI? :? In terms of performance, NVIDIA will be one generation ahead, and they already are ahead features-wise...

 

[Dave Baumann]

At present, I can't really see that a chipset vendor can support SLI for ATI since they will have to come up with a solution to control two boards in either an AFR method or need extra hardware to join two image back together, neither of which is the realm of a chipset vendor.

One of two possabilities - the statement shouldn't be read in relation to SLI but "to support ATI's PCIe cards fullstop" () or ATI has done some work on SLI and there has been some communication to other chipset vendors as to what they would prefer.

 

[Rolf N]

Doesn't this just mean that their boards will be equipped with two 16x PCI Express ports? Why would they have to specifically support NVIDIA SLI and ATI SLI?

It's not simply a matter of two PEG slots. You need extra logic to multicast data to both cards, so that they behave like a single card.

Otherwise you'd just have a dual-graphics card setup, much like what you can get with AGP card + PCI card today: you can drive more displays, but the cards operate separately. You can't combine them to get more performance on a single display.

 

[KimB]

Doesn't this just mean that their boards will be equipped with two 16x PCI Express ports? Why would they have to specifically support NVIDIA SLI and ATI SLI?

Well, you wouldn't need any special support for nVidia SLI, but ATI currently supports no form of SLI of their own, so they'd need some sort of interface abstraction layer to support SLI on ATI hardware.

 

[DemoCoder]

Actually, you don't need extra hardware logic. The device driver itself could take care of multicasting commands to both cards, and doing PCI-e read-back of the final frames, and combining them on one of the cards for output. The problem is, SiS, unless it has the source code for ATI's device drivers, can't really make their own AFR or SLI driver.

 

[SlmDnk]

Why not just make dual core GPUs??? 8)

 

[akira888]

Why not just make dual core GPUs??? 8)

Because heat is as bad of problem as it is now on high end GPUs without doubling the die area of the chip?

Besides I'm not sure "dual core" is really a meaningful term here.

 

[trinibwoy]

Why not just make dual core GPUs??? 8)

Bandwidth requirements? Each core would need full speed 256bit access to memory. You're gonna fit all that on one card while keeping cooling needs manageable and cost lower than 2x the cost of a single card?

 

[5150 Joker]

According to SiS, the 756FX will also support two PCIe express graphics cards. In addition to supporting Nvidia’s SLI (scalable link interface) solution, SiS claims it is developing a part that will support ATI PCIe cards.

From here.

I already don't think there is a significant market for dual pcie-cards so i wonder why SIS will go thru the hassle to build a new proprietary technique for ATI cards on top of the Nvidia one.

Are you kidding? I'd jump on this motherboard if I could SLI two top end R520s.

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

2 PCI-E have more useage then SLI. Having 2 PCI-E cards to drive 4 or more displays is a big plus for workstations running CAD and programs like it.

 

[V3]

So can we expect B3D to review some SLI solution ?

 

[trinibwoy]

So can we expect B3D to review some SLI solution ?

If they don't they should drop the 'Beyond' from 'Beyond3D'

 

[DegustatoR]

I don't see any references to ATI's SLI there. It's just saying that this chipset will support ATI's PCIE cards. Maybe it has something to do with PCI-SIG still not approving ATI's PCIE interface?

 

[psurge]

I thought that ATI had already implemented somekind of chip to chip interface... couldn't you just supply board connectors, hook up a "master" board to the PCI-E slot and stick the other ATI board(s) wherever?

 

[KimB]

I don't see any references to ATI's SLI there. It's just saying that this chipset will support ATI's PCIE cards. Maybe it has something to do with PCI-SIG still not approving ATI's PCIE interface?

No, that wouldn't be it, and is almost certainly false anyway. Hell, it was reported on the Inquirer. Why would you believe it?