Intel X58 to feature NVIDIA SLI
Thrax
🐌Austin, TX Icrontian
A bevy of recent activity has confirmed that NVIDIA's SLI technology will be ready to roll without gimmicks on Intel's upcoming X58 chipset. While previous announcements indicated that the NF200 add-in chip was required to activate SLI on the X58, lukewarm reception from motherboard manufacturers appears to have nixed the deal.
The X58 will be served to the market with twin x16 PCI Express lanes, a configuration that permits full-speed PCIe 2.0 SLI. Additional cards will divide the bandwidth down to x8/x8/x16 in the case of Tri-SLI, or x8/x8/x8/x8 in the case of Quad-SLI. As the maligned NF200 chip enables four X16 PCIe links on the X58, the chip may yet find a home on the highest-end motherboards from the likes of Asus or DFI.
This sudden shift in strategy for NVIDIA may signify a downturn in the firm's influence within the IT industry. Once a bellwether for enthusiast chipsets and graphics cards, NVIDIA has previously commanded complete authority to dictate the terms of SLI implementations. Long abstaining from any association with an increasingly-threatening Intel, NVIDIA has sustained SLI by leveraging its potential on AMD platforms.
AMD's acquisition of ATi and the subsequent evolution of CrossFire has made it a potent technology with rapid gains in mind and market share. With both Intel and AMD platforms boasting CrossFire capabilities, NVIDIA finds itself strictly married to the ailing AMD camp which has steadily declined to a distant second place. Amidst brewing concerns over NVIDIA's 8000 and 9000-series GPUs and a crisis in the mobile space, investors wonder if NVIDIA's failure to leverage the NF200 as planned is a sign of an eroded market position. While the firm's shares have rebounded slightly since Wednesday, a downturn of over thirty cents suggests dissent.
The X58 will be served to the market with twin x16 PCI Express lanes, a configuration that permits full-speed PCIe 2.0 SLI. Additional cards will divide the bandwidth down to x8/x8/x16 in the case of Tri-SLI, or x8/x8/x8/x8 in the case of Quad-SLI. As the maligned NF200 chip enables four X16 PCIe links on the X58, the chip may yet find a home on the highest-end motherboards from the likes of Asus or DFI.
This sudden shift in strategy for NVIDIA may signify a downturn in the firm's influence within the IT industry. Once a bellwether for enthusiast chipsets and graphics cards, NVIDIA has previously commanded complete authority to dictate the terms of SLI implementations. Long abstaining from any association with an increasingly-threatening Intel, NVIDIA has sustained SLI by leveraging its potential on AMD platforms.
AMD's acquisition of ATi and the subsequent evolution of CrossFire has made it a potent technology with rapid gains in mind and market share. With both Intel and AMD platforms boasting CrossFire capabilities, NVIDIA finds itself strictly married to the ailing AMD camp which has steadily declined to a distant second place. Amidst brewing concerns over NVIDIA's 8000 and 9000-series GPUs and a crisis in the mobile space, investors wonder if NVIDIA's failure to leverage the NF200 as planned is a sign of an eroded market position. While the firm's shares have rebounded slightly since Wednesday, a downturn of over thirty cents suggests dissent.
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