NVIDIA SLI gets P55 green light

by Scott Bicheno on 10 August 2009, 14:34

Tags: Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), LucidLogix

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SLI move

A fun thing about the technology industry is that companies that are largely antagonistic towards each other usually have to get on with each other at some stage too.

One example of that is the announcement that most major motherboard manufacturers, including EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI and Intel itself, have licensed NVIDIA's multi-graphics card SLI technology for their upcoming motherboards based on Intel's P55 Express chipset, which will accommodate future Core i5 CPUs.

Back in February, Intel initiated legal action against NVIDIA claiming the chipset license agreement doesn't cover those made for CPUs with integrated memory controllers, such as Core i7. NVIDIA then counter-sued, essentially accusing Intel of anti-competitive behaviour.

How times change: "NVIDIA SLI technology is a perfect complement to the processing prowess of our new Core i7 and Intel DP55KG desktop board," said Clem Russo, VP and GM of Intel's client board division. "NVIDIA and Intel share a combined passion for furthering the PC as the definitive platform for gaming, and this combination will surely be attractive to anyone building or purchasing a brand new PC this fall."

This announcement means that SLI is now available on all platforms, although, with P55 boards generally only having two 8x lanes, you will still have to look to X58 and Core i7 for your three-way action.

 



HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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Reminds me of when AMD bought ATi, and Intel quietly discontined their advertising campagin for the D101GGC motherboard, because the marketing department came up with the tag line:

Intel, best with ATi.

Which of course would need to change to the following to reflect the purchase:

Intel, best with AMD.

I found a spec page for the board in question. I think that's the one…
Hexus
This announcement means that SLI is now available on all platforms, although, with P55 boards generally only having two 8x lanes, you will still have to look to X86 and Core i7 for your three-way action.

x86 = x58 ?
Lot of high-end Intel motherboards seem to offer CrossFire for FREE! How come? I thought ATi since owned by AMD wouldnt be happy with Intel.
OilSheikh
Lot of high-end Intel motherboards seem to offer CrossFire for FREE! How come? I thought ATi since owned by AMD wouldnt be happy with Intel.

Because AMD are in a minority market position and people would just go ‘oh well’ if they refused to provide it without charging.
This is great, hopefully soon nVidia will offer SLI for free!… or am i just dreaming?