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Intel X58: native SLI!
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Written by Marc Prieur
Published on August 28, 2008

URL: http://www.behardware.com/news/lire/28-08-2008/#9908

HardOCP has published a series of NVIDIA documents indicating that there will be native SLI support on the X58. For this to be a reality, X58 motherboard manufacturers will have to acquire a license and have their model certified by NVIDIA.

With 32 PCI-Express 2.0 lanes, the X58 will be capable of managing up to 4 ports in SLI which will therefore be cabled in x8. Therefore, the nForce 200 is not obligatory even if it enables offering four x16 ports; however, note that with each nForce 200 supporting two x16 ports and this chip itself being connected to the chipset in x16, the total memory bandwidth will remain identical.

Even if we would have liked if SLI were simply supported by all motherboards with an Intel chipset and this without a license or specific certification (as is the case with ATI and Crossfire X), it’s still a very good thing. Otherwise, it’s probable that a lack of enthusiasm on the part of manufacturers’ in integrating an nForce 200 chip only for SLI support isn’t totally unrelated to this action. NVIDIA couldn’t leave almost entire exclusivity to CrossFire on Intel’s new high end platform.