SLI/CrossfireX motherboards

bobkn said:

Ginmardo said:

Hey guys,

I noticed that the most SLI-ready motherboards are only intel CPU compatible.
Are there any AMD SLI motherboards out there or can I just set up SLI on a AMD CrossfireX-ready motherboard?

I really haven't seen any motherboards with both "AMD" and "SLI" in the same sentence.

nVidia requires a license to sell a motherboard that supports SLI. Some of the early boards based on the X58 chipset (Socket 1366) were sold without SLI licenses. I'm not sure that any vendor are now selling X58 boards without SLI. There are also Socket 1156 and 155 boards that support SLI. I believe they all support CrossfireX as well. (AMD/ATI requires no license.)

nVidia made boards for AMD CPUs that supported SLI. I suppose that they would do CrossfireX as well, unless nVidia blocked it in their motherboard drivers. I don't know whether nVidia has sold any SLI licenses for boards with AMD-made chipsets, or whether there are any actual hardware incompatibilities.

It's a funny market. Intel has blocked nVidia from making chipsets for Sockets 1366, 1156, and 1155. (nVidia was big in Socket 775.) nVidia may have been the largest maker of chipsets for AMD CPUs, before AMD bought ATI. AMD doesn't prevent using nVidia graphics cards with their motherboards, but I don't know about SLI.

If you want some additional entertaiment, web search on the Lucid Hydra chip. (Permits pairing graphics of different manufacture.)

"AMD doesn't prevent using nVidia graphics cards with their motherboards, but I don't know about SLI."
So I can have a CrossfireX motherboard and equip them with dual nVidia GPU cards?

As far as I know, one has to take into consideration the motherboards' chipset. If these are nVidia chipset, only nVidia GPU's can be mounted on the motherboard no matter the CPU type. Or if the mobo chipset is from AMD, you can only run AMD/ATI GPU's on it.

Any thoughts?

Ginmardo said:

As far as I know, one has to take into consideration the motherboards' chipset. If these are nVidia chipset, only nVidia GPU's can be mounted on the motherboard no matter the CPU type. Or if the mobo chipset is from AMD, you can only run AMD/ATI GPU's on it.

Any thoughts?

I think that's not true. It may even invite antitrust action.

Any board will run a single graphics card from the competition. SLI or CrossfireX is another matter.