AfterDawn: News

Intel licenses SLI-technology from Nvidia

Intel has licensed Scalable Link Interface (SLI) technology from Nvidia for use with its new Nehalem processors and chipsets. Intel Nehalem is the successor to the Core microarchitecture, and uses a 45-nanometer manufacturing method. The first processor released using the architecture is Intel's Core i7.

Intel has licensed the SLI technology from Nvidia in order to add improved support for multiple graphics processors to its Nehalem processors and chipsets in high-end gaming machines. The licensing however, does not include next-generation products being developed by Intel that incorporate a CPU and graphics technology on a single chip.



The company has also been improving the graphics capabilities in its chipsets, cutting into Nvidia's market in PCs. In response, Nvidia is pushing its own chipsets to compete with Intel. The SLI technology, which enables a motherboard to support as many as three Nvidia Geforce cards, has also been recently licensed by motherboard manufacturers including Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte and MSI.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 12 Aug 2009 19:45

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• 2 comments

• DXR88

  i don't understand why GFX card company are siding with CPU companies.
  
  if i buy an amd motherboard i should get the choice to choose crossfire or SLI
  
  this whole Intel/Nvidia and AMD/ATI thing is getting old.

  13.8.2009 03:14 #1

• KillerBug

  I think you missunderstand something...
  You can get an Intel mainboard that supports both, with SLI or Crossfire. You can also get an AMD mainboard that does the same.
  
  AMD&ATI are the same company, and this gives them a big head-start in the all-in-one chip market that is just around the corner (both AMD and intel now designing multi-core chips with mid-high end graphics built in). Intel knows that they cannot compete with ATI in graphics (Intel's latest and greatest video is not as good as a 3-year-old ATI laptop video chip). Their only solution was to band together with Nvidia. Nvidia also benifits from this, as they will recieve a lot of technologies from intel's CPU devision (ATI took off a few months after AMD bought them for the same reason).
  

  Current System: Windows 7 RC1, DFI M2RS, ATI 3870HD, Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600, Athlon 9950, 6GB Corsair DDR2, 3TB RAID 5, 750GB Raid-1, 500GB RAID-1, 640GB RAID-0 Boot, 3ware 9690SA, Adaptec 2610SA, Adaptec 1430SA, Intel Gigabit NIC (PCI), LG 20X Lightscribe DVDR, Coolmax 1200w Power Supply, Logitech G15(first edition), Logitech G5(Second Edition), modified dell poweredge 1800 server case.
  Overall configuration: Perfect chair, two 22" widescreens overhead, Logitech 5.1 Audio

  13.8.2009 03:57 #2