I turn SLI-Memory off on my mobo for a higher cpu oc. I'm of the belief that
a higher cpu speed gives more performance than lower memory latencies/ram
speed with DDR2 memory. I did buy PC8500 memory so I could run at faster
memory speeds but the performance differences btwn 800 and 1066 is minimal.

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro It's not just a complete rumor though... there are bits and peices that have been leaked, such as boards with SLI support shown at Computex! Intel gets a desktop SLI licence from Nvidia Even more surprising after doing some deep digging..you can have your cake and eat it too..SLI and X-fire support on one board!?!?!?! Arrival of X38 boards - Page 2 - VR-Zone IT & Lifestyle Forum! Now one has to read between the lines here...it shows "Official" X-Fire logos, but not SLI's official Logo, merely dual 16x NVIDIA support, the NDA"s are supposed to be lifted in August, so we shall see then for sure one way or another. NVIDIA looks to have finally broke down and gave them an official liscence to do it, or that first pic would not exist...they want to sell lots of high end video cards, and keep people from going to ATI/Crossfire...but doing so may hurt sales of there own motherboard chipsets. More below: X38 will do SLI Nvidia denies SLI to Intel Nvidia seen cosying up to Intel What Nvidia got from Intel The moment ATI and AMD got in to bed together, Intel/NVIDIA SLI was a done deal...it was just a matter of figuring out who got the top and who got stuck on the bottom at first. I think they finally agreed on standing up and facing each other, now the only thing left to do is for them to publicly admit they did the dirty deed Other X-38 news: Intel to push two new technologies with X38 chipset DickNervous...on other minor thing, just to set the record straight for ya' SLI "Memory" technology is a bit more than it appears, it is not the simple explination you gave. I have that on my Stryker Intel board..and what it does when enabled is it allows aggressive pre-set OC profiles for the memory. When enabled in the bios using OCZ Reaper PC9200, it sets the ram at 5-5-5-15 with 2.3volts, and operates at 1150MHZ, wich is quite a bit tighter timings than if left at default (5-6-6-6-18 at DDR 800 or 1066..I will have to double check the default settings again) This is prety much the same as what you will be finding on the X-38 under Intel's new marketing name of "Extreme Memory and Extreme Tuning Utility" previously mentioned. Now..is it a big deal? Not to someone who allready knows how to OC, but for someone who is "Nervous" about playing with ram settings to find a stable OC, it might be

Nice play on words there. On the SLI Memory, perhaps I did over-simplify it a bit, but it is still basically more marketing than technical. It means that the RM was tested at a particular timing/fsb setting and "blessed" to work at that speed, which is beyond what it would do on a mobo with a different chipset.

As for the X38, I only continue to say rumored 'cause it is not official. Yes, there were boards at Computex that hinted at SLI support for the X38. Yes, it would make sense for nVidia to license SLI to Intel for use in Intel Chipsets. But until it is official I don't want to bet the farm on it. I saw most of those articles you linked today while doing some more research. I also saw ones that said product will be in retail channels anywhere between end of August to October, so I guess we will have to wait a little while and see.

Awesome, thanks for the heads-up on that Necro. It's about damn time there was a platform that would let you use both ATi and nVidia dual graphics; after all, am I not correct in thinking most of the processing lies with the drivers?

reflux, there is more to it than drivers. Both Crossfire and SLI have some board-level requirements, but my understanding is that they are very similar and they do not conflict, meaning that oen board *could* support both, if built properly.

The biggest hurdle is in the BIOS and chipset programming (at least that is what my logic tells me, I could be completely wrong). The actual drivers should be the same as they are now since to the OS it will simply look like an SLI or Crossfire system.

Didn't someone make a board from SLI to Crossfire, or the other way already. Yes it would take BIOS configuring, and some sort of hardware difference, but i thought i saw a mod on a board that supported both.

Quote: Originally Posted by s1ugh34d Didn't someone make a board from SLI to Crossfire, or the other way already. Yes it would take BIOS configuring, and some sort of hardware difference, but i thought i saw a mod on a board that supported both.

Yeah, I vaguely remember that. I think nvidia killed it in driver update though.

acorrding to some rumors on the internet
FOXCONN has SLI compatible drivers for their board and there the only company
people saying it will "accidentally" get leaked or hacked for sli or crossfire option on the X38
this could put foxconn in a lot of trouble from nvidia, and probably every companies bios update will block it (if this magic driver actually exist that is ;P )
but im not a fan of FOXCONN, waiting for the ASUS P5E X38 DELUXE, which sould be soon
the first boards should arrive late august or sep.

but back on topic, I think you should get a P5K DELUXE, no need for DDR3 atm imo, way to much $$$
the board is incredible though, excellent features and over clocking features, and if your a ATI fan (me ) you got pretty good crossfire option at 16x4 on the P35 (X38 will feature 16x16 crossfire, finally on an intel platform)

Quote: Originally Posted by DickNervous reflux, there is more to it than drivers. Both Crossfire and SLI have some board-level requirements, but my understanding is that they are very similar and they do not conflict, meaning that oen board *could* support both, if built properly. The biggest hurdle is in the BIOS and chipset programming (at least that is what my logic tells me, I could be completely wrong). The actual drivers should be the same as they are now since to the OS it will simply look like an SLI or Crossfire system.

975X boards support SLI... They did in one set of drivers and people have been making hacked drivers ever since. They work fine, nothing todo with BIOS as the board is crossfire ready.

Yeah i cant wait to splash my student loan on an X38 board

yummy...

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux Someone can put me down for a 9800GTS this November.

November... So I'm going to have to wait until May next year for a new ATi...

I should be getting my signing bonus right about then.... if there is enough left after buying gifts for the kids and wife perhaps I will buy myself one....

Quote: Originally Posted by Zaltan November... So I'm going to have to wait until May next year for a new ATi...

the 2900 fiasco was mainly due to delays, the merger, problems with GDDR4 shortage on the 2900xtx,(never was released anyway lul) ect...
they where supposed to come out together

the 2950 is supposed to come out a little after the release of the 9800 or so Ive heard...

If anyone sees anything about X38 boards being released or sees them on sale anywhere, please let me know. I look everyday, and find nothing

Quote: Originally Posted by DickNervous If anyone sees anything about X38 boards being released or sees them on sale anywhere, please let me know. I look everyday, and find nothing

hopefully this will hold you over:

DailyTech - Intel Prepares X38 Express Launch

also

Real story on Intel X38 and SLI graphics :: TweakTown

Quote: Originally Posted by Joe88 hopefully this will hold you over: DailyTech - Intel Prepares X38 Express Launch also Real story on Intel X38 and SLI graphics :: TweakTown

*drool*

Okay, so it looks like early Sept, thats 3 weeks or so. Hmmmm, I really wanted to get this rig done when I have the week off at the end of the month between jobs. Damn.

Good thing I'm not worried about SLI, though it is good to know that the board could handle it, once someone writes drivers for it, and we all know that *WILL* happen.

Decisions, decisions...

Question. So It wouldn't be a bad investment to get a P35 board now? With the hopes that SLI drivers will be coded eventually by someone? I've been looking at a ASUS P5K-E matched with a E6750 and a 8800GTS 320mb.

Thoughts?

Quote: Originally Posted by WDoG Question. So It wouldn't be a bad investment to get a P35 board now? With the hopes that SLI drivers will be coded eventually by someone? I've been looking at a ASUS P5K-E matched with a E6750 and a 8800GTS 320mb. Thoughts?

The P35 and X38 are different chipsets, so I am not sure if that is true. It would be nice if it was...

the p35 operates at 16x4
I dont think it would be compatible...

ASUS gets ready to ship their X38 P5E3 boards

DailyTech - ASUS Prepares X38 Express Motherboard