Monday, July 4th 2016
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Doesn't Support SLI? Reference PCB Difficult to Mod
Here are some more technical pictures of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 reference-design board, which reveals quite a few features about the card. The biggest revelation is that the card completely lacks SLI bridge fingers. We wonder if NVIDIA has innovated a bridge-less SLI for this card, although we find it unlikely given the amount of efforts the company put into marketing the SLI HB bridge, and the reason SLI needs a bridge in the first place. Meanwhile, the Radeon RX 480 supports 4-way CrossFireX.
Next up, the PCB is shorter than the card itself, and NVIDIA's unique new reference-cooler makes the card about 50% longer than its PCB. NVIDIA listened to feedback about shorter PCBs pushing power connectors towards the middle of the cards; and innovated a unique design, in which the card's sole 6-pin PCIe power connector is located where you want it (towards the end), and internal high-current wires are soldered to the PCB. Neato? Think again. What if you want to change the cooler, or maybe use a water-block? Prepare to deal with six insulated wires sticking out of somewhere in the PCB, and running into that PCIe power receptacle. The rear PCB shot also seems to confirm the 192-bit memory bus, given how some memory chip pads are blanked out by lacking SMT components needed by the memory chip.
Source:
PurePC.pl
Next up, the PCB is shorter than the card itself, and NVIDIA's unique new reference-cooler makes the card about 50% longer than its PCB. NVIDIA listened to feedback about shorter PCBs pushing power connectors towards the middle of the cards; and innovated a unique design, in which the card's sole 6-pin PCIe power connector is located where you want it (towards the end), and internal high-current wires are soldered to the PCB. Neato? Think again. What if you want to change the cooler, or maybe use a water-block? Prepare to deal with six insulated wires sticking out of somewhere in the PCB, and running into that PCIe power receptacle. The rear PCB shot also seems to confirm the 192-bit memory bus, given how some memory chip pads are blanked out by lacking SMT components needed by the memory chip.
83 Comments on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Doesn't Support SLI? Reference PCB Difficult to Mod
1) Nvidia making another great card that delivers what is expected but at a slightly higher price point?
or
2) Nvidia making another product that drops a feature to make it less enticing to buy over the bigger cards?
or
3) Nvidia making an awful product that delivers nothing because people actually believe that drivel?
or
what?
GP106 is a card aimed at hitting the RX480 audience without it risking Nvidia's own GTX 1070 crowd. Before making vague posts you could do better to wait and see, then lay into them or not.
As far as I have witnessed Nvidia doing what Nvidia do is what's kept them on top. Why on earth would they change that?
Fanboys simply rant and moan and bitch. Consumers purchase the solutions that fit them the best and it's up to the companies to sell that product. Fanboys also rarely buy the stuff they bitch about.
As far as the GTX 1060 is concerned, I'll be surprised if it it's more appealing than the RX480 once the AMD AIB cards are released (and reviewed). If it were my market slot I'd be awaiting on reviews of AIB's from both camps. Nvidia have priced way too high for my ethics bar this time on the 1080 front and if they do the same on the 1060 I think it'll backfire, as long as it's the same ball park as the RX 480. What will truly hamper the 1060 will be DX12 performance as you can see the 1070 suffer a bit on that front compared to the 1080.
But no man, get a grip of yourself, fanboys don't make Nvidia the top dog. Ruthless business skills and delivering products that achieve their stated PR is.
Then again, I've never had the slightest interest in SLI so I really don't care.
Edit: Also, I thought this is the era of DX12 and Vulkan providing multi-GPU support and that we were moving away from vendor specific solutions (though Nvidia has taken the time to design a new SLI bridge for where they could milk a few bucks more).
3.0 x8 is enough for dual GPU, its just not enough for triple GPUS. We've known this for awhile.
The rumor is only the 3GB model cant SLI, the 6GB model can. nvidia is probably trying to avoid any vRAM outrages like with the 970. SLI 1060s would be terribly held back by 3GB of vRAM, and you know people would be complaining that nvidia screwedup again. So they simply removed the option altogether to prevent the future complaining and baseless claims of gimping on the fourms
Either way, meh I think its a bad decision if they all did not support it but if its just the lower version I don't see an issue with that.
gotta show your gpus that you really love them....
They got caught once and nothing happened, why not keep doing it?