Wednesday, August 20th 2008
ASUS X58-based ROG Implementation will Support both SLI and Crossfire
The functionality of NVIDIA SLI and ATI Crossfire on the same motherboard isn't something new, we saw Intel's high-end D5400XS "Skulltrail" support it, where it used BR-04 chips made by NVIDIA to support the SLI functionality. Not much has changed with NVIDIA's plans on cashing in on the first wave of Nehalem LGA-1366 processor even though it's not ready with a native chipset for the new Intel chip, the nForce 200 (BR-04) chips will be used on some motherboards based on the Intel X58 chipset, thereby making the motherboard support both NVIDIA SLI technology. ASUS will release a high-end motherboard targeted at the gaming and overclocking community branded under the Republic of Gamers (ROG) banner. This board, according to a recent presentation by ASUS supports SLI and Crossfire.
Derek Yu, responsible for the R.O.G. series, told NordicHardware that the new NF200 is already performing adequately in most cases, and above expectations in other. He also revealed that the NF200 (BR-04) chip is hot (temperature-wise), like so many other chips form NVIDIA, and that ASUS has had to look at a variety of cooling solutions to keep the temperatures at bay.
Source:
NordicHardware
Derek Yu, responsible for the R.O.G. series, told NordicHardware that the new NF200 is already performing adequately in most cases, and above expectations in other. He also revealed that the NF200 (BR-04) chip is hot (temperature-wise), like so many other chips form NVIDIA, and that ASUS has had to look at a variety of cooling solutions to keep the temperatures at bay.
16 Comments on ASUS X58-based ROG Implementation will Support both SLI and Crossfire
I like how they used the comic book characters to represent.
It will be interesting to see how they solve their heat problems this time. Anyone remember the faulty A8N-SLI fans that went bad and killed board functionality. Free replacement though : )
Another dodgey unnneeded component on the motherboard to generate more heat and hinder high overclocks, I was excited to see the Northbridge would be a thing of the past but now this.
Nvidia need to stop these pathetic tricks to keep there revenue flowing, they know we dont need the NF200 but they will assure us we do and we pay a premium for it. I am really getting sick and tired of this.
www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/multimonVista.mspx
"Multimonitor Support in WDDM
On Windows Vista, older XPDM drivers still work and the multi-monitor behavior with XPDM drivers hasn't changed, because the operating system uses the legacy graphics stack.
However, the Windows Vista Display Driver Model (WDDM) brings fundamental changes to the management of multiple graphics adapters and external displays. This includes a new restriction, because WDDM drivers do not support "heterogeneous multi-adapter" multi-monitor implementations. Specifically:
• All graphics adapters in a system must use the same display driver model. That is, all of them should either be running XPDM or WDDM. The driver models are mutually exclusive, and Windows Vista does not allow the simultaneous loading of both an XPDM driver and a WDDM driver.
If a system has one graphics adapter with a XPDM driver and another with a WDDM driver, then Windows Vista will choose the POST device, which is the one with VGA resources. This is commonly referred to as the "VGA adapter."
• If multiple graphics adapters are present in a system, all of them must use the same WDDM driver. If there are two graphics adapters with WDDM drivers from two different manufacturers, then Windows will disable one of them. The VGA adapter will be enabled, and the second device will be disabled.
Notice that XPDM drivers still support heterogeneous multi-adapter as they did in Windows XP. A user who has such a configuration working fine in Windows XP will encounter a problem when upgrading to Windows Vista. An external monitor connected to one of the graphics adapters will have no video signal, because it is disabled. An error message will appear on system boot, as described later in this article.
The solution for this problem could be as follows:
• A user could force the installation of a XPDM driver for each of these devices, and therefore get heterogeneous multi-adapter multi-monitor to work as in Windows XP.
-Or-
• The user could change the graphics hardware configuration by choosing multiple graphics adapters that use the same WDDM driver. Graphics adapters from the same ASIC family generally have the same graphics driver. In late 2006, each of the major graphics vendors had a single WDDM driver for all supported WDDM graphics adapters. Please consult the graphics vendor's Web site for details on their driver support."
this board is going to be very popular just because it does both platforms.