ASRock Enables CrossFire on nForce 740i SLI Motherboard

btarunr · Mar 4, 2009

ATI's CrossFire multi-GPU technology started off on the Intel platform with ATI's own brand of chipset before AMD acquired the company. AMD/ATI then allowed CrossFire and the succeeding CrossFireX standards to be supported by Intel chipsets. The only current chipset platform that doesn't support CrossFire is the NVIDIA nForce series, which as ASRock demonstrated during the ongoing CeBIT event, breaks the dogma.

ASRock devised a BIOS for its nForce 740i based N7AD-SLI motherboard that enables support for CrossFire. AMD's Catalyst drivers were able to detect the motherboard as a qualified platform and enable CrossFire between two installed ATI Radeon accelerators. The setup was able to show performance increments during a 3DMark06 session. ASRock is reportedly working out similar BIOS firmware for several other motherboards made by it, and wants to enable CrossFire, CrossFireX for all its nForce motherboards.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

MilkyWay · Mar 4, 2009

legal minefield!!!

nice idea tho sadly i have an ati chipset board

phanbuey · Mar 4, 2009

now if they could only enable SLI on the 790GX

EaGle1337 · Mar 4, 2009

how the heck did they do this

Error 404 · Mar 4, 2009

EaGle1337 said:
how the heck did they do this

Witchcraft.

thebeephaha · Mar 4, 2009

Asrock has more talent than most give them credit.

wolf2009 · Mar 4, 2009

thebeephaha said:
Asrock has more talent than most give them credit.

agreed, nice innovation

Error 404 · Mar 4, 2009

thebeephaha said:
Asrock has more talent than most give them credit.

Agreed, they managed to stick PCI-E and AGP together on a 775 motherboard. It wasn't very well done IMO, as the PCI-E x16 slot was only x4 electrically, and who would use an AGP card when they could get a PCI-E card much cheaper?

This, however, looks much more worth it, although I wouldn't be surprised if nVidia gets pissed off by it.

ShadowFold · Mar 4, 2009

Nvidia doesn't make motherboards anymore, why would they?

Mussels · Mar 4, 2009

Error 404 said:
Agreed, they managed to stick PCI-E and AGP together on a 775 motherboard. It wasn't very well done IMO, as the PCI-E x16 slot was only x4 electrically, and who would use an AGP card when they could get a PCI-E card much cheaper?

This, however, looks much more worth it, although I wouldn't be surprised if nVidia gets pissed off by it.

later boards had AGP and PCI-E at 16x. only the first model was 4x.

Dont forget asrock had a 939 board with an AM2 addon board as well, they've made some really cool stuff. I think they were one of the first with onboard wifi as well.

For quite some time its been known that its only BIOS registers that enable/disable crossfire, the legal minefield is what stopped it... if ATI supports this it will get stopped, but if they remain quiet its asrock who gets yelled at. and asrock may not have to stop.

cdawall · Mar 4, 2009

asrock does some crazy shit lol

Error 404 · Mar 4, 2009

ShadowFold said:
Nvidia doesn't make motherboards anymore, why would they?

Because motherboards = $$ for nVidia.

Wow @ Asrock making AM2 drop in motherboard, thats pretty clever.

hat · Mar 4, 2009

Error 404 said:
Agreed, they managed to stick PCI-E and AGP together on a 775 motherboard. It wasn't very well done IMO, as the PCI-E x16 slot was only x4 electrically, and who would use an AGP card when they could get a PCI-E card much cheaper?

This, however, looks much more worth it, although I wouldn't be surprised if nVidia gets pissed off by it.

I was considering getting the dualcore vsta because I was considering moving on up from a 478 platform to 775 but I couldn't afford a new graphics card and ddr2 memory that went along with it. however I fell short on even that but my uncle got me this kickass rig which I has evolved quite a bit. the only 2 origional components are the cpu and motherboard, everything else has changed at least once, including the case

btarunr · Mar 4, 2009

Error 404 said:
Wow @ Asrock making AM2 drop in motherboard, thats pretty clever.

ECS once made an LGA-775 motherboard (before Core 2 came along), that also supported socket 939 through a riser.

eidairaman1 · Mar 4, 2009

whats funny is This is an Intel Chipset, So what about the NV AMD Chipset?

Hayder_Master · Mar 4, 2009

nice , i want see some day can crossfire ATI card with nvidia card

steelkane · Mar 4, 2009

smart move by asrock.

legends84 · Mar 4, 2009

wow... really great.. hope my amd 780a could CF as well..hahaha

DrPepper · Mar 4, 2009

Asrock are really talented when it comes to this kinda stuff. With this kind of innovation I'm surprised they aren't market leaders. Also this is just like the alienware motherboards that support Xfire and SLI.

js01 · Mar 4, 2009

I have an asrock board and i'm very impressed by it for the price i paid $110 it has plenty of features including crossfire.

[I.R.A]_FBi · Mar 4, 2009

I usually hate on assrock, but for this, major proppings ... wished there was a thanks button for asrock

DrPepper · Mar 4, 2009

[I.R.A]_FBi said:
I usually hate on assrock, but for this, major proppings ... wished there was a thanks button for asrock

I wished the all the computer companies toured these websites and used our feedback. Asrock would get props for this.

Mussels · Mar 4, 2009

DrPepper said:
Asrock are really talented when it comes to this kinda stuff. With this kind of innovation I'm surprised they aren't market leaders. Also this is just like the alienware motherboards that support Xfire and SLI.

asrock are a division of asus. so in a way, they are market leaders.

asrock get the budget boards and the weird frankensteins - if an idea takes off, they move it to asus boards.

PCpraiser100 · Mar 4, 2009

Who think ASRock could be threatened for a lawsuit?

DrPepper · Mar 4, 2009

Mussels said:
asrock are a division of asus. so in a way, they are market leaders.

asrock get the budget boards and the weird frankensteins - if an idea takes off, they move it to asus boards.

I know but you would think they had a greater market share and reputation with this kinda stuff.

I doubt they will be sued because this seems like a demonstration but it would be cool if they did make a production version.

System Name	RBMK-1000
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling	DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory	2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage	Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s)	BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case	Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s)	ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse	ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard	Gamdias Hermes E2
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	stress-less
Processor	9800X3D @ 5.42GHZ
Motherboard	MSI PRO B650M-A Wifi
Cooling	Thermalright Phantom Spirit EVO
Memory	64GB DDR5 6000 CL30-36-36-76
Video Card(s)	RTX 4090 FE
Storage	2TB WD SN850, 4TB WD SN850X
Display(s)	Alienware 32" 4k 240hz OLED
Case	Jonsbo Z20
Audio Device(s)	Yes
Power Supply	Corsair SF750
Mouse	DeathadderV2 X Hyperspeed
Keyboard	65% HE Keyboard
Software	Windows 11
Benchmark Scores	They're pretty good, nothing crazy.

System Name	Fishy's Computer
Processor	Intel e8400 3.0 ghz
Motherboard	Asus p5k-e
Cooling	Air
Memory	4 gb Mushkin hp2
Video Card(s)	XFX 9800GTX Artifact Edition
Storage	640 gig Western Digital, 200 gig Samsung
Display(s)	LG W2242P
Case	Cooler Master 690
Audio Device(s)	Onboard ftw!
Power Supply	Corsair hx 520
Software	what ever i run.
Benchmark Scores	none yet

System Name	QUACK
Processor	Intel i7 2600K (3.4 GHz, 8 threads)
Motherboard	Asus P67P8-V3
Cooling	Xigmatek Balder 120mm (4x120,1x140mm case)
Memory	Patriot 2 Viper Sector 5, 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 G1 4GB
Storage	1x Samsung EVO 850 (500GB) SSD, 1x Fujitsu 256GB SSD
Display(s)	Dell Ultrasharp U2311h 23" (so sexy)
Case	CoolerMaster Gladiator RC-600
Audio Device(s)	Onboard 5.1
Power Supply	Antec 850w with yellow racing stripes
Software	Windows 7 HP 64 bit

System Name	0BL1V10N
Processor	Intel Core i7 11700K @ 5.1GHz all-core turbo
Motherboard	ASRock Z590 Taichi
Cooling	Cooler Master MasterLiquid 360 (with stock CM fans), 12x Pccooler Moonlight Series ARGB 120mm fans
Memory	(4x16GB) 64GB Mushkin Redline Lumina 3600MHz 16-19-19-39 XMP
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 4090 SUPRIM LIQUID 24G (not using stock fans) (+150MHz core, +1000MHz memory)
Storage	Western Digital Black SN850X 2TB Gen4 NVMe
Display(s)	1x Alienware AW3821DW (3840x1600@144Hz), 2x Dell SE2717H (1080p@75Hz)
Case	Phanteks Enthoo 719 Anthracite Grey
Audio Device(s)	Schiit Modius + Drop THX AAA 789 + Custom Planar Magnetic Headphones
Power Supply	Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1200W (12VHPWR)
Mouse	Logitech G502 X Plus
Keyboard	Too many custom mechanical builds to list...
Software	Windows 10 Pro 22H2

ASRock Enables CrossFire on nForce 740i SLI Motherboard

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

MilkyWay

phanbuey

EaGle1337

Error 404

thebeephaha

wolf2009

Guest

Error 404

ShadowFold

New Member

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator

cdawall

where the hell are my stars

Error 404

hat

Enthusiast

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman

Hayder_Master

steelkane

legends84

DrPepper

The Doctor is in the house

js01

[I.R.A]_FBi

DrPepper

The Doctor is in the house

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator

PCpraiser100

New Member

DrPepper

The Doctor is in the house

System Name	The ShadowFold Draconis (Ordering soon)
Processor	AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8ghz
Motherboard	ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3 AMD 870
Cooling	Stock
Memory	Kingston ValueRAM 4GB DDR3-1333
Video Card(s)	XFX ATi Radeon HD 5850 1gb
Storage	Western Digital 640gb
Display(s)	Acer 21.5" 5ms Full HD 1920x1080P
Case	Antec Nine-Hundred
Audio Device(s)	Onboard + Creative "Fatal1ty" Headset
Power Supply	Antec Earthwatts 650w
Software	Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Benchmark Scores	-❶-❸-❸-❼-

System Name	Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load)
Processor	Ryzen R7 5800x3D (Undervolted, 4.45GHz all core)
Motherboard	Asus x570-F (BIOS Modded)
Cooling	Alphacool Apex UV - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora + EK Quantum ARGB 3090 w/ active backplate
Memory	2x32GB DDR4 3600 Corsair Vengeance RGB @3866 C18-22-22-22-42 TRFC704 (1.4V Hynix MJR - SoC 1.15V)
Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
Storage	2TB WD SN850 NVME + 1TB Sasmsung 970 Pro NVME + 1TB Intel 6000P NVME USB 3.2
Display(s)	Phillips 32 32M1N5800A (4k144), LG 32" (4K60) \| Gigabyte G32QC (2k165) \| Phillips 328m6fjrmb (2K144)
Case	Fractal Design R6
Audio Device(s)	Logitech G560 \| Corsair Void pro RGB \|Blue Yeti mic
Power Supply	Fractal Ion+ 2 860W (Platinum) (This thing is God-tier. Silent and TINY)
Mouse	Logitech G Pro wireless + Steelseries Prisma XL
Keyboard	Razer Huntsman TE ( Sexy white keycaps)
VR HMD	Oculus Rift S + Quest 2
Software	Windows 11 pro x64 (Yes, it's genuinely a good OS) OpenRGB - ditch the branded bloatware!
Benchmark Scores	Nyooom.

System Name	All the cores
Processor	2990WX
Motherboard	Asrock X399M
Cooling	CPU-XSPC RayStorm Neo, 2x240mm+360mm, D5PWM+140mL, GPU-2x360mm, 2xbyski, D4+D5+100mL
Memory	4x16GB G.Skill 3600
Video Card(s)	(2) EVGA SC BLACK 1080Ti's
Storage	2x Samsung SM951 512GB, Samsung PM961 512GB
Display(s)	Dell UP2414Q 3840X2160@60hz
Case	Caselabs Mercury S5+pedestal
Audio Device(s)	Fischer HA-02->Fischer FA-002W High edition/FA-003/Jubilate/FA-011 depending on my mood
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime 1200w
Mouse	Thermaltake Theron, Steam controller
Keyboard	Keychron K8
Software	W10P

System Name	Starlifter :: Dragonfly
Processor	i7 2600k 4.4GHz :: i5 10400
Motherboard	ASUS P8P67 Pro :: ASUS Prime H570-Plus
Cooling	Cryorig M9 :: Stock
Memory	4x4GB DDR3 2133 :: 2x8GB DDR4 2400
Video Card(s)	PNY GTX1070 :: Integrated UHD 630
Storage	Crucial MX500 1TB, 2x1TB Seagate RAID 0 :: Mushkin Enhanced 60GB SSD, 3x4TB Seagate HDD RAID5
Display(s)	Onn 165hz 1080p :: Acer 1080p
Case	Antec SOHO 1030B :: Old White Full Tower
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro - Bose Companion 2 Series III :: None
Power Supply	FSP Hydro GE 550w :: EVGA Supernova 550
Software	Windows 10 Pro - Plex Server on Dragonfly
Benchmark Scores	>9000

System Name	PCGOD
Processor	AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard	Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling	Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory	16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage	Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s)	NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case	AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s)	Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply	Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse	Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard	Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software	Windows 7 Pro 64

System Name	MASTER
Processor	Core i7 3930k run at 4.4ghz
Motherboard	Asus Rampage IV extreme
Cooling	Corsair H100i
Memory	4x4G kingston hyperx beast 2400mhz
Video Card(s)	2X EVGA GTX680
Storage	2X Crusial M4 256g raid0, 1TbWD g, 2x500 WD B
Display(s)	Samsung 27' 1080P LED 3D monitior 2ms
Case	CoolerMaster Chosmos II
Audio Device(s)	Creative sound blaster X-FI Titanum champion,Creative speakers 7.1 T7900
Power Supply	Corsair 1200i, Logitch G500 Mouse, headset Corsair vengeance 1500
Software	Win7 64bit Ultimate
Benchmark Scores	3d mark 2011: testing

System Name	Stealth 2 Duo Turbine
Processor	Intel e6850 @ 3.8ghz
Motherboard	Asus Striker Extreme
Cooling	CoolerMaster V8 Modded With 2 white LED's & 100CFM fan
Memory	OCZ DDR2 1066_ SLI Black-4GB
Video Card(s)	2xMSI 8800GT"s SLI
Storage	<<HDD For OS>> 2x150GB_Western Digital Raptor_Raid 0. <<HDD For Storage>> 3 x 1TB
Display(s)	ACER B273HU 27" LCD 2048x1152
Case	Apex SuperCase_Custom 7 month Build
Audio Device(s)	Striker Extreme Add-In Card HD-Audio
Power Supply	EnerMax INFINITI 720watt
Software	SE7VEN ULTIMATE 64bit
Benchmark Scores	3DMark01=NTTA, 3Dmark06=NTTA 3Dmark_Vantage=NTTA, Core Temp v0.99.5=28C

System Name	KXa DrakeN
Processor	Intel Core i7 3770k
Motherboard	Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z Z68 1155
Cooling	NZXT Kraken X60
Memory	8GB Ripjaw-X Red 1866mhz
Video Card(s)	2X ASUS GTX780 DCUII OC
Storage	Crucial M4 128gb+Intel 320 160gb Gen3+2TB BLack WD+1TB Black WD
Display(s)	DELL S2740L 27'' LED LCD
Case	NZXT Phantom 410
Audio Device(s)	ASUS XONAR D2X
Power Supply	Corsair HX1050wt
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64bit

System Name	Rusky
Processor	Intel Core i7 D0 3.8Ghz
Motherboard	Asus P6T
Cooling	Thermaltake Dark Knight
Memory	12GB Patriot Viper's 1866mhz 9-9-9-24
Video Card(s)	GTX470 1280MB
Storage	OCZ Summit 60GB + Samsung 1TB + Samsung 2TB
Display(s)	Sharp Aquos L32X20E 1920 x 1080
Case	Silverstone Raven RV01
Power Supply	Corsair 650 Watt
Software	Windows 7 x64
Benchmark Scores	3DMark06 - 18064 http://img.techpowerup.org/090720/Capture002.jpg

System Name	My Computer
Processor	19 9900k @4.7ghz
Motherboard	Z370 Gaming Plus
Cooling	Dark Rock 4
Memory	16GB Corsair Vengeance 3000 mhz DDR4
Video Card(s)	3060 TI FE
Storage	4
Display(s)	Samsung 27
Case	Rosewill
Audio Device(s)	Integrated
Power Supply	Coolermaster Masterwatt 650
Software	Windows 10

Processor	C2Q6600 @ 1.6 GHz
Motherboard	Anus PQ5
Cooling	ACFPro
Memory	GEiL2 x 1 GB PC2 6400
Video Card(s)	MSi 4830 (RIP)
Storage	Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320 GB Perpendicular Recording
Display(s)	Dell 17'
Case	El Cheepo
Audio Device(s)	7.1 Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair TX750
Software	MCE2K5

System Name	REBEL R1
Processor	Core i7 920
Motherboard	ASUS P6T
Cooling	Stock
Memory	6GB OCZ GOLD TC LV Kit 1866MHz@1.65V 9-9-9-24
Video Card(s)	Two Sapphire HD 5770 Vapor-X Xfire'd and OC'd (920/1330)
Storage	Seagate 7200.11 500GB 32MB
Case	Antec Three Hundred
Audio Device(s)	ASUS Xonar D1 PCI Sound Card
Power Supply	OCZ StealthXStream 500W
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Benchmark Scores	16585 Performance Score on 3DMark Vantage