MSI Gaming Custom-design SLI HB Bridge Pictured

[btarunr]

Here some of the first pictures of an NVIDIA add-in card (AIC) partner branded SLI-HB (high-bandwidth) bridge. This kind of bridge is recommended for use with GeForce "Pascal" graphics cards, at high resolutions, such as 4K @ 60 Hz with HDR, 4K @ 120 Hz, 5K, and above. Pictured here is a 2-way SLI HB bridge with 2U spacing (1-slot gap between the two cards). The bridge appears to have a red LED of its own, lighting up the MSI Gaming dragon logo. At this point it's not clear whether the bridge comes included with the cards, or if it needs to be purchased separately. The cards being bridged in these pictures are the MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Gaming Z, a notch above the GTX 1080 Gaming X the company debuted its custom GTX 1080 lineup with.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[The Quim Reaper]

At this point it's not clear whether the bridge comes included with the cards, or if it needs to be purchased separately

Lol, you really think they'd give this away when they could rip you off for another $50?

please....

 

[Darksword]

Lol, you really think they'd give this away when they could rip you off for another $50?

please....

 

[mcraygsx]

I don't get it why are we coming back to using old o' Bridges. I thought were past this.

Really a new bridge for increase bandwidth,! Is this another marketing hyper?

 

[G4M3B0Y]

How come Nvidia still needs to use bridges while AMD CF doesn't use bridges yet still scales better?

 

[Fluffmeister]

Presumably the same reason Nvidia make money and AMD doesn't.

Just messing, who knows!

 

[ensabrenoir]

Presumably the same reason Nvidia make money and AMD doesn't.
Just messing, who knows!

...... ..you good sir are totally correct. Most companies(best buy office depot etc) loose money on selling hardware ....they make up the margin in services, product protection plans etc.(100% profit)and accessories(greater than 40% mark up)...so if a $40 sli bridge is $30 profit...add that to the sale of two graphic cards.... multiply by a couple of million= guys who never where the same socks twice.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

How come Nvidia still needs to use bridges while AMD CF doesn't use bridges yet still scales better?

AMD also still has more microstuttering issues then nvidia does. The scaling would be because SLI hasnt changed since the geforce 6 days. the 10x0 series has the first major SLI change IIRC.

Nvidia says the bridge is needed, wouldnt surprise me if making SLI work without a bridge would require tons of R+D to change how it works. TLDR: if it aint broke, dont fix it.

 

[btarunr]

How come Nvidia still needs to use bridges while AMD CF doesn't use bridges yet still scales better?

Better bridges don't address performance scaling, they address stuttering. It takes time for the GPU to which display is connected, to receive frames from neighboring GPUs. AMD simply uses PCIe for this, and makes it the system bus' headache to push frames between GPUs (thereby adding a ton of latency, which is why CrossFire setups are so prone to micro-stutter). SLI, on the other hand, rely on bridges to do this (and chop down a ton of latency, as frames move directly between GPUs). A single SLI bridge doesn't have bandwidth to move lossless 4K, 5K, or 8K frames at >60 Hz. Performance will still scale, but the display will not be smooth. HB bridge addresses this issue by doubling the bandwidth.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Better bridges don't address performance scaling, they address stuttering. It takes time for the GPU to which display is connected, to receive frames from neighboring GPUs. AMD simply uses PCIe for this, and makes it the system bus' headache to push frames between GPUs (thereby adding a ton of latency, which is why CrossFire setups are so prone to micro-stutter). SLI, on the other hand, rely on bridges to do this (and chop down a ton of latency, as frames move directly between GPUs). A single SLI bridge doesn't have bandwidth to move lossless 4K, 5K, or 8K frames at >60 Hz. Performance will still scale, but the display will not be smooth. HB bridge addresses this issue by doubling the bandwidth.

question, are they doubling the bandwidth from the higher clock rate, using 2 fingers, or both? Both would more than double bandwidth wouldnt it?

 

[btarunr]

question, are they doubling the bandwidth from the higher clock rate, using 2 fingers, or both? Both would more than double bandwidth wouldnt it?

Right...more than double.

 

[Aaron Saenz]

question, are they doubling the bandwidth from the higher clock rate, using 2 fingers, or both? Both would more than double bandwidth wouldnt it?

Look Closer, the new cards have pins in between the 2 standard SLI, THEY MAY OR MAY NOT BE USING THEM yet, but when looking at HB Bridges, i will be looking, once some underside images of HB bridges show up.
so 2.5/3 fingers, use all for more bandwidth ?

 

[Aaron Saenz]

again the information is out there but hard to find