pwnt by pat said:
Wouldn't you still need to change motherboards for SLI? Currently, the only ATI chipset board that's been released only has one pci-e slot.
My apologies for not making my points clear. This question you ask above and the ones that follow stem from a misunderstanding.
If an ATI chipset is required to get 2 ATI cards to run in SLI mode, what you say would indeed have to be true. Furthermore, even if ATI did come out with a board that has 2 PCI-E slots using the chipset that you mentioned above, logic dictates that this still wouldn't work because the chipset you mention is not built for SLI functionality.
I am sure you would agree however that whether a bridge is used between 2 cards, either in the form of a external dongle or an internal connector, the additional requirement of an ATI chipset for the ATI SLI (I know I should be saying AMR) to work would essentially make this solution a hardware solution. My point here is that it is irrelevant how the cards are connected together. They will either have to be connected with either internal or external connectors or a chipset on the motherboard will be required or perhaps both of these requirements will have to be met. Either way, this type of solution sounds like a hardware solution to me. This was what I meant when I said that ATI was being hypocritical by saying that their technology was "superior" to nVidia since it would be "software" based as opposed to nVidia's "hardware" solution.
OK, so point #2 then: Try to look at this whole SLI/AMR situation from a different point of view for a second. Remember that not too many years ago, it was possible to connect 2 3dfx cards together without the need of a new motherboard. Yes, this was back when the motherboards were using PCI slots and not PCI-E and yet it would not be too absurd not to draw some parallels between the PCI slot and the PCI-E slots. The hardware functionality had to be built into the graphics cards for this to work as the cards had to be connected with a dongle but a seperate chipset was not required.
Today, the technology is undoubtably more complex than it was when the 3dfx cards were used in SLI and yet the essential functions of a northbridge chip have not really changed over the years. As a matter of fact, the recent AMD systems have become less dependent on the northbridge chipset because of the fact that the memory controller is now integrated into the processors. Taking this into consideration, asking a single question here might perhaps make things a bit clearer:
Question: Is it possible to use 2 ATI cards in conjunction, albeit *without * the use of SLI/AMR on current motherboards that do have 2 PCI-E slots that the graphics cards can use?
Answer: Yes, it is possible to use the 2 ATI cards independent of each other for a dual monitor configuration.
Since the above question is true, why is it unfair to expect ATI to be able to synchronize the cards, just as 3dfx did, either with or without connectors, but without the need of an additional chipset on the motherboard? Furthermore, I am sure you realize that it is essentialy the use of the PCI-E bus that makes SLI/AMR possible and this bus already exists on any board using PCI-E slots.
As a result, If ATI could indeed make a "software" solution, they would be able to enable SLI/AMR at the card level and connect the cards together in any means they feel the best and enable this solution to work with any current motherboard that already have 2 PCI-E connections that the graphics cards can fit in.
Having said the above, what is point #2 then? Point #2 is that ATI is UNABLE to create a real software solution as they claimed earlier. I have 2 guesses on why this is. I think ATI either initially believed that they could make a true software solution as they claimed and failed or they knew that they could not surpass nVidia and had to throw a bunch of marketing BS to keep people from buying nVidia cards and wait till ATI came out with a so called "superior" technology. I do not like either of these scenarios however as both pretty much point to ATI not having a concrete solution for SLI anytime soon and just throwing BS around.
