Could nVidia actually benefit from allowing Intel SLI?

[jcrox]

Could nvidia's refusal to license SLI to Intel possibly have anything to do with Intel's pursuit of their own discrete graphics solutions??

I have no idea how development of this kind of stuff works or if Intel could actually gain any more knowledge in regards to SLI if they were allowed to build SLI boards but it's a thought.

[andy_nv]

Originally Posted by walterman

A top mobo costs 250-300E, a top gfx card +600E. As easy as that.

nForce SLI rig -> 250E + 2x600E = 1450E in nVidia based products.

intel rig -> 600E in nVidia based products.

I dunno how many percentage nVidia earns from each product, but even a 10% of 850E is a nice benefit.

Loss in market share for motherboard chipsets vs higher profit from graphics chips. It would also be a self incentive to produce better motherboard chipsets and keep the market share. Somehow, I think they would take the lazy way and leave things as they are.
As much as I don't like SLI, I'd be tempted to try it on an Intel board.

[Revs]

Originally Posted by Amuro

Any board with dual PIC-E slots and proper driver support can support SLI. There used to be hacked drivers that make SLI possible on Intel boards, but nVidia now encrypts their drivers to prevent hacking.

Interesting. Didn't know that.

[Revs]

As I said in my first post. I suspect nVidia would demand a substantial lump sum from Intel for the right to use SLI too. Knowing Intel can afford to pay.

[Revs]

VOTE NOW!!1!

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=106265

[Monolyth]

Originally Posted by Revs

As I said in my first post. I suspect nVidia would demand a substantial lump sum from Intel for the right to use SLI too. Knowing Intel can afford to pay.

Here's my issue with the whole thing, why lock-down the SLI platform? What could they possibly gain by keeping their software "secret"? We all know it's a software based solution since hacked drivers were available previously. If you open the platform not just to Intel but to all comers, AMD/ATI included, you open up your video card market to a MUCH wider base of customers which is the heart and soul of nVidia's market share. The 8x00 series gave them the Forbes company of the year NOT the 680i.

nVidia is now trying to push this ESA platform onto everyone, but again no one is going to run with it especially if they have to license the technology, just like EPP, it will become an nVidia only thing and the acronym will fall into fan-boy obscurity. SLI has been such a mixed bag of win/loss across so many games, opening the software would put 100x more eyes on the code allowing SLI to grow exponentially across all platforms.

I dunno just my 2-cents; right, wrong, or indifferent.

[LordJuanlo]

nVidia does not allow SLI on intel mobos because they want us to buy their crappy chipsets, and they don't mind that lots of people may dump both nVidia mobo and graphics card if ATI releases a decent video card that works in multi-GPU configuration on intel mobos.

[walterman]

Originally Posted by LordJuanlo

nVidia does not allow SLI on intel mobos because they want us to buy their crappy chipsets, and they don't mind that lots of people may dump both nVidia mobo and graphics card if ATI releases a decent video card that works in multi-GPU configuration on intel mobos.

QFT !

Aslo, the funny here is that even AMD is having (or will have) benefit from intel mobo sales.