E' stata la stessa NVIDIA a ufficializzare, mediante il comunicato stampa di seguito allegato, il nome della prima scheda madre di Intel basata sul chipset X58 per processori Core i7 e in grado di supportare la tecnologia SLI.
Si tratta della motherboard Intel DX58SO che può vantare dunque, oltre alla compatibilità con le configurazioni video a multi-gpu basate sulla tecnologie CrossFireX di AMD/ATI, il supporto della tecnologia SLI, di cui Intel ha acquistato la licenza d'uso.
L'annuncio arriva a diversi mesi di distanza dal lancio dell'architettura Nehalem, a valle di una contrapposizione tra i due giganti statunitensi, che si è conclusa con la concessione della licenza d'uso a Intel da parte di NVIDIA: Intel, dal canto suo, ha inviato il bios della DX58SO a NVIDIA per la validazione, ritenuta propedeutica dal gpu maker per il rilascio della licenza.
SANTA CLARA, CA—FEBRUARY 11, 2009—NVIDIA Corporation today announced that Intel Corporation has licensed NVIDIA SLI technology for inclusion on the Intel DX58SO motherboard for the Intel Core i7 processor. As a result, customers with Intel X58-based motherboards and the Core i7 processor can now equip their PCs with any combination of NVIDIA GeForce GPUs, including Quad SLI, for the ultimate visual computing experience.
"The addition of NVIDIA SLI technology to the Intel DX58SO motherboard has been a welcome addition," said Clem Russo, VP and General Manager of Channel Desktop Platform Group at Intel Corporation. "The pairing of our new Core i7 processors on our Extreme Series motherboard and NVIDIA GeForce graphics has resulted in some of the world's fastest consumer gaming PC platforms. For playing any of today's hottest PC titles, this is one awesome combination that our customers have been asking for."
As a result of today's announcement, NVIDIA SLI technology is now available for all consumer PC platforms, including the Intel Core i7, Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Duo processors, as well as those based on the AMD Phenom II CPU. In addition to raw graphics performance, NVIDIA GeForce GPUs also provide gamers with additional capabilities not found on any other discrete graphics solutions, including NVIDIA PhysX technology for deeper gaming immersion, stereoscopic 3D gaming with NVIDIA 3D Vision technology, and support for CUDA, a revolutionary new computing architecture that harnesses the power of the NVIDIA GPU to accelerate everyday computing applications including video transcoding, physics calculations, and high-definition video playback.
"The Intel X58 'Smackover' board is excellent, with fantastic build quality and great performance, and now with the inclusion of SLI it is full steam ahead," said Kriss Pomroy, Commercial Director at Novatech. "We are extremely excited that we can now spec Intel motherboards in many of our systems and capitalize on the awesome performance of NVIDIA SLI technology. It is what we have all been waiting for here at Novatech."
"Finally, the Intel Smackover experience is complete. At Paradigit we've been using this board since launch, but we thought that this may not last long because of the lack of SLI support," said Niels Van Echteld, Purchasing Manager for Paradigit. "Now this board is ready for the best of both worlds--Intel's newest Core i7 CPU and the power of NVIDA GeForce in SLI!"
"The ability to have SLI, PhysX, and CUDA on an Intel chipset is a great move for the market," said Elan Raja III, Director of Scan Computers. "The combination of technologies will break all the existing performance barriers raising the standard for the power user. The wait is finally over!"
"There's no doubt about it... our customers love SLI," said Randy Copeland, CEO of Velocity Computers. "With this announcement, we have the ability to build them any Intel i7 platform they want, and know that whatever motherboard we choose, we can populate it with multiple NVIDIA GeForce GPUs. This gives our customers the greatest flexibility in purchasing the world's fastest gaming PCs."
"NVIDIA SLI has proven to be the industry's only stable, scalable, high-performance multi-GPU platform, and we are excited that customers with Intel branded X58 motherboards will be able to take advantage of this processing power," said Ujesh Desai, vice president of GeForce desktop business at NVIDIA. "Gamers know that the best way to experience their games is with GeForce GPUs, and now they will be able to harness the power of multiple GPUs for even more performance and immersion features."
For more information on NVIDIA PhysX technology, please visit: www.nvidia.com/sli
Source: NVIDIA Press Release
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