The beast is here!

I won't be getting one, there's just no reason for it other than SLI on a Intel chipset, if I was to go to SLI again it would almost certainly be on a 790i board.

If I did get one, I would only use one quad core on it.
 
hardc0re_tid - Yes I will be getting one for now, maybe another later.

These are not for gaming, as I think all the evidence shows games currently just don't benefit from this number of cores.

Me, this is a folding tool. One of my passions and hobbies is folding and because I can only run 4 machines in my very small home office, I need more cores than boxes. I currently have 4x quads + 1 Mac Pro 8x2.8. I have only just got the mac and it screams with a 1600fsb processor. (one of the quads is at my work! - I am limited due to heat)

Now, if I could replace some of the quads, then I will be very happy. I am holding out a little, just to see how the few motherboard differ. I know there are at least 2 or 3 dual ST boards coming.

I will also be going for the more budget xeon's, the Extreme ones are just a waste, IMHO ;) So if I can get something around the 2.6 / 2.8 then overclock it to 3.2, that will kick 455.

Sure, some may feel this is a waste, but for me, its about getting the most PPD per machine per day. Of course, this is until the new xeon's with CSI inside, those will really rock.

-casw1000
fold4life.com
 
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This board is doing what it is supposed to do and that is grab attention for Intel. It is a minimal change server board with some Nvidia chips added to get official SLI support. Think of it as the 8800Ultra of Motherboards, grab the headlines and don't worry about selling too many.

It certainly isn't going to go mainstream and I can't see Nvidia giving the license for SLI unless they get the Intel licenses that they want in return.
 
Mekrel said:
I'm fully aware of the reasons behind them using NF100, it's the only way nVidia can strong hold their chipsets on the Intel performance platform by not letting your average Intel desktop board have SLi.

I have a problem with them charging to use it,
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Why? it's nvidia's technology, they own it.
 
kleox64 said:
Why? it's nvidia's technology, they own it.
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All the companies are just as bad. Intel won't license the Virtualization Technology to Nvidia that is required for the chipset to make use of the Virtualization. This forces me to use an Intel chipset based boards for my VMWare Servers.
 
kleox64 said:
Why? it's nvidia's technology, they own it.
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Really? Wow, where have I been? I thought SLi was like a BLT baguette but with Salami, Iceberg Lettuce and Tomato.

nVidia chipsets for Intel platform are crap, everyone knows that which is why everyone kept emailing nvidia/Intel for cross support, why everyone got excited about the X38 hybrid Foxconn board. Heck, even nVidia know that, which is why they won't allow it.

Roll on Intel Larabee, or better ATi cards/crossfire.
 
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mdjmcnally said:
All the companies are just as bad. Intel won't license the Virtualization Technology to Nvidia that is required for the chipset to make use of the Virtualization. This forces me to use an Intel chipset based boards for my VMWare Servers.
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Surely, for a server - something that needs to be reliable and stable, Intel chipset would be the choice here anyway?
 
mdjmcnally said:
All the companies are just as bad. Intel won't license the Virtualization Technology to Nvidia that is required for the chipset to make use of the Virtualization. This forces me to use an Intel chipset based boards for my VMWare Servers.
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Trust me, that's a good thing. :D
 
JediFragger said:
Just been told that all Xeon's beginning with an 'X' are compatible with the Skulltrail mobo (and Penryn based, not worth putting the Conroe-based ones up). Going to confirm then pop them up onto our site later today :)
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JediFragger - Any news yet on those Xeons and FB-Dimms showing up. I need some 800Mhz for my MacPro and I am interested in some more xeons.

Ta,
-casw1000
fold4life.com
 
Ranger07 said:
It looks pointless, i saw a review for it, they had 2x QX9650's in it which was a total of 8 cores and on most apps/games it only used a maximum of 2 cores so wasnt any faster than what we have now. Also it only worked with 2 Ultras in SLI for some reason.

Maybe in a few years time when software is designed for multi cores it will be good but then again hardware will have moved on.
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Feel the same way but for some its an ideal setup ;)

Give it another year or 2 and I bet once more games start using the Unreal3 engine and better engines we will see quads/sli-crossfire tech taking off nicely, even looking at UT3/Valve HL2 engine based games benchies we are seeing 100fps+ at 1920x1200 res with quad cores 3ghz and with an Sli or Crossfire setup, so were getting there slowly :)
 
hmmm... how quick could i encode a porn dvd with 8 cores... ?

Seriously thou, this kinda setup would only be any good at overclocking if you had the mega bucks QX series chips. Using lower spec Xeon cpus are an option if overclocking is not an issue, but the very limited OC headroom in current FB-DIMMS will seriously limit the overclocking potential... to a point where (using the cheaper 2.0Ghz xeons for example) a high clocked 775 Quad will be faster even in multithreaded apps..
 
There is no physical reason why an intel chipset, or any other for that matter, cant run SLI.

The only reason is nVidia wont let SLI be run on anything other than their own mobos, as SLI is the only unique feature ensuring people buy nvidia mobos. If they let other manufacturers use SLI then sales of their own boards would plumet. The Anandtech article explains this.

I suppose the reason this board supports SLI is because its not exactly mainstream! nVidia dont make a competitor so there is more value in being associated with this board (people will buy nvidia cards) than their would be if they stayed clear.

Still though, didnt expect OcUK to sell this, when I first read about it I thought it woiuld be the kind of thing you need to get a licience from MI5 to purchase, and an agreement with the government and the electricity company to run! lol :)
 
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