# nvidia 680i +crossfire ??



## ancientrites (Jan 10, 2010)

Does nvidia 680i supports crossfire,i mean i have one sapphire hd4850 1gb  and one of my friend is giving away his sapphire hd 4850 1 gb to me.will my mobo support this crossfire.now we all know sli works only on identical 2 nvidia cards.since there are 2 identical ati cards.I was thinking may be this should.before doing anything thought of letting you guys knows about.please help me
I didnt find any article about nvidia 680i support for crossfire


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## Cilus (Jan 11, 2010)

Crossfire is only supported on AMD/ATI chipset based Motherboards. The motherboard u mentioned is based on Nvidia chipset and support only SLI. So u cannot plug two ATI cards on this motherboard. For running multi-GPU config, u need to have 2 exactly same model Nvidia cards.


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## asingh (Jan 11, 2010)

ancientrites said:


> Does nvidia 680i supports crossfire,i mean i have one sapphire hd4850 1gb  and one of my friend is giving away his sapphire hd 4850 1 gb to me.will my mobo support this crossfire.now we all know sli works only on identical 2 nvidia cards.since there are 2 identical ati cards.I was thinking may be this should.before doing anything thought of letting you guys knows about.please help me
> I didnt find any article about nvidia 680i support for crossfire





Cilus said:


> Crossfire is only supported on AMD/ATI chipset based Motherboards. The motherboard u mentioned is based on Nvidia chipset and support only SLI. So u cannot plug two ATI cards on this motherboard. For running multi-GPU config, u need to have 2 exactly same model Nvidia cards.



*There are three basic chipsets:*
AMD : Only AMD processors
Intel : Only Intel processors
nForce (by nVidia) : For both Intel and AMD CPUs. Full list is available here.

Basically nVidia has such a licensing structure, in order to use multi-GPU you have to use their offical chipset, known as the nForce chipset. nVidia has chipsets for the AMD platform also (nForce 980a), which allows an AMD CPU to be docked to the nVidia SLI with full x16 x16 lanes. Crossfire is not supported ONLY on AMD chipsets. I have a P55 (Intel chipset), and Xfire is running on it. There have been hacks for some LGA775 boards, where the nVidia chipset has been opened up, cause it is there in the hardware, just that the manufacturer disables it due to licensing with nVidia. 

As of now nVidia has not released a chipset for the P55/X58. SLI/Crossfire is available on both. They have released a special P55 (MSI Trinergy) which has a nForce 200 chip embedded to give full x16 x16 on P55. 

*Ancientrites*, Crossfire will not work on your motherboard, it is a nForce chipset, specially equipped to handle SLI.


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## vickybat (Jan 11, 2010)

@ asigh

buddy thats a p45 chipset you are using.

By the way there was a model dell xps 730 which was using 3870x2 in crossfire mode in a nvidia 790 ultra sli mobo. here's the link *www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/emea/corporate/pressoffice/2008/uk/en/2008_05_01_brk_000?c=uk&l=en.

How's this possible?


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## Cilus (Jan 11, 2010)

> @ asigh
> 
> buddy thats a p45 chipset you are using.
> 
> ...



No my friend, Asigh is right. He is using the right board. I have just mentioned the information about the Op's query. 
But yes, Crossfire and SLi can be used in some boards. X58 designed for Core i7 is the latest example of it. Normally they support Crossfire, but some them are also SLI certified. So u can plug 2 Nvidia (same cars) or ATi cards (same series) to enjoy SLI or Crossfire.
And there are some Custom made boards also which support both SLI and Crossfire. Asrock is having this kind of board. They are not based on any special chipset, but they have the Hack, as asigh mentioned, factory implemented in their Bios. The link u provided probably has this kind of factory hacked board.


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## asingh (Jan 11, 2010)

vickybat said:


> @ asigh
> 
> buddy thats a p45 chipset you are using.
> 
> ...



Yea sorry, I meant P45. (You can tell what I have been typing these days on forums). Its an Intel chipset enabled to run Xfire.

Not sure what DELL was trying to pull off with that model. But the logic can be, that is one single card with two boards plastered inside. So the Xfire will work via the ATI drivers, and the chipset will not get confused. But am sure if two ATI cards were slotted it would not work. So internally the card will Xfire, not via the interconnect Xfire bridge. nForce does not allow that.



Cilus said:


> No my friend, Asigh is right. He is using the right board. I have just mentioned the information about the Op's query.
> But yes, Crossfire and SLi can be used in some boards. X58 designed for Core i7 is the latest example of it. Normally they support Crossfire, but some them are also SLI certified. So u can plug 2 Nvidia (same cars) or ATi cards (same series) to enjoy SLI or Crossfire.
> And there are some Custom made boards also which support both SLI and Crossfire. Asrock is having this kind of board. They are not based on any special chipset, but they have the Hack, as asigh mentioned, factory implemented in their Bios. The link u provided probably has this kind of factory hacked board.



I think all X58s can be Xfired OR SLI'ed. Its part of the standard chipset. And the lanes remain x16 x16. Lovely, beautiful, bliss, heaven..!


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## Cilus (Jan 11, 2010)

No Asigh, not all the X58 boards support SLI. Only some of the boards which is specifically mentioned as SLI certified, support SLI. Check the link "*www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3395".


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## asingh (Jan 11, 2010)

^^
Yes, I know that. The boards have to go to nVidia for testing, and if passed they can use the x16 x16 design. If they want greater than 2 PCI.E Lanes at x16, then the nF200 chip will need to be mounted. But I have not seen any X58 board yet, with SLI no on it for x16 x16 2 GPUs...?


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