We’ve seen how three-way SLI boosts gaming performance, but do we really need X58's PCI Express connectivity to realize those gains? Using three GTX 480s, we pit the latest P55/NF200 solution from ECS against a powerful X58-based incumbent to find out.
Captain Obvious dictates that, in order to properly support three graphics cards, your motherboard needs three PCIe x16 slots. Boards with three slots have been available at multiple price points for several generations. The problem with most of those boards was that the third slot was limited to only four PCIe 1.0 lanes. Nvidia would never allow such a low-bandwidth slot to support SLI because the card in the slowest slot often dragged down the performance of every other card in the array.
This is where enthusiasts might scream for a chipset with 48 PCI Express 2.0 lanes to support three graphics cards at full bandwidth from the primary controller. Unfortunately, no such product exists (though AMD comes close). Our own tests have shown that x8 mode is not much of a hindrance to SLI performance on Nvidia’s fastest cards, since CPU bottlenecks come into play long before a PCIe 2.0 x8 slot is completely tapped-out.
So, is the real requirement of three-way SLI really something as simple as a chipset that has 24 direct pathways? While many of our readers recommend X58-based motherboards to their friends specifically for the platform's 36 PCIe 2.0 pathways, we didn’t say that those lanes all had to come from a PCI Express controller. Long ago, Nvidia figured out that, since every card in an SLI array uses the same data, repeating data is an easy way to feed two graphics cards with the full 16 lanes of bandwidth from a chipset that supports only one x16 card. Nvidia calls this method “broadcast” and began using it several years ago to convert its low-cost 750a SLI chipset into a multi-card-supporting monster.
This bridge has since been used on everything from its 680i to Intel’s X58, opening three-way SLI to a broad customer base. Today we consider one such motherboard that allows buyers of mainstream LGA 1156 processor buyers to seek the ultimate level of features and graphics performance, and see how it compares to an LGA 1366 alternative.
- Three-Way Goes Mainstream?
- The P55 Challenger
- The P55 Challenger, Continued
- The X58 Defender
- Test Settings And Benchmarks
- Benchmark Results: 3DMark
- Benchmark Results: Alien Vs. Predator
- Benchmark Results: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Benchmark Results: Crysis
- Benchmark Results: DiRT 2
- Benchmark Results: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat
- Performance Analysis
- Power And Efficiency
- Conclusion

And while this makes the P55 look good, what really sucks - if you're looking into the longevity of the P55 motherboards anyway - is that the new "Sandy Bridge" CPU's coming out in 2011 will feature a 1155 socket instead of an 1156, which means upgrading to a new motherboard.
yeah i hate how they took of one pin just to f@#$ with us.
And while this makes the P55 look good, what really sucks - if you're looking into the longevity of the P55 motherboards anyway - is that the new "Sandy Bridge" CPU's coming out in 2011 will feature a 1155 socket instead of an 1156, which means upgrading to a new motherboard.
But i think that it shows that moving PCIa to CPU die is not a good idea as P55 with additional chip wins in the end - even the power usage test.
yeah i hate how they took of one pin just to f@#$ with us.
Seriously, as a respective consumer to Intel, i have began to dislike their practices. Why do I not want SB? Hmmm...good question, same reason I do not want P55..short live and full of disaster!
Except that enthusiast use more then just GPU in those PCI-e slots, add things like raid controller, some audio/video processing units and in case you share lines performance is going down to drain.
I agree, nicely done!
Results were interesting, especially with P55 outdoing X58 on lower resolutions...although even 5-10 fps isn't noticeable above 70 frames...so more just technical efficiency.
Hopefully SandyBridge will pull off some nice benchmarks, these cards are probably going to push cpu bottlenecks more and more.
In the years when AMD was leading in preformance, they made 3 mainstream socket changes in 4 years (not even counting some awful FX stuff) ; socket A, 754, 939, and AM2 between 03-06. I think socket 1156 lasting for 2 years is about average. If you are upset about that, imagine how I felt when AMD abruptly abandoned Slot A! Kids today are so spoiled with their backwards compatible CPU's!
But then, not all too long ago, there were 4+ chip-makers making chips for one common socket..
Yes. Which reminds me of Meet The Spy.
Scout: "What're you? President of his fan-club?"
Spy: "No... that would be your mother!"
[The Spy reveals a folder and slaps it down on the table, revealing several compromising photographs of the RED Spy and the Scout's Mother.]
Scout: [stammers out of shock and disbelief]
Spy: Indeed, and now he's here to us! So listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing that happens to you today."
We can logically conclude that Intel is in fact... THE RED SPY!!!
Well, ode to the LGA 1156!