SLI boards without the paddle switch

[Artic_Kid]

The new Jetway socket 939 SLI motherboard has an elegant SLI solution that gets rid of the paddle switch (and might even operate faster ?). Instead of flipping the SLI paddle switch or working with jumpers (which are both absent on this board), you merely insert your graphics card(s) in one PCIe slot for a single, and in two PCIe slots for a double (SLI) use.

The Jetway board appears to be virtually identical to the new eVGA SLI board, but I haven't been able to get confirmation on this. In fact, I cannot find the new eVGA SLI board reviewed anywhere on the net. ??? I can't figure out why. (Might that be because eVGA doesn't want it reviewed yet ??? I dunno.)

Both of these boards -- the Jetway and eVGA -- lack a Firewire (1394a or 1394b) port, which is unfortunate, in my view. Other than that, I really like their SLI solution.

Does anyone have more insight into these boards? Is their switch-less SLI solution the wave of the future?

[cm_uk]

lack firewire WTF! why?

[BUFF]

the eVGA is a badged Jetway

[Artic_Kid]

the eVGA is a badged Jetway

If that is well known in the industry, then I presume that's why the eVGA board isn't reviewed anywhere (that I can find).

For about a month, eVGA was GIVING AWAY one of these SLI motherboards, when you buy an eVGA 7800 GT(X) board at list price. It looked like a sweet deal, and I very nearly went for it. (But the lack of Firewire disappointed me.) (eVGA discontinued the deal today, though it remains in a few outlets while supplies last. Or should I say, the deal is evaporating as the disparity between the list price and street price is now increasing.)

Nonetheless, the Jetway solution (eliminating the SLI paddle switch) seems elegant to me (and perhaps faster in operation?). Is this the wave of the future for SLI? A year from now will we be seeing SLI boards without the paddle switch, as a standard thing?

[Artic_Kid]

This link goes to a review of that Jetway SLI board. It's an elegant SLI solution, and I'm wondering why/whether other board makers will follow this approach.

Jetway 939GT4-SLI: Gem with a New SLI Twist

[BUFF]

If that is well known in the industry, then I presume that's why the eVGA board isn't reviewed anywhere (that I can find).

& the BFG nF4 mobo is a Chaintech iirc.

[Artic_Kid]

I just answered my own question. While the Jetway SLI solution is elegant, the new nVidia SLI X16 chipset makes it essentially irrelevant, as it accomplishes the same thing (eliminating the SLI paddle switch) and a lot more. I hadn't put that together until just now.

Here is the info: nForce 4 SLI X16: Full Speed PCI Express

Dell is adopting this new nVidia chipset - its first non-Intel chipset. Which means it's going to be mainstream.

Also, the new nVidia SLI X16 chipset gives more high-speed I/O options (which will eliminate the need to map the second SATA controller over the old PCI bus, which slowed down its SATA bus speed substantially).

I imagine it will also allow increasing the number of PCIe x1 slots, (and slowly fading away the old PCI slots).

The SLI paddle switch will go extinct with the next round of motherboards. Altogether, the new nVidia SLI X16 chipset sounds cool to me.