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Hardware MSI Announces P965 CrossFire Compatibility
Anh Tuan Huynh (Blog) - September 19, 2006 1:03 PM

21 comment(s) - last by ecktt.. on Sep 22 at 12:23 AM

CrossFire with P965 possible with MSI P965 Platinum

MSI has announced its P965 Platinum motherboard based on Intel’s P965 Broadwater chipset supports ATI’s CrossFire multi-GPU technologies. It was previously reported Intel’s P965 chipset would not support ATI’s CrossFire at launch and future outlooks were quite bleak. Nevertheless it seems ATI has had a change of heart regarding Intel chipset CrossFire compatibility, possibly due to manufacturers not adopting ATI’s upcoming RD600.

CrossFire performance may be slightly hindered to the P965’s design. Unlike Intel’s 975X which supports two PCI Express x16 slots with eight lanes routed to each slot when multiple graphics cards are inserted, the P965 only supports one full speed PCI Express x16 and one physical PCI Express x16 slot with four lanes routed to it. Currently it seems MSI is the only motherboard manufacturer to announce CrossFire support on its P965 based motherboards. Expect other manufacturers to announce CrossFire compatibility with P965 chipset based motherboards in the near future.

MSI’s P965 Platinum includes notable features such as support for Intel’s Core 2 Duo, six SATA II ports with RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10. There’s also one onboard PATA via a JMicron JMB361 controller and high definition audio powered by Realtek’s ALC883 codec.

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AMD still leads the dual GPU segment

By sabrewulf on 9/19/2006 2:51:18 PM , Rating: 2

I was completely in love with Core 2 leading up to launch, but now I'm almost positive my next system will be AMD-based. There are just so many more and better dual GPU motherboard options than there currently are for Core 2. 20% faster CPU is nice for video encoding, but it's not going to mean squat for gaming. Video encoding will always be too slow for my liking anyway, so why not save a little money on the platform and put it towards that second graphics card?

Sorry Intel, but without RD600, it looks like AMD is going to get my money once again...

RE: AMD still leads the dual GPU segment

By OrSin on 9/19/2006 3:20:26 PM , Rating: 3

I'm a AMD fan but dual GPU is not my thing. In most situations its waste. Crossfire and SLI is thoses with crazy money to spend. I know people say you cna get a second card late to add, but by that time its not just speed it also function. Not the lastest DX, sharder support, HD support and the list goes on. One thing is Intel MB selection right now sucks. 975 MB for 200+ is bit over board for what you get.

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RE: AMD still leads the dual GPU segment

By Hare on 9/19/2006 5:38:45 PM , Rating: 3

And by the time these "SLI/Crossfire"-boys would buy another identical card to help with performance a new generation of cards is out and a new cheap mainstreamcard would offer better or similar performance than the older sli/crossfire-setup.

If you need to have the absolute high-end graphics setup sli or crossfire is the only way to go. On the other hand if higher-mainstream is closer to your class you are better of buying a new card every now and then and selling the old one for a few $. (more cost effective, more performance per buck, less heat, smaller electricity bill :P)

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RE: AMD still leads the dual GPU segment

By mjcutri on 9/19/2006 3:28:43 PM , Rating: 2

I'm not a fanboy of anyone and I love reading the posts on this site by them because they always make me laugh, but why not go with an nforce 570 sli board with core 2 then? (or even the Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe nforce4 sli x16) As far as I can tell, core 2 is at least as good as if not better at gaming than amd's current offerings.

-I have a amd athlon xp 2800+ with 512mb ram and a radeon 9600 pro which I built 4 years ago and still gets me by and a sony laptop with a pIIIm. I'll probably upgrade the desktop in the next year and I'll probably go with whoever has the best price/performance ratio at the time. Right now i'm leaning towards an intel system with a single 7600gt. SLI/Crossfire are a waste of money IMO, unless you are spending $2000+ on a top of the line system, which I also believe is a waste of money.

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RE: AMD still leads the dual GPU segment

By Spivonious on 9/19/2006 3:31:48 PM , Rating: 2

20% faster CPU = 20% more data flowing to the video card for processing. I smell an AMD fanboy....

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RE: AMD still leads the dual GPU segment

By jskirwin on 9/19/2006 3:41:46 PM , Rating: 3

Aaar indeed, mateys! (TLP day).

That said the C2D wipes the floor with AMD right now, and with the C2Q on the horizon, I don't see it changing anytime soon.

I run both AMD and Intel processors in my SOHO, and right now the bang/buck is with Intel.

AMD will surely come back - if only because it has to. However right now, the C2D is what's replacing my OC'd XP2600 Barton this Fall.

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RE: AMD still leads the dual GPU segment

By sabrewulf on 9/19/2006 6:04:52 PM , Rating: 1

1)(OrSin and Hare) I never claimed dual GPU was a good upgrade path. Some people want the absolute best performance and have the money to spend on it.

2)(mjcutri) Nforce 570 SLI? Nforce 4 x16? One is over a year old, the other is just a recycled little-improved version of year old tech. Why pair a next generation CPU with a last-generation chipset? Besides, maybe I want to try something new? My last several motherboards have been nForce, and I'm frankly a little tired of it. I want to see what the other side has to offer.

3)(Spivonious) Do you work in marketing? You must with logic like that. In any case, I think I already clearly explained my desire to go with the better PLATFORM over the better CPU.

4)(jskirwin) "That said the C2D wipes the floor with AMD right now, and with the C2Q on the horizon, I don't see it changing anytime soon."

20% is hardly wiping the floor. The Radeon 9700 wiped the floor with the Ti 4600 (100% faster in many cases). Core 2 Duo is a very nice improvement over AMD's X2, but it's not like you're ever going to see system requirements where a Core 2 can cut it when an X2 can't.

If all you do is encode, Core 2 is a no-brainer, but for gaming there is a harder choice to make right now, and once again, I choose the platform over the CPU. Feels like I'm repeating myself...

These are my opinions and you're all entitled to disagree with them. I use my computer for more than one task, and as I've already stated, I hate video/audio encoding because it takes a long time. 20% faster than slow is still slow, so I'll stick with the platform that offers the best dual GPU options and continue to go do something else while my video encoding tasks are running.

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RE: AMD still leads the dual GPU segment

By ecktt on 9/20/2006 12:39:22 PM , Rating: 2

"Some people want the absolute best performance and have the money to spend on it"
Well then they can afford the 200+ dollar boards from Intel can't they? 250USD on a mobo is a drop in the bucket copared to the 1000+ USD on dual or quad video cards, 400+ for high performcae DDR2, 300+ for a PSU that can juice everthing.

"One is over a year old, the other is just a recycled little-improved version of year old tech. Why pair a next generation CPU with a last-generation chipset?"
Cause it used the same BUS interface.

"clearly explained my desire to go with the better PLATFORM "
Whats better about AMD's platform? NV's AMD mobo offering ain't that much different for NV's Intel mobo.

"20% is hardly wiping the floor" "Core 2 Duo is a very nice improvement over AMD's X2, but it's not like you're ever going to see system requirements where a Core 2 can cut it when an X2 can't.
"
Now if this isn't the rant of a fan boy, I don't know what is? 20% is time i can hold on to my system before my next system upgrade.

Nobody is saying AMD doesn't have value right now. OEMs can now build entry level systems with multicore AMD solutions but gamers, as you know, are a different beast and Intel packs more of a punch(value and performance) than AMD right now for that segment.

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RE: AMD still leads the dual GPU segment

By sabrewulf on 9/20/2006 1:15:05 PM , Rating: 3

Absolutely determined to pin "FANBOY" on anyone that doesn't agree with you, eh? Now on to correcting you:

1) "Well then they can afford the 200+ dollar boards from Intel can't they? 250USD on a mobo is a drop in the bucket copared to the 1000+ USD on dual or quad video cards, 400+ for high performcae DDR2, 300+ for a PSU that can juice everthing. "

Maybe you missed the part about the absolute best performance? Show me a dual x16 Crossfire Intel board. Oh right, you can't. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm looking at Crossfire boards, not interested in nVidia this go-round.

2)"Cause it used the same BUS interface."

I'm not really sure what this has to do with anything but OK... You could have at least gone for the more obvious "Why pair a last generation CPU with a next generation chipset."

3)"Whats better about AMD's platform? NV's AMD mobo offering ain't that much different for NV's Intel mobo. "

I want a Crossfire board.

4)"Now if this isn't the rant of a fan boy, I don't know what is? 20% is time i can hold on to my system before my next system upgrade. "

Utter rubbish. That's like saying a V8 model of a given car will outlast a V6 just because it's faster. I don't know why I even continue to explain this to you people, but a 20% CPU does not even come close to equalling 20% faster gaming unless you like to play at 640x480.

Anyone who disagrees with me is welcome to do so, but please refrain from calling me a fanboy. In case you didn't read my original post, I was high as a kite on Conroe until the lack of motherboard options became apparent.

5)"Gamers, as you know, are a different beast and Intel packs more of a punch(value and performance) than AMD right now for that segment."

Yet another ignorant assertion. Do you own stock in Intel or something?

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RE: AMD still leads the dual GPU segment

By ecktt on 9/22/2006 12:23:00 AM , Rating: 2

"I'm looking at Crossfire boards, not interested in nVidia this go-round."
"I want a Crossfire board."
ROFL. Man if u didn't know, let me educate u a little. That dongle to connect the master card to the slave card moves the vast majority if the data so pci-e bus isn't used in the Linking of the Cards . So the 975 Intel chipset is more than capable of handling cross fire which it is certified to do. And as far as I see, the 965 should not see a performance hit for the same reason.

"That's like saying a V8 model of a given car will outlast a V6 just because it's faster."
No it isn't. A CPU adequacy is determined by if the response time (subjective imo) is satisfactory for a given task when there are no other limiting factors. My point here is that, as software becomes larger and more complex (which it does over time), the processor appears to become slower when the fact remains that its just as fast as the day you bought it. Buying a faster processor now would put off a processor upgrade.

"Do you own stock in Intel or something?"
Har har. Nope, but guess what processor I will be buying and not because of brand loyalty but because of what is a better value and long term investment.

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why 965?

By NerV04 on 9/19/2006 3:20:29 PM , Rating: 2

why are motherboard makers still making new 965 boards? why arent they fully concentrating on 975? arent all the new core 2 cpus made for the 975 socket. doesnt make sense that theyre using a somewhat outdated chipset when the new one is out....

RE: why 965?

By Robblemonster on 9/19/2006 3:25:05 PM , Rating: 3

Hmmmm... just wow.

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RE: why 965?

By Spivonious on 9/19/2006 3:29:28 PM , Rating: 3

The 975 was originally designed for the Pentium D. Only rev 2 of it supports the Core 2 series. The 965 was designed for the Core 2 series. I know it's kind of confusing that a lower number is newer, but the 965 is much newer than 975, not "somewhat outdated".

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RE: why 965?

By hadifa on 9/19/2006 7:57:04 PM , Rating: 3

I think 965P is newer than 975.

There are still making motherboards based on 845. They are much cheaper and not everyone needs all the new features.

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SLI is doomed

By FXi on 9/19/2006 11:56:10 PM , Rating: 2

With CF running on both 975/965 as well as ATI chipsets, give it one year and people will realize that SLI is a doomed platform.
SLI is playing the "we are exclusive" game and they are going to lose, badly.

RE: SLI is doomed

By Visual on 9/20/2006 1:25:53 AM , Rating: 2

sli also can run on both chipsets, dude - no problem at all for the 975, there are drivers for that already, and 965 might come soon too (another question is if it'd be any use with one of the cards having just 4x pcie).
sli can run even on ati boards, same as cf can on nvidia boards - and both ati and nvidia don't want those particular combinations for some reason. both are in this "we are exclusive" crap unfortunately.

back on the original topic - how good does multigpu rendering work when one card is on just 4x pcie?

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RE: SLI is doomed

By ecktt on 9/20/2006 12:46:18 PM , Rating: 2

It should work pretty good since they would use their own bridge/dongle to by-pass the PCI-E buss anyway.

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core duo motherboards are expensive or lousy

By mforce on 9/19/2006 4:11:46 PM , Rating: 2

I was looking into Core Duo motherboards these days and any decent ones I could find were about 150 , not to mention some going for over 200 $. To me this seems way too much for a motherboard and it might be caused by the fact that manufacturers insist on using Intel chipsets which are probably expensive ( not saying they aren't good though ) .
If they do make a motherboard for Intel with a non-Intel chipset it's usually one of those budget "buy me I'm cheap" motherboards .
I remember getting my Abit NF7-S which was top of the range for 120 $ so I'm hoping the prices will come down.
As for Crossfire/SLI , it's useless to me and I think manufacturers are exagerating . There are people who only need CPU power and could care less about the graphics card . The notion these days is that if it's premium MB then it's gotta have SLI/Crossfire and then you have to pay for that too , even if you don't need it .

RE: core duo motherboards are expensive or lousy

By Spivonious on 9/19/2006 4:33:16 PM , Rating: 2

I've been happy with my Gigabyte 965P-DS3. Rock solid stability with the latest BIOS and plenty of overclocking options. I don't OC myself, but there are stories of people attaining 500MHz+ FSBs. It is around that $150 mark, but I'm anticipating this to be a fairly long-term purchase.

For your case, if you don't mind dropping features, then pick up a cheap board like a Foxconn. I hear they're around $100.

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Oh boy...

By DigitalFreak on 9/19/2006 2:15:18 PM , Rating: 2

Yet another hacked motherboard.

Not what I would call Xfire support.

By Hydrofirex on 9/19/06, Rating: 0

By Hydrofirex on 9/19/2006 4:43:31 PM , Rating: 0

Motherboards do seem to be getting more and more expensive - at least on the high-end. I just shelled out about 300 bucks for the VERY hard to get (Very, very high demand) 975 Asus Core 2 board of choice. I have to say that even though the board is amazing, is feature packed, has a great BIOS, tuns of extra goodies and set-up conveniences (If I ever have to hook up the case LED's without a riser again I think I'll cry.), and a PERFECT feature set (Except the idiotic omission of JBOD from the on board RAID set-ups), that 300 bucks (Damn shipping) is outrageous.

That being said, looking at my other options, or the lack there-of, it doesn't seem as bad (After all, all the best equipment in the world is useless without a great main board to run it!). And, boards like this MSI one only make me feel better. Who the hell wants a PCIe X4 lane?

I agree that dual VGA is only for those for which money is no object, and I also agree that looking at it as an upgrade path isn't really tenable when the next gen cards will probably offer either better or at the least the same performance than the older dual VGA set-up with a newer feature set (ESPECIALLY with DX10 on the horizon) - but, having dual PCIe x16 or even x8 lanes still seems a good bet. Even if I never go crossfire, someone might be smart and realize that a lot of people have an empty high bandwidth expansion slot... perfect for....

Sufficed to say I don't call an additional x4 lane "crossfire support."

HfX