NVIDIA's Decision to Abandon SLI: A Shift in Multi-GPU Technology

Welcome back to another geek video, and today I'm going to talk about something that has just interested me and provoked a little bit of thought within me - NVIDIA's decision to abandon SLI completely. As we dive into the world of graphics cards, it's essential to understand the implications of this shift in technology.

One of the key points to consider is the inclusion of SLI functionality with the 1070 and 1080 cards. If they hadn't had included SLI with these high-end cards, everyone would have got up and gone by NVIDIA. The enthusiast community is always on the lookout for the latest and greatest in graphics technology, and if you're spending $600 on a graphics card, you want the option to buy another one. With the 1070 and 1080 being incredibly enthusiast-friendly cards, it's no surprise that many users would have opted for NVIDIA over AMD.

However, this decision by NVIDIA has left some gamers wondering what the future holds for multi-GPU technology. As we move forward into the world of DirectX 12, which is set to support multiple GPUs, it's essential to consider how this shift in technology will impact the gaming community. While some may be excited about the prospect of games supporting multiple GPUs, others are worried that this technology won't be as seamless as they would like.

One of the key concerns is the scaling issue with SLI and Crossfire. When using these technologies, there's often a noticeable difference in performance between the two GPUs. This can be frustrating for gamers who want to enjoy smooth gameplay without any issues. However, with DirectX 12, the focus shifts from the technology itself to the game developers' ability to optimize and code for multi-GPU setups.

DirectX 12 is a significant improvement over its predecessors, and it's clear that NVIDIA is investing heavily in this technology. With the help of DirectX 12, games will be able to take full advantage of multiple GPUs, resulting in improved performance and a more seamless gaming experience. However, as we all know, game development is a time-consuming and resource-intensive process.

The question on everyone's mind is whether or not DirectX 12 will actually support multi-GPU setups everywhere. While it's clear that the technology has the potential to be impressive, there are many factors at play that could affect its success. For example, some of the most popular games like CS:GO and GTA V might not even support DirectX 12, let alone multi-GPU setups.

In conclusion, NVIDIA's decision to abandon SLI has sparked a lively debate within the gaming community. While some may see this as an opportunity for innovation and growth, others are worried about the potential impact on their gaming experience. As we move forward into the world of DirectX 12, it's essential to stay tuned and see how this technology will shape the future of multi-GPU technology.

In the meantime, if you're one of the enthusiasts who can't get enough of graphics cards, be sure to check out my review of the incredible Bluetooth speaker that I recently got my hands on. Even my monitors are telling me to shut up now! Don't forget to like and subscribe for more content, and I'll see you in the next geek video.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome back to another geek video and today I'm going to talk about something that uh just interested me and provoked a little bit of thought within me and that is SLI is NVIDIA abandoning SLI completely so let me talk to you about it why it's not necessarily A Bad Thing and why I've possibly kind of jumped uh to these conclusions now on nvidia's recent GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 releases both incredibly powerful graphics cards at pretty decent price performance kind of ranges both of them have SLR they only support two-way SLI you can kind of Mudge job three on four-way SLI and the eagle among you would have noticed that they do have two SLI fingers which normally would have been enough for three and fourway SLI but nvidia's new high band with SLI Bridge utilizes both of these prongs if you will in both of these connectors so three and four weight by Nvidia officially out of the question so that was kind of the first nail in the coffin for nvidia's SLI and then just literally like yesterday like literally no sorry the day before yesterday Nvidia announced the GTX 1060 now if we take a look around the card there is no SLI connection whatsoever now I know what you're thinking James you can't just presume that because there's no SLI connection on a GTX 1060 that there's going to be no SLI anymore but let me tell you why they might actually be getting rid of it now directex 12 which is the game architect the AR architectures that games run upon most games like up till now for the past kind of six years or so have been based on Direct X1 and directx10 DX X9 and backwards but mostly dxx 11 DX X12 even though I can't really say it properly is just on the horizon and that's the special software that everyone's been kind of going oh my God it's amazing that was able to support uh multi-gpu setups with different gpus and with AMD and Nvidia gpus now firstly what do I think about getting rid of an SL connection and an SLI prong if you will on a GTX 1060 personally I don't see any reason you'd want to SLI that card from new if you going to SLR that card you be better get off getting a 1070 or 1080 rather than getting two 1060s because SLI and multi GPU um setups as we know some games just won't use a second graphics card they'll be like give me the first one buy second one kind of thing which is really really annoying and other games will only use half the second one and use all of the first one and allocate everything to the second one but not the first one and it gets very very messy however uh if you are getting a system with say an i5 a GTX 1060 8 gigs of RAM and then later on down the line you go oh I've got another $250 to upgrade my PC buying more Ram's really not going to make a difference buying a new power supply might not be necessary a case is purely aesthetic CPU call you probably already got so you think okay I'll just buy another graphics card it might not scale properly but so what I've just come in to 250 quid I couldn't afford to spend £500 on a graphics $500 sorry on a graphics card when I first bought my PC so you know what got some more money you get the message sh another GPU that to me would be the only situation where doing GTX 1060 SLI would be the best option even if it did provide better performance per per dollar or per per pound than getting one single card which is a 1070 or 1060 the issues uh there are just aren't big enough for me to actually face however if you got spare money later on down the line it's a great option for doing SLI however let's talk about the actual main subject of the video before I go off on a tangent the 1060 yes isn't the best card to S you don't want to S it there really is no point in it however the card it's competing directly against the rx480 supports Crossfire which is amd's version of nvidia's s at multi-gpu configuration and M multi GPU technology supports up to fourway Crossfire see you can go and get a GTX 1060 you've got one of them you can go and get an rx480 yeah you can have four but the rx480 the crossfire element has actually been a massive argument for the card a lot of people have been putting two RX 480s much like AMD demoe against a GTX 1080 and actually beating the graphics card however it isn't all bad news direct X2 that I've been talking about that isn't really being used that much yet does have the option for uh game developers to be able to support using multiple gpus whether that be multiple GTX 1060 so the card wouldn't be in SLI instead it would be seen as two separate graphics cards one 1060 the other 1060 or one 1070 the other 1070 and the game would then be able to go oh yeah I'll use both of those however there is a big caveat and there's a big twist to this the scaling in this will be miles better than SLI or Crossfire because the game will either support multi GPU or it won't support multi GPU and if it supports it it will be well coded for it with s Crossfire it's like yeah you got 2G gpus one of them might not work kind of thing but if the the game has been coded for multiple GPU setups then you know it's going to work but this is the big thing setting a game up to work with multiple gpus takes a lot more time a lot more money and a lot more resources and if 90% of Gamers which isn't a real statistic by the way don't hold me accountable to that most people actually won't go for an Asel Crossfire setup the enthusiasts might be a bit upset with this news but the chances are the enthusiasts are on the 1070 and 1080 cards so to conclude Nvidia perhaps are phasing out SLI if they hadn't have included SLI functionality with the 1070 and the 1080 everyone would have got up got up off their chairs and just gone by Nvidia yeah no no because the 1070 and 1080 are both incredibly Enthusiast Mind cards and if you are going to be spending $600 on a graphics card you're going to want the option to buy another one and Nvidia certainly aren't going to go yeah we'll take 600 but we don't want another 600 no no no no no no no with the highest end card it tends to be that you'll always want to run if you have the money more than one of them because it just the performance increases and if you're the highest end card anyway then the only way to actually get better performance is to get another high-end card now for me if direct if in 6 months time directx12 is supporting multi GPU setups everywhere and loads of games are doing it then this is going to be great Nvidia can say bye to to Sr it doesn't really matter AMD can say bye to Crossfire cuz dx12 has got it covered but the chances are will it have it covered or not yes the SLI and Crossfire scaling isn't very good however people have come to expect that and if you go into an SLI setup you you know that you go yeah all right I'm accepting that one of them might not be working properly in one game or working at all however with direct X12 is fully in the hands of the game developers and while game developers in the minute still have to optimize and code for SL and Crossfire with d x 12 we don't know the workload not all the titles are on d x 12 look at some of the most popular games uh like csgo for example which is an old bit more easy to run game GTA 5 they dtic 11 well the csgo is like 9 or 10 direct Tech 11 games and if you're buying a GTX 1060 GTA5 is still one of the most popular titles so if it doesn't support Sr Crossfire and you have another $250 later on down the line all right go grab another graphics card you might be able to play um Star Wars Battlefront with two gpus but you can't use the second one in GTA 5 which you would be able to do if you'd bought a 960 or a 970 and got those in SLR so which just food for thought I suppose it's all going to kind of see how it goes but I can't necessarily blame Nvidia for not including SLI but you know hopefully did find this video useful informative or helpful it was slightly on the long side so I do apologize for that make sure to drop a like right if you did enjoy it make sure to subscribe I've got a pretty Kick-Ass review of this incredible Bluetooth speaker see even my monitors are telling me to shut up now and I'll see you in the next geeko video\n"