680i expansion PCI-e slot

[jag0]

So with all the talk about the 3-way SLi in the new 780i boards, does anyone know what the 3rd (middle) PCI-e slot on the 680i SLi boards is used for?

I remember hearing a while back about ATI and nvidia possible working on the ability to allow for a lower end video card to be used as a PPU (instead of resorting to an Ageia card) but I haven't heard much in a while.

Any one?

 

[veedubfreak]

Well for me, i run SLI in the 2 black slots and an old ATI card in the x4 slot so that i can actually use my 2nd monitor.

 

[jag0]

Any problems? My experience has always been that nvidia & ati drivers don't play well together.

It's annoying that if you want to do SLi you still can't output to a second monitor when you're not playing a game

 

[Dan_D]

Well for me, i run SLI in the 2 black slots and an old ATI card in the x4 slot so that i can actually use my 2nd monitor.

That slot on the 680i SLI board is an x8 slot. Not an x4.

So with all the talk about the 3-way SLi in the new 780i boards, does anyone know what the 3rd (middle) PCI-e slot on the 680i SLi boards is used for?

That slot can be used for any PCIe 1.0/1.0a compliant device. I use mine for a PCIe x4 RAID controller.

I remember hearing a while back about ATI and nvidia possible working on the ability to allow for a lower end video card to be used as a PPU (instead of resorting to an Ageia card) but I haven't heard much in a while.

Any one?

I recall something about ATI stating that the technology was basically dead for the near future. NVIDIA has made no official statements concerning GPU Physics If I am not mistaken.

 

[Dan_D]

Any problems? My experience has always been that nvidia & ati drivers don't play well together.

It's annoying that if you want to do SLi you still can't output to a second monitor when you're not playing a game

You can with a third video card.

 

[jag0]

You can with a third video card.

I know...but the fact that you need a 3rd card to do that kinda sucks.

As for the GPU physics...I wouldn't be surprised if they both scrapped their plans. Ageia doesn't really have any must-have games that use it & the big games that do use it (UT3 & GRAW 1/2) don't need it.

If ATI and/or nvidia put some backing behind it, I would think that more developers would use it more since they are better well known then Ageia.

 

[veedubfreak]

Any problems? My experience has always been that nvidia & ati drivers don't play well together.

It's annoying that if you want to do SLi you still can't output to a second monitor when you're not playing a game

Works in xp fine. Doesnt work at all in Vista. Vista disables the ATI card. Yet another reason im still using xp.

 

[Dan_D]

I know...but the fact that you need a 3rd card to do that kinda sucks.

As for the GPU physics...I wouldn't be surprised if they both scrapped their plans. Ageia doesn't really have any must-have games that use it & the big games that do use it (UT3 & GRAW 1/2) don't need it.

If ATI and/or nvidia put some backing behind it, I would think that more developers would use it more since they are better well known then Ageia.

Well I don't think hardware physics will take off really. In over a year it hasn't so far and even with UT3 supporting it there is no compelling reason to buy one of those cards. I think most developers will simply continue to do phyiscs in software.

 

[jag0]

Well yea...when the PPU cards cost $150+ that would be part of the problem. But if you could throw in a cheapo low end video card to do the physics then it would make a larger impact I think.