Intel 975X Chipset To Support Nvidia’s SLI & ATI’s CrossFire

Intel's forthcoming high-end 975X chipset, which is expected to be launched in the first quarter of next year, will support both Nvidia's SLI and ATI Technologies' CrossFire dual-graphics technology, according to sources at Taiwan motherboard makers. The 975X will come with a built-in PCIe x16 interface, which will allow motherboard makers to design boards with dual PCIe x8 slots to support dual-graphics technology, the sources noted.

Intel has reached a licensing agreement with both Nvidia and ATI that will allow Intel users access to drivers to enable SLI or CrossFire, the sources noted. The 975X will target the high-end segment with an initial price tag of US$50 (for 10k lots), or at the same level as Intel’s 955X chipset. The 975X will come with a 65nm version of the dual-core Pentium Extreme Edition 955 processor, which supports 1066MHz FSB speeds and 2x2MB of L2 cache (4MB of L2 cache per central processing unit in total), according to the sources.