Intel Decides to Include SLI Support on the DX58SO

When we posted about Core i7 preview back in November, one complaint we had with regards to Intel’s own DX58SO motherboard was the lack of NVIDIA SLI support. The reasons behind this were laid out in an article we posted a few months prior to that, stating that NVIDIA will charge manufacturers on a per-board basis to include the feature. This reportedly tacks on $5 to any board that bears support.

Since neither of these companies put much effort into getting along, Intel saw no reason to cave into NVIDIA’s offer to include SLI on their board, and for the most part, it seemed like NVIDIA didn’t have much interest in selling them the capability, either. For those looking to build a high-end i7 machine though, that ruled out Intel’s “Smackover” board, unless you had CrossFireX in mind. That changes today, however.

For whatever reason, Intel decided to opt for SLI support on the DX58SO board, and it’s retroactive. Anyone who owns the board already can go and download the latest BIOS to enable the support. How licensing works given so many boards have already been sold, I’m unsure. Intel likely had to pay a flat fee for all of the boards sold so far, and will continue to give NVIDIA whatever it is they charge for all forthcoming sales. It’s unlikely that the current price for the board will increase due to this change, however, since the board is already priced a little high given its feature-set.

All motherboard manufacturers must pay the required hefty fees and submit boards through the certification process at NVIDIA’s Santa Clara Certification Lab. There are unique ‘cookies’ given to each vendor to enable SLI usage. NVIDIA branding and logos must be prominently displayed as a condition of SLI licensing.