Intel's X58 Motherboard: Effect on NVidia and Consumers

The Intel X58 chipset was released during November of 2008, and
was released as a successor of X48. Now, the importance here is
not just the name itself; this is a direct challenge to all of
the computer hardware companies out there that have been making
large amounts of money off of nVidia chipset motherboards. Now,
how does this effect you, the consumer who has sparked an
interest in computer hardware?

Well, here's the thing: the X58 chipset can run SLI. Yes, I just
said that: it can run SLI. For those of you who don't know what
SLI is, I will explain it in another article today. For now, I
will just say that SLI is a program created by NVidia that
allows the computer to run more than one video card at the same
time.

Now, why does SLI in the X58 matter so much? Well here's the
reason why: it takes away a valuable advantage NVidia chipsets
had over Intel chipsets. Traditionally, Intel chipsets were only
able to run Crossfire and CrossfireX, or just a single NVidia
video card without SLI. NVidia chipsets, on the other hand, can
only run NVidia Graphics cards(with the exception of patches for
some ATI graphics cards) but can run two in SLI and even three
in TriSLI. However, now that the X58 can run NVidia graphics
cards(GPU's), more consumers will begin to turn to this chipset.

Now, NVidia loses more than one battle here. One of NVidia
chipsets motherboards' main concerns for consumers was the price
tag. The fact is, that many NVidia chipset motherboards are more
expensive than the Intel chipset motherboards. However, this was
justifiable because NVidia still had the SLI and TriSLI
advantage over Intel chipsets. Now that the X58 chipset can run
NVidia GPU's in SLI, NVidia has lost one advantage, and lots its
justification for the price tags. And because most consumers
only go as far as running two graphics cards in SLI, NVidia may
lose a lot of loyal customers.

However, this does not mean that NVidia will fade away or go
bankrupt. X58 chipset motherboards can run two graphics cards in
SLI, but it cannot run three graphics cards in SLI. NVidia can;
therefore, NVidia still gets to keep the enthusiast market under
its arms. Another advantage NVidia still has is its apparent
ability to overclock better than Intel chipsets. While this
advantage may seem to be mysterious because most consumers do
not know why this is so, this is still an advantage that NVidia
will hold onto. Therefore, NVidia will still be able to keep
most of the consumers who know how to overclock well.