NVlink and SLI?

[dud]

If you have cards with NVlink (newest cards like 2070 Super), do you still need a mainboard with >= x8 PCIe on both slots? Or do the cards finally talk to each other without clogging up the board.

Since my SLI attempt blew up in the true sense of the word I don't think I want traditional SLI anymore. But if NVlink makes my life easier I'm willing to get one of those cards (and a second one later).

 

[RCHeliguy]

I have no personal experience with this, but what I've read about NVlink is disappointing. Most titles don't support it and in some cases the performance is better with a single card.

When I first saw the NVlink announcement I was hoping it would just make two cards look like one big card. NVidia created NVlink for their professional cards that is supposed to make it look like a single card where all the memory is shared at full bus speed between both cards, but the gaming cards didn't get that.

 

[dud]

I don't think that quite worked out for the professional cards either. You don't have to load everything into each card, but that doesn't make it one card.

I wonder whether you at least don't need a SLI capable mainboard anymore. But it is hard to find good information, e.g. is SLI done through NVLink, when present, or does SLI still go through the motherboard?

 

[RCHeliguy]

Sorry. All I know is what I saw through GamersNexus and one or two other YouTube videos that showed it wasn't very effective as well as sometimes reducing performance or creating instabilty.