Intel P965 to Support ATI CrossFire

by Marco Chiappetta — Wednesday, September 20, 2006, 03:45 PM EDT

In our initial look at Intel's Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme (Conroe) processors and their compatible chipsets, we mentioned that the P965 was not likely to support ATI's CrossFire multi-GPU technology because the chipset does not have the same PCI Express lane configuration as the 975X. Whereas the 975X can be configured in an 8x / 8x PEG lane configuration, the P965 is setup for 16x / 4x operation. But yesterday news hit the web that MSI had added CrossFire support to their P965 Platinum motherboard, and we have just received word from Asus that they have a new BIOS that enables CrossFire support on their P965 based P5B Deluxe motherboard. P5B BIOS rev.0706 (or newer) should be available on Asus' site in the next few days. You'll need that and the latest set of Catalyst drivers to be in business. For now though, it's looking like only X1900 CrossFire in Direct3D is supported. OpenGL support should come before the end of the year.

On a side note, Asus also sent word of a new BIOS (v1405) for the 975X Express-based P5W DH Deluxe that unlocks lower multipliers on Core 2 Duo processors, for more flexible overclocking. This feature had already been implemented on their P5B, but it is new to the P5W.

Tags: Intel, ATI, Fire, CrossFire, SSF, Support, OS, port, OSS, RT

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com