New motherboard will not take 8800 or FX1600 in SLI?

Sorry to make another thread about the upgrade I've looked in the other threads, but can't really see an answer to my problem.

I'm currently ordering a notebook with RJTech (who have been very helpful) at first I was going to get the 8700s in SLI and wait six months to upgrade to either the 8800 or the FX1600 (I use Maya), that was until I heard that you need to upgrade the motherboard for the 8800m. RJtech are happy to swap the two 8700s for one 8800 at the same price of my order, but informed me that:

I'm stuck right now on what to do. I take this means that there is no possible way to have SLI with these cards on this motherboard without updating to yet another one? Could I put the 8800m in one slot and the FX1600 in the spare slot and swap between cards according to my needs? If I stick with the old motherboard with the 8700 SLI how will the cards compare in performance to a single 8800m. I've seen the tests such as this one http://www.notebookcheck.com/NVIDIA-GeForce-8800M-GTX.5213.0.html where the 8800 gets about a 1000 more points in 3DMark 06 than the SLI set up. Would this translate to real world application?

I guess what I'm really trying to ask, is it really worth updating the motherboard if it stops me having the choice of going SLI with the FX1600m which would be a consideration in the future? I've looked around and places like Eurocom are offering SLI 8800 I assumed that all Clevo resellers use the same motherboards. I'm really not a buff on notebooks and would love to get some knowledgeable opinions on this before I make my choice.

 

the fx1600 are 8700m gt's, so do not pay a premium for them. and also if they will upgrade you to 8800m gtx's for free DO IT!

 

They might be saying that the board cannot handle sli 8800s because the drivers are not out yet? I am not sure. I remember when the sli laptops didnt sell two cards because it was not supported software wise (like the 8700)...I could be wrong though....I guess I would talk to them again and ask why it isn't supported. If it is just a driver thing then yes, get the upgraded cards and wait for the driver to catch up. I don't really know much about this though so take my words with a grain of salt.

 

Well, I really don't know why rjtech keeps telling they will not support SLI, since they are not going to sell anything different than Xotic and Justin said that the new mobo will fully support SLI.

 

According to Justin's full description:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=192191&page=20

A new motherboard is required to run the 8800GTX period, not only for SLI 8800GTX setup. Which seems to make sense for the change needed, if you can't run one you won't be able to run two either. Remember the motherboard change has nothing to do with thermals or power consumption.

I've heard other people saying single 8800GTX will run but not SLI on current MoBs before. Unless there are two 8800m's someone is wrong, or worst...more wrong.

You could wait for the new board revision (which should be soon) and just order it with one 8800GTX with the option of adding another when the price drops.

 

oops I read your initial post wrong. I thought they were saying the new board revision wasn't supporting two cards yet...not the current one that you have. Yea, take a look at the post that techno linked. thats got loads of info.

Sorry...near the end of a 10 hour shift. little tired

 

Thanks for the replies so far I appreciate it.

Just to be clear. RJtech are offering me the new motherboard if I buy the 8800m but when I asked if I wanted to go SLI they sent that reply to me. I think my opening post may have rambled a bit. I am not getting an update on a current machine but buying a new one and was given the choice between the old board with 2 8700s in SLI or pre-order the updated board with a single 8800m. I was just a bit thrown that some places are offering SLI with the same D901c while RJTech are saying it is not possible on the new motherboard even with the FX1600m (I know it is a lesser card than the 8800 but Maya seems to be more stable with the Quadro cards).

I'm assuming that like Jikeel said it is possibly just driver related and will be an option later.

 

I know this isn't RJtech but this is the response I got from another Reseller.

I specifically asked PcMicroworks the same question since I ordered mine with a single 8800GTX.

" I ordered my system with a single 8800 GTX when I decide to upgrade to dual 8800 GTXs will I be required to buy a new mother board to accommodate them?"

PC Microworks's response

"You will have no problem adding a 2nd card – the slot is ready to go and this unit is user-upgradeable so you can perform the upgrade yourself!"

BTW. Lightening fast responses so far from PCMICROWORKS

I also asked them about the rumored delay on the sli drivers. They said everything was still on track for a mid to late december ship date.

 

Habib, your going to find out that not everyone that works for a reseller is knowledgeable. There was an issue when my Blackhawk was ordered that PCMicro didn't know how to properly setup the RAID and I got some advice here on the forums and basically had to tell them how to set it up so that it would work. They don't know everything.

You ordered your notebook with SLI 8800's right? If so in order to work you'll have the motherboard revision already. For people that have an older motherboard it will not be "user upgradeable" a motherboard swap out is a lot of work to be honest.

Just take what they told you with a grain of salt....you'll do better in the long run. Just speaking from experience with them myself.

 

Yea. I am still nervous about the 8800m sli working correctly with vista 64 bit. They may sell the beast with two cards but I may just find out it isn't compatible just yet. I think the 8700 went through the same deal didn't it? They came out with it but some companies with held the option of configuring a new system with two because of this (could have been a mobo deal too I dont remember). I could be wrong but I thought I remember reading something like that. Anyways, it shouldn't be too long before a "working" driver is issued.

 

I seem to remember someone saying the SLI driver would not be ready until Jan 08. That may be the reason for the delay in them wanting to sell a SLI setup. I don't think anyone knows anything for sure until Dec 6th when they release all of the upgrade information and everything goes on preorder.

 

SLI setups were being sold long before Vista accepted SLI. I don`t think that`s the case.

 

Again I could be wrong (wouldn't be the first time ) but I thought there was a time after the release of the 8700 that you couldn't get them in sli because it wasn't supported in vista but you could still get sli 7950s...

Doesn't matter really. I am sure everything will be fine if you can order a system with 2 cards there will be a working solution.

 

For a while there was no SLI at all in Vista, it had nothing to do with 8700's. SLI is now working in Vista, in a hit or miss method, there have been a few KB updates to work it in, DirectX fixes and quite a few driver fixes. Mine works atm, 169.09 in Vistax64 but it's still a bit scary to be honest. It feels like I'm practicing vodoo to get it to work sometimes.

 

I bet you could throw 2 8800M GTX in a XP laptop with some newer drivers from Laptopvideo2Go right now and get SLI working. I think support is already in the drivers since its the G92. The same should apply to vista.

 

Wu, do you got 7950s or 8700s? I am just curious because I am going vist 64bit and sli and I just want to know what to expect

 

Thanks everyone. I decided to go with the 8800m and the new motherboard. I think they're saying no SLI because Clevo hasn't officially said so, if you look on their website http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/products/prodinfo_2.asp?productid=19 there's no mention of SLI while there is for the 7950 and 8700, I guess they're just being careful in case worst of worse you can't use SLI. Now, I just have to wait until January to get my hands on it.

 

I have one of the first D901C's. I.e. motherboard rev 4.x and I have 2x7950gtx's.