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Intel P45 chipset to support AMD's CrossFire X
Gamer's delight, apparently
Intel's upcoming discrete 'Eaglelake' chipset, the P45, will support AMD's new CrossFire X multi-GPU technology, it has emerged.
A presentation slide posted by Chinese-language website HKEPC shows the P45 and AMD's as-yet-unannounced 'RV680' GPU as a "winning combination" - Intel's words - for gaming.
The P45's contributions to the combo are listed as its 1333MHz frontside bus speed, support for up to 8GB of 1333MHz DDR 3 memory and 16 PCI Express 2.0 lanes configurable as either a single x16 slot or a pair of x8 connectors.
It's the latter that will enable CrossFire X. Or "full CrossFire X scalability", as the slide puts it. CrossFire X allows four GPUs to co-operatively render images. Since RV680 is the code for a board that contains two RV670 GPUs - aka the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 - bunging two boards into a P45-based system with two graphics card slots gives you the four GPUs that CrossFire X was made for.
Each board will contain 1GB of GDDR 4 memory, the slide suggests.
The P45 is due to debut in Q2 2008, according to Intel roadmaps.
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