We've reported many times about the X58/NF200 issues, and despite Nvidia going with software SLI, some recent presentations that we've seen still carry the NF200 chip on them. Nvidia's reasoning behind this is that you should get a better SLI experience by using an X58 motherboard fitted with one or two NF200 bridge chips.

We're still waiting for a single confirmation beyond word of mouth that any motherboard manufacturer is actually considering making an X58 motherboard with NF200, as even the mighty Asus Rampage II Extreme doesn't have the slightest hint of Nvidia hardware on it.

It's interesting how Nvidia is trying to promote the NF200 chip as a solution for quad x16 PCIe slots to the board makers, when it in fact can't do anysuch thing. The problem with the NF200 is that it can't add extra PCIe lanes, so  to reach that magical four-slot design, each chip splits 16 PCIe lanes into two; but it's done in a clever way and the NF200 chips have enough processing power to make sure that nothing goes wrong.

A PCIe switch in itself isn't anything remarkable, as many companies make them and even AMD is working on one. However, from what we understand from having talked to a few motherboard manufacturers, the lag of the NF200 chips are pretty much non-existent, which at least means that there shouldn't be any slowdown issues.

Still, as we have yet to see any pair of graphics cards use up the available PCIe bandwidth on even a dual x8 PCIe configuration, we're not sure who Nvidia is trying to sell this solution to. Even more bizzarely, the company is still promting the NF200 as a viable and "better" solution for a dual x16 PCIe setup with a third x16 PCIe slot native to the chipset. Hopefully this is just a last cry of desperation.