NVIDIA RTX 2000 graphics cards replaced the SLI connector with the NVLink connector. This new technology allows the two graphics cards to work as the same graphics card. The funny thing is that of the new Ampere graphics, only the NVIDIA RTX 3090 has NVLink capability. The other models do not offer this graphics interconnection technology.
Currently and until the launch of the RTX 3000, the graphics that NVLink supported were five. Specifically the Titan RTX, RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 2080 Super, RTX 2080 and RTX 3070 Super. It is now cut down to just the RTX 3090, in a decision that is surprising everyone quite a bit from NVIDIA.
[amazon box=»B07J2Q4SWZ» title=»Crucial P1 1TB » star_rating=»none» template=»table»]NVLink will only be supported by the NVIDIA RTX 3090
Removing support for SLI is somewhat logical, as it is quite an outdated technology. NVLink is a better solution that we could say that combines the two graphics making them work as if it were one. Since the GTX 1060 Pascal, NVIDIA has been cutting back on the number of graphics with support for multi-graphics systems. But it's not just NVIDIA, gaming support for multi-GPU configurations has plummeted.
But make no mistake, this strategy is not unique to NVIDIA. AMD on its AMD RDNA graphics cards has already removed CrossFireX support. The difference is that AMD has not introduced a technology to replace it.
Note that even if there is no support for interconnection of graphics, two graphics can be installed without problems. Instead of working as if it were one with NVLink, they will work in parallel. Perhaps this has a lot to do with PCIe 4.0 and with the future PCIe 5.0 which will offer impressive capabilities.
Be that as it may, multi-GPU systems are a thing of the past and not so popular anymore. Modern graphics, especially NVIDIA RTX 3000, have a very high graphics power compared to the previous generation.
[irp]Source: TPU
