ASUS Intros a No-frills NVIDIA SLI HB Bridge

[btarunr]

Want SLI to work right on your GeForce GTX 1080, GTX 1070, or TITAN X Pascal without having to spend $50 on a fancy SLI bridge with an LED light-show you don't need? Look no further than the "no-frills" NVIDIA SLI HB bridge by ASUS. The bridge is just a fiberglass PCB with SLI slots where you'd want them, and simple ASUS ROG branding printed on the PCB, nothing too fancy. The bridge comes with 60 mm or 2-slot spacing (1 slot between two dual-slot thick graphics cards). The bridge will be sold separately for a fraction of the price of the company's LED-lit bridges; as well as being part of some of the company's upcoming motherboards' accessory packages.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Assimilator]

Oh thank God.

 

[cadaveca]

Meanwhile, ASRock gives the same thing for free with their newer motherboards for some time now... nice to see other OEMs starting to catch up. Anyway, I has to wonder about that slot spacing... which seems to be the same for nearly every HB bridge so far. I wonder if NVidia dictates that...

 

[silentbogo]

Common sense wins! FATALITY!

 

[peche]

so in the news... asus charges a lot of money for a crappy, plain, no leds or finishing sli bridge identical to the ones supplied with every Gigabyte, MSi, EVGA, Asrock and all the well known board manufacturers ? well....


Regards,

 

[thesmokingman]

Meanwhile, ASRock gives the same thing for free with their newer motherboards for some time now... nice to see other OEMs starting to catch up. Anyway, I has to wonder about that slot spacing... which seems to be the same for nearly every HB bridge so far. I wonder if NVidia dictates that...

Does Asrock bundle a HB bridge or a regular bridge?

 

[cadaveca]

Does Asrock bundle a HB bridge or a regular bridge?

Both, on the last two X99 boards I reviewed. Check the front page. I am working on other reviews that also include both as well. It is only natural that boards would include one as time goes forward, since the way things are going, these HB bridges might be required hardware for future GPUs and high-res monitors.

It's actually nice to see that those of us with pre-existing systems that did not have a HB bridge in the box have options to purchase one, and aren't tied into the flashy ones that cost a fair bit..

 

[peche]

Does Asrock bundle a HB bridge or a regular bridge?

most of them, at least here yes!

 

[cyneater]

only big of wank about these bridges is the ROG logo the rest is how it should be...

personally I don't see the point of a zillion dollar bridge that lights up...

 

[Ungari]

The words ASUS and NO FRILLS are an oxymoron at the premium prices they charge.

 

[newtekie1]

so in the news... asus charges a lot of money for a crappy, plain, no leds or finishing sli bridge identical to the ones supplied with every Gigabyte, MSi, EVGA, Asrock and all the well known board manufacturers ? well....


Regards,

ASUS is including these with their new packaging for their motherboards as well. This is just for people, like me, that bought a motherboard long before HB SLI Bridges were even a thing, and need to buy one separate. Also, since we don't know pricing, you can't say they are charging a lot of money.

But considering ASRock's "no frills" HB SLI Bridge is $30, I'm not holding my breath for a cheap price. But once there are more actually on the market(ASRock and ASUS seem to be the only ones available separately) and once ebay starts getting flooded with the direct from China ones, we'll see the prices go down.

And really, buying the nVidia one direct from nVidia is only $40. And while they aren't as no frills as these, I also don't think they are as tacky looking as some of the others. And $40 isn't a terrible price when you consider the $1,000+ people are paying for the two graphics cards. Though really couldn't they throw one in with the cards at that price?

only big of wank about these bridges is the ROG logo the rest is how it should be...

personally I don't see the point of a zillion dollar bridge that lights up...

Yeah, but I spray paint my bridges so they are all a solid color and the metal pins don't look like ass anyway, so not a big deal breaker.+

Anyway, I has to wonder about that slot spacing... which seems to be the same for nearly every HB bridge so far. I wonder if NVidia dictates that...

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/sli/bridges

The nVidia site lists 2, 3, and 4-slot versions. So I doubt they dictate the slot spacing. I'm guessing 3-slot is just the most common configuration, so that is what we see the most.