Given the parallel nature of the workload, graphics cards were an obvious choice to get paired up to work on a task. Both AMD and Nvidia have been working on their multi-GPU tech for quite a while with varying levels of success. Right now, both Crossfire and SLI will support up to 4 cards together. Unfortunately, it looks like the GTX 1080, the latest Pascal GPU, won’t be able to SLI beyond 2 cards.

According to Nvidia, the GTX 1080 uses a new high-bandwidth SLI connector. This improved SLI requires the use of 2 connectors on each card a new SLI bridge. So even though you see 2 SLI connectors on the GTX 1080, you won’t be able to use a third or fourth card for SLI. Usually, the third card is added in to help with stability and reducing latency rather than pure performance. With the improved SLI though, the third card might not be necessary anymore anyways.

Now that SLI might be limited to 2-way configurations, this leaves AMD’s Crossfire as the remaining 3-way+ solution. While I can see some benefits by creating a higher-bandwidth SLI connection, AMD has already been able to achieve better scaling without the use of bridges at all. Hopefully, we will see Nvidia move towards this direction as well.