Conclusions
Hybrid SLI is an interesting new direction for Nvidia, one the company intends to pursue aggressively by integrating motherboard GPUs into all its new chipsets. We really like the idea. Although its initial implementation in the nForce 780a SLI has a few rough edges, HybridPower's reduction in energy use is dramatic enough we're willing to forgive a few flaws. The problems we experienced with HybridPower are more annoyances than show-stoppers, and they don't take away from what is an otherwise impressive technical achievement.

In fact, we're so keen on HybridPower that we'd like to see it extended to all of Nvidia's graphics products. High-end cards like the GeForce 9800 GTX and GX2 may have the most to gain from being powered down, but there's no reason why budget cards like the GeForce 9600 GT shouldn't benefit, as well. We are living in an age of soaring energy prices and increasing environmental awareness, after all.

While we're griping, addressing the single-link DVI limitation of the 780a's motherboard GPU should be high on Nvidia's list of priorities. 1900x1200 might be a reasonable resolution ceiling for most folks, but since HybridPower is currently restricted to high-end graphics configurations, it really needs to be able to handle 30" displays at their native 2560x1600 resolution. Perhaps the most compelling case for HybridPower can be made for SLI systems with multiple high-end graphics cards, and with that kind of pixel pushing horsepower, you really want to be driving a 30" panel at full resolution.

Of course, there's more to the nForce 780a SLI than Hybrid SLI. Even if you discount its mGPU, the 780a is still the best Phenom chipset on the market. With more USB and SATA ports, Native Command Queuing that actually works, support for RAID 5 arrays, and an integrated Gigabit Ethernet controller that should prevent motherboard makers from using sub-par networking chips, we heartily recommend the nForce over AMD's existing 790FX chipset—that is, of course, if you can find a board at a decent price with reasonable power consumption.

Power consumption has never been a strong suit of nForce chipsets, but the wattage pulled by Asus' M3N-HT Deluxe is a little alarming. We're also not too crazy about the board's $249 price tag, which makes it more expensive than the fastest Phenom you can buy. AMD simply doesn't have a CPU that's fast enough to put in a high-end rig. That's hardly the fault of Asus or Nvidia, but it does blunt our enthusiasm for the M3N-HT Deluxe and the nForce 780a SLI.

Fortunately, Nvidia has an ace up its sleeve with a mid-range nForce 750a SLI chipset. The 750a loses three-way SLI compatibility and only has 19 lanes of PCI Express 2.0. But it supports Hybrid SLI, and we have a feeling it uses the exact same MCP chip as the 780a. What's more, the 750a should arrive on affordable motherboards that are a better fit for the Phenoms AMD currently has on the market. That should tide us over until Hybrid SLI makes its way to nForce chipsets for Intel processors, which is where we're really dying to see the technology in action.