SLI Cards

[tPBlink]

Holler

just a quick question... i've been reading around bout the new SLI config and was wondering if the 2 cards used, have to be the same. So say i get a card now and plug it in... then in a year when i want a new one that has SLI i plug it in and put them together, would it work?

tP¦Blink

 

[Mrvile]

They actually don't HAVE to be, but since each card works on each half of the screen, you'll get some pretty weird stuff. You're better off sticking with two of the same cards.

 

[happy medium]

to put it simply yes they must be the same

 

[mrSHEiK124]

same gpu, so you can't do like 6600GT + 6800GT, but two 6800GT or two 6600GT would work, and most of the times it doesn't matter who manufactures the card, but nV recommends that you use same brand cards

 

[nOObBooB]

Eh you know what, i personally wouldnt bother adding a second card of this generation.

Since probably you will spend an extra 100 or 80 on a SLI mobo compared to a regular agp or pci-e supported mobo. Beucase a nforce4 board will be expensive since it just came out. Then in like a year a 6800GT or 6600GT card will drop only like 100 to 150. For example when i got my 9800pro a year ago for 320 its like 200 now. So basically that 100 saved from getting a non-sli mobo wil saved you like 100 to 80, then 200 for the card you will buy a year from now. 300 can buy you the lastest generation card in a year or two. For example you can probalby get a 6800GT right now for 350, you just have to look.

AFter shown results, the lastest top of teh end cards clearly out match two SLI slower cards or last years generation of video cards technology. For exmaple two 6600GT give no where near teh performance of a 6800GT.


If you interested in saving money, i would just buy a pci-e mobo.

 

[nOObBooB]

Just my opinion, if what i just said makes any sense

 

[KrippledKracker]

Do you have hard evidence that a 6800GT way out-perfomrs two 6600's in SLI? Or is it just marginally better?

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: KrippledKracker
Do you have hard evidence that a 6800GT way out-perfomrs two 6600's in SLI? Or is it just marginally better?

No, he doesn't, because he's wrong.

Another thing he's forgetting is what Kyle said about using two 6600GTs in SLi compared to one 6800GT:
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Njk2LDg=

When looking at the big picture, we can?t keep from going back and focusing on our GeForce 6600 GT SLI gaming experience. It took our gaming to levels that we had not even hoped for. The average framerate numbers that we had been exposed to previously that were supplied by NVIDIA simply undervalued the real gaming experience the cards would deliver. Almost across the board, the 6600 GT SLI delivered a better quality gaming experience than did a Radeon X800Pro or a GeForce 6800 GT. There is more bang for the buck value in a GeForce 6600 GT SLI configuration than anything comparable

Let's see, nOObBooB, who's never used SLI says,

For exmaple two 6600GT give no where near teh performance of a 6800GT.

.

HardOCP, who's tested both says,

Almost across the board, the 6600 GT SLI delivered a better quality gaming experience than did a Radeon X800Pro or a GeForce 6800 GT.

Who to believe? The guy who's never seen SLI or the guy who's used it? Tough call!

 

[Ronin]

1. Forget Kyle and
2. Look at SEVERAL other views, showing that the 2 6600's do NOT perform in SLi as well as 1 6800GT
3. Talk to the guy who's got the setup (2 6600's and 2 6800U's (PCIe), in addition to several 6800GT's in AGP format), which would be me.

Oh, and in case you don't think I have the cards

http://server.counter-strike.n...mages/misc/gfline1.jpg
In order:
PCX 5750
2 6600 GT's
2 eVGA 6800U's
1 AGP 6800GT

That's just a quick pic I took not too long ago.

EDIT: No matter what I do, I can't seem to fix the formatting of the message.

 

[ohnnyj]

Plus if you get a 6800GT you have the opportunity to have two in the future. If you go 6600GT then you have potentially more heat and less of an upgrade path in the future.

 

[tenoc]

Believe I read that SLI doesn't work unless nVidia has graciously worked support for that application/game into its drivers.

True? Untrue?

 

[Ronin]

Not entirely true. If you're able to create your own profile for the game in question, it *should* work (but doesn't all the time).