680 SLI - Different brands / clocks ?

[Arthur Hucksake]

Hi folks,

I currently have a Gainward Phantom 680 GTX. At the time I basically decided against SLI because I was sick of the faff.

The urge has crept in again, trouble is, this card has a monstrous cooler on it and I doubt I could get away with SLIing another one of these on my board.

What happens with regards to clock speeds if you use a different brand to SLI?

Am I right in thinking it will just run them both to suit the slowest clocks of the two?

 

[TwsT]

the clock speeds will follow the lower one as far as I know and I had no problem with an EVGA and Gainward 460 SLI

 

[Rusty0611]

Ideally you should run them at the same speed (so the highest common speed) but there's no problem running them at different speeds. Any 680 should reach the levels of a factory overclocked model through a manual increase in the core/memory offset via EVGA PX or whatever your program of choice is.

 

[thefogo]

They both run at their own speeds.

 

[Gregster]

You can run at different overclock speeds but lazy people (like me) just find what both cards can do stable and run with them linked in EVGA Precision X or Afterburner.

If you wanted to run at different speeds though, (one may sit at 1200Mhz and the other at 1250Mhz for example) this is more than doable but takes time to find the max each card will do.

 

[Arthur Hucksake]

You can run at different overclock speeds but lazy people (like me) just find what both cards can do stable and run with them linked in EVGA Precision X or Afterburner.

If you wanted to run at different speeds though, (one may sit at 1200Mhz and the other at 1250Mhz for example) this is more than doable but takes time to find the max each card will do.

Is this likely to be a candidate for microstutter as such? Or am I just thinking too much into it?

 

[Rusty0611]

Is this likely to be a candidate for microstutter as such? Or am I just thinking too much into it?

Yes. Different speeds equals greater potential for microstutter.

 

[OptimaLnrg]

get a reference one too as the phantom cooler in SLI will be naff

 

[*Rich*]

get a reference one too as the phantom cooler in SLI will be naff

Well i ran two of those exact cards in SLI and they coped pretty well, 72'c on top card and 65'c on bottom card. Not exactly worrying temperatures.

Eventually went watercooled with both anyway.

 

[Gregster]

Is this likely to be a candidate for microstutter as such? Or am I just thinking too much into it?

Microstutter isn't as bad as made out to be. With decent drivers, it can be eliminated and when it is there, it isn't a game breaker.

get a reference one too as the phantom cooler in SLI will be naff

This.

Put the reference cooler on the bottom slot, as it blows most of the heat directly out of the back.