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Can I SLI

leburne

leburne

leburne

Associate
Joined
4 Sep 2011
Posts
8
Location
Birmingham
Hi,

I have never built an SLI system so you will have to forgive my ignorance. I have a Nvidia 250GTS in my system at the moment, 2 spare PCI-e 2.0 slots, and a 9600GSO sitting around gathering dust.

As far as I can tell from using google, both cards use the G92 GPU (correct me if I am wrong), and as I understand the requirement of SLI is that both cards must have the same GPU, so could I use the 9600 to give my 250 a little boost?

If it is possible, my next question is: the 9600 only has 384MB, so will that mean that the 250 will only use 384MB of its 1GB thus actually hindering the total performance?

Many Thanks
 
You can't sli the cards mate, but you can use the 9600 as a PhysX card. * Don't use the SLI connectors on 2 different types of cards *. So plug them both in as normal and in the Nvidia panel set the 9600 to do the PhysX stuff, so it will give you a little performace increase with PhysX titles only.
 
what purgatory said^^^

PhysX is pointless unless any progrmas use it, so don't use the 9600 unless your games have physx support
 
Cleeecooo said:
what purgatory said^^^

PhysX is pointless unless any progrmas use it, so don't use the 9600 unless your games have physx support
Click to expand...

Agree with Cleeecooo here.

Physics is only supported by a number of games, but is becoming more popular.

It cannot be adopted by all games because there is ATI that doesn't use it as it is a Nvidia program only.

If you want to SLI, get another GTS250 (which in my mind is an appalling card like the crappy GTS450 which was freakin' lousy) or get an upgrade and get a 6950 if you have the money, or a 6870 which is the same or near enough the same power as a GTX470 for only £130/£140!

Plus with ATI releasing monthly drivers, like my HD5770, it will benefit from the drivers and get faster over time. My HD5770, according to Custom PC magazine, has increased 35% in overall power over the last year because of the improved and better ATI drivers.

Save money and get a new card!
 
CinderzFTW said:
Agree with Cleeecooo here.

Physics is only supported by a number of games, but is becoming more popular.
eh?! physics is something that occurs in everyday life. eg, mavity. PhysX however... lol :p:D

It cannot be adopted by all games because there is ATI that doesn't use it as it is a Nvidia program only.

If you want to SLI, get another GTS250 (which in my mind is an appalling card like the crappy GTS450 which was freakin' lousy) or get an upgrade and get a 6950 if you have the money, or a 6870 which is the same or near enough the same power as a GTX470 for only £130/£140!
I'd upgrade to 6870+
GTX 460 if you want to stay on the green team

Plus with ATI releasing monthly drivers, like my HD5770, it will benefit from the drivers and get faster over time. My HD5770, according to Custom PC magazine, has increased 35% in overall power over the last year because of the improved and better ATI drivers.
i'd argue that the monthly releases are useless. better to have better drivers less often than ones that aren't always up to scratch and have them regularly

Save money and get a new card!
Click to expand...

+1
 
Cleeecooo said:
+1
Click to expand...

Dammit! I spelt it wrong lol

The GTX460 is getting old now like my HD5770, reason I am getting a 6870 around christmas.

I wouldn't bother upgrading to it, I would get something a bit more substantial that will last longer, especially in these days of HD gaming at 1920*1080 on 24* monitors. I don't think the GTX460 will last very long and won't give great frame rates for that long.

Either the 6870 or GTX560 (not Ti version) will be enough to keep you in the game for the next 1-2 years.

Sorry Cheeecooo, have to disagree a little here!

But thanks for the +1 xD
 
the 560 is basically an overclocked 460 1gig, and upgrading to a 6870 around christmas, as that is around the time that amd will be releasing their next gen cards
 
KiiYzOo said:
gtx 460 1gb minimum I may add cleeecooo ;)
Click to expand...
NO YOU MAY NOT!

:D:p

but yeah, unless you find a dirt cheap 460 768, go for the 1gb :)

CinderzFTW said:
Dammit! I spelt it wrong lol
:D:p

The GTX460 is getting old now like my HD5770, reason I am getting a 6870 around christmas.

I wouldn't bother upgrading to it, I would get something a bit more substantial that will last longer, especially in these days of HD gaming at 1920*1080 on 24* monitors. I don't think the GTX460 will last very long and won't give great frame rates for that long.

Either the 6870 or GTX560 (not Ti version) will be enough to keep you in the game for the next 1-2 years.
560 is just a 460 but slightly more powerful. Should be enough, but obviously, if there's only £10-20 in it, get the 560. OR wait for the next gen to upgrade if OP is happy with his current cards :)

Sorry Cheeecooo, have to disagree a little here!
who's Cheeecooo? lol:p

But thanks for the +1 xD
you deserved it :D
Click to expand...
 
CinderzFTW said:
didn't know HIS was that bad!
neither did I :(

The HAWK versions has a great cooler, but what from what I have heard, very noisy with fans on full load!
Click to expand...

Whilst noisy, i generally keeps the cards cool enough that it drarely needs to be at full load :)

KiiYzOo said:
yeah, but then your creeping up into 560ti pricing territory for £30 more

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-114-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1341
Click to expand...

But then you're creeping up to GTX 570 prices... etc etc :p

CinderzFTW said:
guess this is true!

Erm, I suppose the best 6870 for the money should be the Sapphire version then at £139.99!
Click to expand...

Yep!

Anyways, why are we speccing cards when the op hasn't even decided lol
 
Sorry Leburne! My bad! I started it!

Ha! Just noticed he is offline. Wait until morning. Logs on... "ooooo replies"... see's the amount of posts "******"
 
CinderzFTW said:
Sorry Leburne! My bad! I started it!

Ha! Just noticed he is offline. Wait until morning. Logs on... "ooooo replies"... see's the amount of posts "******"
Click to expand...

Ha! Thats pretty much exactly what I did! Gave me something to read on the train this morning though! Also gave me a lot to think about.

Before I started thinking about SLI I was looking at upgrading to a GTX580 to handle Battlefield 3, but then I started wondering if it would be best to do a cheaper upgrade now/not upgrade now, and wait until the next generation of cards come out.

Another thing that put me off upgrading to the 580 was the memory, and if it would actually be able to handle Battlefield 3 at 1080p because ive read in places that 1.5GB isn't enough for high resolutions (though I remain sceptical of how true this is, until I see for myself).

What are your thoughts? I will most likely be staying with Nvidia, though ATI's value/performance is tempting, I've had bad experiences with them in the past. Still I wont rule ATI out completely.
 
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