Mixing graphics cards with SLI

[DrPeirson]

Hello fellow overclockers,

I was wondering, after much speculation whether you can mix series for SLI! I have a 560 Ti OC (Zotac AMP edition I think ) and was wondering if I could pair this with a newer 660Ti Boost.

If anyone has tried this or know for certain your help is much appreciated in helping me get this straight!

Cheers!

 

[andybird123]

No.
You can mix brands of the same GPU, but they need to both be 660ti or 560ti, you can't mix one with the other.

But, you would be best off selling the 560ti and getting a 660ti, rather than trying to SLI 2x 560ti's as the 1GB of VRAM will be the limiting factor on the 560ti.

 

[DrPeirson]

Balls, I was hoping that I could squeeze some more juice out of my 560, Might not be worth the money then, Might even be worth adding another 560 into the mix. It will cost a lot more to get that sort of power out of a single GPU card

 

[andybird123]

Balls, I was hoping that I could squeeze some more juice out of my 560, Might not be worth the money then, Might even be worth adding another 560 into the mix. It will cost a lot more to get that sort of power out of a single GPU card

do you have the 1GB version?
if so, games like BF3 for example, you will get the same frame rates out of SLI as you get with a single card; enabling Ultra preset means the game uses more than 1GB of VRAM and you get severe stuttering and FPS dips meaning that you need to put it down to "High", which you can run on a single card

if you are running 1080p, then a 660ti will give you a good bump in performance

if you were minded to try an AMD card, you could give a 7950 a go, from a price/performance perspective they are very attractive, when they work right

 

[DrPeirson]

do you have the 1GB version?
if so, games like BF3 for example, you will get the same frame rates out of SLI as you get with a single card; enabling Ultra preset means the game uses more than 1GB of VRAM and you get severe stuttering and FPS dips meaning that you need to put it down to "High", which you can run on a single card

Its the Zotac 560ti

 

[DrPeirson]

Basically, the end goal is to get more GPU performance for under £200. It needs to be a fair leap to last a year or so so I might be better saving for something a little higher (670). I'm even partial to AMD's cards at the moment but it needs to be enough to throw the money on

 

[andybird123]

you should be able to get the best part of £80-100 back on selling the 560, if that would help get you to a 670 if you shop around

 

[DrPeirson]

you should be able to get the best part of £80-100 back on selling the 560, if that would help get you to a 670 if you shop around

That is a good point!, Might give me the funds to reach a 670 without too much strain. I was surprised to see its still worth £100 new!

 

[Th3M8dH8tt3r]

Remember that adding another card in SLI doesn't increase your available RAM so you're better off buying one card that has twice the RAM.

In the next year or so, games will start demanding more then the optimal 2GB RAM that is current. Worth looking at a 3gbGTX660Ti if you could stretch that far. They're £260.00.

 

[DrPeirson]

Well, This card is only 1GB, majority of newer cards at the high end of 660 and most low end 670's have 2GB at least.

I think I might try get a confirmed sell on the 560Ti and get a 670