SLI: Any way to correct this, so I can begin?

[Pixellated]

Hi all,

Third rig, in the space of 8 or so years; and I've decided that I should grab a second GTX 460 (Asus 768MB one, bought from OcUK in January) in order to deal properly with BF3, Skyrim and the other Q4 2011 releases (and so on, and so forth). Never run an SLI before, but there's something that is worrying me: here's what I've got so far, which I know should be right:

- Buying the same card as I have, as per the Amazon link, research shows I can't grab a higher mem. capacity/higher clocked card.
- Got the SLI bridge from my motherboard pack before I left to live in London.
- Checked my motherboard has 2 PCI-E slots (.

The thing that's stopping me is that [url=http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-200-CM&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1103]my power supply already has its two 6-pin PCI-E connectors going into the current GTX460, and I only have three 4-pin molex spare that I can convert (judging that you need two connected to make a single 6-pin), and I can't find any solution which will make 2 6-pin connectors from just three 4-pin molex connectors. Can someone with experience of power-connector conversions help me out? A table with my PSU's connections is here, I believe the only ones free ar ethe 3* 4-pin molex and the floppy connector.

Thanks,
-Jon

Current Spec:
CPU: i7 950 @ 3.06
Motherboard: Asus P6X58D-E
RAM: 6GB Corsair Dominator (Tri @ 1600Mhz)
GPU: Asus GTX460 768MB
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB

 

[ThePengu1n]

If your PSU doesn't natively support SLI, you really need a better PSU, using those molex adapters is just asking for trouble

 

[MeatLoaf]

The PSU you linked to should be fine. U can use molexes no problem, however the motherboard you linked to dosent appear to support SLI, only crossfire

 

[Pixellated]

If your PSU doesn't natively support SLI, you really need a better PSU, using those molex adapters is just asking for trouble

Yeah; looking around online at reviews of more up to date PSUs, almost of all of them appear to offer 4 PCI-E connectors rather than the 2 that the CM GX650 does. Perhaps I should just upgrade to a single

The PSU you linked to should be fine. U can use molexes no problem, however the motherboard you linked to dosent appear to support SLI, only crossfire

The problem I'm got is having enough molexes free to convert to 6-pins, I need 4, only have three.

Sorry, linked to the incorrect board, was taking information from my brother's setup accidentally. My board is fine for SLI, it's this one.

 

[Marvin]

You can actually get single molex-PCI-E 6 pin adaptors - which should be fine on a GTX460 as they use only a smidge over the PCI-E slot + one 6 pin anyway.

However, I would not bother doing SLI with two 768MB cards. As many with GTX295s and GTX260 SLI would testify, the VRAM is not enough to cope with the settings having two cards will allow you to run, assuming you're running at 1920x1080 or similar.

So, personally, I'd sell the 768MB card, and purchase a 6950 2GB, GTX480 or GTX570. Peak performance won't be as good as the GTX460 SLI, but the VRAM will likely decrease the quality of the experience when compared with the single cards. The single card will also be more consistent, as they do not require as frequent SLI patches.

Plus, you wouldn't need to worry about getting loads of adaptors.

 

[Pixellated]

You can actually get single molex-PCI-E 6 pin adaptors - which should be fine on a GTX460 as they use only a smidge over the PCI-E slot + one 6 pin anyway.

However, I would not bother doing SLI with two 768MB cards. As many with GTX295s and GTX260 SLI would testify, the VRAM is not enough to cope with the settings having two cards will allow you to run, assuming you're running at 1920x1080 or similar.

So, personally, I'd sell the 768MB card, and purchase a 6950 2GB, GTX480 or GTX570. Peak performance won't be as good as the GTX460 SLI, but the VRAM will likely decrease the quality of the experience when compared with the single cards. The single card will also be more consistent, as they do not require as frequent SLI patches.

Plus, you wouldn't need to worry about getting loads of adaptors.

Aye, after more research and other forum posts, it seems a GTX570 is the consensus, sure, I'll lose a little power, but judging by benchmarks I'll get by at 1920x1080 just fine without dipping below 60fps.