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SLI between non identicle cards?

Chris0

Chris0

Chris0

Associate
Joined
5 Sep 2013
Posts
67
Hello.

I'm new to these forums, my name is Chris :)

I have a couple quick questions, hope I'm posing them in the right place.

I happen to have have 2 EVGA GTX460s ,
Both differing variations of EVGA's factory overclock. I think one is branded "Superclocked" and the other "FTW edition".

I have never tried or seen SLI before.

Will these 2 cards work in SLI?
Will their be any drawbacks to them not being identical cards?
Will my motherboard having 2 out of 3 PCIe slots "8X" as opposed to the one "16X" have any affect to my possibility to run SLI or have any performance reducing effects?
 
Thanks man.

Wow, that was quick :P

So how far does this go? I.E. what are the requirements for 2 cards to run in SLI?
 
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To keep it simple, the same GPU and the same amount of RAM.

So any GTX 670 should work with any other GTX 670 that has the same amount of ram. (like my MSI/Windforce combo)

I'm not sure of there are any Sli capable cards that came out with different types of ram say GDDR3 & GDDR5 versions, if there is mixing them might be a problem.

Ideally to get the best out of them having them clocked at similar speeds is better, but not required.
 
Chris0 said:
So just to clarify...

Say I had a GTX 460 1gb and a GTX460 768mb.... They would not be compatible for SLI use?
Click to expand...

Correct they won't run in sli, not just cause of the size difference, but that example the memory has different memory bus width 192 bit & 256 bit, so definitely won't work even with the Coolbits app I'm quoting below.

Taken from Nivdia Sli FAQ.

When purchasing a second graphics card, you should try to match the memory size so that you are ensured full value and performance from your purchase. However, while it is not recommended, NVIDIA does offer the flexibility to run graphics cards with different sized memory by using CoolBits. Using CoolBits (value set to 18), you can force both of the cards to use the lower of the two memory sizes and operate them together in SLI mode. When dissimilar memory sizes are enabled to work together using CoolBits, the effective memory size for each card becomes the smaller of the memory sizes.

So it can be possible, but best avoided if you have a choice and the ram type, say GDDR5 and bus 256 bit has to match.
 
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Hmm, thanks dude. Very interesting.

That ends my questions for now. I think I'll have a few questions about micro stuttering in a while, but I'll be doing a lot of reading about it before asking questions. I'll probably make a new thread for that if I have any questions.

Thanks again to the both of you :)
 
I thought id would run with different gpu memory sizes? just that both cards would be limited to the smallest amount of ram out of the two cards
 
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