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SLi'ing slightly different 8800Ultras

hterag

hterag

hterag

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Joined
7 Nov 2007
Posts
82
Location
Wales
Hi all,

Long time lurker here, I've got a bit of a problem.

For a while now, I've had an XFX 8800Ultra XXX (the 675MHz one), I've just aquired an XFX 8800Ultra XT (the 650MHz one) for a real bargain (£150, couldn't resist even with the D9E etc. "just around the corner").

I'm looking to SLi these Gods among graphics cards, they're rated for different speeds but I don't want to lower the speed of the XXX to match the XT. The trouble is, no matter what I've tried, the XT can't stably hit 675MHz, seems XFX have sold all the ones that'll stably do it and sold them as XXX instead...

I know this is a really silly problem, it'd be easy to lower the XXX to XT speeds, but I'd really much rather have the two XXX speed ones, would flashing the XT to the XXX bios make a difference? Are there any tweaks in the XXX bios that allow it to run slightly faster? It makes no sense that the XT shouldn't be able to get 25MHz faster... Oh and, overclocking the memory is fine in the XT, it can do the full 2300, as long as the GPU is at 650MHz. :S

I'm currently looking into volt modding the XT to see if that helps, but that'll obviously increase the temperature too (as will overclocking but... Yeah).

Should I just stop being stupid and lower the XXX to the speed of the XT (flash to XT bios)? I just want the bragging rights among my peers. :(

Many thanks in advance to any advice/help/suggestions you can offer.
 
Minstadave said:
With two Ultra's in SLI you'll be running so fast you won't notice the odd MHz or so in core speed.
Click to expand...

I completely agree, but I just don't like "losing" money, I feel like I've paid for that speed and normally I'd overclock it to get a little bit more out of it, even if it's as good as I can get, I always like getting something for nothing with hardware, as I hope most people do. :D
 
I wouldn't go flashing the bios, to risky tbh. Maybe a compromise by lowering the XXX by a bit and increassing the XT to its max (if 650 isnt its max that is)
 
You dont need to flash anything, you can SLi them regardless of speeds and they will still work. Just put the slower clocked card in the primary slot or you could try using the overclocked one. I'm using a overclocked card in the primary and the standard in the other and they work fine without problems.

On the offical SLi website it says you can use one overclocked card in SLi. See here:-

http://www.slizone.com/page/slizone_faq.html#c3
 
TheMagic1an said:
On the offical SLi website it says you can use one overclocked card in SLi. See here:-

http://www.slizone.com/page/slizone_faq.html#c3
Click to expand...

nVidia said:
Can I mix and match graphics cards is one of them is overclocked by the manufacturer?
Yes. A GeForce 7800 GTX that is overclocked (for example BFG GeForce 7800 GTX OC) can be mixed with a standard clocked GeForce 7800 GTX.
Click to expand...

Aha! Thanks a lot, excellent, I assume it'll work in a similar way to clocking the cores to different speeds in the Phenom CPUs? As I've never run an SLi system before, will there be new options open in the nVidia control panel that let you change the speeds of each card individually?
 
Put the slower card in the top slot and the faster one in the lower slot as the card in the upper slot determines the speed the cards run at. Both will then run at the top cards frequencies :)
 
SLI used to work by running at the slower cards requency (haven't used it for a while so it might have changed), so....put the slower one in the primary slot and overclock it to 675...job done.
 
MeatLoaf said:
Put the slower card in the top slot and the faster one in the lower slot as the card in the upper slot determines the speed the cards run at. Both will then run at the top cards frequencies :)
Click to expand...

But doing that will make them run at the slowest speed?
 
Ulfhedjinn said:
:o
Click to expand...

he..he..note to self, read op properly.

If you can't hit 675 with one of the cards then you'll just have to run both at the slower speed, (unless you want to start messing about with volt mods), personally i'd just enjoy them at 650 and not worry about it. ;)
 
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