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how to go sli???

Associate
Joined
12 Dec 2006
Posts
1,382
hi

im thinking of going SLI. My question is do i need to buy the same graphics card as the one i have or can it be a different brand but must have the same specs????


a little confused....current card is

Gainward GTX 280
 
Soldato
Joined
4 Feb 2007
Posts
9,767
Location
Nuneaton, UK
I'm sure I heard you can use a different card, such as a GTX 260.

I asked about adding a 285 to my 280 and someone said I might have to flash the 285 with 280 firmware or something.

I'm thinking about going SLI soon too.
 
Soldato
Joined
20 Aug 2008
Posts
6,812
As far as i know ATI can crossfire a mix of 4890/4870/4850 etc
But Nvidia you can only SLI a 260 with a 260... a 280 with a 280 etc.
the 260s must be both 192 cores of both 216's... Also you can SLI a 280 with a 285
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Jun 2009
Posts
7,664
Location
Cambridge
I'd recomend going for the same spec, the problem is the GTX280 isn't available anymore, but I expect there are plenty knocking about at a reasonable price second hand.
 
Associate
Joined
12 Sep 2008
Posts
5
It doesn't need to be the same spec but definitely has to be the same card i.e. 280 and 280 or 275 and 275. If one of the cards is of a higher spec then it'll run at the lower card's spec iirc.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
90,805
They need to be the same core... tho I think you can SLI a 192 SP 260 with a 216 SP 260 but thats another story...

Also while there are ways to SLI a 260GTX with a 280GTX you wouldn't want to as the performance difference is enough that you could induce "microstutter".

So essentially your gonna have to source another 280GTX of any brand.
 
Associate
Joined
17 Feb 2009
Posts
1,229
Hi,

First of all, you must check your mobo if it supports SLI. Not every i5/i7 mobo supports it.

Second - you must have appropriate PSU for it. Wattage is not everything you need, there's amperage for 12V lines, too - it must me sufficient, so look at label on your PSU and confront it with your graphic card's box.

And now - you can have some work to do, or just SLI :) If you want just "plug and play" ;) so look for *exactly* the same card model - on Ebay, on clearance lines, newspaper ads etc.
This gives you 100% that SLI will work as you wish.
99,99% is the same core, but different model, brand, revision, or frequencies. Personally I was SLIing 2 different 7600GT and 8800GS - and it worked fine, adjusting faster card to slower's speed.
The special case is two revisions of the same cores (like GTX280 vs GTX 285) - I'm not sure if it works straight way, but it might work when you flash BIOS in one of them - drivers would see the same cores then, so SLI might be enabled.
The worst is different cores - some guys tried to SLI 7600GT and 7900GS - it worked, but flashing was needed. But I'm in doubt why to flash BIOS to make a card much weaker :)
 
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