Can I wedge another graphics card in here?

Stonehaven · 21 Jul 2019 at 09:51

Hi guys

A few years ago I bought a tower with an "Asus X99-A/USB3.1 Intel X99 (Socket 2011) DDR4 ATX" motherboard and one "MSI GeForce GTX 960 Gaming 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Red".

I always had in mind that as soon as I was ready to go VR, I'd stick another 960 in there and we'd be good to go - but having not taken a look inside the case I'm not sure if it's possible. There are free PCI slots but I don't know if they can take this graphics card, and I don't know if I'll have enough power connections.

Can anyone take a quick look at the specs and let me know what you think? Also any tips on installation would be great. I've never had a tower with two graphics cards in it before so really have no idea what I'm doing!

Thanks all.

azazl187 · 21 Jul 2019 at 09:53

What PSU do you have? Plus SLI is pretty poor these days so I'd just sell the card you have and use the money to go towards a 1070 or something

bloodiedathame · 21 Jul 2019 at 10:06

Whilst the board might take it, your cpu might not allow all the lanes to be used if you put another gpu in. Eg 5820k only has 28 lanes. Other CPUs have the full 40. Whilst the cards will still work they won't be running at 2* 16. Someone with more knowledge might be able to correct me if I'm wrong.

Minstadave · 21 Jul 2019 at 10:21

Youd be much better replacing your existing card. SLI is a mess and you'll get something much more power efficient with a modern card.

Minstadave · 21 Jul 2019 at 10:21

bloodiedathame said:
Whilst the board might take it, your cpu might not allow all the lanes to be used if you put another gpu in. Eg 5820k only has 28 lanes. Other CPUs have the full 40. Whilst the cards will still work they won't be running at 2* 16. Someone with more knowledge might be able to correct me if I'm wrong.

You are right but running two 960 at x8 isn't a problem.

Stonehaven · 21 Jul 2019 at 11:34

Thanks for the quick responses guys. The processor is an Intel i7-5930K 3.50GHz (Haswell-E) Socket LGA2011-V3 and if it can support a second card I think I'd be inclined to do that timply because it's pretty cost effective.

I'm not familiar with the issues with SLI. Are they so bad that it's preferable to get a card without SLI if supporting VR is my ultimate goal for this machine?

Stonehaven · 21 Jul 2019 at 11:35

Ah... and I read PSU as CPU!! PSU is - "be quiet! Dark Power Pro P10 1000W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply"

Minstadave · 21 Jul 2019 at 11:40

Stonehaven said:
Thanks for the quick responses guys. The processor is an Intel i7-5930K 3.50GHz (Haswell-E) Socket LGA2011-V3 and if it can support a second card I think I'd be inclined to do that timply because it's pretty cost effective.

I'm not familiar with the issues with SLI. Are they so bad that it's preferable to get a card without SLI if supporting VR is my ultimate goal for this machine?

A single card is always superior to SLI.

Issues with SLI are poor performance scaling, slow SLI support in new games, some games never supporting SLI, stuttering etc. Its largely been mothballed.

tamzzy · 21 Jul 2019 at 12:00

@Stonehaven just sell your current card and get the best single gpu you can afford.
sli/crossfire multi-gpu setups isn't the best idea - not in 2019 with limited support outside the AAA titles.

case in point:

Stonehaven · 21 Jul 2019 at 17:37

Damn! That's pretty convincing... and what a disapointment!
Looks like I'll be heading off to find a new, compatile graphics card.

Thanks for the pointers, really appreciate them.

Terrorfirmer · 21 Jul 2019 at 21:39

I wouldn't go GTX960 in SLI even if I was given it for free. It's a massive headache, inconsistent, not at all reliable.

Just sell your GTX960 and get something like a GTX1660 for £199, titanic upgrade and still much faster than GTX960 Sli even if it was magically working 100%.

EViLHomer48 · 22 Jul 2019 at 21:51

as above - single card not SLI