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SLI question

post #1 of 13
6/29/05 at 1:16pm
Thread Starter 
Okay guys. Im currently shopping around on Newegg for a new computer (semi-higher budget range, less than $1000). I was thinking to myself, "too bad I cant put in a 6800GT GPU and then in six months put in a 7800 GPU in an SLI configuration.......wait, errrrrr, I dont remember reading anywhere that I couldn't."

I surfed around the Nvidia website a little bit, found nothing on the subject. Sooooo, can I do that? Put two different cards into an SLI configuration? I always assumed that they had to be the same card, but now I dont remember reading that anywhere, and cant find the answer withing my 2 minutes of research

Thanks for your help guys! - Zach.
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post #2 of 13
6/29/05 at 1:18pm
Wait, you want to get an sli computer under 1k?

-jcll2002

not going to happen
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post #3 of 13
6/29/05 at 1:19pm
I built my Athlon 64 SLI for under $1k

Anyways, no you can't mix SLI cards. They gotta be the same
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post #4 of 13
6/29/05 at 1:43pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jcll2002
Wait, you want to get an sli computer under 1k?

-jcll2002

not going to happen
Mmmmm, no. I am leaving the SLI option open. So in about 6 months when I cant play the newest games up to my par, I can just drop another card in there. Seems to me the cheapest way to upgrade. - Zach
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post #5 of 13
6/29/05 at 1:45pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by vmspionage
Anyways, no you can't mix SLI cards. They gotta be the same
Thats what I thought, I probably read that somewhere but couldn't remember. I was just second guessing myself I guess. Thanks for the answer! - Zach
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post #6 of 13
6/29/05 at 4:59pm
well, if I'0m not mistaken, if you buy your other card in about six months, you wont be able to use thm in Sli, you would have to Flash the Bios to make the the same.
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post #7 of 13
6/29/05 at 6:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Siul1313
well, if I'0m not mistaken, if you buy your other card in about six months, you wont be able to use thm in Sli, you would have to Flash the Bios to make the the same.
Errrr, what? If I buy a the exact same card in two months, I wont be able to run in SLI?
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post #8 of 13
6/30/05 at 12:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zgoodman
Errrr, what? If I buy a the exact same card in two months, I wont be able to run in SLI?

They would run, I dont think the revisions they make would afect so much that they wouldnt run together. Correct me if I am wrong but The latest drivers should fix any compatablity problems.....
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post #9 of 13
6/30/05 at 6:40pm
if you buy the same card in a few months, it should be ok but you might not get as good performance as if you bought the same brand at the same time. However, getting completely different cards wont work at all.
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post #10 of 13
7/5/05 at 10:47pm
what games are you wanting to play?

I play half life 2 on my 2.0p4 512 mb ram with a geforce ti 4200 and it works perfectly fine. No problems at all... *its 3/2 years old*
So i am sure you will be able to play the next top of the line games if you go dual graphics cards...
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post #11 of 13
7/6/05 at 4:32am
http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=76204

This will answer everyone's questions....... i think
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post #12 of 13
7/6/05 at 4:46am
What about ATi's CrossFire? You CAN mix cards with those setups... but it's a really new feature, so it's not that popular yet.
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post #13 of 13
7/6/05 at 4:57pm
ATI's crossfire is a bit misleading. You need a crossfire motherboard and a special videocard for crossfire based on what video card you currently have. There are different secondary cards for the x800 and x850. From Toms Hardware

Quote:
Besides a Radeon X800 or X850 standard graphics card (slave), the multi-VPU technology also needs a special X800 or X850 CrossFire graphics card (master). In contrast to SLI, the cards are not connected to each other via a small board, but merely via a monitor cable.
The general rule of thumb for SLI is same brand, chipset, and bios. Some people have had success in mixing brands of cards, but you have to be able to flash the bios from the other card which may or may not work because it is a different brand.
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