Small SLI Question

R

RangerMoose

Geek Trainee
Hello, this is my first post, and I have a pretty small question regarding SLI. To 'hook-up' a second video card to my existing one, does it have to be the same make and model? Or would it be possible to use a different video card with the same GPU and connect them with an SLI bridge? I'm asking this because I have a 6600GT video card that is SLI ready, but I cannot find any documentation for it so far ( :doh: ), and I haven't been able to find anything online that looks akin to it. I'll update this post if I find anything helpful on my video cards make and model.
 
Hi Rangermoose, the following is taken from Nvidia's SLI Zone which is all about SLI

Can I mix and match graphics cards?
In order to provide optimal symmetric scaling, SLI technology requires the NVIDIA GPUs to match. For example, a GeForce 7800 GTX must be paired with another GeForce 7800 GTX. Likewise, a GeForce 6600 GT must be paired with another GeForce 6600 GT. However, using the latest Release 80 or later graphics drivers, NVIDIA GPUs sold by different manufacturers can be used together in an SLI configuration. For example, a GeForce 7800 GT from vendor ABC can be matched with a GeForce 7800 GT from vendor XYZ.
Click to expand...

I hope this clears things up for you,

Have a happy new year,

Marcus_X
 
Thank you so much :D . Well, I have now found the receipt from my NewEgg purchase when I bought all my parts to begin with, turns out this is my mystery card, a GeForce 6600, not 6600GT. I think I got the GT from my motherboard (it has GT in its name somewhere). But now my question is (now knowing that I have much more flexibility in my SLI choices), would my current video card accept a video card such as this using SLI, and would that be a wise upgrade an a low budget?
 
That's exactly the same card you've hyperlinked to, is that correct? Too bad it doesn't say any price on that page. I'll limit my advice to the 6600 series and rather not go into the discussion if it would be better to upgrade to a newer type of card rather than buying another 6600 card, that would be up to you.

As for it being a wise upgrade, this is what SLI zone says about the performance increase with SLI enabled;

How much of a performance increase will I see with SLI technology?

The amount of performance improvement will depend on the application and its ability to scale. Several of today's hottest games see a full 2x increase in performance when using SLI technology with two graphics cards. In general, applications running at higher resolutions with higher image quality settings will benefit most.
Click to expand...

But, searching around the web I came to the conclusion that a 6600 SLI setup performs about the same as a single 6800GT which was a very good high end card back in those days, I've owned one and was very pleased with it. The R6600 in SLI will get you 2 x 256MB DDR SDRAM videomemory which is pretty much but I can't say if it'll cards with 256MB GDDR3 SDRAM

NvNews forums had a topic about 6600 sli vs an 6800gt, the conclusion of that was;

The difference in using the 2 6600 on SLI supported games is 2X AA. Of course, on games that don't benefit from SLI the single 6800GT is better
Click to expand...

Greetings,

Marcus_X
 
so what is being said here is that if you have a XFX 6600 and a Asus 6600 they will be fully compatible?
 
As long as it's a 6600 with a 6600 it's compatible, from Nvidia's 80's series drivers cards became cross compatible.

Cards can be mixxed;

For example, a GeForce 7800 GTX must be paired with another GeForce 7800 GTX. Likewise, a GeForce 6600 GT must be paired with another GeForce 6600 GT. However, using the latest Release 80 or later graphics drivers, NVIDIA GPUs sold by different manufacturers can be used together in an SLI configuration. For example, a GeForce 7800 GT from vendor ABC can be matched with a GeForce 7800 GT from vendor XYZ.
Click to expand...

Cards don't need to be of the same speed;

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...

Cards with different memory sizes can be paired too;

While it is not recommended, NVIDIA does offer this flexibility using Coolbits. 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. For example, if your first card is a GeForce 6600 GT with 128MB of memory, you should purchase a second GeForce 6600 GT with 128MB of memory. However, using Coolbits (value set to 18), you can force both of the cards to use the lower of the two memory sizes and operate 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 two memory sizes.
Click to expand...

It's all there, on Nvidia's SLI zone

Greetings,

Marcus_X
 
Ok (sorry for asking so many questions :( ), so is what you're saying that only cards with series 80 drivers can mix and match with other models of the same GPU? If so, how can I find out if my card is series 80? Thanks alot for all this help :D .
 
RangerMoose said:
Ok (sorry for asking so many questions :( ), so is what you're saying that only cards with series 80 drivers can mix and match with other models of the same GPU? If so, how can I find out if my card is series 80? Thanks alot for all this help :D .
Click to expand...

Rangermoose, you've misinterpreted that part, Nvidia's cards are driven by a unified driver, your 6600 has the same drivers as my 7800GS. Nvidia is up to 93.71 at this moment. Somewhere around version 80.xx SLI had been introduced and Nvidia included card cross compatibility in their card drivers.

As long as you run the latest drivers you don't have to worry about this.

Sorry to have confused you,

Greetings,

Marcus_X
 
Don't be sorry! Thanks for all the help, here's a cookie:
cookie.jpg
 
sorry to jump in here and sound thick,but I have a Geforce 7600GT and I to would like to upgrade to SLI so can I do that with a Gigabyte 7600GT as long as the software version is as stated in previous post it's just that I can't get a Geforce locally only a Gigabyte.
 
woodmaster said:
sorry to jump in here and sound thick,but I have a Geforce 7600GT and I to would like to upgrade to SLI so can I do that with a Gigabyte 7600GT as long as the software version is as stated in previous post it's just that I can't get a Geforce locally only a Gigabyte.
Click to expand...

Geforce 7600GT is the GPU's chipsetname, companies like Gigabyte, ASUS, BFG and Gainward release their own version of the card which differentiates itself with cards that have higher clock frequencies / bigger memory size or just different softwarebundle (games) included in the retailpackage.

So the card you can only get locally is actually a Gigabyte Geforce 7600GT.

Cheers,

Marcus_X
 
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