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If I had 2 8600GTSes, but 1 had 512MB and the other had 256MB, could I still use SLI?
Hm, alright thanks. I was hoping that that it would just drop the 512MB card to 256 but it would still work. Guess I'll be stuck with this single 8600GTS 512mb.I don't think so but even if it did work you'd be limiting yourself to a single 256MB frame buffer doubled on each card. In other words you'd only have the smaller memory amount available. So the 512MB card would only use 256MB of RAM also.
How could I modify the BIOS?
This is great news. I had 7900GT 256mb SLI, but one card died and I had it RMAd, since they were different vendors I ended up with a single 7900GT 256MB and a 8600GTS 512MB. My friend has a spare 8600GTS 256MB that he'd be fine with trading (just going into a kids machine), so I wanted to make sure it'd work before having to pester him. The 7900GT 256MB SLI performed noticeably better, so even if the cards are still limited to 256MB, I'm sure they'll do better than my single 8600GTS with 512MB.Yes, you could.
You would end up running, effectively, with a pair of 256MB 8600GTS cards when in SLI.
This is the same issue that was run into when the 8800GTS 320 and 640 were the two cheapest DX10 cards. You can mix different RAM amounts, and different clock speeds, but which ever is smaller/slower is what the larger/faster card is adjusted to (automatically, by the drivers) when SLI is enabled.
So, you can have 32SPs running with 512MB of ram for the frame and Z buffers and for textures, or you can have 64SPs total in SLI and 256MB of ram for the frame and Z buffers as well as for textures. I think there are many games that would do better with less RAM available, but more SPs, even when they are combined with the inefficiencies of SLI.
But, why not just experiment? Good luck!
This is great news. I had 7900GT 256mb SLI, but one card died and I had it RMAd, since they were different vendors I ended up with a single 7900GT 256MB and a 8600GTS 512MB. My friend has a spare 8600GTS 256MB that he'd be fine with trading (just going into a kids machine), so I wanted to make sure it'd work before having to pester him. The 7900GT 256MB SLI performed noticeably better, so even if the cards are still limited to 256MB, I'm sure they'll do better than my single 8600GTS with 512MB.