SLI Question on the state of SLI and mixing card makes

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bitgod

Gawd
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Feb 20, 2003
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1) So I dabbled with crossfire a few years ago, 4850s I think it was, and ultimately felt like it was kind of a pain in the ass, and I was going to stick with single GPUs...

Now I'm bored and have some money on my hands and I was kicking around the idea of getting a pair of 670s. So what's the state of SLI currently, is it worth it or do you still have to deal with driver issues too often for games?

2)If I do this, any advantage or not to use the same make or not? As I understand it, you don't really have to, but in some ways it might be nicer to have a matched pair. But is it easier to mess around with if you have 2 different makes, so it's easier to tell which card you're tweaking, or not really an issue?
 
I haven't had problems with SLI so far when I did so with two GTX 480s, aside from the heat of course. Also I encountered no problems using two different makes, Gigabyte and MSI.
 
SLI is still a pain in the ass no matter what anyone wants to tell you. Maybe a little less of a pain then Crossfire due to nvidia pushing out updates faster. You still have to deal with updates all the time, and there are always games that neither company decides to get working with multi-GPU.

Unless you have a *need* to go multi-gpu due to a single not achieving high enough frame rates - It ain't worth it.

Meaning, don't waste your time or money if you are running a 1080p/1200p display.
 
After running a dual GTX 480 rig for quite a while, I have to say I was impressed with SLI. Nvidia is very quick to get out driver profile updates, typically before the game is even released, and the games that simply don't work with SLI are usually the ones where you don't need it. I.e. even with one GPU you're getting good frame rates. Not even once in two years did I run into an issue where I was getting crap frame rates and my SLI wasn't working.

That said, a pair of high end GPUs is fairly overkill unless you're running a resolution higher than 1920x1200 or multi-display.
 
Mchart said:
SLI is still a pain in the ass no matter what anyone wants to tell you. Maybe a little less of a pain then Crossfire due to nvidia pushing out updates faster. You still have to deal with updates all the time, and there are always games that neither company decides to get working with multi-GPU.

Unless you have a *need* to go multi-gpu due to a single not achieving high enough frame rates - It ain't worth it.

Meaning, don't waste your time or money if you are running a 1080p/1200p display.
Click to expand...

I've had nowhere near this kind of experience. If at all I've ever had an issue, it's just because SLI is disabled automatically when you change drivers. I have yet to run into a game where SLI breaks my gaming experience.

Also, multi-GPU is a luxury thing, so calling it a waste of money is a moot point and... well, a waste of effort.
 
I run two GTX580's. One stock EVGA and one stock Galaxy. They both work fine and aside from seeming like they both died a month ago (still haven't figured that one out) they've been working flawlessly for almost a year now.
 
Yea you can mix and match makes, doesn't make a difference. I had a Gigabyte and an Asus 680 running together for a while, zero issues (other than random and rare SLI issues, but those were fixed with a driver update).
 
You mix it all but the memory.. Stil gotta be the same.. the brand/bios doesnt matter, And some games still doesnt support it, But they have driver updates that gives certain games support it :) Is it worth with 670's?? Kinda doubt it.. THere is nothing out that 1 cant handle more-less 2 :D Unless you got like 6 monitors :)

Im currently running gtx 570 SLI(1 asus DCUII & EVGA HD DS) and it runs perfect! But if you just want do it for show or future proff.. and got the extra cash... only a decision you can make :D
 
Eh, ended up doing an ASUS 670 SLI. Will see if I have buyers remorse :) (not on the 670 itself, it's a nice card)
 
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