Asymmetric sli, or gpu selection

[Comdrpopnfresh]

I'm pretty sure asymmetric sli is rare, and only works within a generation at best, but is my hope doable? What about putting two cards in, and based on loading/application setting an automatic selection of which card to use, and which to throttle or turn off?

 

[AzN]

I thought this only works with ATI cards. Never heard of Nvidia cards doing this.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: Comdrpopnfresh
I'm pretty sure asymmetric sli is rare, and only works within a generation at best, but is my hope doable? What about putting two cards in, and based on loading/application setting an automatic selection of which card to use, and which to throttle or turn off?

SLI has always required the cards to be the same model.

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

I read of instances where two same-generation cards can be mixed. so if the core revisions differ, say in a 9800gtx or 9800gt or 9600gt, the same base number could be used. I've also come across cases where two core revision-similar cards of different model number could be used.

What about keeping both cards in the system- is there any automatic switching between them for different duties?

 

[myocardia]

SLI requires the same cards. There are a couple of instances where nVidia "lets" you use two very slightly different cards. The only ones that I'm aware of are a GTX260 and a GTX260 Core 216, and a 9800GTX with a 9800GTX+. The only other instance I've ever heard of is an 8800GTX and an 8800 Ultra, although that required flashing one of the cards BIOS, so Windows thought they were identical. Physically, those two cards were identical, which is the only reason that worked.

As far as using both a 7600GT and a newer card, it would be pointless, since the only thing besides SLI that a second card is usable for is Physx, and that requires an 8-series or newer, so the 7600GT couldn't be used as a dedicated Physx card, either.


edit: Note that the cards don't have to be the same brand. They don't even have to be running at the same speeds. You can use an overclocked 9600GT, along with a standard clocked 9600GT, but you can't use either with an 8800GT, a 9800GT, a GTX260, etc.