GTX 260 and GTX 260 216 SLI

[ochadd]

I have the first model of the GTX 260 and wondering if I buy a GTX 260 216 if they can be put in SLI together?

 

[roid450]

I'd like to know this too, or if I can couple my 65nm GTX core 216 with a 55nm Core 216

 

[Leyawiin]

They're compatible, but in SLI the "216" will only use 192 of its shader units. I'm in the same boat as you, just wondering if SLI would be worth it or wait for a stronger single card down the road.

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: Leyawiin
They're compatible, but in SLI the "216" will only use 192 of its shader units. I'm in the same boat as you, just wondering if SLI would be worth it or wait for a stronger single card down the road.

I don't think so. I'm 99% sure you need the same card with the same shader count and RAM. The only thing that doesn't matter is clocks because the SLI will run at the slower clock.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: PCTC2

Originally posted by: Leyawiin
They're compatible, but in SLI the "216" will only use 192 of its shader units. I'm in the same boat as you, just wondering if SLI would be worth it or wait for a stronger single card down the road.

I don't think so. I'm 99% sure you need the same card with the same shader count and RAM. The only thing that doesn't matter is clocks because the SLI will run at the slower clock.

It won't downclock the cards or disable extra SPs (I've confirmed the former personally with some of my past SLI setups). The only thing that ever gets "dropped" to match the lesser card is RAM, and that is only because you have to keep the framebuffer synchronized between the cards. The driver just checks that the model string matches to determine if the SLI settings will show up in the NVCP. After that, I am pretty sure that is just dumbly sending out frames to the individual cards to be rendered.