SLI with two different GTS cards

[zipflint]

I'm sure this has been covered before, but I've been searching and reading posts for the past half hour and haven't found anything that address this exact issue. So before I blow any cash, I figure it couldn't hurt to ask.

I have a Leadtek 640MB 8800GTS. Here's the product URL from newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814122018

As you can see, it's a discontinued item. I want to know if this EVGA card will work fine with my current card in SLI. It's also a 640MB 8800GTS but the clock speeds are higher.
http://www.newegg.com/product/...x?item=N82E16814130317

I'm running an E6600 at stock speeds on an EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 mobo. That's a 680i mobo if it matters. I dual boot XP 32bit and Vista Ultimate 64bit. My PSU is a 700W Thermaltake so I think I've got enough juice. Got 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I do all my gaming at my monitor's native resolution of 1680X1050 and I don't use any anti-aliasing. Is it silly to expect something like a 30% FPS increase in games like BioShock and Crysis? I'd be running those in Vista to use DX10.

Is it too naive to hope that I can simply plug the second GTS into my second, empty PCI-E (both are 16X) slot and have everything work? The new card is clocked higher but from what I understand, it will simply "underclock" itself to match the slower, older card. I suppose I could try slightly overclocking my current GTS and see if it's stable at the other card's speeds first. However, there may be some very obvious reason why this just won't work at all, therefore I'm asking you guys first. Thanks for any input!

 

[Keysplayr]

The cards only have to be the same in model. Manufacturer, clock speeds/mem speeds do not matter.
So yes, you SLI the eVGA 8800GTS 640 with your Leadtek 8800GTS 640.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: zipflint
I'm sure this has been covered before, but I've been searching and reading posts for the past half hour and haven't found anything that address this exact issue. So before I blow any cash, I figure it couldn't hurt to ask.

I have a Leadtek 640MB 8800GTS. Here's the product URL from newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814122018

As you can see, it's a discontinued item. I want to know if this EVGA card will work fine with my current card in SLI. It's also a 640MB 8800GTS but the clock speeds are higher.
http://www.newegg.com/product/...x?item=N82E16814130317

I'm running an E6600 at stock speeds on an EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 mobo. That's a 680i mobo if it matters. I dual boot XP 32bit and Vista Ultimate 64bit. My PSU is a 700W Thermaltake so I think I've got enough juice. Got 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I do all my gaming at my monitor's native resolution of 1680X1050 and I don't use any anti-aliasing. Is it silly to expect something like a 30% FPS increase in games like BioShock and Crysis? I'd be running those in Vista to use DX10.

Is it too naive to hope that I can simply plug the second GTS into my second, empty PCI-E (both are 16X) slot and have everything work? The new card is clocked higher but from what I understand, it will simply "underclock" itself to match the slower, older card. I suppose I could try slightly overclocking my current GTS and see if it's stable at the other card's speeds first. However, there may be some very obvious reason why this just won't work at all, therefore I'm asking you guys first. Thanks for any input!

1. Any other 640MB GTS will work for you.

2. Your PSU is likely OK, I see two Thermaltake 700W on the certified list:
http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html

3. 30% is the low end of SLi scaling, you'll see 50-75% more often, if you use AA. You should use AA always with SLi, no reason not to.

 

[BolleY2K]

Are you 100% sure? I read about users who had problems to SLI cards from different manufacturers.

I am asking because I also own a 8800 GTS 640 MB Leadtek and am thinking about the same thing...

@zipflint: Do you plan on overclocking your CPU then? I guess a stock E6600 could be a little too slow for 2 x 8800 GTS 640.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: BolleY2K
Are you 100% sure? I read about users who had problems to SLI cards from different manufacturers.

I am asking because I also own a 8800 GTS 640 MB Leadtek and am thinking about the same thing...

@zipflint: Do you plan on overclocking your CPU then? I guess a stock E6600 could be a little too slow for 2 x 8800 GTS 640.

It works fine as long as they are the same model. You can mix/match cards with different memory sizes, like the 320MB and 640MB GTS, but YMMV.

As an aside, it sounded like the driver should also allow you in theory to SLI a G80 GTS with a G92-based GTS as they have the same model string AFAIK. This was supposedly the reason they kept the same model names. I wouldn't bet on it actually working, though.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: BolleY2K
Are you 100% sure? I read about users who had problems to SLI cards from different manufacturers.

I am asking because I also own a 8800 GTS 640 MB Leadtek and am thinking about the same thing...

@zipflint: Do you plan on overclocking your CPU then? I guess a stock E6600 could be a little too slow for 2 x 8800 GTS 640.

I used to have a XFX XXX 7950 GX2 SLi'd with a reference 7950GX2, a Leadtek 8800GTX SLi'd with a reference GTX, and currently have a XFX 9800GX2 SLi'd with a reference 9800GX2.

I do it all the time.

 

[zipflint]

Thanks for the quick replies! I appreciate the info very much!
And I will probably be upgrading to an E8400 shortly as well.
I kind of suspected that my old E6600 would become a bottleneck.

 

[zipflint]

Actually, looking at processor prices, would it make more sense to go with a Q6600 for $220, or the E8400 for $190?
I guess I'm asking which would give me the bigger performance boost once I get the SLi running; a higher clock speed or
more cores?

 

[krnmastersgt]

Unless the game you play or app you run is heavily cpu bound I don't think you'll see much of a difference between those two cpus.

 

[zipflint]

The only gaming I'm doing right now is Oblivion, Crysis, and BioShock. I do a lot of sound and photo editing on this machine too though.

::edit::
Forgot to mention that I use Ableton for the audio editing and Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom for the photo work. I currently only run these apps in XP. Crysis and BioShock I run in Vista64.