Two not quite identical cards in SLI mode ok?

CaxusCaxus
edited May 2008 in Hardware
I have the MSI 8800GT OC. Upon installing my new motherboard and looking at the spacing between the two pci-e slots, it looks like getting a second one of those is almost out of the question since the cards would be on top of each other with a fraction of an inch between them.

What if i got this EVGA card instead of a second MSI? Would it behave well in SLI mode or do the cards need to be identitcal?

Comments

  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    2 MSI's will fit, its only a Dual Slot cooler and there is Dual Slot spacing between the 16x slots.

    The only issue is you may have 2 different bios' on 2 diff manuf cards. This can lead to some not fun stuff with SLI.

    Now, you can flash the same bios to them if they are both the same cards (core and memory size, etc) :)
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    Um I thought that they did revision to SLI to allow for two non-matching cards to be run together but they did it just like crossfire so it all runs at the lowest common denominator.
  • CaxusCaxus
    edited May 2008
    RyderOCZ wrote:
    2 MSI's will fit, its only a Dual Slot cooler and there is Dual Slot spacing between the 16x slots.
    But won't I have heat problems with the top card since there will barely be a sliver of space for the fan to suck air from?
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    There will not be a lot of room, but I think it will be more than a sliver. The top card will definitely run warmer.

    Up to you for sure, there would definitely be more room if you put the EVGA in the top slot and MSI in the bottom.
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    _k_ wrote:
    Um I thought that they did revision to SLI to allow for two non-matching cards to be run together but they did it just like crossfire so it all runs at the lowest common denominator.
    He is installing matching cards (both 8800GT) but they will have different bios' on them (since they are diff manuf) and may have diff clock speeds. This can, at times, make setting up SLI difficult. It may also lead to strange results in SLI and some "stuttering"
  • CaxusCaxus
    edited May 2008
    I may just RMA it and get the MSI motherboard. There's a lot more room between them on that one.
  • Gate28Gate28 Orlando, Florida Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    Or liquid cool it...Asus i think makes a gfx card that cools itself with liquid.
  • CaxusCaxus
    edited May 2008
    Check out this MSI board. Now do you think that in SLI mode you have to use the two slots at the bottom or do you think you can use the top one and then one of the bottom ones? If it's the former, i'd be no better off with this board than my Asus. I guess it all depends on the SLI connector, right? Do those come in varying lengths or is there a standard length that they're all supposed to be?
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    The one that comes with that board is a hard bridge and its only long enough for the bottom two slots. Its in the third to last pic for the board on newegg. The thing to double check of course is find the manuel online and make sure it says that it requires the bottom to express slots to run SLI.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    I'm running two different 8800GT cards in SLI. One is an eVGA 8800GT KO edition (675/1950 MHz), and the other is an XFX 8800GT XXX Alpha Dog edition (670/1950 MHz). As you can see, two different brands, two different GPU speeds, but they work incredibly well together. They're running on an MSI P6N Diamond 680i SLI board which has 3 slots between the two cards. If the MSI mobo you're looking at is equipped like mine, it comes with a ribbon SLI connector and supports 4-way SLI at 8x.
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    mertesn wrote:
    I'm running two different 8800GT cards in SLI. One is an eVGA 8800GT KO edition (675/1950 MHz), and the other is an XFX 8800GT XXX Alpha Dog edition (670/1950 MHz). As you can see, two different brands, two different GPU speeds, but they work incredibly well together.

    You presence is requested in the 3DMark06 thread. :wink:
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    mas0n wrote:
    You presence is requested in the 3DMark06 thread. :wink:
    Done.
  • CaxusCaxus
    edited May 2008
    What would you guys do? Go for an identical matching card and deal with the heat/noise or get a different brand of the same GPU and hope you don't have many problems in SLI?
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    why kind of card do you have that is hot and noisy.
  • CaxusCaxus
    edited May 2008
    It's the MSI OC 8800 GT. I think i'm just going to get another one because i did a little research last night and it appears that my card actually runs extremely cool compared to most other 8800GT's (41c idle 54c load). So it shouldn't matter if they get a little bit hotter.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    If all else fails, just get some aftermarket cooling solutions for the cards - just make sure they're good for a G92 video card.
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