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SLI Question



  Astra CDTI SRI
I currently have 1 XFX Nvidia GTS 250 1GB an and SLI compatible motherboard.

Can I put any other make (Zotac, PNY etc) of the GTS 250 in to SLI it?

What would adding the 512mb version rather than the 1GB version do?

Will I see a vast improvement in say BF3?

Cheers
 
Yes you can. Not sure about the different memory sizes. Performance gains depend almost entirely on how the game is coded. I imagine BF3 is optimised for multi-GPU.
 

Silent_Scone

ClioSport Club Member
  Evo 5 RS
SLi has come a long way, used to be that it had to be the same firmware/brand...

I wouldn't bother going for one with the extra VRAM, you won't benefit from it. SLi doesn't take memory capacity into consideration like the old 3DFX used to, it's purely GPU processing.
Anyway you can SLi any two cards as long as they are the same core/chip... so as long as they're both the 'GTS' you'll be fine

Edit: if you've already got a 1gb buy another one because in SLi, it'll cap you to 512mb of the newer card... thought it was vise versa
 
Last edited:

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
Will be rolling for a day or two without an SLi bridge. Are they uber-essential to the operation of Sly - or can they operate without the bridge cable like Crossfire?

Cheers,
D.
 

Silent_Scone

ClioSport Club Member
  Evo 5 RS
tbh the bridge offers very little throughput, it's only the flagship cards that really need it as they stretch the PCIE Bus, which is where most of the trinkets are happening..


You'll lose performance without it though, definitely...just wouldn't be able to say how much
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
tbh the bridge offers very little throughput, it's only the flagship cards that really need it as they stretch the PCIE Bus, which is where most of the trinkets are happening..


You'll lose performance without it though, definitely...just wouldn't be able to say how much

I'll probably gain 4fps with the second card and lose 3fps without the bridge - lol.

D.
 

welshname

ClioSport Club Member
If you have an SLi compatible MoBo I was under the impression you didn't need the bridge. Then again I have been away from SLi'd cards for a long time.
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
I take it that you can get longer SLi bridges than 70mm?

I've got one, but that would only allow me to put both cards side-by-side in order to reach each other - i.e - slots 1 & 2.

On the Asus Rampage III Extreme mobo, it appears that slots 1 and 3 are required for the full 16x throughput (just like I had in Crossfire)....


SLirequirements.jpg


Without a longer SLi bridge connector, there's no way the cards can connect in slots 1 & 3 :S

D.
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
The bridge is essential to SLi operation, apparently? All SLi options are greyed-out with a message saying that "a bridge connector is required for SLi operation."

I'm pretty sure that Crossfire would function without the bridge cable, though? Oh well - I'll just wait for delivery of the cable....

D.
 

Silent_Scone

ClioSport Club Member
  Evo 5 RS
Think it depends on the driver, they might of changed it recently.

I know for a FACT it's not essential, they're obviously making it lol
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
Think it depends on the driver, they might of changed it recently.

I know for a FACT it's not essential, they're obviously making it lol

They probably are m8. Very easy front-end on it too - you'd have to be a complete novice on PCs now in order not to work out what your cards are doing.

Quite clever I thought in the absence of SLi, it automatically selected the 2nd GTX460 to become a dedicated Physx handler - all without me choosing anything.

D.
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
Well, that's a slight improvement - lol.

On a single GTX460 at standard settings, the 3DMark2011 demo came up with a score of 3,355. Attach an SLi cable and re-run it - 6,592 on two GTX460s.

nVidia (and presumably ATi?) have clearly made big inroads into multi-GPU functionality these days. I remember pissing about with early SLi setups and getting maybe 400 points difference between one and two cards running. :)

D.
 


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