question on running sli

[frozenno1]

Hello everyone

I'm in a little bit of dilemma here

Just purchased this video card and was wondering whether I have to have the exact same card to run it in sli or would it work with any other gtx 460

EVGA | Articles | EVGA GTX 460 2Win

 

[LightWarrior]

yes you can sli it with another GTX 460 or two. the max you can go is quad. you would need two PCIE x16 for doing a quad/tri. Each GTX460 2win count as 2 GPU (pretty much 2 cards in one)

 

[Jolin88]

The question was if you need 2 identical graphic cards to run SLI :

you don't need 2 identical graphic cards to run SLI however as far as I know running SLI with 2 different graphic cards will slow the graphic cards down to the common denominator, means the faster graphic card will slow down to the pace of the slower one

 

[Samus.]

The question was if you need 2 identical graphic cards to run SLI :

you don't need 2 identical graphic cards to run SLI however as far as I know running SLI with 2 different graphic cards will slow the graphic cards down to the common denominator, means the faster graphic card will slow down to the pace of the slower one

Even if they are both GTX 260 but a total different card?
Like this:

With this?:

Or OP?

 

[Jolin88]

I correct my statement, it was slightly wrong, yes they can be different, but they have to be the same model :

Can I mix and match graphics cards that have different GPUs?
No. For example, an XXXGT cannot be paired with a XXXGTX in an SLI configuration. Can I mix and match graphics cards from different manufacturers?
Using 180 or later graphics drivers, NVIDIA graphics cards from different manufacturers can be used together in an SLI configuration. For example, a GeForce XXXGT from manufacturer ABC can be matched with a GeForce XXXGT from manufacturer XYZ.
Can I mix and match graphics cards is one of them is overclocked by the manufacturer?
Yes. A GeForce XXXX GTX that is overclocked can be mixed with a standard clocked GeForce XXXX GTX.
Can I mix and match graphics cards with different sizes of memory?
No. For example, an XXXGT 512MB cannot be paired with a XXXGT 1GB in an SLI configuration.

Source : FAQ

only ATI Crossfire can be used between 2 different graphic cards that don't have identical models, my mistake

 

[Alfons]

You have to have two cards that have the exact same chip for both nvidia and ati.

nvidia:

Generally, nvidia's card numbering is pretty spot on. The first number obviously indicates which series it is. The other are an indirect indication for the amount of shader units and clock speeds. GTX 550, 560, 570 and 580 are all different from each other if you look at their chips. Although some of them do use the same chip, nvidia disabled a certain amount of shader units depending on the card. That is what they do though, they design a high end chip that will be on their top tier card. When they've released that they will use that same chip for lower ranked cards and just tinker around with the shader units and clock speeds.

Some examples:

GTX 460 + 470/480 - not going to work (shader unit amount difference)
GTX 460 + 460 - will work, no matter the manufacturer and clock speeds (fastest card will be clocked to the slowests' card speed.

ATI's card numbering on the other hand is a bit different. Generally their numbering consists of 4 numbers. For example the ATI 6950: the first number indicates the series number, the second indicates the sub-series number and the last two indicate the version of the card.

For ATI crossfire it is possible to say crossfire a 6950 with a 6970. Those two cards are identical in chip but differ in clock speeds. In this case they will both run at the speeds of the slowest card. You cannot crossfire a 6850 with a 6950 or 6970. So in most cases, as long as the first two numbers of the card are the same you will be able to crossfire them.

Examples:

HD6950 + 6950 - works (clocks of slowest card will be used)
HD6950 + 6970 - works (6970 will run at speeds of 6950)
HD6850 + 6950 - will not work, chips are different and thus wont work in crossfire.

There is a technology though that allows ANY card brand to be used together. This is called Lucid Hydra and is implemented on some high end motherboards. This allows you to run a GTX580 with a HD6970 for example. It's still in a very early phase though and I wouldn't recommend it to anyoneone. But it might turn out quite nice in the future.

Hope to have cleared stuff up :

P.S. Merry Christmas