Dule SLI Help

[Jda001]

Okay so a few questions on SLI

 

1) Can I for example have a gtx 970 and add a gtx 980 ti and still run sli?

 

2) If that is possible should the 980 ti be in the PCI lane closes to the CPU?

 

3) dose the order of the cards matter?

 

4) Do both the cards have to have the same P/N?

 

Thanks for the help guys

[Oshino Shinobu]

1) No. They must be the same model (EG. both 980Ti. Brand [Gigabyte, Asus, MSi etc.] doesn't matter) and the same amount of vRAM

2) N/A

3) No

4) P/N?

[Virtual01]

You can only SLI cards with the same number, meaning you would need two 970s. They are allowed to be from different brands.

[79 Potatoes]

1) No, must be the same core (ie GTX 980 and GTX 980)

2) -

3) Nope

4) If you're using GPUs from diferent brands the P/N might not be the same

[o0Martin]

Okay so a few questions on SLI

 

1) Can I for example have a gtx 970 and add a gtx 980 ti and still run sli?

 

2) If that is possible should the 980 ti be in the PCI lane closes to the CPU?

 

3) dose the order of the cards matter?

 

4) Do both the cards have to have the same P/N?

 

Thanks for the help guys

 

1) No you can't, to run SLI they have to be the same card (They don't have to be the same aftermarket cooler or w/e just the same card like a Twin Frozr 970 will SLI with a G1 970, plus the amount of memory/VRAM must be the same)

 

3) Nope 

 

4) What's P/N?

[Jda001]

1) No. They must be the same model and the same amount of vRAM

2) N/A

3) No

4) P/N?

 

PN is part number. so the same exact identical cards but it looks like @Virtual01 answered my quesrion

[Oshino Shinobu]

PN is part number. so the same exact identical cards but it looks like @Virtual01 answered my quesrion

Thought so. In that case, no, they don't. 

 

They have to be the same model, so both 660s or both 980Ti or both 980 and so on. They can be any brand and must have the same amount of vRAM. 

[Nonco]

Okay so a few questions on SLI

 

1) Can I for example have a gtx 970 and add a gtx 980 ti and still run sli?

 

2) If that is possible should the 980 ti be in the PCI lane closes to the CPU?

 

3) dose the order of the cards matter?

 

4) Do both the cards have to have the same P/N?

 

Thanks for the help guys

Nope have to be same model but brand doesnt matter.

 

Im guessing you have a GTX 970 and want a 980Ti now theyre out?

 

GTX 970 SLI = slightly better than a single 980Ti so just do that?

[Jda001]

Nope have to be same model but brand doesnt matter.

 

Im guessing you have a GTX 970 and want a 980Ti now theyre out?

 

GTX 970 SLI = slightly better than a single 980Ti so just do that?

To your question on the "Im guessing you have a GTX 970 and want a 980Ti now theyre out?" i kinda do. but i still remeber how some of the 770ti (and other TI's) where whooping some of the other cards what where suppose to be better. So i was just interested in them is all.  i'm perfectly fine with 2 970s. thanks for all the help

[Oshino Shinobu]

Nope have to be same model but brand doesnt matter.

 

Im guessing you have a GTX 970 and want a 980Ti now theyre out?

 

GTX 970 SLI = slightly better than a single 980Ti so just do that?

GTX 970 SLI = Slightly better performance in certain cases. 

 

It's not better overall, due to scaling, and some games flat out not supporting SLi. A single, more powerful card is almost always better. 

[79 Potatoes]

Nope have to be same model but brand doesnt matter.

 

Im guessing you have a GTX 970 and want a 980Ti now theyre out?

 

GTX 970 SLI = slightly better than a single 980Ti so just do that?

GTX 970 SLI: Only 512 cores more (or "roughly" a 75 % 750 Ti, or 18% more cores than the 980 Ti), SLI doesn't scale 100 % and not all games works with it, also need more power and space.

So overall a 980 Ti would be better.

[Nonco]

GTX 970 SLI: Only 512 cores more (or "roughly" a 75 % 750 Ti, or 18% more cores than the 980 Ti), SLI doesn't scale 100 % and not all games works with it, also need more power and space.

So overall a 980 Ti would be better.

 

GTX 970 SLI = Slightly better performance in certain cases. 

 

It's not better overall, due to scaling, and some games flat out not supporting SLi. A single, more powerful card is almost always better. 

 

This is all in the case that he already has a single GTX 970.

 

If he were to have nothing, the single GTX 980Ti would obviously be the better option, however he already has the one 970, so in his case, unless if he sells the card, he is better off with SLI 970's

[Jda001]

all good input guys thanks so much!

[Prysin]

For multi GPU, for the time being. AMD is the only good option for it. Nvidia has series issues with theirs. Scaling is one thing, as many have mentioned. Support is another.

To explain crossfire (just so you know how that works in contrast)

CF has wider support, but not all drivers are optimized, so scaling isnt always 100%

As for CF, that works sort of like what you asked about.

It will work with GPUs of the same generation (GCN 1.0 can CF only with other GCN 1.0 cards and so on). A key difference is that even though Tahiti is GCN 1.1, it cannot CF with Hawaii cards as they do not use a Crossfire/SLI Bridge, the 360, 370, 285, 380, 290, 290X, 390, 390X, Fury, Nano and FuryX all uses crossfire over the PCIe bus, so they dont even feature a Crossfire connector on the card.

Crossfire can use cards of different generations, ie 290 can CF with 390, 290X with 390X and so on.

Crossfire can use cards with different amount of RAM. It will however use the lowest RAM amount, so if you CF a 4GB card and a 8GB card, the 8GB card will only use 4GB RAM, isntead of all 8GB.

Crossfire now works with Freesync (15.7 cat driver)

Crossfire is supported by more motherboards then SLI, due to Nvidia demanding that motherboards must be certified to use SLI (probably just Nvidia milking money outta consumers)

Do note, that if your motherboard does NOT support CF or SLI, CF or SLI wont work anyway, so check that first.