Looking to 970 SLI, Questions!

[phongle123]

Hello everyone. I am going into SLI and have some questions.

 

I already have the MSI GTX 970 4GD5T OC. I want to SLI this.

 

Question 1, what 2nd card can I SLI:

1) Does it have to be the same exact card, or 2) can it have to be any GTX 970 in the MSI brand, or 3) can it be any GTX 970 card no matter the Brand.

 

Question 2, if not Answer 1) for Question 1, does a card different from the exact card have a different impact or will having the exact same card provide the optimal performance?

 

Question 3, the MSI GTX 970 4GD5T OC clock speed is "1102MHz Core (Boost Clock:1241MHz)" and the MSI GTX 970 Gaming OC has 3 clock speeds for Silent, Gaming, and Overclocking. Does this matter if I plan on Overclocking both cards to 1400+ Mhz anyways? Assuming I get the MSI GTX 970 Gaming OC along with my MSI GTX 970 4GD5T OC.

 

Thank you guys. Any other answers or insights are appreciated.

[The Official Czex]

It can be literally any other 970. If you have them OC' ed the same, there won't be any performance loss.

[jcw150]

Personally I would sell the 970 and get a 980ti as when I had sli 970s I had a few driver issues and now wouldn't advise dual gpu but you may be fine.

[Admiral Naismith]

Can be any 970 no matter the brand. The clock speeds will be adjusted to whatever the slowest of the two cards is. Just something to note.

 

If the new card you buy has lower clock speeds, the performance of both cards will be lowered as one card gets down clocked to match the other. Again, this isn't something to worry about unless you're putting the money into a ridiculously high clocked GPU and then pairing it with a stock card. You can OC to fix any issues if you feel so inclined.

 

Question 3; I don't know for sure. I don't have MSI cards. I'd imagine there's a way to force both cards to run at a specific clock speed. Otherwise the one card will force the other card to adjust its clock speeds (again, not totally sure).

 

Edit- @jcw150 <- I'd do what he says. Better performing single card solutions tend to be a better deal than SLI/Xfire systems simply because that 1/50 chance that you'll get stutters, driver issues, etc..

[jcw150]

Actually unless you have a 4k monitor or are planning to get one very soon I would just wait.

Edit- or 1440p 144hz monitor

[phongle123]

Actually unless you have a 4k monitor or are planning to get one very soon I would just wait.

 

If I wait, should I just keep the MSI GTX 970 4GD5T OC version or get the MSI GTX 970 Gaming OC which costs 30$ more?

 

If I were to overclock a single 970. The Gaming OC versions 3 clock modes shouldn't matter, correct?

 

Also to note, the Gaming OC version has a huge wall of awards from the hyperlink while the 4GD5T OC version has none.

 

EDIT: What I worry about is heat causing the room to burn up. If the difference is minuscule then I will not go through the return and buy process from the website. But heat is definitely a matter in my situation.

[phongle123]

Bump. Just need this one final answer