Sli Technology

[elfi]

Hi All
Can someone tell me what SLI technology is and how it works.
I only know it is 2 video cards.
That when i want it what type of video card i must buy. :giddy:

 

[DragonFury]

the only company that supports SLI is Nvidia , Ati is Crossfire . as far as needing it that greatly depends on what u looking for . Sli/CrossFire will allow u to run at higher resolutions with aa and af while the single cards will run at higher resolutions with no aa af if u plan on playing games at 1280x1024 with 4x aa 4x af then a single 7800 gt/gtx or 6800 gs/ultra will do you just fine but u want to run at 1600x1200 + with aa and af then Sli/CrossFire will be your solution ...

 

[vnf4ultra]

You'd need a sli capable motherboard as well to use sli. Most geforce 6xxx and 7xxx series cards support sli. The cards in sli must be identical, for example, you can only use two 6800gs cards together, not one 6800gs and a 7800gt, they must be matched.

 

[iNoob]

Also, theoretically SLI/Crossfire will double the gaming power coming out of your graphics cards but it never really reaches double. Usualy it's about 170% or 180%. So 2 cards = 1 card + 70% more performance. So if you're thinking about gett 2 cards, think about the performance increase you're going to get and see if you can simply get a better card. New cards these days usually approach or exceed the SLI performance of their predecessors (i.e. 1x7800GTX is almost as good as 2x6800). Just read the performance tests on THG (www.tomshardware.com) to see for yourself and compare with price and figure out which one best fits you.

 

[Sean]

Ive recentley helped my friend built his sli based rig, From the specs i remember it was a p4 754 3.0ghz, some asus board, 2 gigs of ram, Antec neopower 550, Antec p180 case, some 120mm fans, two 6800's(dual dvi out, 256 mb GDDR3, i forgot manufactor). First, we built it up in this aluminum cause my friend bought at a comp fair, and It ran soo hot. The power supply disformed some wires next to it, and the gpu's were really hot. So he got the p180, best cause hands down. Cpu temps dropped, gpu temps dropped. The case is soo nice. I think it was 3 or 4 120 high quality fans that are included and installed by antec in key positions. Id recommend that case over any other, When using Sli, or any high temp cpus, or use in overclocking.

 

[Exscind]

All of the suggestions so far are good, but there is more than just a compatible motherboard and card. One important factor that many people skip is the power supply. For power supplies, do not just look at the total (peak) wattage; the +12V rail is the one you want to pay attention. You may see something like 15A (amps) on the +12V. To run a beefy card like the nVIDIA 7800 GT, it is recommended to have 20A (or 24A, can't remember sorry)on the +12V, and for SLI 30A. This ensures overall stability.

Another thing is cooling. A good case and fans are a must for running SLI. Two high-powered video cards will warm up other system parts very easily with poor air flow.

Hope my tips are somewhat helpful and good luck.

 

[Sean]

I highley recomment the antec p180 as a case, it can deal with the heat of these cards magnificentley.