SLI compability

[wiscountryboy]

hey guys i have a geforce 7600Gt and i have a asus a8n-sli mobo and i wanna upgrade to sli, but i want to keep my current card

i read a while ago that you must have 2 cards that are identical, but last week i read in maximum pc that you only need the same chipset and the cards can even be from different manufacturers....

so whats the real deal? do i need to get another card from xfx that has the same part number or can i just grab any old 7600GT?

 

[LinkedKube]

Its "recommended" that you have the same cards, I know someone with different cards or I should say same chipset and different name brands. I dont advise going with different brands though, its not worth saving 10-20 bucks with the chance of your cards, both of them messing up just to save a buck.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

For SLI, you need to have both cards with the same GPU. They can be from different manufacturers like one from eVGA and the other from XFX. But both have to be, for example, 7600GTs or 7900GTs for SLI to work.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

What happens when other manufacturer's card is clocked higher than the other?

 

[RamenNoodles]

Well like the person stated above, buy the same exact card as the one you already have.

I would not imagine anything would happen because you can overclock them, but for safety's sake, go with the same card. It may cost you a few extra bucks, but you almost lessen your chances of messing up your rig by 99%.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

SLI only needs the GPUs and model to be the same. The cards can be of different clock speeds and the card installed in the slave slot will automatically adjust itself to the card in the master slot. Also, if they are of different memory sizes, the slave card will only use the same amount of on-board memory that the master card has, regardless of whether if it has more memory than the master card. But make sure the model is the same. You cannot, for example, mix a 7800GT and a 7800GTX, even though the GPU is the same.