Can I mix different brands?

[Guest]

I am upgrading my PC with a second video card and more ram and I was wondering if mixing the brands or types is a bad thing for example an Nvidia GeForce gtx 760 and an Nvidia GeForce gtx 980 used in the same PC or if I used Corsair ram plus another brand for 16 GB and then another brand for the other 16 GB in the same PC.

 

[Bakhus Mps]

You can use any brand, but if you want to SLI you need to use the same type of GPU (ex: 970MSI+970ASUS=good, 970MSI+980MSI=bad), same with ram, to keep dual channel, you need to have similar sticks in each channel slot, but never the less they will work in any combination of brands or types.
Short answer: you can mix brand, dont mix types.

 

[McDuncun]

Dude with GPU`s you can mix brands, as long as the model is the same and the video buffer is the same. With ram you can still do it but the clock speed needs to be the same and timings also otherwise it won`t be stable or just won`t start is a worst case scenario...

AMD gpu`s can be mixed and matched with diff models, as long as the chipset is the same, i.e Kaveri, Tahiti ect...

 

[jdcranke07]

To keep it simple don't mix. Reduces accidental incompatibilities. Keep in mind too that if you mix GPUs they will either not be able to SLI or they will default to the card with lower VRAM. For example, 970+980=No SLI uses each card separately. Another Example, (this is hypothetical and not based on actual GPU models) 980 w/ 3GB VRAM + 980 w/ 4GB VRAM = 3GB VRAM used in SLI. Also, VRAM does NOT pool in SLI. If you have two cards with 4GB of VRAM you will only use 4GB and not 8GB. Also, dual GPU cards that say they have 8GB of VRAM really only have 4GB VRAM x2, so you will only use 4GB.

 

[McDuncun]

To keep it simple don't mix. Reduces accidental incompatibilities. Keep in mind too that if you mix GPUs they will either not be able to SLI or they will default to the card with lower VRAM. For example, 970+980=No SLI uses each card separately. Another Example, (this is hypothetical and not based on actual GPU models) 980 w/ 3GB VRAM + 980 w/ 4GB VRAM = 3GB VRAM used in SLI. Also, VRAM does NOT pool in SLI. If you have two cards with 4GB of VRAM you will only use 4GB and not 8GB. Also, dual GPU cards that say they have 8GB of VRAM really only have 4GB VRAM x2, so you will only use 4GB.

Very well said. In a perfect world mixing is`nt really that cool unless you have no other choice. Have to identical cards in your case just looks better!