GTX 660 3-Way SLI (NOT 660 Ti)

[SlitWeaver]

So as I slowly purchase more GPUs overtime, I never got the chance to just throw down for a GTX 680 and will eventually do 3-way GTX 660.

The largest thing I've noticed as a foreseeable issue is that the 3-way SLI bridge requires two SLI lanes/plugs/slot thingys (honestly they need a standard name) on the top of each card, but GTX 660s only have one. Is there a special bridge you can order to go around this?

Also, has anyone seen any 3-way GTX 660 performance testing? Anytime I do Google searches only the 660 Ti comes up -.-

 

[n1ghtr4v3n]

unfortunately gtx660 does not support 3-way SLI at all...
it is exclusively gtx660ti which supports 3 way...

good luck.

edit: here is a quick list which shows 3-way SLI compatible gpu's
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#s=3&sort=d1

 

[SlitWeaver]

unfortunately gtx660 does not support 3-way SLI at all...
it is exclusively gtx660ti which supports 3 way...

So Nvidia's own GeForce site is a lie...

Used by the most demanding gamers worldwide, SLI lets you link up to three GeForce GTX 660s together for astounding performance. And with NVIDIA’s track record for fast and frequent software updates, you’ll not only get the best performance in existing games, but future games too.

sigh...guess my next upgrade will be a 660 Ti before I get that 3570K, huh? 😛 And that SSD needs to come too...why can't money start raining from the sky? Well thank you anyways! 😀

 

[n1ghtr4v3n]

unfortunately gtx660 does not support 3-way SLI at all...
it is exclusively gtx660ti which supports 3 way...

So Nvidia's own GeForce site is a lie...

Used by the most demanding gamers worldwide, SLI lets you link up to three GeForce GTX 660s together for astounding performance. And with NVIDIA’s track record for fast and frequent software updates, you’ll not only get the best performance in existing games, but future games too.

sigh...guess my next upgrade will be a 660 Ti before I get that 3570K, huh? 😛 And that SSD needs to come too...why can't money start raining from the sky? Well thank you anyways! 😀

probably whoever wrote the article didnt care to type "TI" mark lol or maybe there is custom design 660 from a specific manufacturer which I didnt hear before.
you're welcome

 

[SlitWeaver]

probably whoever wrote the article didnt care to type "TI" mark lol or maybe there is custom design 660 from a specific manufacturer which I didnt hear before.

Dunno...scoured the internet for quite awhile and failed to find any special model anywhere but oh well. Just gonna have to save up $300 for that 3GB 660 Ti, hm?
While we're on the subject, I'm guessing for 3-Way SLI, 3GB is a "must" or is 2GB sufficient? I know that only one cards VRAM is used, so I figure 3GB would be needed to store all three cards work?

 

[n1ghtr4v3n]

probably whoever wrote the article didnt care to type "TI" mark lol or maybe there is custom design 660 from a specific manufacturer which I didnt hear before.

Dunno...scoured the internet for quite awhile and failed to find any special model anywhere but oh well. Just gonna have to save up $300 for that 3GB 660 Ti, hm?
While we're on the subject, I'm guessing for 3-Way SLI, 3GB is a "must" or is 2GB sufficient? I know that only one cards VRAM is used, so I figure 3GB would be needed to store all three cards work?

if you are going to replace the 660's... 660ti shouldnt be your next target. I mean it wont be wise since there will not be significant boost. sell them all and get yourself a newer single 680 or 7950 it will be power/performance/heat/space... effective.
you only need the virtual ram for extra monitors, no game these days actually need more than 2gb on a single monitor.
unless you are not going power edit high def videos or something 2gb vram is enough for single monitors and everything

 

[SlitWeaver]

if you are going to replace the 660's... 660ti shouldnt be your next target. I mean it wont be wise since there will not be significant boost. sell them all and get yourself a newer single 680 or 7950 it will be power/performance/heat/space... effective.

I only have 1 660 at the moment, I was talking about future upgrades

you only need the virtual ram for extra monitors, no game these days actually need more than 2gb on a single monitor. unless you are not going power edit high def videos or something 2gb vram is enough for single monitors and everything

Then my next question would probably be, would 3GB be "future proofing"? As I upgrade my computers slowly overtime, I know that even when the 700/8000 series come out, I would not be able to upgrade to them in a reasonable time and would probably not get to my next GPU upgrade until the 800/9000 upgrades. Most modern games use 1.2GB+ of VRAM so I imagine that number will increase quite a bit by next upgrade. 😛

 

[n1ghtr4v3n]

if you are going to replace the 660's... 660ti shouldnt be your next target. I mean it wont be wise since there will not be significant boost. sell them all and get yourself a newer single 680 or 7950 it will be power/performance/heat/space... effective.

I only have 1 660 at the moment, I was talking about future upgrades

you only need the virtual ram for extra monitors, no game these days actually need more than 2gb on a single monitor. unless you are not going power edit high def videos or something 2gb vram is enough for single monitors and everything

Then my next question would probably be, would 3GB be "future proofing"? As I upgrade my computers slowly overtime, I know that even when the 700/8000 series come out, I would not be able to upgrade to them in a reasonable time and would probably not get to my next GPU upgrade until the 800/9000 upgrades. Most modern games use 1.2GB+ of VRAM so I imagine that number will increase quite a bit by next upgrade. 😛

uhm... lets say ofcourse more is better... but the thing is actually no application is using 1.2gb virtual ram. Let me give you an example. I can play Crysis3 on a 1920*1080p full hd monitor with medium to high details at around 30-50fps with my single GTX570 (it comes with 1.25gb VRAM). Where under heavy screens virtual ram used is around 60-65% which is like 750-800mb.
So you will be barely in need of more than 2gb in close future. As i said unless you are using more than 1 monitors that can actually double the memory need since you have to render twice more pixels at the same time.

i guess you got the point

side note: some benchmarks show that 2gb versions of the same gpus compared 4gb, renders things faster and get higher marks in benchmarks. i dont really know why though...

 

[SlitWeaver]

uhm... lets say ofcourse more is better... but the thing is actually no application is using 1.2gb virtual ram. Let me give you an example. I can play Crysis3 on a 1920*1080p full hd monitor with medium to high details at around 30-50fps with my single GTX570 (it comes with 1.25gb VRAM). Where under heavy screens virtual ram used is around 60-65% which is like 750-800mb. So you will be barely in need of more than 2gb in close future.

True, but that's not at max settings. At max settings more stuff is being loaded, which will in turn use more of the vram, yes?

side note: some benchmarks show that 2gb versions of the same gpus compared 4gb, renders things faster and get higher marks in benchmarks. i dont really know why though...

Makes sense. It's just like having too much free memory actually reduces performance of the memory. I imagine VRAM works at least somewhat similarly to regular RAM, at least in this respect.

 

[Seamus McCormack]

I know this thread is a little old but I always seem to come across it while searching, I believe I have found the version of the gtx 660 (non ti) that is 3 way SLI compatible, it is a reference card made by NVidia not a third party and it has 2 sli bridge slots on the card which I'm assuming means it is the one NVidia is talking about when the say the gtx 660 (non ti) is a 3 way sli card.

My question is do I have to pick up two more of this exact card in order to do 3 way sli or can i connect 2 other gtx 660 to this card in order to achieve it

 

[SlitWeaver]

I know this thread is a little old but I always seem to come across it while searching, I believe I have found the version of the gtx 660 (non ti) that is 3 way SLI compatible, it is a reference card made by NVidia not a third party and it has 2 sli bridge slots on the card which I'm assuming means it is the one NVidia is talking about when the say the gtx 660 (non ti) is a 3 way sli card.

My question is do I have to pick up two more of this exact card in order to do 3 way sli or can i connect 2 other gtx 660 to this card in order to achieve it

Way to revive an old thread ;P
But, I would imagine you'd need 3 of the reference cards since the other ones would probably be incapable of supporting 3-way SLI (since the 3rd party manufactures tampered with them in some way).

Edit: You should start a new thread and just link to this discussion.

 

[vLDemonizer]

Reviving it once again, I currently have a GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU OC 2GB GDDR5 when I see my card it does look like it can hold more than 2 cards bc it has the double port so I wonder if I will be able to 3 way sli this bad boy.

 

[SlitWeaver]

Reviving it once again, I currently have a GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU OC 2GB GDDR5 when I see my card it does look like it can hold more than 2 cards bc it has the double port so I wonder if I will be able to 3 way sli this bad boy.

That card looks like it only has one SLI bridge on it.

P.S. Sorry for the delayed response (and I"m sure you've already got a response elsewhere already), I haven't been on Tom's for a long time.