Two Cards of Different models

[Aiden2k13]

Hey guys, I have GIgabyte Z87X-OC and I currently have one GTX 760 . If I put a GTX 780 with it , will it work or would I have to put another card of the same model that I have currently and that is GTX 760 ?
I am very much new to this , that is why I am asking.


Thanks in advance

 

[DarkSable]

...yeah, no.

You have to use another 760. It can be a different brand/series, but it has to be a 760.

 

[Lee-m]

I don't believe so. The GPU has to be an exact match (two gtx 760's) for example. The brands I think, do not have to be the same. It also handy if they have the same amount of ram.

 

[Aiden2k13]

Since the motherboard have 4 PCI EXPRESS 3.0 slots, can I use 3 GTX 760s ? I mean I have 1 now and can I put another 2 GTX 760s and will it work ?

 

[Lee-m]

It depends if your board has 3 PCI-E slots (not just regular PCI), and supports 3 way sli. You will have to check the manual.
if it has 4 PCI-E slots as you say, the only reason to have them is for quad SLI.
You need the SLI bridge to connect the cards (should come with the motherboard), and you will need a really good psu (power supply unit) to run 3 cards.

 

[nikita787]

Hey guys, I have GIgabyte Z87X-OC and I currently have one GTX 760 . If I put a GTX 780 with it , will it work or would I have to put another card of the same model that I have currently and that is GTX 760 ?
I am very much new to this , that is why I am asking.


Thanks in advance

No it won't, 2 cards of different models wont sli.

 

[Aiden2k13]

It depends if your board has 3 PCI-E slots (not just regular PCI), and supports 3 way sli. You will have to check the manual.
if it has 4 PCI-E slots as you say, the only reason to have them is for quad SLI.
You need the SLI bridge to connect the cards (should come with the motherboard), and you will need a really good psu (power supply unit) to run 3 cards.

Yes my motherboard is Gigabyte Z87X-OC and it has 4 PCI EXPRESS 3.0 slots. And its written 4 Way crossfire and 2 Way SLI. Does that mean it will support 4 ATI cards but 2 Nvidia cards ?
Any way to make it work with 3 Nvidia cards ?

 

[Lee-m]

I haven't personally looked your motherboard up, but my reading of what you posted would say to me, only 2 nvidia cards can be used in sli.

However, you should visit the support pages for your board. It might be a BIOS update allows 3 or more.

 

[reedo_43]

Optimized support for AMD CrossFire in four-way configurations, plus support for NVIDIA SLI technology in two-way setups. This extreme design allows a more optimized multiple-card overclocking experience, where the first three slots have the data bandwidth available from trace paths direct from the CPU, and the fourth slot takes the PCIe lanes from the Intel Z87 PCH.

 

[Aiden2k13]

I haven't personally looked your motherboard up, but my reading of what you posted would say to me, only 2 nvidia cards can be used in sli.

However, you should visit the support pages for your board. It might be a BIOS update allows 3 or more.

Yes I have already updated my BIOS and the thing about which I am confused is that it says 4 way crossfire and 2 way SLI .
I just wanna be sure before spending money that it will support 3 nvidia cards or not.
Therefore it would be great if anyone helps me.

PS : I have seen a PC about 3 months ago with 3 GTX cards. How is that possible if 780/760 does not support 3 way ?

 

[Mousemonkey]

The 760 only has one SLi finger which means only 2 way SLi is possible, it would need to have two SLi fingers to do 3 or 4 way SLi.

 

[Lee-m]

The 760 only has one SLi finger which means only 2 way SLi is possible, it would need to have two SLi fingers to do 3 or 4 way SLi.

There you go. It would seem you are limited to two way SLI regardless of the motherboard. With the 760 gtx anyway.

 

[Mousemonkey]

A 660Ti can do 3 way SLi but the 760 is based on the OEM 660 non Ti, just an OC'd version really.

 

[DarkSable]

The 760 is based on the 670, not the 660, isn't it?

"PS : I have seen a PC about 3 months ago with 3 GTX cards. How is that possible if 780/760 does not support 3 way ?"
Because the MOTHERBOARD doesn't support it, not the graphics cards, though in this case the graphics cards ALSO limit you.

Also, just a note, adding a third card gives you very very little benefit for the price. It is simply not worth it, and you would be better off with two more powerful cards than three weaker cards.

 

[Aiden2k13]

Then if I get 3 GTX 780 , then is it possible for 3 cards to work ? or is 700 series cannot be 3 way SLI'ed ?

 

[Mousemonkey]

The 760 is based on the 670, not the 660, isn't it?.

No it's the OEM 660, look at the number of cores.

OEM 660 :- http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-660-oem/specifications

GTX760 :- http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-760/specifications

GTX670 :- http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-670/specifications

 

[DarkSable]

...you're just not getting this.

Three 780s will work in 3-way SLI with each other. However, in order to do this, you must ALSO have a motherboard that supports 3-way SLI.
Your motherboard only supports 2-way SLI, which means you can only use two nvidia cards. Period. Even if they support 3-way SLI, your motherboard does not.

ALSO. Getting three 780s would be a horrendous waste of money, because even if you had a motherboard that could support 3-way SLI, the third card would be doing very little. Three way SLI is a bad idea with any card.