Want a great SLI mobo

[jason57gizmo]

I have a geforce 7950 gt and was considering upgrading my mobo with sli. I have an E6600, 4 gigs of ram and currently a GA965p-ds3 running vista 64. I like to game, alot and figured this wouldnt be a bad idea for the card I have. I do enjoy moderate ocing. What would an awesome board be?

 

[badge]

I have a geforce 7950 gt and was considering upgrading my mobo with sli. I have an E6600, 4 gigs of ram and currently a GA965p-ds3 running vista 64. I like to game, alot and figured this wouldnt be a bad idea for the card I have. I do enjoy moderate ocing. What would an awesome board be?

I like to game, alot and figured this wouldnt be a bad idea for the card I have.

Any 680i. You will need a second 7950 or a new SLI board won't do much in the way of a performance boost.

 

[H_Togakure]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127020

This is a great deal on an excellent mobo.

 

[Mondoman]

SLI is almost never worth it, because both video cards have to be the same model from the same manufacturer. Try buying the exact same 7950 gt card 6 months from now! In any case, the 8800s will give you better performance with less hassle. On a final note, remember that most SLI setups split the 16 PCIexpress lanes into 8+8 for SLI mode, not 16+16 as you would hope.

 

[H_Togakure]

The 680i chipset actually allows you to the full x16 on both cards. If you are going to do SLI then your best bet is to get a mobo with that chipset.

 

[aevm]

I think the OP would be better off selling the 7950GT, buying an 8800 GTX, and keeping his current mobo.

 

[Maziar]

definitely ^^^^

 

[jason57gizmo]

Desicions, desicions....

 

[jason57gizmo]

Is an 8800 that much better than a 7950 gt?

 

[badge]

Is an 8800 that much better than a 7950 gt?

Take them for a test drive.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=710&model2=707&chart=308

 

[pchoi04]

SLI is almost never worth it, because both video cards have to be the same model from the same manufacturer. Try buying the exact same 7950 gt card 6 months from now! In any case, the 8800s will give you better performance with less hassle. On a final note, remember that most SLI setups split the 16 PCIexpress lanes into 8+8 for SLI mode, not 16+16 as you would hope.

They don't necessarily have to be the same manufacturer.

This is right off of Nvidia's site:

Can I mix and match graphics cards?
In order to provide optimal symmetric scaling, SLI technology requires the NVIDIA GPUs to match. For example, a GeForce 7800 GTX must be paired with another GeForce 7800 GTX. Likewise, a GeForce 6600 GT must be paired with another GeForce 6600 GT. However, using the latest Release 80 or later graphics drivers, NVIDIA GPUs sold by different manufacturers can be used together in an SLI configuration. For example, a GeForce 7800 GT from vendor ABC can be matched with a GeForce 7800 GT from vendor XYZ.

Can I mix and match graphics cards is one of them is overclocked by the manufacturer?
Yes. A GeForce 7800 GTX that is overclocked (for example BFG GeForce 7800 GTX OC) can be mixed with a standard clocked GeForce 7800 GTX.

Can I mix and match graphics cards with different sizes of memory?
While it is not recommended, NVIDIA does offer this flexibility using Coolbits. When purchasing a second graphics card, you should try to match the memory size so that you are ensured full value and performance from your purchase. For example, if your first card is a GeForce 6600 GT with 128MB of memory, you should purchase a second GeForce 6600 GT with 128MB of memory. However, using Coolbits (value set to 18), you can force both of the cards to use the lower of the two memory sizes and operate together in SLI mode. When dissimilar memory sizes are enabled to work together using Coolbits, the effective memory size for each card becomes the smaller of the two memory sizes. Instructions to enable this feature can be found here.

 

[jason57gizmo]

After taking them for a test drive, I think I like the idea of the 8800. Now to find a good deal on the GTX...

 

[aevm]

They don't necessarily have to be the same manufacturer.

Yeah, theoretically it's OK if the cards are not quite identical. It's probably safer if they are, though. That's simply because nVidia and game developers can't test all combinations. I'm not even blaming them for it, there are just too many combinations.