What is SLI and how can I enable it?

[ProPlayerGR]

Hey guys. I have a GTX 1070 and I have heard something about SLI technology or something like that and I wanted to know what it is. Also I have heard that it improves the FPS on games and it's very cool I like that. Furthermore tell me how I can enable it please.
My SYSTEM:
CPU: AMD FX 9370
GPU: INVIDIA ASUS GEFORCE GTX 1070 FOUNDERS EDITION
CPU LIQUID COOLER: CORSAIR H100I
PSU: CORSAIR VS650
RAM: 16GB
HDD: WD 2 TB
SSD: 240GB
Thanks for the help

 

[tical2399]

You would need two 1070s to get sli to work. Sli is using two of the same gpu cores together. So you could use two 1070s or two 980ti but not a 1070 and a 980ti together. SLI like crossfire from amd is hit and miss. In the games it works in, it usually works great, but it doesnt work in all games.

Also nvidia is starting to take away 3x and 4x sli unless you ask them for an unlock code. Amd current cpu are pretty weak on the instructions per clock, so even a 9xxx amd cpu might limit performance on a single 1070. Might be worse with an sli set up. Also be sure that your mobo supports sli to begin with.

More sli info
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Link_Interface

 

[rgd1101]

[strike]mobo need to have min of 2 pcie slot that run at x8[/strike]
from your other post
you have this, so it will works
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/990FX%20Extreme9/

 

[Faux_Grey]

SLI is when you take two of the same graphics cards and put them in one pc.

then you turn on SLI and sometimes it makes games work faster.

 

[photonboy]

Yep.
So you would need another GTX1070 to be able to do this. Not recommended.

You've got a pretty nice system overall, so I'd just learn where to TWEAK as needed for the best experience. If I had that, then i'd be considering the MONITOR (not sure what you have) as a potential upgrade

Other:

SLI has more than one method as well. We currently tend to use AFR, but will be switching to SFR

AFR (Alternate Frame Rendering):
The first GPU renders a frame, then the second GPU renders the next frame. This is why we want the cards to be as close as possible, like in a MOVIE where each frame is 1/24th of a second each. We want the time to render each FRAME to be identical (we can't get identical, but that's what we want).

As said, NVidia is suggesting 2xSLI at most. The main reason is that newer game engines have features that make it difficult to code this way (frame dependency means the next frame works off of info in subsequent frames, sort of like how video compression optimizes over multiple frames).

SFR:
Split Frame Rendering. This will take several YEARS to become common, but basically more than one GPU work on the same frame. You can even mix cards if the game supports it.

Summary:
- avoid multi-GPU for now
- learn how to TWEAK games (VSYNC ON/OFF, Adaptive VSYNC etc)
- GSYNC is best NVidia monitor solution, but also very expensive right now

 

[battguano]

Hey guys. I have a GTX 1070 and I have heard something about SLI technology or something like that and I wanted to know what it is. Also I have heard that it improves the FPS on games and it's very cool I like that. Furthermore tell me how I can enable it please.
My SYSTEM:
CPU: AMD FX 9370
GPU: INVIDIA ASUS GEFORCE GTX 1070 FOUNDERS EDITION
CPU LIQUID COOLER: CORSAIR H100I
PSU: CORSAIR VS650
RAM: 16GB
HDD: WD 2 TB
SSD: 240GB
Thanks for the help

Forget SLI for now. First you'd have to invest in more hardware and secondly too many games are going away from SLI support. If you are thinking of going into the VR realm SLI does not work, period, nor do I think they will move in that direction in the future. The best bet now is to get a great high end GPU and leave it at that.

 

[battguano]

Good thread - I'm in the process of putting together my new build and I have almost the exact same configuration going. A few small differences in components, I have a higher end MOBO and I'm not doing SLI, mainly because I also have the rift and VR isn't supported, but pretty darn close. I am also going to O/C my CPU and vid card - curious if you are going to as well and if so, what you end up hitting on your CPU.