nVidia SLI Discussion

[Sean]

Moderator Note:
New thread picked off of another. That may explain the "random" way in which this thread starts.

Secondary Note:
Also, by request of Sean, I'm giving the topic a more accurate title.

Originally Posted by Kyle Shidair

Yeah and thats why I have financial aid. Dunno if you go to college, but at mine financial aid only covers classes and health service fees. You need grants for books, or vouchers. =( I know how to service my car, but with my schedual I really don't have more time to do more than change my oil. But I won't get off topic anymore ^^

I played Mario DS today, and I'm still debating wether or not I should get it for X-mas. The levels seem to lack something that I can't quite put my finger on. It seems way too short.

As for me, I really don't care what I get for x-mas now, because just visiting my family is going to rock ass. I've set up a meeting with a Public Relations specialist for a game company in Northern California. I'm going in for the day for lunch and a Q and A session. To me thats worth WAY more than a Xbox 360 and a Gefore 7 series. *giddy* Being the team leader of an indie group really has benefits.

Oh, and I still want Shadow the Hedgehog. XD

Ah, see, financial aid for community college is a pelgrant that covers everything, including books and a little extra after that to help you live whilst in college, and you don't have to pay it back. =P

But I agree, Shadow the Hedgehog looks good.

and a GeForce 7 series is uber over priced right now. =P For less money you can get two 6600GTs and put them in SLI and have the same performance, plus nVidia's upgrading later on where you can get a, say, 7 series, and put it in SLI with a 6 series, which is uber pwnage. =P

[Kyle Shidair]

My financial aid is the Board of Governers Wavier C, which only entails to my Classes, health service fee, and half of my parking. When doing your FASFA you can apply for a grant, but if you just do your FASFA and turn it in financial aid will not cover our books, nor give us any extra money. I think you're refering to the extra ammounts of aid you can get by filling out the specific forms and what not. I would do that but sadly I don't qualify for that stuff because of how many units I've aquired, and because I have my A.S and A.A. Generally once achieved, they like to cut your aid as a motive to kick us out to Uni. ^_^ This has happened to a few of my friends sadly ;-;

I had my eye on a 6200 thats only 80 bucks, but I figure if I wait, the 7 series (along with the higher 6) will drop, so thats what I'm waiting for. I'm in no hurry because I have a 4200 Ti and its handeling almost everything I play jsut nicely, and the only new game I'd ever want is The Movies (since S.T.A.L.K.E.R is freakin ages away!). But I didn't know you could use two graphic cards at once to increase the power. So if I did get a 6200, I'd be able to use both my 4200 and 6200?

[Sean]

It requires a motherboard with two PCI Express slots and two compatible SLI enabled video cards.

I have an ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe ($200 Motherboard) motherboard with two nVidia 6600GT OCs in SLI mode.

SLI is basically, as you already figured out, two video cards running together as one. The performance increase used to only be about 40%, but new drivers have pushed it to about an 80% increase. Not only that, it also increases the longetivity of the video cards and reduces the heat at which they run.

I've overclocked my 6600s to be about 6800GTs now, if not beyond the default 6800GT config, so that coupled with my AMD I'm running a good setup.

For $600, though, you can get two 6600GT OCs and the motherboard and outperform a single 7800 for the same cost, but also have a very good motherboard that's more expandable.

For right now both video cards have to be the exact same model, so only two 7800GTs could go together, but nVidia is working on ways to couple, say, a 7800GT with a 6600GT, and when they finally release that I'm going to get a 7800GT and run it in SLI with my 6600GT and probably sell one of my 6600GTs.

To tell if a card is SLI compatible or not (the 6600 is, I think, the lowest SLI compatible card) look on the top and look for what looks like a PCI board but only thinner, about an inch. Two cards like this are connected via a bridge that goes between them. I'll take pictures of mine later.

I'm assuming your board is a PCI Express, no? I'm not even aware nVidia is making the higher 7 series in AGP.


This is an eVGA 6600GT here, for PCI Express. It's actually only priced at $150 from TigerDirect, I guess 6600s dropped again (Mine were $250 a piece when I got them, but the 7200s were the best cards then)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/images/Sk...145-5122-c.JPG

Look just above it at the connector above the fan, on the top of the board. That's the SLI connector, and it's what the SLI bridge connects to when you have two cards set up for SLI.

[Kyle Shidair]

Ok, wow. Alot of info,. ^.^ I'm not good with this stuff, but I'll check, because I think I have the SLI connector.

I have a gateway I got like 4 years ago. So, I'm not sure if I have everything, nor would I be able to tell without pictures. So If I but a ^ series with that little thing ontop, that means I could connect it to another idecntical 6 series if my motherboard has two slots?

[Sean]

a Gateway from 4 years ago wouldn't even have a PCI Express slot, much less two. SLI is fairly new technology, from early 2005, PCI Express is, again, fairly new, probably abouta year old now.

And, as I said, GeForce 7 series video cards aren't made in anything except PCI Express.

The PCI Express bus is faster, moving at 16x, than an AGP (which is 4x or 8x, tops) slot.

A GeForce 4 or 5 series wouldn't have the SLI connector. As I previously mentioned (I think) the first GeForce that was SLI Compatible was the 6600.

And I lied, I just remembered when I got my system the highest card out by nVidia was the 6800GT. I remember I used to boast that I had the second best video card rig on the market at the time.

SLI is only compatible with motherboards with two PCI Express x16 slots and two video cards of the exact same chipset.


To answer your last question, yes. That eVGA 6600GT is SLI compatible with another eVGA 6600GT. Another identical chipset only. Both of mine are identical BFG nVidia 6600GT OCs (OC stands for overclocked, BFG overclocks their video cards a little bit)

nVidia, is, however working on drivers that allow SLI support between non identical chipsets. Meaning a 6800GT could be paired with a 6600GT, or a 7800GT could be paired with a 6600GT. This doesn't exist yet, though.

The Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe is, IMO, the best motherboard for running an SLI configuration. It's stable, it runs cooly (I've replaced the chipset fan with a large heatsink) and was one of the first designed for SLI systems.


This is the motherboard I was talking about

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=A455-2112

It requires an AMD processor, though. If you're running an Intel P4 Socket 775 here's a good board.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...347&CatId=1533

That and two 6600GTs (Entry level SLI) run $500. Installing a new motherboard is difficult, though, if you don't know what you're doing. =\

Haha, whoops. That Motherboard is DDR2 RAM, which is newer and you probably don't have any of that, you most likely have DDR. But there's probably a DDR board out there somewhere for a P4 that's SLI compatible.

[Omni]

Don't forget about the price of a new processor. All the new PCI Mobos run on 939, occasionally 754 socket. I probably won't end up cracking my current system open again for another two years. I built it right as the PCI Express boards were coming out and got left behind in the AGP era. I run a K8V Deluxe with a GeForce 5700 FX LE. It can run most games and software pretty smoothly but it's nowhere near to what I could be doing. Guess I better start saving up...

[Kyle Shidair]

I see. I see. I'm starting to understand more along the lines of the processor and stuff. Cheers for the info guys. =P

[Sean]

Something I learned the hard way about SLI recently

Both cards have to have identical BIOS as well.

BFG is 24/7 lifetime tech support and lifetime warranties. I blew one of my cards and BFG replaced it with an identical one for free, however the one they sent me wasn't the same BIOS as the one I sent them, it was a more updated version.

Since July I havn't been actually running SLI, I've just had a second video card installed doing nothing. I had to send my cards into BFG and they're flashing the BIOS for me (I could do it myself, technically speaking, but I'd void the warranty)

This pisses me off because BFG knew I was running an SLI rig and they should've replaced my card with one with the same ****ing BIOS.


Should've seen the look on the UPS woman's face when she asked what I was sending and what their value was.

"Video cards"

"Ooookay. And what's the value of the items you are shipping?"

"250 each, so 500 total."

*Gives me that wtf O_O; look*