I currently have an EVGA GTX 460, and I was considering buying a second (for around $160) to SLI.
I don't know much about SLI/Crossfire, so I was wondering if it was worth the money, or if there is a noticeable performance increase? I have an SLI board and a 850 Watt PSU with 6 12V Rails so I know I could do it.
Yes it is, you will see nearly 100% performance increase with that card since it has such great scalability.
[QUOTE=MacTrekkie;28578383]Yes it is, you will see nearly 100% performance increase with that card since it has such great scalability.[/QUOTE]
What exactly does scalability mean?
Also can someone explain how SLI works, technically why it improves performance?
[QUOTE=Wolverunder;28578453]What exactly does scalability mean?
Also can someone explain how SLI works, technically why it improves performance?[/QUOTE]
You have two graphics cards rendering two parts of a frame. Due to efficiency, this results in near double the performance for obvious reasons.
Scalability is the performance increase you see from adding more and more graphics cards, eg, the more cards you add, the lower the scalability.
As a side note, the maximum amount of GPUs able to work together (in the case of SLI, anyway) is 4.
Basically, it allows two graphics cards to each do one half of the work, thus theoratically doubling performance. Scalability just means the card's ability to improve performance with an SLI setup.
[editline]13th March 2011[/editline]
grrr.
Thanks guys. Last question, for SLI to work it just needs to be the same card model right? i.e. two GTX 460's. It wont matter if say one of them is 1024 MB and one is 768 MB, differences like that?
[QUOTE=Wolverunder;28578519]Thanks guys. Last question, for SLI to work it just needs to be the same card model right? i.e. two GTX 460's. It wont matter if say one of them is 1024 MB and one is 768 MB, differences like that?[/QUOTE]
Yes.
Almost forgot. One thing that is kind of bothering me is that the PCI-e ports are like right on top of each other, and the GPU's would be like almost touching. Are they suppose to be that close, and is it safe/dangerous?
But you will only get as much memory as the smallest card x2.
[QUOTE=Wolverunder;28578651]Almost forgot. One thing that is kind of bothering me is that the PCI-e ports are like right on top of each other, and the GPU's would be like almost touching. Are they suppose to be that close, and is it safe/dangerous?[/QUOTE]
thats fine
Thanks guys, this helped a lot. On a side note, is it safe to unplug or plug in a 4-pin when my PC is on? I have the case opened cause I was looking at something.
[QUOTE=MacTrekkie;28578654]But you will only get as much memory as the smallest card x2.[/QUOTE]
No, you get as much memory as the smallest card.
[QUOTE=Wolverunder;28578673]Thanks guys, this helped a lot. On a side note, is it safe to unplug or plug in a 4-pin when my PC is on? I have the case opened cause I was looking at something.[/QUOTE]
its not exactly good or anything, but it depends of what would you unplug or plug-in
the system would probably crash
[QUOTE=QuAtT;28579123]its not exactly good or anything, but it depends of what would you unplug or plug-in
the system would probably crash[/QUOTE]
It was just an 80mm fan. Also since I'm here anyway, I have two open RAM slots out of 4 (two 2Gb sticks of DDR3), and I know nothing about RAM, aside from its function. How can I find out what type of RAM I would need/my mobo supports, etc, to fill the empty slots?
[QUOTE=MacTrekkie;28578654]But you will only get as much memory as the smallest card x[b]1[/b].[/QUOTE]
Fixed
[QUOTE=Wolverunder;28579386]It was just an 80mm fan. Also since I'm here anyway, I have two open RAM slots out of 4 (two 2Gb sticks of DDR3), and I know nothing about RAM, aside from its function. How can I find out what type of RAM I would need/my mobo supports, etc, to fill the empty slots?[/QUOTE]
It should depend on your motherboard. If you can find out what your motherboard is, it's easy to tell.
[QUOTE=Wolverunder;28579386]It was just an 80mm fan. Also since I'm here anyway, I have two open RAM slots out of 4 (two 2Gb sticks of DDR3), and I know nothing about RAM, aside from its function. How can I find out what type of RAM I would need/my mobo supports, etc, to fill the empty slots?[/QUOTE]
you need DDR3 ram
Having two 460 in SLI would perform roughly like a single 580 as i've seen so far.
[QUOTE=Odellus;28578472]
As a side note, the maximum amount of GPUs able to work together (in the case of SLI, anyway) is 4.[/QUOTE]
Just to be sure that means 4 GPU's and not 4 cards, right?
For example if you had a dual GPU card (like the GTX590) would you be able to SLI 2 cards, or 4?
[QUOTE=cdlink14;28581811]Just to be sure that means 4 GPU's and not 4 cards, right?
For example if you had a dual GPU card (like the GTX590) would you be able to SLI 2 cards, or 4?[/QUOTE]
yes
there's also limits depending on each card, e.g the 460 can only 2-way SLi
[QUOTE=QuAtT;28579909]you need DDR3 ram[/QUOTE]
But what if the two slots he has filled are DDR2 ram?
Would that still work?
Cause I would think performance wouldn't do as well with more RAM of the same type/model.
[QUOTE=bootv2;28585262]read his post![/QUOTE]
Ahh, alright.
Although I am still curious if you can mix DDR2 and DDR3 RAM or RAM with different latencies.
Some mobos supporting DDR3 ram only supports the 1333 mhz version, and refuse to use 1600mhz sticks. Happened to me with some Asus and Asrock mobos.
[QUOTE=bootv2;28585955]DDR2 and DDR3 you can't, different latencies is possible but the lower latencies will adjust to be as high as the higher ones I believe.[/QUOTE]
I figured, I just wanted to be sure.
Lol
I've been debating on upping the RAM on my desktop.
I have 2 2-gig sticks of DDR3 RAM
Might upgrade to 4 sticks.
-shrug-
It it worth it?
Depends entire on what you intend to use it for. Scalability on modern apps with the last two gens of cards is 78-95%, so yes, it is, as long as if fits with your uses.
A good high end card like the nvidia 580 or the ati 6990 can yield good framerates in nearly everything thrown at it. I find SLI or crossfire only good when you can't afford a high end card and want to obtain nearly similar results with mid cards like the 460. however, two 460's cost nearly as much as a single 580, so you may think about it.
[QUOTE=Kommunist;28586427]A good high end card like the nvidia 580 or the ati 6990 can yield good framerates in nearly everything thrown at it. I find SLI or crossfire only good when you can't afford a high end card and want to obtain nearly similar results with mid cards like the 460. however, two 460's cost nearly as much as a single 580, so you may think about it.[/QUOTE]
Most people who SLI will have already bought one of the cards, and may just be waiting until that one card starts to bog down, but don't want to be spending a awful amount of money.
Crossfire sure as hell wasn't.
[QUOTE=Kommunist;28586427]A good high end card like the nvidia 580 or the ati 6990 can yield good framerates in nearly everything thrown at it. I find SLI or crossfire only good when you can't afford a high end card and want to obtain nearly similar results with mid cards like the 460. however, two 460's cost nearly as much as a single 580, so you may think about it.[/QUOTE]I don't know if you realise this, but the 6990 is just two in one.
So not much better than crossfiring whatever they're based on.
I find that it's worth it, especially if you want Nvidia surround like me (2+ Monitors)
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