Think about sli, only one pci-e connector though...

[dan7777]

Yeah, I'm thinking about getting another gpu for SLI, but my psu only has one pci-e connector. I do have some spare 4pin connectors though. So, I found this...

http://www.cooltechpc.com/c/ctpc/std/sku=6pin_pci.html

Would this be ok to use?

I only have a 500W PSU, and I'm not sure how much I can connect to it.

Could somebody tell me how you calculate if you have a powerful enough PSU for all your components or whatever?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Kage]

Yeah, thats what most people will have to use, to connect graphics cards up with more than 2 Power supply connectors, like my brothers has.

 

[dan7777]

Ok, cool. Thanks!

Does anybody have any info or links explaining PSU's specs, and the importance of them etc?

 

[D-Lew]

I wanna say you will have plenty of power for another 6800 but I'd wait for a second opinion to make sure.

 

[dan7777]

Oh, and how much does SLI actually improve performance? Does it double your graphics processing power? Or what?

Also, I've just noticed that graphics cards can come under different brand names...?
Is it exactly the same card, but with different branding?
If so, could I use an nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS, and one from a different brand in SLI? Like this for example?...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/XFX-6800-GS-2...oryZ3762QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Cheers.

 

[colorblindjimbo]

Oh, and how much does SLI actually improve performance? Does it double your graphics processing power? Or what?

Also, I've just noticed that graphics cards can come under different brand names...?
Is it exactly the same card, but with different branding?
If so, could I use an nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS, and one from a different brand in SLI? Like this for example?...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/XFX-6800-GS-2...oryZ3762QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Cheers.

Instead of SLI'ing two 8600 (piece of crap), just get one 8800GTX or wait for the Geforce 9 series. One 8800GTX (or GT or GTS), will outperform 2x 8600GT SLI'd by about 2 fold.

 

[dan7777]

I haven't got the money for an 8800gtx. I've only just bought the setup I'm using. Bar the 6800 which I got for free.

 

[Szat]

This is what I'd do if I were you; wait until the 9 series is released and the price of the 8 series is dropped, buy a 8800 or a 8600 because it'll be cheaper and then you won't have to go sli because it'll be good enough.

 

[dan7777]

Yeah, I will do that. But because 6800s can be picked up pretty cheap, I thought that I would have a go at incorporating SLI, I've never done it before, so I thought it would be good to try. I did the same with RAID. I didn't really want it, but I thought I should learn how to do it. So, now I have a RAID one array. No harm in learning eh?

So, can anybody answer my above question? Do I have to use the same brand of graphics card? Or just the same hardware?

 

[D-Lew]

If he buys a really high power card like that he will probably have to get a nicer PSU since the one he's got only offers one PCI-E, it's probably not a great PSU. I think it will run the two 6800's but I wouldn't trust an older PSU that isn't at least SLI certified or anything with new expensive cards. The voltages and everything may be very unprecise.

I believe the cards only need to have the same core. You can get the same type of card and the brand will not matter. Also it won't double your graphics processing, it's more like a 50% increase or something like that. Helps mostly at high resolutions and doesn't do much at low ones.