video card help

willtheshdow

Solid State Member
Messages
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I poated this in media but had no responses.

I building a pc and all i have left to order up is my video card. My mobo supports up tp quad sli(8x8x8x8). So heres what I need to know.

1. Do I need a specific card to do an sli setup or can i do it with any card?

2. Can I use and video card I want?

3. Am i limited by the chipset on the mobo in anyway?

The mobo I'm using is here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130136

I was going to use this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131290 but theen I found out that only two of the ram slots support ddr2 1066 so i went with the msi.

edit: I am overclocking as well.
Also I plan on bying four of the same card. 1 for now to get it up and running and then more later. Is there any limit to the total memory i can use on my cards?

Thanks to all that can help

edit: I've found out that The card has to support it.....new queston. whats the difference between sli and crossfire?
 
1. All recent cards can pretty much SLI.
2. You most likely will be able to SLI the card you pick.
3. You're not limited by the chipset when SLIng.

I don't recommend SLIing, say, 4 $100 dollar cards. Mostly because with $400 you can get a much better card that will outperform 4 in SLI. I'd like to make sure you know that SLIing doesn't double your graphical potential. It increases by 40% or so. Crossfiring is 60% I think. If you've got a lot of money to spend just get ONE HD4870X2 and you will be fine. Then you can downgrade motherboard to 2 PCI-E.
 
4-way SLi doesn't exist. 3-way is the max at the moment. Only the , 8800GTX, 8800 ULTRA, 9800GTX, GTX 260 and GTX 280 support 3 way SLi, all other Nvidia cards support 2-way only.

The video cards must be identical to work in SLi mode.
whats the difference between sli and crossfire?
Crossfire is AMD/ATi's multi-GPU technology. SLi was 3DFX's, it's now Nvidia's.
I'd say CF is superior in a few ways. All cards HD 3800 series upwards support CF with up to four cards at a time. Non identical cards can work together in CF. (Ex: HD 3850 + HD 3870 etc).
CF is supported on many more chipsets than Nvidia's SLi which requires an Nvidia chipset. You can CF ATi cards on an Intel P35/P45/X38 or X48 board. And Intel chipsets are a welcome alternative to the Nvidia's crap especially as you're OC'ing.
 
I poated this in media but had no responses.

I building a pc and all i have left to order up is my video card. My mobo supports up tp quad sli(8x8x8x8). So heres what I need to know.

1. Do I need a specific card to do an sli setup or can i do it with any card?

yes, not all cards are SLI compatible, you need an Nvidia card on a Nvidia chipset to run SLI, all the newly released Nvidia cards will run SLI, but you have to check older cards...

2. Can I use and video card I want?

no, ATI cards will not run in SLI, but you can run them in crossfire, but not on an Nvidia chipset...

3. Am i limited by the chipset on the mobo in anyway?

yes, definitely...

The mobo I'm using is here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130136

I was going to use this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131290 but theen I found out that only two of the ram slots support ddr2 1066 so i went with the msi.

your links aren't working for me...

edit: I am overclocking as well.
Also I plan on bying four of the same card. 1 for now to get it up and running and then more later. Is there any limit to the total memory i can use on my cards?

running 4 video cards, if even possible at the moment (I've yet to see anyone running quad SLI, very few even run tri SLI), would be a huge waste of resources, just get a decent card for now and save up the $ that it would take to buy three more cards and get one single, high powered video card, you will save $ in the long run (you'd be spending some serious $ on a huge power supply to power a quad SLI setup and your light bill would increase exponentially)...

edit: I've found out that The card has to support it.....new queston. whats the difference between sli and crossfire?

SLI is for Nvidia cards on Nvidia chipsets (motherboard), crossfire is for ATI cards on Intel chipsets...
 
Wow...I thought he meant if the chipset can bottleneck your SLI....I'm just going to stop answering questions today.
 
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