stupid question

trainmaster77

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one of my friends sitting here next to me asked this earlier and the real answer is here somewhere im sure ..but cant find it.

he asks ... can 2 different vendors of video cards ... say bfg and asus 8800gtx or 8800gts or even 7950 ect ect be paired together in sli?

both different brands but the same letters/model numbers that is.

i realize that all the cards come from one or 2 manufacturing plants and everyone then stamps their name on them from there ..similar to chevy/gmc/cadillac or ford/lincoln/mercury, but i sure as heck dont know the real answer. ive always purchased 2 identical cards (same manufacturer/same model number) at the same time and have always recommended doing so to others.
 
Yes, as long as the specs match between the cards, e.g. GPU type and memory size. Make you use the newest nVidia drivers and motherbord BIOS update.
 
Same model only, manufacturer can be different.

ex. BFG 7950 GT & EVGA 7950GT work, BFG 7950 GT & XFX 7900GTX will not work... real simple.
 
Umm

I think we are forgetting something...

If they are two OC'd cards from two different manufacturers the differing speeds on the memory could cause problems I heard of this exact type of thing when SLI first came to market and someone had used BFG and EVGA I think...

My $.02...

Mike A!
 
yeah i was thinking about that oc thing too ... you would think it would simply step down the oc'd one to the standard.
 
yeah i was thinking about that oc thing too ... you would think it would simply step down the oc'd one to the standard.

I dont think so Train, most of the time they are using totally different drivers... not to mention that many of them are specced to run at different frequencies (althought you CAN change them)

...why would you?

I would say it is MUCH easier and less of a hassle to buy (2x) the same model from the same source is MUCH easier...

just my $.02...

Mike A!
 
I would say it is MUCH easier and less of a hassle to buy (2x) the same model from the same source is MUCH easier...
just my $.02...
Mike A!

Good recommendation but it means you have to decide to do SLI up front which defeats the value in SLI (upgarde to second card later as needed, when prices have dropped).

Try finding a matching card even 6 months after you buy the first one. It will have been discontinued. That's what turned me off to SLI/Crossfire.

And if one of the cards dies you can't find a repalcment. Most of my friends who have had vid cards replaced under warantee ended up with different cards (usually faster and/or different models).

My new policy is buy the single card that does what you want for the next 2 years and forget the hassles. The single slot dual GPU cards are a decent alternative.
 
Good recommendation but it means you have to decide to do SLI up front which defeats the value in SLI (upgarde to second card later as needed, when prices have dropped).

Try finding a matching card even 6 months after you buy the first one. It will have been discontinued. That's what turned me off to SLI/Crossfire.

And if one of the cards dies you can't find a repalcment. Most of my friends who have had vid cards replaced under warantee ended up with different cards (usually faster and/or different models).

My new policy is buy the single card that does what you want for the next 2 years and forget the hassles. The single slot dual GPU cards are a decent alternative.

I heat ya man, but isnt this thread in that gray area? It sounds (just like you said) that they already bought one card, and now they want to buy another and that card isnt made anymore??

I dunno

I say eBay it!

:laugh:
 
kcuf ebay ... and i never want to see the words ebay or paypal in any of my threads. if you don't understand my feelings as to such ..read this ... www.paypalsucks.com then do a simple search on youtube ..type in paypal or ebay and behold thousands upon thousands of at the very least unsatisfied PREVIOUS ebay/paypal users.

i did some reading around ... and asked bfg tech support the very question of 2 different branded 8800 or 7900 ..ect ect ... they say it works fine provided the GPU and the memory is identical in quantity and quality being you cant put a 8800gtx with a 8800 gts ...well duh. haha

I was looking through video cards last night again ... and it never dawned upon me to even look at warranties ...and to be honest ..i dont know how some of the brands even compete ...especially with higher prices ..sometimes almost 100usd more ..and they only have 1 year warranty ...or maybe even 3 years ... heck how could anyone compete with a lifetime warranty.

If you applied this same logic to automobiles ... i would think the lifetimer would by far outweigh the others in sales ...so much in fact that they would nearly put everyone else outta business until they at least matched the offerings.
 
I always thought that Crossfire could utilise different varieties of ATi cards in the same setup and it was just NVIDIA's SLi that needed exactly the same card?
 
Neither can use different GPUs.

ATI is supposed to accept the same basic card with different frequencies and defaults to the slower. But you could just set the video Bios frequency the same in Nvidia cards and it should also work.

Different amounts of RAM get's iff'y, I don't think either will support it since they are based on mirroring RAM transfers to booth cards when main memory is accessed. You could theoreticaly hack the vid bios ram size, maybe.

After the 30 day return to a retail outlet is past they are not worth the paper they are printed on. You are supposed to have your computer down for 6 weeks while beggign for an RMA, shipping, etc? Then you have to accept any POS they decide to send back no matter if your card was only 3 weeks old? Like a card that was uber oberclcoked by some kid and then returned as having problems and tests as "could noy duplicate" at the repair center?.

From the posts I've seen here and friends of mine computer parts that fail usually end up in the trash can and get replaced with new next generation parts.

A 3 year warantee is just a come on to sell boards that are not considered quality products.

PS Yea verily on the ebay/paypal thing. Their day has come and gone.
 
just a heads up ..me and my boring life ..and a customer of mine ... wanted to see if this actually worked ...

so ... he purchased xfx 8800gts and evga 8800gts from me ... both 640's ..and both work in SLI together ... no problems whatsoever ...and actually holding the cards next to each other upside down..they are IDENTICAL in every way ..of course the front is different designed artwork ..but the card itself is IDENTICAL ... so there you have it ...

for all you future SLI-ers ... 2 different branded cards work provided they are exactly the same in every way besides name brand.
 

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