what is SLI?

[Sniper1432]

i wanted to know what it does, can u use any nvidia pcie cards?,and what power supply do u need for it. because later this year i was planning to get an sli mobo and put 2 7600 gts in it, do u think its good or what? and besides newegg where could i get an sli mobo?

[abtomat74]

Re: what is SLI?

SLI is 2 nVidia cards
Crossfire is 2 ATI cards

Both require a large monitor with the capability of a resolution of 1600x1200 or better.

Running SLI or Crossfire in any resolution below 1600x1200 would be like having a Ferrari engine with a speed limiter on it at 30mph. In other words, you might as well have put a Suzuki engine in it.

SLI/Crossfire require a motherboard with 2 pci-e x8 or x16 slots...which are always more expensive than the same companies identical single pci-e slot by usually $50 or more.

SLI/Crossfire require a powerful/stable power supply. At least 500watts, with 35amps on the 12v rail(check the sticker on the PSU for specs at NewEgg). Most people will go for a 600watter to be "safe".

Honestly, using SLI/Crossfire with any video card that isn't the top level(nVidia 7800/7900's, ATI x1800/x1900's), is wasting your money.

Putting two 7600gt's(great card btw)...isn't as good as a single 7900gt which costs less than two 7600's, doesn't require a special, more costly motherboard, and doesn't require a more expensive PSU.

Having SLI/Crossfire doesn't give you 200% output, it is more like 120-180% depending on the game, and the driver you are using. So you don't really have 2 cards, you have 1.5 cards aprox.

You said it yourself, "later this year" you want to buy another card. I would like to remind you that Crysis is coming early next year and is DirectX 10, something no card in existance is capable of doing today.

Also, when the day comes that you are ready to buy another 7600gt, there will be nVidias latest generation of cards available.
Which will again have a single card that is better than two 7600gt's together, and have the latest features your current does not and will never have.

Just wait, you'll want an 8600gt(just guessing on the name) when you're ready to buy that second 7600gt