Software SLI? Can i do it?
- Thread starter PP Mguire
- Start date
Mr. Smith
New member
You can do it, mix cards, without the sli bridge. However, sli performance suffers without the bridge.
I put a link on here a while back but it was taken off...
For sli'ing two different cards, I think they have to be similar architecture - the example in the link is a 7300 and a 7600. They basically used RivaTuner to change the ID of the 7300 to match the 7600. This then tricked the system into thinking the 7300gt was a 7600gt.
The only draw back? The primary card has to be the lower performing one...
Instead of me paraphrasing from memory I'll dig up the link.
Linky
I put a link on here a while back but it was taken off...
For sli'ing two different cards, I think they have to be similar architecture - the example in the link is a 7300 and a 7600. They basically used RivaTuner to change the ID of the 7300 to match the 7600. This then tricked the system into thinking the 7300gt was a 7600gt.
The only draw back? The primary card has to be the lower performing one...
Instead of me paraphrasing from memory I'll dig up the link.
Linky
name='PP Mguire' said:
The official Nvidia drivers will already run SLI without a bridge. When this feature first came about there as a small performance hit, but i'm not sure if this has been ironed out now.
As for SLI'ing two different cards, afaik this can only be done if they have the same core. Cards with the same core but made by different manufacturers can be SLI'd, but until "SLI 2" comes out, I don't think you will be able to SLI cards with different cores.
Edit: Mr Smith beat me...and he's got the facts too
FarFarAway
New member
The long and th4e short of it: it's not worth it
i've successfully sli'd a 256mb 7900gt and a 512mb 7950gt using official and hacked drivers, not sure how well it would work or even if it would work with cards that are so different tho
i used rivatuner to change the hardware id of the 7900gt in the primary pci-e slot to a 7950gt, a quick change of the registry value of Coolbits to 1A and a couple of reboots later and the SLI bubble popped up on my desktop
i've got a couple of different versions of the drivers that were patched to work on non-nvidia mobos here:
http://www.overclock247.com/pyr0/Intel SLi/
i used rivatuner to change the hardware id of the 7900gt in the primary pci-e slot to a 7950gt, a quick change of the registry value of Coolbits to 1A and a couple of reboots later and the SLI bubble popped up on my desktop
i've got a couple of different versions of the drivers that were patched to work on non-nvidia mobos here:
http://www.overclock247.com/pyr0/Intel SLi/
So i can use official drivers and Rivatuner to trick a 7600GS (or GT, idk which one it is yet) to think its a 7950GT? Or do i deffinately need a 7900 series card to SLI with this 7950GT. I have a real SLI board (nf4 SLI-DR) and a SLI bridge if i need it. I just heard i guess from Mr Smith about the hacked drivers or w/e and got excited and wanted to try SLI. If it dosent work and like Kemp said isnt worth it then ill ditch the experiement and go back to the trusty ol X1900XTX.
i'm not certain what the outcome would be with a 7600, but it's easy enough to try
the card in the first pci-e slot is the one who's ID you will be able to change
if changing the 7600 to a 7950gt doesn't work, try changing the 7950gt to a 7600 (find the ID's from the nvidia display drivers nv4_disp.inf)
either way, if SLI enables, you will only be running at the slower cards speeds
it should work with the official drivers if using an SLI motherboard
the card in the first pci-e slot is the one who's ID you will be able to change
if changing the 7600 to a 7950gt doesn't work, try changing the 7950gt to a 7600 (find the ID's from the nvidia display drivers nv4_disp.inf)
either way, if SLI enables, you will only be running at the slower cards speeds
it should work with the official drivers if using an SLI motherboard
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From my experience I would downgrade the faster card.
If you try to make the slower card run with bigger memory and so it will blue screen you.
Well thats what happened to me But you are using differnet cores and memory so be extra careful.
So yeah, Chnage the 7950 to the 7600.
Its the safest way!
If you try to make the slower card run with bigger memory and so it will blue screen you.
Well thats what happened to me But you are using differnet cores and memory so be extra careful.
So yeah, Chnage the 7950 to the 7600.
Its the safest way!
Thanx. Its just for fun and something new to do. Ive never really liked SLI before, but i think messing with it and what was never supposed to ever be done (different chips together) is kinda fun. Right now, im finnaly getting around to modifying that 6800 (from oh so long ago).
