Is SLI possible for GTX650 and GTX950?

MicrowavedGerbil · Apr 24, 2016

Title says it all I'd like to know if it's possible to SLI them because I have a GTX650 sitting around collecting dust and I recently got a GTX950 and if it is possible would it cripple the faster one or would it add to the faster one?

SPECS:
EVGA GTX950 FTW ACX 2.0
Coolermax 700w Modular PSU
Asus M5A97 LE R2.0
HyperX Fury 8GB (1x8GB)
AMD FX-6300 Six-Core 3.5Ghz
WD 1TB 7200RPM HDD

Robert Cook · Apr 24, 2016

nope Nvidia would never allow that, only can SLI cards of the same type.

Gnuffi · Apr 24, 2016

nope, no sli
you can however use the 650 for PhysX dedicated gpu
which would only help in a couple of games/task, but wouldnt sit idle collecting dust, just bear in mind added power use

Dark Lord of Tech · Apr 24, 2016

The board doesn't support SLI.

photonboy · Apr 24, 2016

Hey,
As said, NO. but here's why...

Multi-GPU right now uses something called "AFR" which stands for Alternate Frame Rendering. One of the GPU's draws a frame, then the next GPU draws the next frame. So..

GPU1-> Frame#1
GPU2-> Frame#2
GPU1-> Frame#3
etc

The GPU's have to be IDENTICAL or else there would be a big difference in how long the frame took to render which would appear as massive micro-stuttering.

Other:
In theory the GTX650 might help with PhysX but in practice it would likely not help most games or even SLOW THEM DOWN. A dedicated PhysX card processed the physics data, however if it doesn't finish fast enough the main card is left waiting for it to finish. If a game had Low, Medium and High PhysX options you might actually gain a few FPS with the LOW option but lose with the HIGH option.

If you want to experiment go ahead (would have to benchmark with and without it as a dedicated PhysX card) but I've seen testing that suggests it's not likely to help much or at all.

(if a game had 10% physics, then if you freed that up the game might run 10% faster approx so 66FPS instead of 60FPS. Not really worth having the card in there making noise/heat or even working worse for some games)

MicrowavedGerbil · Apr 25, 2016

Thanks for the help guys! Except for blackbird and the "The board doesn't support SLI" It clearly does the manual says so NOT the online manual

Gnuffi · Apr 25, 2016

well according to mobo speccs it only has 1 PCIe x16 lane and another but will run in x4 mode if first is occupied, and since SLI wont work unless running in x8mode, then SLI isnt possible, crossfire is in x4mode tho
so would think blackbird is correct, and mobo manual prob just did one of those "we use the same manual for many boards" thingy, resulting in slightly incorrect information

MicrowavedGerbil · Apr 25, 2016

Incorrect Asus hasn't been wrong for me ever I believe you are both saying false information which also leads me to believe you have never used/tried that mobo

Gnuffi · Apr 26, 2016

MicrowavedGerbil :

Asus M5A97 LE R2.0:
Direct from ASUS own specs: Multi-GPU Support
Supports AMD Quad-GPU CrossFireX™ Technology
Expansion Slots
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (blue)
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode, black)
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97_LE_R20/specifications/
no SLI possible, requires x8mode, only AMD crossfire will allow x4

sometimes a mobo manual is covering multiple models, and doesnt always list the 100% complete hardware specs for a specific board, even the layout and functions
the specs listed directly by the manufacturer will always be the correct ones

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Is SLI possible for GTX650 and GTX950?

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