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8800GT 256MB and 512MB

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - 8800GT 256MB and 512MB

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weaksauce92   01-01-2008 at 09:37:03 PM

I'm trying to save some money and I was wondering if you can SLI a 512MB and a 256MB 8800GT together.

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systemlord   01-01-2008 at 10:03:54 PM
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weaksauce92 wrote :

I'm trying to save some money and I was wondering if you can SLI a 512MB and a 256MB 8800GT together.



No you can't, with these DX10 games I wouldn't use a 256MB card because there memory hungry and will only hurt performance. I would recommend at least 512MB even for DX9 games.

------------------------------ Intel C2D E6600 @ 3.2GHz * Asus P5E * 2x1 GB Crucial Ballistix Tracers * Raptor X * EVGA Geforce 8800GTX 768MB 651MHz/1525MHz/2100MHz * X-FI Fatal1ty Pro * Enermax Infiniti 720W PSU * Creative THX5.1 * Tuniq Tower 120
Silverstone TJ09 * Windows XP
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Evilonigiri   01-02-2008 at 07:35:21 AM
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Is it even possible? Since SLI only uses one of the vidcard's vram, if you can use the 512MB vidcard, you'd save some money. Sounds like a good idea to me, only if it works.

------------------------------ "Nvidia, the Way It's Meant to be PAID Played! - Corrado
*Lesbian Lover Club* - founder Assman
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yadge   01-02-2008 at 08:39:01 AM
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I'm pretty sure SLI does not use just one cards memory, but writes the same things to both of them so that they both have access to it and can work with it.

So mixing the 512 and 256 versions (if it is possible), would give you only 256megs of memory.

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systemlord   01-02-2008 at 09:11:11 AM
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yadge wrote :

I'm pretty sure SLI does not use just one cards memory, but writes the same things to both of them so that they both have access to it and can work with it.

So mixing the 512 and 256 versions (if it is possible), would give you only 256megs of memory.



yadge is correct it writes from one cards Vram to the other. Also you can't write 512MB of texture data into a space of only 256MB, trust me you must have both cards have the same amount of Vram. So two cards having 256MB doesn't = 512MB of Vram. A 256MB graphics card is very limited and considered not optimal. The lowest one should go is 512MB of Vram.

------------------------------ Intel C2D E6600 @ 3.2GHz * Asus P5E * 2x1 GB Crucial Ballistix Tracers * Raptor X * EVGA Geforce 8800GTX 768MB 651MHz/1525MHz/2100MHz * X-FI Fatal1ty Pro * Enermax Infiniti 720W PSU * Creative THX5.1 * Tuniq Tower 120
Silverstone TJ09 * Windows XP
 Reply to systemlord
pchoi04   01-02-2008 at 09:14:38 AM
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technically you can SLI both cards but the memory of the 512 card would be down sized to 256.

Can I mix and match graphics cards with different sizes of memory?
While it is not recommended, NVIDIA does offer this flexibility using Coolbits. When purchasing a second graphics card, you should try to match the memory size so that you are ensured full value and performance from your purchase. For example, if your first card is a GeForce 6600 GT with 128MB of memory, you should purchase a second GeForce 6600 GT with 128MB of memory. However, using Coolbits (value set to 18), you can force both of the cards to use the lower of the two memory sizes and operate together in SLI mode. When dissimilar memory sizes are enabled to work together using Coolbits, the effective memory size for each card becomes the smaller of the two memory sizes. Instructions to enable this feature can be found here.

http://www.slizone.com/page/slizone_faq.html#c11

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nukchebi0   01-02-2008 at 10:52:44 AM
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Basically, if you are going to buy one 8800GT 256, get the other as an 8800GT 256 and save 70 dollars.

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