8800GT and 9800GT sli compatibility

Okay, I'm looking to upgrade my current system by sticking in another card and getting some of that shiny sli goodness. I'm currently running an 8800GT, however I've gone online to buy another one and found that they've suddenly become rarer than rocking horse poop. However a little digging about has informed me that the 9800GT is the same card, just with a different sticker on it and multiple sli enabled. So my question is this- can I just buy a 9800GT and stick it in my spare PCI-E slot, hook it up to my 8800GT and have them work in perfect happy symphony, or will I have to perform some dark arcane jiggery-pokery to convince my system they're the same, or am I going to have to bite the bullet and buy 2 entirely new cards?


Many thanks in advance.

Not sure. There are differences. 8800GT's are 65nm while most 9800GT's are 55nm.

You should find plenty of 8800GT's on Ebay, although you'll pay as much for one as a brand new HD4870.

Probably is not.

I shall have to start using that in ATi threads, with a minor change of course.

Well, lets recap quickly...

The same chip, released under 3 different names, and none of them SLi compatible with the other 'names' Sounds like a good ol fashioned corn holing to me.

But go ahead and keep giving the a-holes your money, apparently your a fan.

I was till they started pulling this renaming crap. Ill never buy another nv product.

You're probably better off buying a gtx 275, which is about double or more performance of your current card. If prices aren't right, i'd wait till they are. It's situations like this that make sli/cf stupid.

Yeah, I always say buy the best single card you can afford, then later add another for SLI or Crossfire. In your case though, you have waited too long.
You are back to the "buy the best single card you can afford".
The 8800GT is little too far gone IMHO.

I went from a 8800GT 512Mb to 2 8800GT's and couldnt get SLi to work, so I opted to getting a GTX260 OC 898Mb from Best Buy and it works like a dream. The card is 10 1/2" long and covers 2 slots.

If it's a fully functioning card, then sweet deal.

Nice, well I hope your experience with SLi turns out to be a good one. I have been running 8800's in SLi for over a year and a half now and have had no problems at all, good luck and happy gaming.