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You don't have to use SLI if the card supports it, you can use the card as if it's any normal graphics card with out an SLI motherboard. You don't need to put it into SLI mode, SLI is completely optional.
You don't need an SLI certified Power Supply to run it if you are not using SLI
You don't need an SLI compatible motherboard if you will use the card alone
You don't need to buy a non-SLI card if you are not using dual monitors/graphics cards.
SLI is just a feature, you can use if you want to boost your performance even on a single monitor.
ALL new cards are SLI ready. SLI is simply the ability to use two of the card at the same time in the same computer, double the power. You can have 2-way SLI or 3-way SLI, which is simply the number of graphics cards whom's "power" you wish to combine.
People usually buy an SLI ready card and an SLI ready Motherboard and power supply to run the card alone without SLI so that in the future if they get the money to buy another card they can upgrade to SLI.
an SLI ready motherboard is simply one that has two or more PCI-E x16 2.0 slots so that you can put in more than one graphics card. People usually get them when they don't even have two graphics cards. It just gives you the ability to upgrade in the future.
an SLI certified power supply, is simply a high quality power supply that has a high wattage and amperage and is certified by NVIDIA that it will be able to handle the amount of power required by two or more graphics cards, most people get them even if they don't have SLI
An SLI power supply is an ordinary power supply but high quality and a certificate by NVIDIA assuring that it can handle two or more cards.
An SLI motherboard is an ordinary motherboard but with extra PCI-E x16 slots for more graphics cards
An SLI ready card is an ordinary card with the ability to be used in pairs with another card to improve performance, possibly double the performance.
Thanks that helps a lot and saves me money to not have to buy an SLI certified power supply.
As to your other answer basically when i look at graphics card i look at the price compared to multiple passmarks it gets compared to other high end graphic cards. I'm not looking for a SUPER high end card, basically one thats $100 bucks or less and can AT LEAST play mid-randed game settings on a resolution of 900x600 (which doesnt bother me as long as i dont have to have the settings all the way down to play at that resolution or a 1024x900 resolution with mid or very close to mid or better settings.
I have been looking on new egg, tiger direct and a few other sites. The GeForce GTS 250 Core was rated 1,069, with the GeForce 9650M GT(300 rating lowest) and the eForce GTX 580 (3,778 being highest) of top end benchmarked cards.. the GTX 580 being about $500. The GeForce GTS 250 is $99.
I also took a moment to look up the marks between the 450 and the 250, the 450 is 21 notches higher in rating than the 250 for a couple more bucks, i will consider it.