Which 550 ti brand for SLI upgrade?

[ENJOIPANDABURGERS]

Currently i have a gigabyte 550 ti 970mhz 1GDDR5 memory WindForce 2X model:GV-N550WF2-1GI
I would like another one to SLI the *** out of but i'm wondering which brand to get? another gigabyte or maybe an asus or something like that?

 

[arzbhatia]

Go for the same card.

 

[ENJOIPANDABURGERS]

Any reason inparticular?

 

[arzbhatia]

For SLI to run smoothly, both the cards should run at the same clock frequencies. So say for example, if you buy an EVGA GTX 550Ti which runs at a different speed, you might have some problems.

Further information: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/245454-33-crossfire-faqs

Don't forget to click on Select as Best Answer

Take Care!

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

A cautioinary note - SLI'ing specially to midrange cards like 550ti's can have problems with microstuttering. Have a look a this, and in particualr, the recommendation for using 550's in SLI.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995-15.html



Maybe sell your current one, and with the cash plump for the single best card you can afford. 560ti, 7850 etc !!

cheers

 

[timarp000]

Go with the identical card as if the cards have different clocks it may not work well together

 

[jitpublisher]

Yes, you want the exact same card you have now if you want to add another for SLI.

 

[spentshells]

Despite this advice get the cheapest one you can possibly find. And leave your Current card in the top slot as it obviously will have better cooling . Just slap the other in the lower (slave) position. If you must sli this card getting a another expensive model is a waste. The cards will run at the slower cards speeds but you can very easily oc them both.

 

[jitpublisher]

Despite this advice get the cheapest one you can possibly find. And leave your Current card in the top slot as it obviously will have better cooling . Just slap the other in the lower (slave) position. If you must sli this card getting a another expensive model is a waste. The cards will run at the slower cards speeds but you can very easily oc them both.

That is the about the worst advice I have ever seen given on this site.

Thats really not fair, let me reword that a little bit. If you want an ideal setup with another 550ti that will lend you the best possible performance with the card you have right now, and least amount of issues, conflict, and worry, get another identical card.

If you are the type who wants a decent performance boost over what you have as cheap as possible, and doesn't mind if you have a few issues to deal with, and you are comfortable overclocking and constantly messing around with your hardware, then follow the advice in this post.

Personally, I wouldn't bother spending any money on another 550ti, I would opt for a single faster card, a 550ti, in my opinion, is a pretty bottom of the barrel card for gaming, so buying another means you are spending money on another bottom of the barrel gaming card, and now you will have 2 of them.

 

[spentshells]

That is the about the worst advice I have ever seen given on this site.

Seriously what do you know about it ? Not much apparently

throwing good money at a 550 ti stupid....... that is all

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

That is the about the worst advice I have ever seen given on this site.

jitpublisher - your advice wasn't exatly correct either, in that there is no requirement for 'an exact same card' to be used. You can of course use any brand card with the same gpu and mem capacity. If one is clocked higher than the other, they both run at the speed of the lowest common denominator! So any other brand as long as the gpu is the same will suffice. The cards clock the same at driver level, so there shouldn't be any complications.

Spentshells advice, although I wouldn't follow it myself (buying the cheapest possible card), is sound enough. He did also mention that the cards would clock at the speed of the lesser of the cards, so don't think it was the worst advice, albeit not the best (you get what you paid for after all )

 

[spentshells]

jitpublisher - your advice wasn't exatly correct either, in that there is no requirement for 'an exact same card' to be used. You can of course use any brand card with the same gpu and mem capacity. If one is clocked higher than the other, they both run at the speed of the lowest common denominator! So any other brand as long as the gpu is the same will suffice. The cards clock the same at driver level, so there shouldn't be any complications.

Spentshells advice, although I wouldn't follow it myself (buying the cheapest possible card), is sound enough. He did also mention that the cards would clock at the speed of the lesser of the cards, so don't think it was the worst advice, albeit not the best (you get what you paid for after all )

everybody here seems to want to spend money I hear that Im giving bad advice but but reason why ?

All these troubles what are they ? Seriously, if you have a hard time SLI'ing 2 cards of the same model and the complications are to much for you to handle (geeze) get a console, the performance gain you will gain spending an extra 20-30 dollars doesn't exist. Send me the 30 bucks, all I hear from the two of you is waste money and gain nothing...... and Im giving poor advice seriously give your head a shake.

 

[jitpublisher]

You all can do what ever you want, but over the many, many years I have been building and dealing with exactly these types of situations, I begin to see a pattern that I form opinions from. There is a half ass-way to do things, and right way to do things. I prefer the "right way" as you usually learn to regret the half-ass way sooner or later.

I cannot begin to remember the countless posts here that start out something like "Trouble with my ASUS and Gigabyte GPU's in SLI, nVidia says they should work, but no joy, any ideas?"

I was only rebutting spentshells post since he started out by rebutting other opinions in the first place. The original poster can form his own conclusions and path of upgrade by considering all opinions here, no matter which way he goes.

 

[mouse24]

You do not need two identical cards for SLi (as in PCB layout / cooling / etc)

They do need to have, same memory type, some core gpu, (they don't need to have the same speeds but they will go as slow as the slowest one.)

I am not sure if SLi allows you to have differing memory capacities but Xfire does and I can't see a reason why they wouldn't but don't take my word to the bank.

As jit said, I wouldn't waste money on grabbing another 550Ti

 

[spentshells]

You all can do what ever you want, but over the many, many years I have been building and dealing with exactly these types of situations, I begin to see a pattern that I form opinions from. There is a half ass-way to do things, and right way to do things. I prefer the "right way" as you usually learn to regret the half-ass way sooner or later.

I cannot begin to remember the countless posts here that start out something like "Trouble with my ASUS and Gigabyte GPU's in SLI, nVidia says they should work, but no joy, any ideas?"

I was only rebutting spentshells post since he started out by rebutting other opinions in the first place. The original poster can form his own conclusions and path of upgrade by considering all opinions here, no matter which way he goes.

As you said it's just my opinion. There are no complications involved in matching two of the same cards from different brands none at all nvidia drivers are perfectly capable of doing this without issues not created by users.

A lesser slave card does less work (most times) so it requires less advanced cooling and the heat rising from it would be easily handled by the big windforce cooler on the master card up top.

Maybe what you were trying to say to me is quit being so flipping cheap... I get that a lot.

 

[ENJOIPANDABURGERS]

Best answer selected by enjoipandaburgers.

 

[ENJOIPANDABURGERS]

well i don't have a job so i think for me buying another 550 ti may be my only choice unless there's a card that out performs 2 gtx 550 tis' for about £100 which i dont think there is but i may be fooled

thanks everyone for contribution although slightly negative in some places!

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

everybody here seems to want to spend money I hear that Im giving bad advice but but reason why ?

All these troubles what are they ? Seriously, if you have a hard time SLI'ing 2 cards of the same model and the complications are to much for you to handle (geeze) get a console, the performance gain you will gain spending an extra 20-30 dollars doesn't exist. Send me the 30 bucks, all I hear from the two of you is waste money and gain nothing...... and Im giving poor advice seriously give your head a shake.

@ spenthshells....my remark regarding 'albeit not the best" advice, was really aimed at just the chapest option available, you mentioned. Of course money is a consideration or most people, personally I purchase branded products with decent warranties, CS etc, for my own peace of mind. My Remark wasn't made at the remainder of your post, as I felt it was sound information you gave.

To the OP! Think you get the gist of the answers being supplied here!! No one would advocate getting another 550ti!! Apart from the obvious confusion (or not!) over whether the 'exact same' GPU from the same brand is required to sli. Putting two 550 in sli is not the way to go. In my original post I gave a link for an article on toms, about microstuttering, in partciular the 550ti's. I would avoid that dual setup at all costs. Seemingly functional SLI is reserved for the better top end cards, for obvious economic reaons to the manufacturer.

Good luck!

 

[ENJOIPANDABURGERS]

does adaptive vsync help micro stuttering at all? just wondering

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Adaptive VSync, may help, and is functional on 550tis according to the driver specs on the website. Be nice if it did, solve all your probs. Looked at 550ti in SLI myself a few months ago, but was put off by the microstttering. Got a 560ti instead, and love it.

Anyway, good luck with your descision


good article about it here: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/16/nvidia_adaptive_vsync_technology_review/

 

[ENJOIPANDABURGERS]

yeah im always using adaptive vsync bf3 and skyrim are great on medium settings. i get a bit slow frames ultra on bf3

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

funnilly enough, have only installed the driver with it in last few weeks, and haven't been gaming much. But had a little punt on BF3 last night, and was nicely surprised by the more fluid gameplay, specially on the min fps. Seems to much nicer to play thats for sure. cant wait to fire up my other fav games, and see what they play like. Kudis to Nvdia for giving us something sweet!

 

[_scientist]

You do not need two identical cards for SLi (as in PCB layout / cooling / etc)

They do need to have, same memory type, same core gpu, (they don't need to have the same speeds but they will go as slow as the slowest one.)

I am not sure if SLi allows you to have differing memory capacities but Xfire does and I can't see a reason why they wouldn't but don't take my word to the bank.

As jit said, I wouldn't waste money on grabbing another 550Ti

Should have selected this as the best answer

 

[ENJOIPANDABURGERS]

that wasn't the answer to my question though it was appreciated

 

[_scientist]

that wasn't the answer to my question though it was appreciated

Lol you're right, guess I should have read a little more thoroughly.