7800 + 7900 SLI ?

E

expansionsss

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Aug 29, 2005
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I was looking and looking and looking for a FAQ, thread, anything that might answer as to whether or not this is possible.

I have an XFX 7800gt, and my thought was to buy a 7900gt, and SLI em together. According to the more recent Nvidia drivers, you can mix and match GT's and GTX's right ? So does the driver have the capability of scaling around cards from different generations ?

I haven't seen anything that says this isn't possible, nor have I seen anyone who has tried it...


A response ( and from someone who has tested this if it is indeed possible ) would be awesome, thanks.
 
You know something i have been thinking the same thing.

For example i have a 7950 xxx and i was hoping when the new dx10 comes out can i put that as my primary because of what you are saying.

I have seen them mixed in the computex show reviews but not heard fromanybody who has mixed the cards , i think your best emailing them and see what they say.
 
What's the damn point? Your 7900gt will just be bottlenecked to 7800gt speeds. Even if you do a massive overclock on that 7800gt and a massive downclock on that 7900gt, you just have a shitload of wasted graphics processing power.
 
You can mix different CARD BRANDS, and you can even mix different clock speeds, but you cannot mix different models.

There is no technical reason why you can't mix two different models...the SLI bridge bus is standardized, and is the same for all cards. More likely it is just a limitation imposed by Nvidia to maintain control over the SLI market. After all, it was the LACK of control over the SLI market which began the downfall of 3dfx.
 
"What's the damn point? Your 7900gt will just be bottlenecked to 7800gt speeds. Even if you do a massive overclock on that 7800gt and a massive downclock on that 7900gt, you just have a shitload of wasted graphics processing power."

it was my understanding that newer drivers supported different speed cards, and in doing so balanced the work load onto each card depending on their speed, so in this case, the 7800gt would get ~40% of a scene, and the 7900gt ~60% of a scene.

"You can mix different CARD BRANDS............... After all, it was the LACK of control over the SLI market which began the downfall of 3dfx. "

yes i know about what is documented about brands / speeds, but to my memory, I don't remember it mentioning that you COULDNT put two "half" generation cards together. Do you have any kind of proof that it doesn't work ? Or can anyone cite a Nvidia document that states it doesn't work ?

p.s. I'm cynical
 
expansionsss said:
"What's the damn point? Your 7900gt will just be bottlenecked to 7800gt speeds. Even if you do a massive overclock on that 7800gt and a massive downclock on that 7900gt, you just have a shitload of wasted graphics processing power."

it was my understanding that newer drivers supported different speed cards, and in doing so balanced the work load onto each card depending on their speed, so in this case, the 7800gt would get ~40% of a scene, and the 7900gt ~60% of a scene.

"You can mix different CARD BRANDS............... After all, it was the LACK of control over the SLI market which began the downfall of 3dfx. "

yes i know about what is documented about brands / speeds, but to my memory, I don't remember it mentioning that you COULDNT put two "half" generation cards together. Do you have any kind of proof that it doesn't work ? Or can anyone cite a Nvidia document that states it doesn't work ?

p.s. I'm cynical
Click to expand...

No documents needed :rolleyes: You can not mix different models. (I.E. 7800+7900)
 
Monkey_feces said:
What's the damn point? Your 7900gt will just be bottlenecked to 7800gt speeds. Even if you do a massive overclock on that 7800gt and a massive downclock on that 7900gt, you just have a shitload of wasted graphics processing power.
Click to expand...

The point is you can't find 7800GT's sub $290'ish really, and 7900GT's are $230 after MIR :)
 
Robstar said:
The point is you can't find 7800GT's sub $290'ish really, and 7900GT's are $230 after MIR :)
Click to expand...
The point is you can sell your 7800 for sub $290'ish and pick up 2 7900gts for $460 after MIRS :)
 
knew a guy that tried to pair a 6800gt with a 7800gt. didn't have the sli option in the driver control panel, but the cards worked fine on 2 monitors just like any other multi card / monitor setup. saw one person take an old pci video card and run a display alongside an existing pci-e card/monitor for troubleshooting purposes, then left it in the box. could just hook a monitor up to it any time, worked fine.
 
ClintE said:
knew a guy that tried to pair a 6800gt with a 7800gt. didn't have the sli option in the driver control panel, but the cards worked fine on 2 monitors just like any other multi card / monitor setup. saw one person take an old pci video card and run a display alongside an existing pci-e card/monitor for troubleshooting purposes, then left it in the box. could just hook a monitor up to it any time, worked fine.
Click to expand...

There is a HUGE difference between running dual monitors on 2 separate video cards and SLI.
 
um yes i run 7800gtx sli on the dual opty system i'm typing this on. multi monitors are for extending and/or duplicating desktops, and can come in handy when making calc changes to 3d renders on the fly. a client has 4 video cards & 3 monitors on one system; first 2 cards are in sli, the other 2 cards are hooked up to 2 more screens. one of those is normal desktop, other one has design program up all the time. has the screens attached to arms so they can push & pull them around to various locations at the workstation. looks like something on sci-fi channel.
 
I've gone 7900GT sli and vmodded. Get rid of that 7800. That's was the biggest disapointment of a graphics card I've ever had. I went from a 6800 to 7800 the difference sucked. Going from the 7800 to 7900 was more worth it. With 7900 SLI you get a minumum, MINIMUM 40% framerate increase over the single 7900. It will average 45-50%. Also, consider 7800 to 7900 single cards increase frame rates by 15-25%.
 
This is weird but i have seen the cards mixed at this years computex.

Also i think that in the future this will become a regular thing , i mean people mixing there cards.

Sli is getting better and who knows we might even get to SLi giving us 100% boost instead of just 50% .

I definately think that the 7950 gives more than the usual Sli , I think it is 180%
 
Monkey_feces said:
The point is you can sell your 7800 for sub $290'ish and pick up 2 7900gts for $460 after MIRS :)
Click to expand...

And wh ile I'm swapping cards stay without a computer, and/or lose money on the 7800 I already paid for.
 
Well...thanks everyone for replying...but no-thanks for completely missing the point:

I own a 7800gt.
I want to SLI it.
Is it possible to buy a newer generation card ( 7900gt ) and do this.
This would give me a mix of new-generation power PLUS the SLI bonus

The point: Trading in a 7800gt for a 7900gt(x) is a terrible waste of money/performance ratio

The question: Is this possible to mix card generations ?

The complications: No one has showed me a letter, article, test writeup that says that this is NOT possible.

My further insight: Mixing a 6xxx series + 7xxx series I can understand not being compatible, they are very very different...but a 78xx and a 79xx aren't. From what i understand the 7900 is basically a revised 7800.....SO the theory is that they should be compatible.

Even more thoughts: If it doesn't work Plug and play, is there something in drivers telling them to NOT work...also how does the nvidia driver seperate workloads for different speed cards ? I remember reading that they at first slowed one of the cards down...but then I thought I also read that a further driver release changed it to give un-equal workloads, and therefore full performance from both cards.


Soooooo....anyone out there that can put a 78xx and a 79xx together and give me a straight answer ?
 
scwam said:
I've gone 7900GT sli and vmodded. Get rid of that 7800. That's was the biggest disapointment of a graphics card I've ever had. I went from a 6800 to 7800 the difference sucked. Going from the 7800 to 7900 was more worth it. With 7900 SLI you get a minumum, MINIMUM 40% framerate increase over the single 7900. It will average 45-50%. Also, consider 7800 to 7900 single cards increase frame rates by 15-25%.
Click to expand...


I went from a 9700pro to the 7800gt. Bought the 9700pro when they first came out ( mine had a different power connector than most..i believe due to an older revision )...used it for 3 years, and really...the performance difference didn't become "worth it" to me till the 7xxx series.
 
expansionsss said:
Well...thanks everyone for replying...but no-thanks for completely missing the point:

I own a 7800gt.
I want to SLI it.
Is it possible to buy a newer generation card ( 7900gt ) and do this.
This would give me a mix of new-generation power PLUS the SLI bonus

The point: Trading in a 7800gt for a 7900gt(x) is a terrible waste of money/performance ratio

The question: Is this possible to mix card generations ?

The complications: No one has showed me a letter, article, test writeup that says that this is NOT possible.

My further insight: Mixing a 6xxx series + 7xxx series I can understand not being compatible, they are very very different...but a 78xx and a 79xx aren't. From what i understand the 7900 is basically a revised 7800.....SO the theory is that they should be compatible.

Even more thoughts: If it doesn't work Plug and play, is there something in drivers telling them to NOT work...also how does the nvidia driver seperate workloads for different speed cards ? I remember reading that they at first slowed one of the cards down...but then I thought I also read that a further driver release changed it to give un-equal workloads, and therefore full performance from both cards.


Soooooo....anyone out there that can put a 78xx and a 79xx together and give me a straight answer ?
Click to expand...

No, but This thread tried to put together a 7800 GTX 256MB and a 7800 GTX 512MB.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1073870

It doesn't work. Why? Even though the cards use the exact same core with the exact same number of pipelines, they are two different SKUs, and Nvidia doesn't want people to ursurp their control over the "upgrade via SLI" market.

If you havn't been paying attention, Nvidia has been controlling the "upgrade via SLI" market with an iron fist, phasing out old cards before they have a chance to reach even %50 of their original MSRP. This is their way of encouraging users to buy new cards, because Nvidia makes ZERO dollars if you buy used.

You can infer what you will, but I consider the matter closed.
 
expansionsss said:
The complications: No one has showed me a letter, article, test writeup that says that this is NOT possible.
Click to expand...
no one has showed an article showing it DOES work either :rolleyes:
 
DaCoOlNeSs said:
no one has showed an article showing it DOES work either :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

oh oops...pardon me...Thought i was on the forum of a website that encourages stuff like making the impossible possible...or heck even making "modifications" to an existing system or piece of "hardware" to make it work differently / better / in my favor....

IMO its probably something easily leveraged on the driver side...but yeah...Nvidia prolly is controlling it with an iron fist....

...and if such a driver mod were possible...it'd prolly taken some massive tweaks...

...I'm too lazy, uneducated, busy, stupid, and poor to make such attempts...


/cry
 
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