Ho, Bit-Techies! So, the time has finally come to start upgrading my hardware (and hopefully beggining the process of doing some case modding for the first time in 6 years!). I've decided to go with the following: Asus Maximus VI Formula i5-4690K 3.5Ghz G.Skill Ripjaws X DDR3 1600 PC3-12800 8GB 2x4GB CL7 Asus GTX 770 DirectCU II OC 2GB GDDR5 Ok, so far I've already got the motherboard and gpu, the cpu will be OC'd as soon as I can gather the components to set up a watercooling loop, and the memories will be expanded with two extra modules, reaching 16GB. Problem is I've never assembled a SLI system, only crossfire. My question is: if I were to upgrade the system with a second GTX770, does it have to be the exact same model? I know it has to be of the 770 family, but could I, for example, upgrade with a GTX770 with 4GB DDR5 instead of the 2GB? Thank you beforehand for taking the time to read!
Preferably both at 4gb. But I have done the same with a 2&4gb. 770 gainwards and they work perfectly.
You can run any 2 GTX770's, if one is faster than the other or has more memory then that one will slow down to the slower cards speed. It always better to try and get 2 of the same cards though, as sometimes you can run in to issues when running 2 different cards.
It works best if you use Identical cards although not essential. Take no notice of people saying "Don't to much trouble" I've been running SLI a very long time and never had a problem ( check my sig) Do it from the off a fresh OS install and the latest Nvidia drivers and it should work perfect.
I've used SLI since the 480s were around and I'm not gonna say I've had no issues as that's a lie. Its a lot more stable than it was 2 years ago but it's still not perfect. If you just play AAA titles then SLI is the best thing ever, near 100% scaling in crysis 3 for example. Play some mmos or indie games and a single card will be the better choice every time. Very few indie titles like SLI, mmos is dependant on title WOW now does, Star Trek online hates SLI and Star Wars is similar. That and unless you watercool heat and noise will always be a problem. Using identical cards is something most recommend but you don't have to do it. If you use a 4gb card and 2 gb card then your memory is capped at 2gb. Both cards will always run at the slowest speed of the other card also. Installation is easy plug in connector fire up latest nvidia driver installer and it will do it for you. You will likely end up on beta drivers if your playing the more newer titles for driver profiles Ect and that's fine.
I was using SLI long before the 480's, SLI can always be turned of for the games that don't support SLI and if heat is a problem then you should be looking at the case and the cooling you're using.
Used SLI since the 7600Gt's were around, and only ever had issues with not enough Vram or a SLI profile not being out for the game at launch. I wouldn't go back to using a single card unless it provided the same GPU Grunt as my 2 780Ti's as a minimum, and that is going to be a long way off yet. Not to mention I wanna go 4K so I am going to need dual cards for that even next year or the year after when the 900 series come out.
imo just for the sake of aesthetics you might as well get the same card no point getting a faster 770 as it will be limited by the other card what's your res?
Thank you all for your answers. If the card's going to be limited by the lowest one I guess I'll stick with another 2gb one. I'll wait some months for the price to drop just a tad more. docodine, I assume you mean resolution? I'm currently stuck with a 24" Samsung Synqmaster from 2008, does support 1080p but it's native is 1920x1200 max. Once I'm done upgrading my hardware (I do have a larger and better screen, but I only use it every so often since I have to move the PC case around), I'll start looking up new screens.
