[_dave_]

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I have a 256MB Geforce 7900GT and I'm buying another to run newer games at higher graphics. If I buy a 7950GT would these two work together?


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An almost certain no.

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or does the card have to be the exact same model and from the same creator?


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There may have been progress in this regard, I am unsure. It is possible any other 7900GT (with the same core/memory clock settings) will work, although I wouldn't like to wager the price of a card on it.

In the early days of SLI when I was building systems with two cards, it was recommended to use perfectly identical cards - that meant same manufacturer / model / board revision/ same VGA BIOS even, and following these guidelines made stable systems.

Slight differences in VGA BIOS would make a working but crashy system, differences in board revision would make one that would work but not engage SLI mode, and different manufacturer/model was a no-go.

It was always claimed that such issues would be resolved as SLI matured - although it has been at least 18 months since I really looked in to it (My SLI experience is all with 6x generation cards) - I have no idea if the situation has improved at all - I'd think it unlikely on 7x generation cards, and a maybe on the 8x variants.