Overclocking Sli

[IoDd64]

with alienwares new tech "SLI" where you can add 2 video cards of the same speed/ manufactorer...my question is how will overclocking work? Since each card is different, 1 wouldnt be able to go as high as the other... so, will this bring an end to SLI from the extreme enthusiast market or the end of vga overclocking?

 

On paper SLI looks great, if you search for Alienwares ALX (i think) machine.. the video graphics get around a 50-70% improvement, since 1 video card only controls half the moniter...

 

just had this in my head for a bit, and wanted to know what you guys thought of it..

[Eva_Unit_0]

I'm not sure how well overclocking would go over with Alienware's solution. But I think overclocking would be fine with Nvidia's solution, since each video card doesn't have a fixed screen size to render. In Nvidia's solution, the drivers adjust how much of the screen each card renders in real-time, so if one card was overclocked it should just get more of the screen to render. But I think you would run into problems overclocking with Alienware's solution.

[ravix]

Actually, SLI relys on the fact that each GPU is identical. The SLI chipset will default both cards to the lowest clock speed. I assume this means that the only way to see extra performance is to overclock both cards.

[kanbeki]

Video arrary(alienware) just like SLI depends on having identical GPUs, the main selling point of VA is that you can use any GPU as long as its a matched pair

[FunkyMonkey]

if u have 2 6800ultras i dont think oc'ing is needed

but if you do need it , i think if they just had the same clock and ram speeds it should be fine

[yuanji]

i would think that if you OCed it, they would function essentially as 1 card so when you OC it, they both increase the same (unless i'm totally wrong in which case you might be fine with same frequencies)

[the DrewiD]

i dare say that with SLI there should be no need to over clock.{arrr wot am i on about no need,take me out and shoot me.lol}

[airman]

mmm i guess it's like running dual processors...have to run them at the same speed?

 

i guess you'd just overclock it to a point where the slower one maxes out and run the other one at the same speed.