smmansfield

Okay, I've never had an SLI system before, and I'm planning on buying a second card for this one, only thing is, the SLI bridge is confusing me a bit...

the SLI will be 2 GTS 250 cards, I have one bridge, but the thing is, the cards have 2 SLI slots on each card, which is was is confusing me a bit.

Heres a link with a picture of the SLI slots - http://www.ixbt.com/video3/images/re...scan-front.jpg (top left of card are the SLI ports)

anyway, my SLI bridge is the standard 1 port to 1 port bridge, will that work on these cards, or do i need one that has 2 prongs? I looked some SLI things up, and I didnt see any 2 wide/2 long bridges, only 2 wide/3 long, such as in this picture - http://techreport.com/r.x/geforce-98...ri-sli-rig.jpg

how do i hook these babies up in SLI? will my regular bridge work, or will i need 2 bridges, or do i need to buy one of the 3way ones and only use 2 cards worth?

also, my cards are/will be EVGA cards, so the standard EVGA flat bridge is fine by me, or the flexible ones, i really dont care.

smmansfield

oh, and another question, do the memory sizes on the cards have to be the same? aka 512Mb on each card? or can i have 1 512Mb and 1 1Gb? i know the gpu has to be the same model but idk if that constitues it being the "same model"

jeffries7

First link doesn't work. You only need a standard SLI bridge like you have, you place it on the left "prong" on the card.

EDIT: The card with 1gb will only be able to access 512mb as both cards need to have the same specs but it will work.

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smmansfield

define "left" link...

you mean the one closest to the fan end, or the one closest to the video connectors end?

and thx for the 512/1Gb info, i would have gotten a 1Gb if it had worked, but meh

Chilly

^ The "Left Link" that is closest to the fan.

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jeffries7

Just get a 512mb and save some money, the left one being the one near the PCI brackets.

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smmansfield

why does only one work? or does only one work if you're doing the 2 card SLI instead of 3 card?

jeffries7

The second is for tri sli, so that data can be communicated via the 2 bridges.

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BLADEY

Closest to the rear of ur case, just one cable is need, btwget thr 512mb version when you go SLi they have to have the same framebuffer, so either a it wont work, or b you'll lose that 512mb of memory you paid for

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smmansfield

aaah

thanks, I feel a bit stupid for having to ask these things in the first place, but I didnt wanna mess my baby up by being stupid with it

along these lines, would it be a hinderance if i put the 2 cards right next to eachother, as apposed to the "one open slot in-between" config? (i have a 780i mobo, 3 PCI-Ex16 slots) All i could imagine coming out of this would be the topmost card running hotter because of the restricted airflow...currently it runs at about 50-60c gaming, so i could see it getting to 70c with this config, i know thats not high but would it impact the card's performance if one is running way hotter than the second one? (my watercooling tubing is partially blocking the 3rd PCIe slot... i dont really wanna have to re-arrange the tubing)