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I SLId TWO ENTIRELY DIFFERENT GRAPHICS CARDS! GTX 980ti And 1070
you cannot SLI two different NVIDIA graphics card. In order for SLI to work, you need to have GPUs with the same chipset. For instance, an NVIDIA GTX 1070 can only SLI with another NVIDIA GTX 1070 only. Similarly an RTX 2080 can only SLI with another RTX 2080.
Does Ti Matter? Can You SLI Ti with Non-Ti?
Some NVIDIA graphics card have the “Ti” suffix. This stands for “Titanium” and basically says that the particular graphics card is more powerful than the vanilla version.
For instance, the NVIDIA GTX 1660 has both non-Ti as well as Ti version. So can you install an NVIDIA GTX 1660 with an NVIDIA GTX 1660Ti?
No! Unfortunately, you cannot SLI Ti GPUs with non-Ti GPUs. They are NOT the same GPU chipsets!
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Types of SLI Configuration
There are three types of SLI configurations in which you can connect multiple GPUs (up to 4).
2-Way SLI – In this, you can connect two single GPU graphics cards in SLI mode using 2-way SLI Bridge.
3-Way SLI – In this, you can three single GPU graphics cards in SLI using 3-way SLI Bridge.
4-Way SLI or Quad SLI – This is also called Quad SLI and in this, you can connect 4 single GPUGraphics Cards in SLI using 4-way SLI Bridge or can connect two dual GPU graphics cards using 2-way SLI bridge. You cannot connect 3 or 4 dual GPU graphics cards in SLI because that would make it Hexa and Octa SLI configuration which does not exist.
Note: 2-way SLI is the most popular and active SLI configuration used today because Nvidia has reportedly dropped most of the support for 3-way and 4-way SLI. This is because of the complexity involved in driver development. Modern graphics cards such as GTX 1070, GTX 1080 and higher will only support 2-way SLI.
Can You SLI Two Different GPUs?
Simply put, NO! you cannot SLI two different NVIDIA graphics card. In order for SLI to work, you need to have GPUs with the same chipset.
For instance, an NVIDIA GTX 1070 can only SLI with another NVIDIA GTX 1070 only. Similarly an RTX 2080 can only SLI with another RTX 2080.
Also Read: Can I Fit Two Graphics Cards in My Motherboard?
SLI Modes
Split Frame Rendering
SFR analyzes the rendered image to divide the load between the GPUs. To achieve this, the frame is split on a horizontal line, depending on geometry. For example, if the upper part of the screen is only rendering the sky, then this line will be lower in order to balance out the geometry workload on the GPUs.
Alternate Frame Rendering
AFR means that each frame is rendered by a different GPU. In practice, this is usually executed by one card working on odd frames, and the other on even frames.
Although AFR might have a better frame rate than SFR, it can cause micro stuttering, which changes the way frame rate is perceived. While the frequency at which frames arrive may be doubled, the production time of the frames is not, so this cannot reduce the input lag.
SLI Antialiasing
This is a separate rendering method that can double the antialiasing performance by splitting the workload between the GPUs. One card will perform an antialiasing pattern that is offset to the regular pattern, for example, slightly to the right and down, while the other one will do the same thing with an equal offset in the opposite direction (left and up in this case).
SLI Antialiasing has some advanced options including SLI 8X, SLI 16X, and SLI 32X, though the last one is only for Quad SLI systems.
Hybrid SLI
This is a generic name for two technologies, GeForce Boostand HybridPower. GeForce Boost uses integrated graphics and a discrete GPU combination to increase performance.
In contrast, HybridPower is not a performance-enhancing mode. It also uses IGP and a GPU on an MXM module, which is used to easily integrate the GPU on laptops. As it’s a big power consumer, the MXM module will shut down when the laptop is unplugged from the power supply. This isn’t exclusive to laptops as it can also be found in desktop computers.
It’s important to note that a high-end SLI setup will require a powerful CPU to prevent bottlenecking.