SLI with cards with different RAM sizes

[R3ign]

Morning Everyone!

I currently have a ASUS GTX 770 2gb and would like to purchase another one, however I would like to make my system more 'future proof' by buying the 4gb version.

My question is would it be possible to Sli ASUS GTX 770 2gb with ASUS GTX 770 4gb ?

 

[RCoon]

Morning Everyone!

I currently have a ASUS GTX 770 2gb and would like to purchase another one, however I would like to make my system more 'future proof' by buying the 4gb version.

My question is would it be possible to Sli ASUS GTX 770 2gb with ASUS GTX 770 4gb ?

They might work in SLI, but you'll still be limited to 2GB total VRAM. It will be a waste of money. Better off buying a single 4GB GPU and selling the other one, or buying a second 2GB card (770's are still pretty good cards, and 2GB is plenty for 1080p)

 

[R3ign]

I thought there might be some complications withe the vram being different.

would there be much difference between 2X ASUS GTX 770 2gb and 1 ASUS GTX 770 4gb ?
as i'm aware my board supports tri sli (16X,8X,8X) - would the slower bus speed be noticeable ?

 

[RCoon]

I thought there might be some complications withe the vram being different.

would there be much difference between 2X ASUS GTX 770 2gb and 1 ASUS GTX 770 4gb ?
as i'm aware my board supports tri sli (16X,8X,8X) - would the slower bus speed be noticeable ?

As for the difference between 1 770 4GB and 2 770 2GB's, the first setup will be about half the performance. Unless you game at 1600p or on triple monitor, that extra VRAM isn't going to improve performance at all at 1080p.
With SLI, it scales down the fastest card to the slowest card in every way (GPU core speed, VRAM available). So buying a second GPU that is in any way better than yours would simply scale down to your current card's performance, or likewise if you bought a slower card, your current card would be slowed to match it in every way. As for bus width, you ain't gonna notice a thing!

 

[R3ign]

As for the difference between 1 770 4GB and 2 770 2GB's, the first setup will be about half the performance. Unless you game at 1600p or on triple monitor, that extra VRAM isn't going to improve performance at all at 1080p.
With SLI, it scales down the fastest card to the slowest card in every way (GPU core speed, VRAM available). So buying a second GPU that is in any way better than yours would simply scale down to your current card's performance, or likewise if you bought a slower card, your current card would be slowed to match it in every way. As for bus width, you ain't gonna notice a thing!

thanks for the clarification. I wont be going higher than 1080p so SLI looks like the best way.
I currently get an average of 68 fps on BF4 with Ultra settings sometimes it goes down to 45 during explosions

 

[RCoon]

thanks for the clarification. I wont be going higher than 1080p so SLI looks like the best way.
I currently get an average of 68 fps on BF4 with Ultra settings sometimes it goes down to 45 during explosions

I understand the urge to increase performance at the bottom end (fps drops), I hope SLI works out for you!

 

[R3ign]

yeah thanks! I'll keep you updated

 

[Keullo-e]

Cards with different memory sizes DID work previously, but some time ago nvidia blocked that via drivers. I ran 8800GTS 320 & 640 cards in SLI without any problems back in 2009.