How many graphics cards does SLI take?

i am currently in process of buyign a graphics card, but want SLI, everything i am buying is SLI capable. motherboard, ram, power supply, and graphics card. If there is a graphics card that is SLI, and has two monitor ports, is that all i need to make SLI work? or do i have to buy two graphics cards? it has the ports, but i have heard different things, if i go with a 9600 GT 8800 GT graphics card, what is the watts i will need for a power supply about? thanks!

How many graphics cards does SLI take?
SLI requires minimum 2 graphics cards. You can run a single card, or you can run SLI of them. With the 8800GTX, 9800GTX, GTX260, and GTX280, you can run "Tri-SLI" which is 3 cards in SLI (again, you could still run those in SLI with only 2 cards). You get "quad SLI" by using 2 9800GX2, since those have 2 GPUs each (basically SLI on 1 card).





I'd recommend a 8800GT, since those in SLI are hard to beat. Just make sure your power supply has 2 6-pin cables, and you'll be fine.





As far as SLI RAM goes, it's not really necessary for SLI. It just a second profile that the nvidia boards will automatically detect and overclock your RAM to (once you enable it in the BIOS). Several other brands offer the same thing (it's called EPP), but it's just not branded with the Nvidia SLI logo.
Reply:SLI is an interface that allows two or more graphics cards to combine their processing power. So you need to buy at least two cards. Each card is different re: power requirments, so I cannot generalize beyond suggesting that you get a PS that's good to 750 W or so if you intend to build a max effort system. You'll also want to ensure that your case has fans enough as you'll be dissipating all that heat in the box and you'd not want the MOBO or GC's to melt down.





Astrobuf
Reply:SLi is 2 NVidia Graphic cards put into one motherboard. You can not mix and match graphics card for SLi either. It has to be the same model and brand. So if i wanted 8800GT SLi, I would need to buy 2x EVGA (or whatever brand) for it to be in SLi. Go with 8800GT SLi btw. Don't bother with 9600GT.





Watts is how much the power supply will be able to provide for a system. Go buy a 500-750W PSU to accomodate your system.

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