Not for me, but for my brother. He got a single 8800GTX a few months ago when we built his PC, with an SLI motherboard. The intention was that once his system needed a bit more graphical grunt, instead of spending £300 on a new top of the range card, he could just get another 8800GTX which by then would have come down in price a bit.

The question is this - how alike to the cards have to be? I realise they both have to be 8800GTXes ( :P ) but can you mix manufacturers or do they have to be *identical*?

Also, do you need a 'master' and slave' board or will the second card come with everything you need to SLI?

You need to make sure you have enough PCI-e power leads (ie 4 (!) for 2x GTX's), and you need an SLi bridge (comes with mobo). That's it.

For SLi you need two cards of the same memory (it works if they have different amounts, but it's not recommended), of the same line (ie a GTX and a GTX, not a GTS). If the clock speeds are different (ie an overclocked and non-overclocked version) then the clock of the higher card will be lowered to that of the slower card.

In short - any GTX you get will work.

If you really want SLi, a set of G92 GTS'/GT's would be faster and cheaper if he sold the current GTX.

As Long is it's an 8800GTX, it doesn't matter what manufacturer you choose. Sure the Bios maybe Different but the Heart and The PCB Layout is the same regardless of the manufacturer; as a side note you can mix and match clock ranges too but you won't get that performance as you would want from 2 similar clocked 8800gtx's

EDIT: damn too late jack beat me to it lol

Useless fact - all 8800GTX's (and all 8800's) are made by Foxconn. All cards are originally branded "nVidia" - try peeling off the sticker on the fan and see.

EDIT - Another useless fact - all MacBook's are made by Asus.

I lol'd at the macbook bit WOW

Oh crap. Engage brain. 'tis not the 8800's that Foxconn make, it's the reference 680i motherboards (ie the XFX or eVGA ones) that they make.

They don't have to be the same, but c'mon, who wants two DIFFERENT cards in their computer. It looks so much cooler when you have two of the same

Sell the GTX then sli two GT's

Why? That wouldn't be as powerful would it? Unless I'm missing something.

Don't worry, people seem to have misread the bit about getting another GTX.

2 GTXs are fast than 2 (new) GTSs.

A set of G92 GTS's would be almost as fast while costing quite a bit less, in fact assuming a GTX is £300, and a GTS is £200, in an SLi setup you would save £200, which is enough to get a 24" monitor, and it would be roughly 95% as fast.

Yes, but you'd have a job selling the GTX we already have for £300.

The card in question is an OcUK branded card which is going for £240 new on overclockers.co.uk

Used GTX cards are going for no more than £160 or so on Ebay

So it's £240 for a new GTX.

or

£160 profit minus 2 x £180 (average price of a GT) = £200 spent -> only £40 difference for a *lot* more hassle and a bit less speed.