Hullo there PCHF , i have an Intel 945 GNT motherboard and a XFX GeForce 7300 LE Graphics card on one of its PCIe slots. I want to use its SLI functionality , what i want to know is ,

1. Do i have to use an identical card for the SLI?
2. Can i use a 8 series OR a better end graphics card for SLI with this card? If so which one would you recommend?
3. How much performance boost do i get?

And lastly how do i go about all this SLI thing? Do i just put the cards in their respective slots and do something with the driver software or do i have to dome some extra wiring or connections or something?

Waiting for your response,
KW

1. For SLI identical cards are required, it will only work this way because the load needs to be shared evenly
2. This question is now redundant
3. Up to 90%

But just thought i should be safe, but from what i can find these mother boards support neither SLi nor Crossfire, and i dont think your video card does either, those boards need 2 PCI-e x16 ports, these mobos only have one, but if you can afford it, getting an 8 series card would probably increase performance by more that 4 times, and if you got a high end one then by more than 8, but more to the point, going SLi with those cards isnt worth it, just get a new, more powerful card, hope this helps, if you would like a recomendation on a replacement card then you may want to give details about your upgrade budget

EDIT: forgot to mention, if you are upgrading to a faster card, almost all cards on the market today require a lot extra power so you should check that you PSU is up for the job

Oh and just to clarify, what are you intending to use this card for, because if you wish to game the 7300LE WILL NOT cut it. i can guarantee that upgrading to an 8 series will massively increase your performance in games

My motherboard has just one PCIe 16x slot and and 2 PCIe 1x slot! i dont knw if it will support or not thats why i posted this thread here! My current card gives me acceptable performance with most of todays games working smoothly on medium settings (eg. Lost Planet , Overlord , C&C 3 , Stalker etc)

The thing is its not even been a year since i got my 7300LE so i dont want to scrap it! hence the SLI option. If i buy a new card my budget is around $200 but then again i am not sure of its availabilty in my country.

Anyways so if my motherboard does support SLI , i can put another 7600 LE card and get 90% better performance right?

And what about the technicality , wirings and evrything or is it just plug and configure? I think my smps is powerful enough for the SLI thing plus 7600 LE has a cooling fan of its own

You have me confused, are we talking about a 7600LE or 7300LE, and no UP TO 90% peformance increase, some games just dont like to be run in SLI, some will be 90% some will be -5% if they dont scale well, and another problem is that most intel chipsets only support crossfire without BIOS hacks, who is the manufacturer of your mobo, and if possible a link to the maker's website, or is it just an intel model?

EDIT: to use SLi you dont need extra cables, but you will get better performance with an SLi bridge on higher end cards

Another thing, what resolution do you play games at?