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I am a first time builder and while I have the basic understanding of how to put a computer together, one final thing eludes me. What are the requirements for instaling 2 or more graphics cards on a computer? Example: EVGA 015-P3-1589-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) FTW Hydro Copper 2 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

ECS NGTX580-1536PI-F GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

I am not planning on buying either of these cards in the near future. I simply am using them as an example because of the number of differences. As I understand it these two cards will work together (given the proper motherboard) because the only thing that matters is that they are both GeForce GTX 580. Is my assumption correct? If not, why?

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You can mount sli configurations with different manufacturers, but ensure they are same model, ie, GTX 580. Anyway, consider 2 cards usually use more power, produce more warming, and probably noise. (besides the mother board needs to be big enough and be compatible with that configuration. )

Sometimes diferent models can work together when it's really that the manufacturer is actually giving a new name to a slightly retouched old mid or high end ones, but internals are pretty similar (happens with some gts models and older mid/high end cards)

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thank you very much. that tells me everything i need to know. –  Aaron Feb 23 '11 at 6:44
You're welcome :) –  S.gfx Feb 23 '11 at 8:16
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