Are all single 8800m and 9800m GTXs Sli capable

Hi, I just want to clear up my understanding of the 8800m and 9800m GT/GTXs.

Is the MXM specification 2.1 type III cards for these GPUs all Sli capable. Therefore if you buy one and at a later date want to put it in Sli (machine permitting) with the same card, is this possible, or do these cards come in two different flavours: Sli and non-Sli.

Thanks.

 

As long as they have the same vBIOS yes, they can be put into multi-GPU mode so long as you have the D901C's SLi bridge.

 

Does that mean if I bought a used GPU for Sli from another machine that used the same MXM type as mine, that it might not work because the vBIOS would be specific to the laptop brand it came from?

 

I bought 2x 9800m GTX for SLi purposes a while ago, and despite correctly connecting everything, they refused to work in tandem in my D901C.

Both GPUs were the same vendor hex code (Clevo/Kapok Computer), but a different device ID. One had an ID of 0617, and the other had an ID of 060C (I think). Anyway, turned out the ID of 060C was for a Clevo M570RU-U, and the vBIOS had SLi disabled.

Solution: Dump the vBIOS of the 0617 9800M GTX, and then flash it onto the 060C 9800M GTX. Override all warnings of a differing device ID. It worked for me. Both have worked in tandem for ~8 months now. Haven't had any problems.

Before you do any flashing though, make sure that they first won't work in tandem no matter what you try with drivers, or triple checking the SLi bridge is connected. I stuck the bridge on the cards with multiple layers of electrical tape in order to rule that out.

 

Thanks. I didn't know that the vBIOS held that sort of information on laptop models.

So I presume that buying a generic new 9800M GTX shouldn't be a problem? Just if you used a native one from another branded laptop, or even same branded but different model.

 

As long as they are the same type (MXM III 2.1), model (9800M GTX + 9800M GTX etc), and connected with an SLi bridge, you should be set.

Note that Asus uses a proprietary MXM connector, which means it will not be compatible with your D901C. Same goes for Dell, and maybe Alienware. Can't be sure of that, however.