I have 2 graphics cards in my computer both are nvidia Geforce 7600's and a LP NF4 series motherboard. The motherboard has the nForce 4 chipset. what I'm wondering is if having 2 graphics cards is just like having a dual core processor where they just share the load or will they let me play games with better graphics than I could with just one of them?
After some more research, turns out your board does not officially support SLI. And it is suppose to run at 16x/2x.
You can modify it to run SLI though.
Yeah, one says PCI-E x16@x2.That should have no real affect, and definitely wouldn't make it not be able to SLI. A 7600gs wouldn't be bottlenecked at 2x. Lots of lower end boards only do 16x/4x crossfire (ati cards' SLI). But I have to admit I've never seen 2x.
Download GPUz, and tell me what it says about the second card-
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1837/TechPowerUp_GPU-Z_v0.4.4.html
Down at the bottom left you choose which card. Obviously there should be two. About in the middle on the right side is the Bus Interface. That will show whether it truly is running at 2x or not.
Got it-
http://www.anandtech.com/show/1590/2
You have to remove the fan/heatsink on the chipset on your board and put some kind of conductive material to jump the two pins. I've heard of some people getting away with using a number 2 pencil and rubbing it in between the two pins but that seems kinda sketchy at best. It has worked for some, but I've look into a more permanent solution as pencil lead can wear away anyway.
Don't forget to get some new thermal paste to put back on the chipset there for the heatsink. Clean the original off with a dry paper towel, both the chipset and the heatsink. Then just put a small rice size grain (if that) drop on the little raised square pad (which is what gets hot).
No problem man, it was bugging me why it wasn't working LOL. Just don't forget to read in the manual how to properly set the jumpers for SLI so it runs at the correct 8x/8x.