I am going to upgrade my motherboard to an SLi board. Not sure which motherboard, I just know it's going to be and SLi board.

The problem I'm having is with my 3D card. I know it is a Leadtek 7600GS (Winfast), but I look on the Leadtek site, and there are like 6 different models.

There is: TDH, TDH Extreme, TDH HDMI, TDH Extreme DD3, TDH Low Profile, and TDH Classic Edition.

This wouldn't be a problem if I still had the box my card came with.. But I don't.

Does the edition matter when it comes to SLi? I'm about 70% sure my card is a TDH, or a TDH extreme.. my card has no fans, just a huge heatsink on it.

All the versions I can find online of the 7600GS have fans or other little gizmos.

Is there a program to tell which "edition" I have?

And does edition matter when it comes to SLi? Or just the series? i.e. 7 series

Or should I just upgrade Video cards while I'm at it? Sure it'd cost more, but I can save..

Search carefully for codes or some information on the card which may help you find your model. If this doesn't work for you, then try some software that might help you identify your video card or look for your card specs and match your card with the cards on the website that has the most similar specs.

I cant help you much in SLI because i m not an expert in it and i never had experience with it.

Thanks.

My primary system specs:
Pentium 4 530J @ 3.15 GHz
Asus P5S800-VM
Kingston ddr 1 gb
Westren Digital WD800BB
ATi Radeon 9600 @ 390 Gpu, 250 Memory MHz
Windows Vista+Xp using Xp

Forget SLI .... sell your 7600GS & upgrade to a single card that's much faster.

I'm with Sabertooth. The 7600GS is not a great gaming card...two of them in SLi won't be much of an improvement. You'd end up shelling out money for a board, a 2nd card & very possibly a new PSU (SLI certified), only to be very disappointed with the performance.

Dump the 7600GS & buy a single good card.

I see.. I'm with an Asus M2N-E motherboard, thats why I was thinking of upgrading. It's really picky with RAM..

And my games lag, I only have 1g of RAM.. I don't really understand the manual. For instance, since I have 1G ram.

The manual says it's compatible with: KVR533D2N4/1G*

I unknowingly bought: KVR667D2N4/1G

THEN, for the "*" fine print it says: Supports 4 modules inserted into both the blue and black slots as two pairs of Dual-Channel memory configuration.

I have 0 clue what that means. I actually bought 2 gigs of RAM, but it kept bluescreening every 5 minutes or so. So I took 1 gig out, and it works fine.

What the hell!?

Good board choice.

The manual is only as new as the day it was printed. You should get the latest info available from the Asus website. Here's what is listed about memory:

"Memory - Dual channel memory architecture 4 x 240-pin DIMM, support max. 8GB DDR2 800/667/533 ECC and non-ECC, un-buffered memory"

You should have no problem with the Kingston DDR2-667 ValueRAM, however, it's possible that you got a defective module. Download memtest86 v3.3 & test your RAM for errors. This is something that should ALWAYS be done with new RAM.

http://www.memtest86.com/download.html

If you wanna know exactly which brands of RAM have been tested & recommended by Asus, download the QVL (Qualified Vendors List) from the left hand column:

http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?...

There are also numerous BIOS settings that should be tweaked. Simply clicking "Fail-Safe Defaults" or "Optimized Defaults" will not provide the best performance.

There are Windows tweaks that can be done too, not to mention making sure you have the latest chipset drivers & video drivers installed.

You never did mention which games you're trying to run & at what settings, & what exactly the problems are with them.

As for Dual Channel mode...it's a way of combining the bandwidth of two sticks of RAM (or two pairs of RAM) to increase the amount of data they can handle.

Your DDR2-667 RAM is also called PC2-5300. The '5300' is the approx bandwidth the RAM can handle when run at the default speed of 333MHz, in single channel mode. So the bandwidth of your RAM is approx 5300MB/sec (actually, it's 5333MB/sec but it's rounded to 5300).

If you install two 1GB sticks of DDR2-667 in single channel mode, the max bandwidth they can handle is 5333MB/sec. But if you install them in dual channel mode, they could theoretically handle a max of 10666MB/sec.

Can someone explain what this means? This is just beyond my grasp of computer-speak.. :(

"Supports 4 modules inserted into both the blue and black slots as two pairs of Dual-Channel memory configuration."

Also, can someone recommend a good 3D card?

"Can someone explain what this means?"

I thought I did? To run your RAM in dual channel mode, you either need a matched pair installed in the blue slots or in black slots...if you were to install one stick in the black & one in the blue, you will run single channel mode. If you have two matched pairs, one pair goes in the black slots & the other in the blue slots.

"Also, can someone recommend a good 3D card?"

You'd have to give us an idea of how much you're willing to spend. This should help:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/05...

jam is correct....

However, I'll like to add that while having a matched pair for dual channel configuration might be the ideal - it is not a fundamental requirement for dual channel to work. In many cases just about any two decent modules will work regardless of the manufacturer, memory size or even rated speed; but they do have to be from the same DDR family. The kicker sometimes is that there are motherboards that are notoriously picky with modules.

Alllright. So I think I got it. It might of been a defective module for sure.

Can someone tell me if this set up would be OK: Currently in the first slot, I only have a 1gig stick.

Would it be ok if I added another gig so they could be side-by-side. Then in the other 2 slots, I could but 2 512mb sticks.

Would that setup be OK? As long as they're in the same color slots, and I'll try to keep them all 667.

Also I checked that link, 3D cards went up to about $500.. that price is pretty steep for me.. Can someone recommend a good 3D card around the budget of $200?

Can I get an opinion on this:

"Can someone tell me if this set up would be OK: Currently in the first slot, I only have a 1gig stick.

Would it be ok if I added another gig so they could be side-by-side (In the same color slots). Then in the other 2 [same color] slots, put 2 512mb sticks?"

Please keep in mind "Supports 4 modules inserted into both the blue and black slots as two pairs of Dual-Channel memory configuration.", thanks!