NVIDIA SLI (Scalable Link Interface) technology allows multiple graphics processing units (GPUs) to work together to process workloads, such as games or professional applications, for increased performance. While support for SLI has significantly decreased in recent NVIDIA GeForce generations, historically, many cards across both the consumer-grade GeForce and professional Quadro lines were SLI-enabled.
NVIDIA Quadro Cards with SLI Support
A range of NVIDIA Quadro FX professional graphics cards were designed to support SLI configurations, allowing users to leverage multiple GPUs for demanding workstation tasks, including rendering and scientific visualization. For SLI Frame Rendering and SLI FSAA (Full Scene Anti-Aliasing), two identical cards were typically required.
Here is a list of NVIDIA Quadro FX cards that are SLI-enabled:
- Quadro FX 5600
- Quadro FX 5500
- Quadro FX 4600
- Quadro FX 4500
- Quadro FX 4400
- Quadro FX 3500
- Quadro FX 3450
- Quadro FX 3400
- Quadro FX 1500
- Quadro FX 1400
- Quadro FX 560
- Quadro FX 550
- Quadro FX 540
- Quadro FX 350
NVIDIA GeForce Cards with SLI Support
For the consumer market, SLI was a prominent feature in high-end GeForce graphics cards for many years, primarily aimed at gaming enthusiasts seeking maximum frame rates. SLI required compatible motherboards and often a physical SLI bridge to connect the cards.
Historically, the following GeForce series and specific high-end models often supported SLI:
- GeForce 7 Series: High-end models like the GeForce 7800 GTX, 7900 GTX.
- GeForce 8 Series: High-end models such as the GeForce 8800 GTX, 8800 Ultra.
- GeForce 9 Series: GeForce 9800 GTX, 9800 GX2 (dual-GPU card that internally used SLI).
- GeForce 200 Series: GTX 260, GTX 275, GTX 280, GTX 285.
- GeForce 400 Series (Fermi): GTX 460, GTX 465, GTX 470, GTX 480.
- GeForce 500 Series (Fermi): GTX 560 Ti, GTX 570, GTX 580, GTX 590 (dual-GPU).
- GeForce 600 Series (Kepler): GTX 660, GTX 660 Ti, GTX 670, GTX 680, GTX 690 (dual-GPU).
- GeForce 700 Series (Kepler/Maxwell): GTX 760, GTX 770, GTX 780, GTX 780 Ti, GTX Titan, GTX Titan Black.
- GeForce 900 Series (Maxwell): GTX 970, GTX 980, GTX 980 Ti, GTX Titan X.
- GeForce 10 Series (Pascal): High-end cards like the GTX 1070, GTX 1080, GTX 1080 Ti, and Titan X Pascal were the last generation to broadly support SLI for gaming, though often limited to 2-way configurations.
- GeForce RTX 20 Series (Turing): Only the very high-end cards, specifically the RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti, supported NVLink, which was the spiritual successor to SLI for multi-GPU setups. NVLink offered higher bandwidth but was supported by fewer applications.
The Decline of SLI
It's important to note that SLI support has largely been phased out in newer generations of NVIDIA's consumer graphics cards (GeForce RTX 30 Series and beyond). This is due to several factors:
- Game Optimization Challenges: Many game developers found it difficult to optimize titles for multi-GPU setups, leading to inconsistent performance benefits.
- Performance Scaling Issues: Scaling often wasn't linear, meaning two cards rarely delivered double the performance of one.
- Rise of Single Powerful GPUs: The performance of single, high-end GPUs has become powerful enough to meet most gaming demands.
- Power Consumption and Cost: Running multiple GPUs increases power consumption, heat, and overall system cost.
While SLI was a significant feature for a period, it is no longer a primary focus for NVIDIA's consumer product line, with professional multi-GPU solutions (like NVLink for specific data center or Quadro GPUs) continuing to evolve separately.
