SLI GeForce question

[Hateshinai]

I decided to treat my PC to a graphic card upgrade. I am currently running a 512mb GeForce 9600GT. It seems that the best price-to-performance result would be to add a second card in SLI configuration. I know that it also has to be a 512mb 9600GT but I was wondering whether it has to be from the same manufacturer (XSX) as the one I have or whether any 512 9600GT will work?
Wikipedia says that different manufactures' cards will work but I would like confirmation from someone who has actually done this before.
Thanks.

[Ziggy]

In my opinion, SLI is retarded. I know the price of an 9600 by now would be pretty low, which I guess is what you mean by price-to-performance, but you could just get one card that's better than both 9600's for not that much too. Using only one card would avoid the hassle of SLI.

But if you decide to go the dual video card route, just make sure of two things: One, your power supply is strong enough to handle them both. You can usually get the power requirements from the card's website. I don't know what kind of box you got, but if it's a brand name with a stock power supply it's most definitely garbage. And if you DO decide to upgrade your power supply, don't even bother if you're only willing to drop $20-50 on it. Trust me, it'll just be a waste of money. I wouldn't recommend spending under $100 on one.

And two: make sure your tower can handle the extra heat generated by a second card.

[Niode]

I wouldn't bother. The HD4870 will wipe the floor with both 9600GTs and can be had for less than £80. The HD5770 is the best bang for buck card going, gives you DX11 and will play every single game currently available at more than 30-40fps at 1080p. The card is a total beast and it costs less than £130.

SLi isn't worth the hassle because if you play any games that don't support SLi then you will only get the performance of one card. If you are sensitive to horizontal tearing and require v-sync, SLi will absolutely suck the performance out of the engine to the point where it's worse if you have SLi enabled in some games, and SLi causes horizontal tearing to be twice as noticeable. I'd just avoid SLi at all costs. Stick with single GPU solutions.

[Hateshinai]

Thanks for the suggestions. The thing is, I can get a used second 9600GT for 40 euros (US$ 55)so that is very tempting.
I originally bought the PC with the intention to make it SLI so the power supply and heat are not a problem.

[Niode]

I still think it's worth the extra dosh for a full upgrade. SLi will just end up causing problems. Especially since the 9600GT is such a poor performer anyway (the 8800 GT outperforms it).

What's the specs on the rest of the system?

[Ziggy]

Not to mention you'll be using more power for both cards and creating more heat. If you use a single and more powerful card you'll avoid both those things, making for a more stable system.