Maximum PC

I'm wanting to buy a new video card to run an SLI setup, so I have a few questions. Does the card need to be the exact same P/N code that is on the back of box/video card? For instance right now I'm running a EVGA GTX 460 model number NVC4. So I plan on buying the same video card, but when looking online the same model number was not available. A newer model number is available. The GTX 460 that I have has one terabyte of memory, its speed is 1.44 GHz with 336 unified shader units, the core clock speed is 675 MHz. So what I'm wondering is do I have to get the exact same card that is in my system right now? Or can it be a new version of it? Also does it need to be the same memory bus?

If you could help me out and I really appreciate it,
James

Video card uses: Gaming and 3-D modeling

What is the exact product number? (e.g. 01G-P3-1371-TR)

As most of the 400 series are being deactived right now, it will be hard pressed to find the exact 460 that you have right now, but you can run another 460 that is similar provided its the same chip with the same shader count and memory bandwidth; you can get a faster 460 (since most are much faster than yours), but it will downclock to the speed of your 460. You don't have to stay with EVGA either, so you can mix and match gpu makers as long as they are the same chip.

Honestly, the only thing I'd say is maybe checked the used market and pick up the 2nd one that way instead of buying them new; the few vendors that have them still are uber expensive and you don't get your price/performance out of it. You'd might be better of just replacing the 460 with a more modern gpu.

I believe rule of thumb is as long as it's of the same GPU (GTX 460 with another GTX 460), it should be fine. And some might as go far as to say the same GPU core architecture (GF104 to any GF104), even if they're different names. But I could be wrong on that.