Playing older games possible with newest GPU ? (i.e GTX 580)

Hi guys.

My plan is to buy 1x GTX580x first. I will be playing good older games for the next couple months, then I'll buy a 2nd GTX580x (to set SLI with my first one) and start playing most recent game. But I have 2 concerns:

1st: SINGLE (1-way, non-SLI) mode (i.e 1x GTX580x):
I've heard that the GTX serie (or any recent serie) may have problem running older games because the card is simply too recent. Is that True ? (my feeling is that they just forgot to install the proper directx version for these game, but I really gotta make sure).

2nd: SLI mode (2-way, 3-way or 4-way SLI) (i.e GTX580x 3-way SLI):
I've also heard that some (even recent) games have problems running when GPUs are set in SLI (i.e GTX 580x 2-way, 3-way or 4-way SLI). Is that true ? (seems to be the same for ATI in crossfire)

If not, will this be a problem with older games ? (hopes not, cuz I might be forced to buy a single GTX590x instead (which I would not prefer..)


Thanks a lot for you help guys

For SLI on older games that dont work, i think it can be disabled easy enough, maybe even in a driver profile.

As for old games not working. There can be many reasons for old games to not work. On common issue was older games crashing with multi-core cpus.

That issue is fixed by either changing the affinity of the game in the windows task manager(Has to be done on every launch). There is a program called set affinity(i have not seen it much these days, but it can be found on the net) that can make a chance to the game executable to make it always run on a single core.

A game that comes to find that needs that fix is Thief(i think all the old ones). It just crashes on multi core systems. Some old software had this issue as well such as the Creative Audigy 2zs software for windows XP(it made other programs slowww)

Some games just do not like Windows 7(Vista) and 64-bit(if the game is 16-bit)

As for other games, for the most part they should work, but you will run into some with issues.

Is there a game you want to run?

This is my experience with my current setup listed in my sig. SLI compatibility, I cannot confirm.
Half Life 2
Should work no problem
Max Payne 1 et 2,
I own these on Steam, and they work without any major issues.
COD3
Was never released for PC, was console only, which one do you really mean?
DOOM3
This works for me, with the occasional CTD.
BioShock 1,
Works
Mass Effect,
No experience with this game, but it's UE3 so it should work fine
Hitman,
I know Blood Money works for sure.
Thief etc..
To quote Nukemaster "A game that comes to find that needs that fix is Thief(i think all the old ones)." So you would need to set the affinity on that one. Task Manager>Right Click on theif.exe>Set Affinity>Uncheck all but 1 core.

Forgot to post it...well here it is now...

@ cliffro Your quote makes me laugh!!!

To setup SLI to disable on a game. Just what Google came up with....
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1530135

Thief will need to be patched to run on one core or it will crash after a short time.

HL2 is fine
Max Payne is fine. I have them too
I have played Doom3 on rather new hardware.
Bioshock will be fine, its not that old and is a GREAT game.
I think Hitman(have not played this in a while) and COD3? should be good to go.
I have not played mass effect, but it is still newish.

I was expecting DN3D(E_duke32 works) and Quake(winquake works ) old
Scotched Earth does not work its 16 bit and from DOS.

Sorry bout COD3, I meant COD and COD2, System Shock 2 (1999 release), Baldur's Gate I and 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Mafia, Medieval: Total War, Rome: Total War and such games..

1 580 will be able to play any of those games with 100+ fps.