Thursday, September 17th 2020

NVIDIA GeForce 456.38 WHQL Released: Ampere Support, SLI Finally Dead

Sep 17th, 2020 10:41 Discuss (91 Comments)

NVIDIA today released the latest version of GeForce Game Ready software. Version 456.38 WHQL comes with support for the new GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 "Ampere" graphics cards. The mammoth software release also adds optimization for "Fortnite" with RTX and DLSS on all GeForce RTX GPUs. The new NVIDIA Reflex technology is formally launched, with support for "Fortnite" and "Valorant." Reflex is supported on all NVIDIA GPUs going back to the GTX 900 series "Maxwell." Optimizations are also added for "Halo 3: OSDT" and "Mafia: Definitive Edition." Also introduced are the NVIDIA Broadcast app, and a host of new GeForce Experience features, including in-game performance/overlay, one-click performance tuning, HDR ShadowPlay Capture, AV1 decoding, support for new G-SYNC compatible displays.

Buried in the bowels of the driver change-log is a big disclosure, that the RTX 30-series "Ampere" GPUs don't support SLI (as in implicit multi-GPU), only explicit multi-GPU through modern APIs such as DirectX 12 and Vulkan (if supported by the game). NVIDIA has already restricted the NVLink interface needed for SLI only to its topmost RTX 3090 SKU, so the lack of implicit multi-GPU effectively marks the end of SLI for future GPUs. That said, the technology itself is very much present on all GPUs that support it, provided games do. NVIDIA announced the GeForce RTX 30 series "Watch Dogs: Legion" + GeForce NOW bundle. Buying a new GeForce RTX 30-series graphics card now comes with a year's membership of the GeForce NOW cloud gaming service, plus you get the next chapter in the Watch Dogs franchise, which supports a ton of NVIDIA RTX features, possibly including DLSS 8K.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 456.38 Game Ready Drivers

The change-log follows.

Game Ready

Fortnite RTX: This new Game Ready Driver provides support for Fortnite's dramatic new update which adds raytraced effects, NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex, and a custom RTX map.
Halo 3: ODST: Mafia: The Definitive Edition.

Gaming Technology

Includes support for GeForce RTX 3080 and 3090 GPUs
GeForce Experience Automatic Performance Tuning for GeForce RTX 30-series and RTX 20-series
GeForce Experience in-game performance monitoring for GeForce GTX 600 series and above
ShadowPlay gameplay recording now supports HDR on GTX 900-series and above (RTX 3090 can capture 8K 30fps HDR)
NVIDIA Broadcast app with AI-powered noise removal and virtual background
5 New G-SYNC Compatible Monitors

New Features
Supports CUDA 11.1

SLI Profiles

Baldur's Gate 3
Comanche (NVIDIA Turing GPUs and later)
Crusader Kings III
Disintegration (NVIDIA Turing GPUs and later)
Population Zero
RIDE 4 (NVIDIA Turing GPUs and later)
Rocket Arena (NVIDIA Turing GPUs and later)
The Blackout Club (NVIDIA Turing GPUs and later)

SLI

Implicit SLI Disabled on NVIDIA Ampere GPUs
Implicit SLI, where the driver makes assumptions with application profiles to achieve GPU scaling, is disabled on NVIDIA Ampere GPUs. Explicit SLI is still supported, where the application knows the SLI state and uses extensions (such as DirectX 12 linked nodes, Vulkan device groups, or OpenGL multicast extensions) to issue commands to each device in the SLI group.

Fixed Issues

[Batman Arkham Knight]: Enabling Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling on PhysX games results in lower frame rate.[2988376]
[Call of Duty: Modern Warfare]: The game may intermittently see a drop in frame rate when ray tracing is enabled. [3050468]
[Detroit: Become Human]: The game may crash. [3037846]
[Forza Horizon 4]: Stuttering occurs in the game after racing a few laps. [3101001]
[Horizon Zero Dawn The Complete Edition]: Flickering and texture corruption occurs in game after setting Anisotropic Filtering to 16x from the NVIDIA Control Panel. [200638389]
[madVR][MPC-HC]: Various HDR issues occur when using the madVR renderer with MPC-HC. [3038381]
[Minecraft Java Edition;]: The game may crash when launched with XSplit Broadcaster running in the background. [3052464]
[World of Warcraft]: Objects randomly flicker. [3101638]
Video playback on the secondary display lags/freezes while playing a game on the primary display if Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling is enabled [200586262]
[Notebook]: Display is not detected when connected to Thunderbolt 3 port on HP Spectre x360-15t-df100 Notebook. [3087076]
[Notebook][NVIDIA Control Panel]: With Clone mode set, only the Developer pages are visible in the NVIDIA Control Panel after hot-plugging a DisplayPort/HDMI Freesync display. [200637570]
[Notebook]: When a game is played on the primary display and a YouTube video is played on the extended display, viudeo playback is sluggish and stutters. [200586262]
[Pascal GPU][Marvel's Avengers]: The game may crash when switching windows [Alt+Tab] while the game is running. [3101682]

Windows 7 Issues

[Notebook][H-Clone]: With the integrated graphics processor as the clone source, display settings cannot be changed from the NVIDIA Control Panel. [200594188]

Windows 10 Issues

[SLI][G-SYNC][Red Dead Redemption 2 Vulkan]: With SLI + G-SYNC enabled, the games display corruption and a blank screen.[200645671]
[World of Warcraft Shadowlands]: When run at frame rates greater than 60 FPS with high display settings, moving characters display minute twitching/stuttering. [200647563]
[Sunset Overdrive]: The game may display random green corruption if Depth of Field is enabled from in-game settings. [2750770]
[V]}: HDCP errors occur with Valve Index VR. [2967616]
[Call of Duty - Warzone]: Freestyle does not work. (200593020)
[Forza Motorsport 7]: The curb may display a black strip during a race on certain tracks. [2781776]
[Fortnite]: Blue-screen crash occurs pointing to nvlddmkm.sys when playing the game at 4K resolution. [200645328]
To work around, set the resolution to lower than 4k.
[Zombie Army: Dead War 4][Ansel/Freestyle]: The Ansel & Freestyle tabs are unselectable. [2810884]
You may encounter issues installing the NVIDIA Control Panel from the Windows Store.
[Omniverse 2020.2.4496]: Corruption occurs after switching from RTX Real-Time to RTX Path-Traced renderer. [200649160]
[Notebook][H-Clone]: With the integrated graphics processor as the clone source, display settings cannot be changed from the NVIDIA Control Panel. [200594188]
[Notebook]: Some Pascal-based notebooks w/ high refresh rate displays may randomly drop to 60Hz during gameplay. [3009452]
[Notebook]: Performance Power Mode cannot be set from the NVIDIA Control Panel. [200657525]

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91 Comments on NVIDIA GeForce 456.38 WHQL Released: Ampere Support, SLI Finally Dead

#26

ARF

The difference between implicit and explicit. DX12 gives explicit multi-GPU rendering.
So, when you have two Ampere cards attached to your mobo, proper game that is optimised to work with multi-GPU configuration, then it will be fine and ok..

#27

Assimilator

SeyumiLooks like I more people are confused than me. It's a simple question:

I have 19 DirectX 11 games in my Steam library that I know support SLI and have a SLI profile.

If I buy 2x RTX 3090's for that magic 4K 120FPS (minimum) #, will I still be getting proper SLI support on my 19 DX11 games? or has Nvidia just purposely disabled that on the 3000 series and I would only get SLI support on 2000 series GPU's and below?

And the answer is equally simple, and already stated. Read it again.And do not spread FUD about NVIDIA "disabling" anything.

LindatjeAlso still driver errors with call of duty warzone.

That's because the game is a buggy POS. But as long as people like you keep rewarding EA for their failures by buying their buggy POS games, and blaming GPU manufacturers instead of EA, EA will happily take your money and keep churning out buggy POS games. So complain elsewhere, because you're part of the problem.

#28

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer

birdieI'm curious.

I guess pretty soon advances in fabrication will turn miniscule if not cease completely because you can only reduce transistors so much.

When that happens, it will be impossible to create larger and larger dies because it would require wafers of impossible sizes. Also, the video card itself only allows certain die dimensions.

The only way forward would be to stack GPU "cores" like CPU cores in which case it will become impossible to share the computational workload as it's currently done which means an alternative to SLI would be required.

How will NVIDIA/AMD/Intel/Apple/Qualcomm/Samsung/ARM/MediaTek/etc. approach this conundrum? Or will all game engines implement DirectX12/Vulkan multi-GPU scaling? Last time I heard it's extremely difficult to implement and only relatively large game development studios can afford it.

You would be surprised. There is a lot of research going on about possible new transistor architectures to continue to keep shrinking. The next one that most fabs are going to be using for 3nm and smaller is Gate-All-Around FET. Then we will probably be looking at carbon nano-tubes or sheets, etc depending on how effective the GAAFETs end up being at 3nm and 1.2(7)nm. We are in a similar situation with FINFET that we were in with the planar FET as we got to sub 20nm nodes. The conducting path from source to drain is actually getting so small that even if the transistor is off, there may be a flow of some electrons, which we don't want. This is a leakage issue, and a problem due to size of an election and the ever decreasing size of the channel.

#29

R-T-B

ARFThe difference between implicit and explicit. DX12 gives explicit multi-GPU rendering.
So, when you have two Ampere cards attached to your mobo, proper game that is optimised to work

The last sentence is key.

DX12 switches the onus of development for mgpu to game devs, not driver devs. This effectively kills it outside triple-A game studios.

#30

ARF

R-T-BThe last sentence is key.

DX12 switches the onus of development for mgpu to game devs, not driver devs. This effectively kills it outside triple-A game studios.

Well, given the rumours that Nvidia's next-gen Hopper designs will be MCM, then SLi will work in one form or another.

#31

Assimilator

R-T-BThe last sentence is key.

DX12 switches the onus of development for mgpu to game devs, not driver devs. This effectively kills it outside triple-A game studios.

I guess my mistake was expecting users on a supposed "tech enthusiast" forum to understand the basics of multi-GPU, when what they think is "multi-GPU make game go brrrrr". Imagine if they cared enough to educate themselves!

ARFWell, given the rumours that Nvidia's next-gen Hopper designs will be MCM, then SLi will work in one form or another.

Yes, in exactly the same way that AMD's intercore interconnects on Zen are like SLI!

Which is to say, completely different in every way except the most basic description.

#32

R-T-B

I feel you, but gave up educating a while ago when I discovered flat earthers and those types roaming here... yikes.

Anyhow, back to the topic before we drift.

#33

kapone32

AssimilatorApparently you can't read either. The changelog states "Implicit SLI Disabled on NVIDIA Ampere GPUs". It does not state "Implicit SLI Disabled on NVIDIA Ampere GPUs except in DirectX 11".

There is no SLI on Ampere. There is multi-GPU support if and only if it's implemented via a graphics API. DirectX 11 does not have multi-GPU functionality, therefore no DirectX 11 games can have any sort of multi-GPU support on Ampere.

Does the 3090 not support NVlink just like the 2080TI.

#34

birdie

MxPhenom 216You would be surprised. There is a lot of research going on about possible new transistor architectures to continue to keep shrinking. The next one that most fabs are going to be using for 3nm and smaller is Gate-All-Around FET. Then we will probably be looking at carbon nano-tubes or sheets, etc depending on how effective the GAAFETs end up being at 3nm and 1.2(7)nm. We are in a similar situation with FINFET that we were in with the planar FET as we got to sub 20nm nodes. The conducting path from source to drain is actually getting so small that even if the transistor is off, there may be a flow of some electrons, which we don't want. This is a leakage issue, and a problem due to size of an election and the ever decreasing size of the channel.

There's a limit to miniaturization and your reply doesn't deal with it at the slightest. There will be time when nothing could be done to make transistors smaller and faster, and performance could be increased only by stacking dies at the expense of infinitely increasing power consumption.

#35

moproblems99

kapone32I know that there are tons of people that think Multi GPU is passe but at the end of the day it is my computer and my money to do with as I please.

That is true. Just don't complain because there is no support when you're told there is no support. Not directed at you. Royal and stuff.

#36

R-T-B

kapone32Does the 3090 not support NVlink just like the 2080TI.

Physically, yes, but the software has never existed to use SLI on it with the 3090. I'm sure you could use it somehow, but not for SLI.

#37

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer

birdieThere's a limit to miniaturization and your reply doesn't deal with it at the slightest. There will be time when nothing could be done to make transistors smaller and faster, and performance could be increases only by stacking dies at the expense of infinitely increasing power consumption.

We are still pretty far out from actually having to worry about that. I was expecting us to really have to worry about it once we got to below 5nm, but that doesn't seem to be the case. There are fabs coming out with different ways of doing the stacked dies packaging. Zero real implementation so far though. TSMCs 3DFabric could be pretty promising.

#38

Seyumi

@Assimilator such hostility in your answers but thank you for answering none the less. Apologies that I'm not 100% up to speed on what explicit vs implicit SLI/Multi-GPU means. Goggle didn't provide any clear answers before I posted. I also don't know how framing my question (of Nvidia disabling SLI for 3000 series) in the form of a question is considered spreading "FUD" like you mentioned. I didn't explicitly say Nvidia did this, I was simply asking if that's what the driver release notes meant since I was a bit confused. I have 2x RTX 2080 Ti's in SLI/NvLink. I was thinking of going 2x RTX 3090's to now push 4K 120FPS (minimum) on my LG OLED but it looks like i'll just be sticking to 1x RTX 3090 instead.

#39

rtwjunkie

PC Gaming Enthusiast

KrzychWell obviously for Ampere GPUs, this is what this article is about, why would anyone even think I am talking about previous series...

You yourself asked why they were removing SLI support from previous ones.

And let's be clear, any older games you had that benefited from SLI would not need it anymore with this One card.

#40

birdie

MxPhenom 216We are still pretty far out from actually having to worry about that. I was expecting us to really have to worry about it once we got to below 5nm, but that doesn't seem to be the case. There are fabs coming out with different ways of doing the stacked dies packaging. Zero real implementation so far though.

5nm CPUs are already produced (Apple's A14X) and I've already started worrying. Also, I'm not an engineer but AMD's 7nm CPUs/GPUs have become a lot harder to cool down than their higher nanometers counterparts. It seems to me we've already started hitting a brick wall in terms of efficiency and heat dissipation and it could get even worse going forward.

#41

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer

birdie5nm CPUs are already produced (Apple's A14X) and I've already started worrying. Also, I'm not an engineer but AMD's 7nm CPUs/GPUs have become a lot harder to cool down than their higher nanometers counterparts. It seems to me we've already started hitting brick wall in terms of efficiency and heat dissipation and it could be even worse going forward.

Designs play a huge roll in that though. Plus there's a lot of crazy things you can do to a FINFET to improve efficiency and the heat issue. Lithography method used helps a lot. There is a pretty huge shift in the industry to EUV now for some 7nm nodes and smaller.

My job we are dealing with 12nm and soon 7nm. Our dies are also smaller than 30mm^2

semiengineering.com/knowledge_centers/manufacturing/lithography/euv/

#42

TheLostSwede

News Editor

videocardz.com/press-release/nvidia-sli-support-transitioning-to-native-game-integrations

#43

DemonicRyzen666

AssimilatorI guess my mistake was expecting users on a supposed "tech enthusiast" forum to understand the basics of multi-GPU, when what they think is "multi-GPU make game go brrrrr". Imagine if they cared enough to educate themselves!

Yes, in exactly the same way that AMD's intercore interconnects on Zen are like SLI!

Which is to say, completely different in every way except the most basic description.

If you where an PC Enthusiast you won't want SLI or Xfire to die at all. What gamers want is SLI and Xfire to die.

AssimilatorI guess my mistake was expecting users on a supposed "tech enthusiast" forum to understand the basics of multi-GPU, when what they think is "multi-GPU make game go brrrrr". Imagine if they cared enough to educate themselves!

Yes, in exactly the same way that AMD's intercore interconnects on Zen are like SLI!

Which is to say, completely different in every way except the most basic description.

Are you saying the next gpu would have a central hub for chiplets ?

#44

Seyumi

[/QUOTE]

TheLostSwedevideocardz.com/press-release/nvidia-sli-support-transitioning-to-native-game-integrations

Thanks. That article actually answers my question more clearly than this Techpowerup article and even tells you the exact games that would work in DX12 multi-GPU mode on the 3090 and future GPU's.

Key points:

Existing SLI driver profiles will continue to be tested and maintained for SLI-ready RTX 20 Series and earlier GPUs.

For GeForce RTX 3090 and future SLI-capable GPUs, SLI will only be supported when implemented natively within the game.

AKA, if I buy 2x SLI RTX 3090's, I can kiss the SLI support on my 19 DX11 SLI supported games in my Steam library goodbye on using both GPU's therefore I'm only getting 1 RTX 3090 and downsizing my system to something smaller such as ITX or MATX.

#45

Krzych

rtwjunkieYou yourself asked why they were removing SLI support from previous ones.

And let's be clear, any older games you had that benefited from SLI would not need it anymore with this One card.

Not very good at reading I see. Try again:

KrzychI don't get it. I understand that SLI is not going to be supported in future games, nobody expects that at this point, but to disable all support for existing ones?

"Existing games". Not much to do with "previous GPU generations". But whatever, let's call it a misunderstanding.

The other thing I am not even going to comment on, too much impotency in one sentence.

#46

mouacyk

Does anyone with tweaking experience and driver experience know why NVidia is preventing implicit SLI on 3090, since it should come naturally free? Is this an artificial limitation, or is there something in Ampere that would be impossible or too much work to maintain support for implicit SLI?

#47

moob

AssimilatorThat's because the game is a buggy POS. But as long as people like you keep rewarding EA for their failures by buying their buggy POS games, and blaming GPU manufacturers instead of EA, EA will happily take your money and keep churning out buggy POS games. So complain elsewhere, because you're part of the problem.

...Activision publishes Warzone.

#48

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer

AssimilatorHoly shit some of you people are dumb.

NVIDIA is not "taking SLI away" on Ampere, because SLI on Ampere was never there to begin with.

But the second card will do nothing.

Unless you have a specific game that you know implements mGPU support via a graphics API, there is no point in buying more than one RTX 3000-series card.

AssimilatorAnd the answer is equally simple, and already stated. Read it again.And do not spread FUD about NVIDIA "disabling" anything.
LindatjeAlso still driver errors with call of duty warzone.
That's because the game is a buggy POS. But as long as people like you keep rewarding EA for their failures by buying their buggy POS games, and blaming GPU manufacturers instead of EA, EA will happily take your money and keep churning out buggy POS games. So complain elsewhere, because you're part of the problem.

Well that didnt age well. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Call of Duty Warzone is not an EA title. Get off the high horse you seem to be on right now.

#49

Rob94hawk

Well if they could come up with a way to utilize all the cpu's with useless integrated graphics that would be great.

#50

moproblems99

mouacykDoes anyone with tweaking experience and driver experience know why NVidia is preventing implicit SLI on 3090, since it should come naturally free? Is this an artificial limitation, or is there something in Ampere that would be impossible or too much work to maintain support for implicit SLI?

Because they don't want to do the driver work because that driver work is not naturally free.

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NVIDIA GeForce 456.38 WHQL Released: Ampere Support, SLI Finally Dead

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