How To: Enable SLI on pre-i7/i5 hardware

[anatolymik]

1 + 1/2

http://www.thetrailingedge.com/images/products/asus-a8n-e-big.jpg

one x16 slot + one "x4 ASUS Universal PCIE Slot" (GPUz shows this actually runs at x2)

I had to install the driver first then reboot, then I tried HALmod NickDvB rev2 and 0.9, no BSODs but still no SLI. Something makes me think that the driver somehow "decides" to enable SLI during the install (when I get the BSOD) maybe changing the HALmod after the driver is installed will not work?

wait i' making rev3

 

[Nick [D]vB]

ok 8)

 

[anatolymik]

http://depositfiles.com/files/69gnjpjkl

try this. if sli still not work try to install driver with this HALMod and see

 

[Nick [D]vB]

OK I will try it now...

 

[Nick [D]vB]

Sorry no SLI... I removed and cleaned the drivers, rebooted and installed the HALmod rev3, then rebooted and installed the drivers. There was no BSOD during the driver install this time. I also did a quick system restore to remove anu junk, but same results. The last DSDT you sent me looks ok, new Everest detects the SLI cert ok, is it worth testing the others? I will try modded drivers now, anyting else to try?

 

[anatolymik]

Sorry no SLI... I removed and cleaned the drivers, rebooted and installed the HALmod rev3, then rebooted and installed the drivers. There was no BSOD during the driver install this time. I also did a quick system restore to remove anu junk, but same results. The last DSDT you sent me looks ok, new Everest detects the SLI cert ok, is it worth testing the others? I will try modded drivers now, anyting else to try?

i'm thinking. i may need for a couple of days. this evening i'll do experiment.

 

[Nick [D]vB]

No change with modded drivers, SLI bridge etc. Do you think re-installing the drivers each time is important?

I have to go to work now but I will do a clean install again when I get back home.

Do you think the PCIe speed can be a problem, maybe SLI only works x8+x8 or x16+x16?

You can change speeds by taping the card like this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pci-express-scaling-analysis,1572-3.html

I might try to test this on another SLI system. Good luck with your experiment!

Thanks again for all your help, I'm sure we will get it working in the end.

8)

 

[anatolymik]

Do you think the PCIe speed can be a problem, maybe SLI only works x8+x8 or x16+x16?

i think yes. this evening i will continue our research...

 

[soundood]

hi guys, i am still following this to see if i can help in anyway

when i enabled SLI i had 1 slot @ X16 and the other slot @ X4, it shouldnt make a differance to SLI

 

[anatolymik]

hi guys, i am still following this to see if i can help in anyway

when i enabled SLI i had 1 slot @ X16 and the other slot @ X4, it shouldnt make a differance to SLI

what the board it was?

 

[Nick [D]vB]

hi guys, i am still following this to see if i can help in anyway
when i enabled SLI i had 1 slot @ X16 and the other slot @ X4, it shouldnt make a differance to SLI

Thanks, that is good to know. I should really be working now but I am doing some research...

I found something, this guys seems to have SLI working on A8N-E:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=58237

But it is a very old post and the images are all dead,

and wtf is a "milk house" ??? lol

 

[anatolymik]

Thanks, that is good to know. I should really be working now but I am doing some research...

I found something, this guys seems to have SLI working on A8N-E:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=58237

But it is a very old post and the images are all dead, and wtf is a "mike house" ??? lol

i think i know in what the matter is...

 

[Nick [D]vB]

cool, I'm all ears!

 

[anatolymik]

cool, I'm all ears!

i'll tell you when i check it, OK?

 

[Nick [D]vB]

No problem, you are the boss! I will be here for about another hour but then I must go out, but I will be back again later.

 

[anatolymik]

No problem, you are the boss!

i think i am closer mate than boss

 

[Nick [D]vB]

...of course, if you ever come to the UK I owe you a drink (or two!)

I just found this lot:

http://forums.slizone.com/index.php?showtopic=3801&hl=a8n-sli
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=20215
http://club.cdfreaks.com/f7/cant-properly-enable-sli-setup-190399/

It seems that even guys with real A8N-SLI boards can not make SLI work!

I must go out soon but I will be back in a few hours.

 

[SoLoR]

Here is something to think about, im currently using Dell XPS m1730 laptop that is based on Intel Crestline-PM PM965 chipset and have 2x 8800M in SLI. Bios doesnt have any SLI certificate (checked with newest beta everest), so how does it work here? I'm also using latest desktop drivers (191.07 with moded inf to include mobile gpus), so this is not something that comes with mobile drivers only. There is probably more in to enabling SLI that is known right now...

 

[Nick [D]vB]

Maybe the 8800M's are on the same PCB with some sort of nvidia PCIe bridge chip to enable SLI,

or there is a certificate hard-coded into the BIOS (or VGA BIOS) somehow, just a guess...

 

[armand]

Hi, i'm wondering if this could work with 2xGTX295 on a Gigabyte EP45-UD3P mobo + windows XP 32bit ?

 

[anatolymik]

I'm at home. now i do experiment if it'll be success i'll make HALMod NickDvB Edition rev4. I hold my fingers crossed.

 

[Nick [D]vB]

Great! Good luck with it, I really hope it works. I must go out for a bit now but I will get back as soon as I can, I look forward to hearing the results!

 

[TiN]

armand

XP can utilize only 2 GPU's, so no quad here.

SoLoR

SLI is available for ODM's, I think. It was not a problem to enable SLI on any setup anytime, if you have support of nvidia engineers

Nick [D]vB

Did you tried shorting bridge on chipset?

 

[Nick [D]vB]

Did you tried shorting bridge on chipset?

A few years ago I tried to mod an Asus A8N-E into an A8N-SLI (soldered SLI bridge of nforce4 chipset, flashed bios to A8N-SLI Premium, even edited DMI info) but I could not make SLI work (even with the old hacked drivers) so I just gave up on it in the end...

Luckily I still have the board so I am going to pick up a couple of 8800GTs on eBay and give this a try, better late than never!

Yes. Everest now detects nForce4-SLI (it detected nForce4-Ultra before) so I never understood why it didn't work...

 

[JrRacinFan]

armand

XP can utilize only 2 GPU's, so no quad here.

Hate to correct you, XP 32 bit would utilize 3 of the available 4 gpu's. So it would be like running GTX275 in Tri SLI configuration.