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

[TeleX]

Just removed SLIPatch and installed Halmod .9a, SLI still enabled even through reboot. GPU2 now appears to be working and GPU1 is showing the same 30-40% usage as it did when the system appeared to be on only 1 GPU. It's like the GPU's are working but aren't working together. I'm thinking an SLI bridge is going to unlock this puzzle.

Hi all,
the tricky thing is: not all games are using multi-GPU setups optimized. That means: u never will benefit from power of your SLI-setup in your results as expected -> if u play "the wrong" [not multi-gpu supported] game. Doom3 for example: Both cores are running here with only 30-40%! The timedemo in Doom3 with SLI-setup is about 25% SLOWER, as with only a single card Battelfield 2 on the other hand: the FPS has nearly doubled by using SLI and the Vantage bench shows about the double performance, with SLI-setup

So for all who want to go SLI: keep in mind that it is very helpfull to know what your system with only one card can go in benchmarks and games..(write it down) to know! later exactly what is going on and you are talking about, when you are using SLI.
-
The SLI-bridge in use: it`s about ~ +900 points here in Vantage bench.

win7/64
2x280GTX
sli patch 0.4 + NVidia 196.21
sli patch 0.55 + Nvidia 196.34 //replaced with 197.13


Best regards TeleX

 

[eskaryo]

Ok so I'm doing some googling and I see that there are some specific driver patches which provide (or streamline) SLI support to additional games. I have downloaded the EVGA SLI Package (v26 if memory serves correctly) in hopes that it would do the same but I suppose not.

So I guess the bottom line here is since I'm using the SLIString (Can't get SLIPatch working properly) method and 191.07 mod'd drivers I'm stuck til a new mod for the new drivers comes out?

Check this post:
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showpost.php?p=1745878&postcount=2898

This guy reports a HUGE increase when going from no SLI Bridge > with SLI Bridge

I'd like to hope that I'll see the same thing since my 3dMark scores were so close to one another:
14712 in SLI // 13860 Single GPU.

 

[TeleX]

Ok so I'm doing some googling and I see that there are some specific driver patches which provide (or streamline) SLI support to additional games. I have downloaded the EVGA SLI Package (v26 if memory serves correctly) in hopes that it would do the same but I suppose not.

So I guess the bottom line here is since I'm using the SLIString (Can't get SLIPatch working properly) method and 191.07 mod'd drivers I'm stuck til a new mod for the new drivers comes out?

Check this post:
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showpost.php?p=1745878&postcount=2898

This guy reports a HUGE increase when going from no SLI Bridge > with SLI Bridge

I'd like to hope that I'll see the same thing since my 3dMark scores were so close to one another:
14712 in SLI // 13860 Single GPU.

1st I would recommend u to de-/reinstall the vid-driver (with a helping hand -> a software like : "DriverSweeper" or something else) and the SLI-String,too. Your scores: 14712 in SLI // 13860 Single GPU are truly like the same and it`s out of question that your SLI aint working (correct) - and it`s not about the missing bridge. Perhaps give this a try later on - it sounds strange, but no worries: powerswitch off + put both cards out of the system and put them back together. I had a similar prob to your`s when i switched with both cards to water-cooling. By doing this, reinstalling both vidcards +cleaning driver and patch, the probs were history. No idea what it was exactly (but truly my fault - what else?!).
Anyway:
SLI-Bridge or not -> if SLI is working correct, the bench result has to be towards +40% as before by using only a single card solution - and the EVGA SLI Enhancement Patch itself won`t work either, if the basic system fails somewhere (like driver/patch/power issue).

Good Luck! Perhaps the right time for Win7, too? ..

 

[eskaryo]

I'm running 7x64 (have been since the OEM was found on the web)

I have gone through these steps once before actually

After my first attempt (where only GPU2 appeared to be working) I reimaged my system and removed both cards and inserted the one I just acquired (BFG 9800gt oc) in my PCIx16 slot since it had a faster base clock and better fan/temps than my PNY 9800gt... I figured if I couldn't get SLI working at least my card is slightly better so perhaps overclocking would be more successful.

After a day or two I decided I'd try again with the SLI with this new image, this is where my second post comes in... everything appeared to be ok-- both GPU's showed work, but as you can tell it didn't do the trick

I'm interested on any feedback available for the SLIPatch method, I'm curious why it doesn't seem to work for me, and I've seen anatolymik ask a number of times about ACPI version and instructing people to set to ACPI 2... this concerns me since my board only supports ACPI 1.0b

Just nabbed myself an SLI Bridge for $5!


New 3dMark score! 18677
L4D2 running @ 16xMSAA, 16xAni @ 60frames solid!
Borderlands and BF:BC2 Performance up significantly!

This is the SLI I was looking for!


Currently running XG 187.66 drivers due to suggestions for best BF:BC2 performance.
I'm going up to 191.07 to see if I feel a difference. These performed worse than XG 187.66.
190.62 bluescreened me twice and tbh I just want to rock some games and enjoy my setup


Ok so gaming sated for a bit... found some more XG Drivers! 191.07 and 195.62. These drivers are highly modded (from my understanding) so I'm wondering if I'll have luck with the 195.62 driverset.
No luck with 195.62.
191.07 drivers have worse performance than 187.66. I'm going to try the Nvidia Ref 187.66 now.

 

[Hazzard007]

I manually inserted SLI string into my bios DSDT, but everest don't show SLI string ???
It apears that everest only show string added by slistring ??
I used modified hal.dll and ntoskrnp.exe from slipatch0.7a and everest under dsdt table don't show X58 chipset from HAL ????
Any other verification tool for sli string in bios ?
I must know before i buy another 9800 GT !

 

[Triton.se]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but:

Is there a Crossfire Hack available, two ATI/AMD cards on nvidia chipset SLI motherboards ?

 

[stangman86gt]

Well....that was easy. Up and running with two 260s in win 7 64 on the first try.(If you want to add to confirmed working on a certain board you can add MSI p45 platinum)

However the whole reason i went with SLI and switched to windows 7 was to SLI for bad company 2, but as you may know the game doesn't really work in SLI yet. I'm sure it will work in the next patch though.

If i were to change patches. Do i have to reinstalled the patch or is it permanent?

mike

 

[eskaryo]

Stangman, nab the XG 187.66 drivers and you'll see improved performance in BC2

 

[Triton.se]

but as you may know the game doesn't really work in SLI yet. I'm sure it will work in the next patch though.

BFBC2 works 100% with SLI, atleast with 197.25 Beta driver. I got issues with 197.13 and .15 drivers where bfbc2game.exe wouldn't terminate on exit game.

 

[kokalo]

Hi everyone,

I used the mod and I have the same problem as this guy:

When I change the two cards GPU-Z says the second (which has been the first before) now has 4096 MB of Ram and 256 Shaders instead of 112.
The first one is shown right..

My hardware is:

EP45-DQ6

2x ECS 8800gt

the cards are identical but whichever is on the second slot reports wrongly as having 256 shaders instead of 112 and 4095MB memory. Each card works ok by itself.

rivatuner even shows the second slot card as having a G165 core.

as you can see in the screenshot, the deviced is stopped by windows.

can you give me any hints?

thanks in advance

 

[kokalo]

Hi again,

I set the second slot as the init display from bios and plugged the monitor on the second card

windows loaded normally and the second card was working and reporting correctly.

SLI option was available and all is well.

thanx a lot for your hard work

Hi everyone,

I used the mod and I have the same problem as this guy:



My hardware is:

EP45-DQ6

2x ECS 8800gt

the cards are identical but whichever is on the second slot reports wrongly as having 256 shaders instead of 112 and 4095MB memory. Each card works ok by itself.

rivatuner even shows the second slot card as having a G165 core.

as you can see in the screenshot, the deviced is stopped by windows.

can you give me any hints?

thanks in advance

 

[random2001]

I tried using HalMOD 0.7 and SLIStringInstaller 1.81 and I get A BSOD when trying to boot into SLI mode. Gives me a PROCESS1 cannot start exception or something like that. Anyone get SLI working on a AMD790FX board under Vista Ultimate x64?

 

[TiN]

W1zzard, could you test our SLI mod with GTX480's with LGA775 system? To see if hack still works for them?

 

[johnspack]

Anyone tried this with 197.45 yet? Also, I see there is a patch for XP64, has anyone tried it under XP64 yet?

 

[oiluj]

Today I've updated my Windows 7 Ultimate x64 via Windows Update, and after that, I always got a BSOD concerning 'nvlddmkm.sys' (I'm using "custom" SLIpatch 0.7a and nVidia drivers v197.13. I said "custom" SLIpatch because I don't use dual boot option at startup, I always boot with SLIpatched files, renamed and replacing the original ones)

I booted from other OS, and noticed that these updates modified the 'ntoskrnl.exe' to latest version: v6.1.7600.16539
SLIpatched one ('ntoskrnp.exe', I'm using it renamed to 'ntoskrnl.exe' and replacing the original one) is v6.1.7600.16385

Then I booted again from Ubuntu 9.10 and replaced the files again with SLIpatched ones, and I got no problem again. So now, I'm using SLIpatched 'ntoskrnl.exe' v6.1.7600.16385 again.

I'm almost sure that the Update that causes this is KB979683: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=184814

Anyway, anatolymik, I know you're working in a new 'HyperVisor' version of the SLIpatch, so u will not release a new patched 'ntoskrnl.exe' v6.1.7600.16539. But I think it's important to know that actual original and patched 'ntoskrnl.exe' versions are not the same.

How is that 'HyperVisor' version of the patch going? Keep up with this awesome job!!!

 

[oiluj]

Anyone tried this with 197.45 yet? Also, I see there is a patch for XP64, has anyone tried it under XP64 yet?

johnspack, I've just installed drivers v197.45 under Windows 7 Ultimate x64, and the patch WORKS.

 

[eskaryo]

I've tried using both Halmod 0.9 and SLIPatch 0.7a but my system still NEVER reports that I'm running an X58 chipset... Any idea what I should do? I'm currently using 187.66 drivers with the modded .sys file but I hate being married to drivers

My motherboard (GA-P55A-UD3) only supports ACPI 1.0b. Could this be my limitation?

 

[anatolymik]

Hello Friends!

Ok. I'll update the kernel for all of you today.

 

[r3b00t3r]

Anyone tried this with 197.45 yet?

Yeap, no problem with these new drivers!

 

[anatolymik]

http://xdevs.com/sli/SLIPatch 0.7 Win7 x64R2 alpha.zip

SLIPatch 0.7a for Windows 7 x64.

Build with new kernel

 

[mk_ln]

I've tried using both Halmod 0.9 and SLIPatch 0.7a but my system still NEVER reports that I'm running an X58 chipset... Any idea what I should do? I'm currently using 187.66 drivers with the modded .sys file but I hate being married to drivers

My motherboard (GA-P55A-UD3) only supports ACPI 1.0b. Could this be my limitation?

doesn't the p55 already offer SLI by default? or perhaps just the UD3 doesn't allow it? (bios locked option or something?)

 

[johnspack]

Well, just got my 2nd gtx260 today and should have my new psu next Monday, so guess I'll be the guinea pig for testing the slipatch under xp64! I'll also be using it under win7 64. Wonder if sli 260s under win7 will give me the same performance in warhead as a single 280 under xp64(all enthusiast,16xaa)....

 

[ken2cky]

Hi all!
I'm planning to do this trick with drivers 197.45 and the SLIPatch 0.7a for Windows 7 x64. (My motherboard is P5Q Pro).

But I have an issue. I have Ubuntu installed in my rig and I read that this patch creates an "extra OS - SLI Enable" on boot. Once the patch installed, will I be able to see directly that extra OS? Or Grub (Ubuntu's bootloader) won't see the change (or will mess everything up)?? Do I need to manually tell Grub that there's an extra OS??

Thank you very much!!

 

[Wile E]

Hi all!
I'm planning to do this trick with drivers 197.45 and the SLIPatch 0.7a for Windows 7 x64. (My motherboard is P5Q Pro).

But I have an issue. I have Ubuntu installed in my rig and I read that this patch creates an "extra OS - SLI Enable" on boot. Once the patch installed, will I be able to see directly that extra OS? Or Grub (Ubuntu's bootloader) won't see the change (or will mess everything up)?? Do I need to manually tell Grub that there's an extra OS??

Thank you very much!!

When windows adds another OS entry, it's still just using a single bootloader. So, grub will point tot he windows loader, and the windows loader will show the additional Win oses. Grub won't see it.

 

[ken2cky]

Ok thank you very much!
Still have one question. Can I patch my drivers right now even if I'm still waiting for my other card? Just to see if the patch works for me and if a have the SLI option in the Nvidia Control Panel.
Thanks