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

[Ex Inferis]

understood ^^

I test DIRT2 a lot. stable... 1680x1050 all max/high/ultra 120hz 4AA (FPS by Fraps)




The new driver disable the 3d stereoscopic option in Nvidia Panel (I hate lose my 3D!!!! )

I will try others games now.
Windows, Internet e other OK for now too

[]s

 

[Triton.se]

Will test 258.96 International on my other rig which also has P45 chipset mobo, but it's Biostar TPower i45, dip switches to configure PCI-e lanes ! ( 1x16 or 2x8)

EDIT ///

Was able to play ONE HOUR...but, that was after I recovered from a Black Screen after 5 minutes. I did like someone else suggested at Guru3D: switching DVI cables/ports and back to correct port.

Atleast I learned something:
1. It's possible to feed SLI GTX260 216SP with 2x 6pin PCI-e + "molex -> 6pin", used 3 molex (one was funny 1x molex->6pin..dunno where I got that from..Other was 2x molex -> 6pin..)
2. Intel Pentium E6500 Dual Core 2MB L2 @ 3.9GHz isn't doing it for this SLI...maybe 3.5GHz Quad would be perfect.
3. Thanks to Antec 900, GPUs not as effective with dual core, my GPU temps were 49-50 gaming ! In CM 690 II Advanced and fed by Quad Core @4.15GHz 60C....

I'll have to switch back to Antec 900...its both silent and cool. And it's newly painted black inside

 

[r3b00t3r]

1. It's possible to feed SLI GTX260 216SP with 2x 6pin PCI-e + "molex -> 6pin", used 3 molex (one was funny 1x molex->6pin..dunno where I got that from..Other was 2x molex -> 6pin..)

I have a HX620 which formerly had just 2 cables with one PCIE 6-pin. In the first times of SLI, I used exactly the same molex-PCIE configuration you had: 2x molex to 1x PCIE 6-pin and 1x molex to 1x PCIE 6-pin. Meanwhile, I ordered from Corsair 2 cables with 2 PCIE 6-pin each for my PSU. They were very nice and supplied it for free.

 

[Triton.se]

I still haven't had any more issues playing games...I plan on having rig up all evening w/o reboots. Now I have ~2hours gaming after that initial Black Screen after 5 minutes.

I don't think gaming will be OK after a reboot, coz @ 5 minutes I get something from the random list; CTD, BSOD, BS, System Freeze..but we'll see tomorrow.

EDIT ///

I blew a fuse so PC turned off..and next reboot rig froze while surfing the net...surprise surprise...
Testing Crossfire HD4850 512MB instead of SLI now...great fps in L4D and BFBC2 (150 and 75fps avg with 1920x1080 rez, 4AA), will probably buy a X58 or P55 later for SLI...dunno, coz there might come powerful enough single cards soon...

GL with the Mod, there are many socket 775 users who needs it!

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Atleast I learned something:

2. Intel Pentium E6500 Dual Core 2MB L2 @ 3.9GHz isn't doing it for this SLI...maybe 3.5GHz Quad would be perfect.

I'll have to switch back to Antec 900...its both silent and cool. And it's newly painted black inside

Having more cores does not affect SLi scaling..

 

[Ex Inferis]

no problems until now with: 257.41 WHQL

but without 3d stereo Driver

 

[Crono]

TELL ME YOUR SYSTEM SPECS WHO HAS PROBLEMS WITH LATEST DRIVER.

Processor: Intel Q9550
Motherboard: Gigabyte EP45-DS3P
Memory: 2X2GB GSkill PC6400
Video Card 1: ASUS ENGTX260-HTDP (GT200 rev A2 - Shaders 216 - 896 MB - BIOS 62.00.1A.00.0A)
Video Card 2: ASUS ASUS ENGTX260-HTDP (GT200 rev A2 - Shaders 192 - 896 MB - BIOS 62.00.0E.00.03)
Hard Disk: 1 X SSD INTEL 80GB + 1 X Velociraptor 150gb + 1 X Samsung 750gb
CRT/LCD Model: Samsung 2232BW (x3)
Case: ANTEC P182
Sound Card: Auzentech X-Fi Forte
PSU: Cooler Master silent pro M 1000W
Software: Windows 7 Ultimate x64 french

No problem with 257.xx but freeze/blue screen whit 258.xx and 259.09



Crono.

 

[whitesedan]

AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition
Thermalright Ultra Extreme
Biostar TA890FXE Motherboard
Corsair 8GB (4x2GB) DDR3-12800
2 x WD 36GB Raptors Raid0
2 x PNY GTX 465 "CrosSLI"
ASUS DVD+/-RW DL
Samsung IDE DVD+/-RW DL
Acer 24" 1920x1200
Dynex 32" 1920x1080
Corsair TX850W
Antec P180
Windows 7 x64 OEM

Bsod/freezing/blank/no signal with drivers 258.xx and 259.xx. This happens within 5-10 minutes while running any 3D applications.

Tried it both with stock and oc speeds. No problems with 257.xx drivers.

 

[Glendor]

Users with Black Screen / freeze with SLIPatch 0.8 / Drivers 258.96 :

anatolymik
Dr. Noob
r3b00t3r
Crono
Akrian
K.S.
f0rg3

User without problem with SLIPatch 0.8 / Drivers 258.96 :
Johnspack

@Johnspack : Did you have something special on your system ????????? Any idea of something unusual on you system ? Are you fully sure than SLI is activated ?

Johnspack - Any chance you are NOT using a SLI Bridge?

You can put me on the list of folks with problems as well. I get the occasional BSOD on boot, and the random freeze/black screen when it does boot. I didn't have the problems when using SLIPatch 0.8 / 258.96 if I didn't use a SLI Bridge.
Bridge = Problems
No Bridge = No Problems but Lower Benchmarks

I'm going to try the older drivers tonight and see if I can get it stable again.

Thanks all for your hard work.
'spaceeba' Anatolimik!

Antec 900
MSI 890FXA-GD70 w/ 1.6 bios
AMD Thubian 1055T @ 3.5ghz
Corsair H50 lapped w/ push:shroud:rad: pull 28c/44c
2 x 4gb G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 @ 1333
2 x Seagate Momentus XT in RAID0
2 x BFG GTX 275oc in SLI
Muskin Enhanced 550w PSU

 

[r3b00t3r]

No Bridge = No Problems but Lower Benchmarks

I guess it worth a shot.

I'll try that in 3 or 4 hours I'll post the first results.

 

[whitesedan]

Johnspack - Any chance you are NOT using a SLI Bridge?

You can put me on the list of folks with problems as well. I get the occasional BSOD on boot, and the random freeze/black screen when it does boot. I didn't have the problems when using SLIPatch 0.8 / 258.96 if I didn't use a SLI Bridge.
Bridge = Problems
No Bridge = No Problems but Lower Benchmarks

I'm going to try the older drivers tonight and see if I can get it stable again.

Thanks all for your hard work.
'spaceeba' Anatolimik!

Antec 900
MSI 890FXA-GD70 w/ 1.6 bios
AMD Thubian 1055T @ 3.5ghz
Corsair H50 lapped w/ push:shroud:rad: pull 28c/44c
2 x 4gb G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 @ 1333
2 x Seagate Momentus XT in RAID0
2 x BFG GTX 275oc in SLI
Muskin Enhanced 550w PSU

Very good suggestion. Ill try later today without the sli bridge. Losing a little performance won't hurt too much if it works.

 

[Triton.se]

Interesting find ! I'm currently using Xfire HD4850s, might also test later...

But why would SLI work better on, say, nvidia 780i mobo and SLI bridge ?

And what really happens after 5-10minutes..If rig recovers from say Black Screen, it's all good until next reboot, happened to me 3-4 times with 258 drivers. So, it's only ONE initial "attack"

What if it was harmless to plug in SLI bridge with PC running...play ~30 minutes without SLI bridge, then plug it in for 100% performance.

Anyone tested with two SLI bridges? I have two bridges, but never thought of using them both on 2-way SLI...will surely test this if/when I change back to GTX260s..Or putting SLI bridge on other SLI fingers ?

 

[johnspack]

Yes, I use a sli bridge. However, I do most of my gaming under XP64. I still haven't tried under Win7 64 yet, but I'm sure that has something to do with it. I'll try to get to it as soon as possible, but I'll bet I have the same problems under Win7 as everyone else.

 

[Triton.se]

Yes, I use a sli bridge. However, I do most of my gaming under XP64. I still haven't tried under Win7 64 yet, but I'm sure that has something to do with it. I'll try to get to it as soon as possible, but I'll bet I have the same problems under Win7 as everyone else.

I checked your system specs, you're also using some MSI 650 Theatre PCI-e thingy (TV Tuner?), will it work with that out of system ?

EDIT ///

Installed SLI Mod 0.8b again, Windows 7 x64 Swedish. 258.96 x64 US...

* testing with SLI bridge on the other SLI finger = System Freeze ~10 minutes
* testing w/o SLI bridge = System Freeze ~15 minutes
* testing with two SLI bridges = Black Screen ~4 minutes. Connected monitor cable to lower card, 2nd DVI port and I have picture from there

I connected monitor cable to correct card and port and I get pic from there too. Awesome, think my rig is 100% stable until reboot again !

 

[Ex Inferis]

???

putting the monitor in second card stable the SLI system???
Sorry if I read wrong

Need I try too?

 

[renton2001]

question!!!

Hi all,
Im using sli mod 2x 8800gtx SLi on bad axe 2 board , with driver 257.15

Everything work fine when i start the game in windowed mode, but when i start it in fullscreen i have some kind of blur "purple and cyan"

Have you ever had this problem???

Thank you for your help

//EDIT//

If found this the flickering problem is cause by 3d stereoscopic...

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=149781

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi ppl, i know how to fix "SLI Screen Flickers" problem but first i want say my english is bad ))) dont know so (i can write all on russian)

Step 1.
Use both GPU with BRIDGE

Step 2.
Install Latest NVIDIA Drivers

Open "NVIDIA Control Panel / 3D Settings / Set SLI and PhysX configuration" and push "Enable SLI (recommended)" push "Apply"

Step 3.
Open "NVIDIA Control Panel / Steteoscopic 3D / Set up stereoscopic 3D"

Push "Enable stereoscopic 3D" and follow setup... you need complete it (if you havent glasses dont worry)

When you done setup, you can test random game - NO FLICKERS, but now your SLI havent full speed, so for speed up sli go to next step

Step 4.
Shutdown your computer (power off) open your computer case and change BRIDGE position .... turn over .... and install him again



Power ON your computer

Step 5.
When computer is ON go to "NVIDIA Control Panel / Steteoscopic 3D / Set up stereoscopic 3D" and take off tick on "Enable stereoscopic 3D" (stereoscopic 3D is off), push "Apply"

now you can test game .... full speed sli without flickers)



This is crazy fix ... but WORK ... i dont know why ... created & tested by me many time

 

[Glendor]

Seems stable

Okay, I removed, and reapplied the 0.8b patch for Win7-64bit, and downgraded to the nVidia 257.15 drivers and everything seems fine. I have the SLI bridge installed, and I've run 3DMark Vantage & 3DMark06 several times without a single incident of any kind. The bench scores look very good. I'll update y'all if the problems come back.

Glendor...
===================
Antec 900
MSI 890FXA-GD70 (bios 1.6)
AMD Thubian 1055t @ 3.5ghz 28c/44c
Corsair H50 lapped w/ push:shoud:radiatorull config
2x4gb G.Skill Ripjaw DDR3 @ 1333
2x250gb Seagate Momentus XT in RAID0
2x BFG GTX 275oc SLI & PhysX enabled
Muskin Enhanced 550w PSU
====================
Remember Children, Just say NO to big assed cpu coolers!

 

[Triton.se]

???

putting the monitor in second card stable the SLI system???
Sorry if I read wrong

Need I try too?

No, fiddling with SLI bridges didn't help, 258 drivers still won't work on Windows 7 x64. The picture shows from what port I was getting signal after I got Black Screen... it's a tombola. This all reminds me of a old Ozzy Osbourne song, "Now you see it, now you don't" LOL

 

[johnspack]

Sorry, I've been busy with game development, no time for this. I promise I'll try under win7 tomorrow. Also, does any one else use dual monitors, one on each card, like I do?

 

[whitesedan]

To confirm everyone's finding, I still receive the same symptoms with the sli bridge using the lastest 258 and 259 hack drivers.

anatolymik: I have an nforce board 750i I can set up if this would help. There is a chance I might switch to an x58/P55 setup within the next month if my current rig won't be able to do sli.

 

[Triton.se]

Hi guys, I've read from two independent forums that Realtek GB Lan Driver is responsible of LOTS "SLI damage" ! I'm gonna uninstall the realtek driver and install wifi I use for another PC.

link 1 - http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=173731&st=0&p=1098010&#entry1098010
link 2 - google link http://www.google.se/#hl=sv&q=hardw...=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=12e9626000ae61f6

 

[Velvet Wafer]

258.96 runs fairly flawless for me on slipatch 0.8, except the occasional ntoskrnp bsod, i get from time to time (once in 2 weeks)

 

[whitesedan]

Hi guys, I've read from two independent forums that Realtek GB Lan Driver is responsible of LOTS "SLI damage" ! I'm gonna uninstall the realtek driver and install wifi I use for another PC.

link 1 - http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=173731&st=0&p=1098010&#entry1098010
link 2 - google link http://www.google.se/#hl=sv&q=hardw...=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=12e9626000ae61f6

Nice find, I will try this method later tonight and report back tomorrow.

 

[Triton.se]

ok, time for me to test now !

EDIT ///

System Freeze with Black Screen and looping sound after 15 minutes. I had removed the GB Lan driver and disabled both LAN in BIOS.

 

[Glendor]

Okay, I removed, and reapplied the 0.8b patch for Win7-64bit, and downgraded to the nVidia 257.15 drivers and everything seems fine. I have the SLI bridge installed, and I've run 3DMark Vantage & 3DMark06 several times without a single incident of any kind. The bench scores look very good. I'll update y'all if the problems come back.

Another quiet nite of gaming and browsing without any problems or crashes. I hope they can fix the problem with the latest driver, but 257.15 seems to be a perfect match for my system. I suppose it's time to start thinking about that 3rd 275oc and a larger PSU.........

Glendor...
===================
Antec 900
MSI 890FXA-GD70 (bios 1.6)
AMD Thubian 1055t @ 3.5ghz 28c/44c
Corsair H50 lapped w/ push:shoud:radiatorull config
2x4gb G.Skill Ripjaw DDR3 @ 1333
2x250gb Seagate Momentus XT in RAID0
2x BFG GTX 275oc SLI & PhysX enabled
Muskin Enhanced 550w PSU
====================
Remember Children, Just say NO to big assed cpu coolers!