SLI with different cards

[Snoopi25]

Ok, so I tried taking the SLI bridge off like you said you did, but it only made matters worse. I was able to enable SLI surprisingly but as soon as Unigine Heaven went to the loading screen, PC froze. If anyone finds an answer to this freezing, please let me know.

Side note: What's the best solution for a 2-way SLI? Have a dedicated PhysX card (which forces you to disable SLI), or have SLI enabled with just a PhysX Processor as the 2nd graphics card? Or maybe make the CPU do it? I know that this would probably be a bad idea, since I play CPU-intensive MMORPG games. Here's my specs too

http://imgur.com/87xY8g3
http://imgur.com/yP3ZTJe
http://imgur.com/yKM1qyz

 

[LordSaddler]

I have 2 GTX 560 and i want to SLI on not-sli motherboard (it is only crossfire). I done all the instructions of readme, but when I click apply on Nvidia control panel to enable SLI, the control panel crash and when i restart my pc there aren't videocard drivers anymore. I am using 337.88 version on Windows 8.1 x64. Thanks .

 

[CID33]

Thank you i could not get sli to work with hypersli. and other patches
i made some changes so it works in windows 8.1 and some *.cmd files for ease of use


http://www.mediafire.com/download/164drjugguaj8ta/DifferentSLIAuto1.1_2.zip

 

[LordSaddler]

I have 2 GTX 560 and i want to SLI on not-sli motherboard (it is only crossfire). I done all the instructions of readme, but when I click apply on Nvidia control panel to enable SLI, the control panel crash and when i restart my pc there aren't videocard drivers anymore. I am using 337.88 version on Windows 8.1 x64. Thanks .

Edit: I switched the videocards position, and now the nvidia control panel works. The problem is the black screen running fullscreen as ovvner said. I tried to remove bridge but it's the same. Sometimes there are crash when windows mode too.

 

[newconroer]

Thank you SO very much for this mod. I have two GTX 570's and boy did it make a world of a difference. I just have 2 questions and if someone could reply, I would greatly appreciate it.

1. Can I make a YouTube tutorial of how this mod works for ppl that don't know how to do it? Or does it need to be kept hush-hush so that Nvidia doesn't fix it?
2. Has anyone found a fix yet to the windowed-mode crash? Or will we have to deal with it by using this mod? Ever since HyperSLI, my computer would always freeze if I launched a game in windowed mode, so my quickfix to it was to launch it with SLI disabled, make it full screen, then re-enable SLI, and play the game in fullscreen ONLY. I've encountered a few people on the overclockers.net website that had the same system freeze and I recommended doing the same fix and for some it worked. Also, all Battlefield Titles (BF3, 4, BFBC2) freeze my rig if I try to Alt+Tab out of them. It's the only games that give me this freeze. The only reason Why I'm asking is because I used to have some software that required Windowed-Mode gaming, but if it can't be helped, then, oh well.

Thank You, awaiting response.

1. Actually, I had all ready done this, for an article I was doing on Overlord. Unfortunately, something went wrong with the data and it didn't encode properly. I still have the footage but no plans to release it. I do not have a problem with you making a tutorial and I doubt Ember does either.
As for Nvidia, they are aware of this, and I don't believe they can fix - even if they wanted to.

2. I haven't heard about the windowed mode crash. I ran a few titles in window and didn't have any issues.
Just to clarify, you are using two GTX 570 and they are the same device ID?

 

[newconroer]

I have 2 GTX 560 and i want to SLI on not-sli motherboard (it is only crossfire). I done all the instructions of readme, but when I click apply on Nvidia control panel to enable SLI, the control panel crash and when i restart my pc there aren't videocard drivers anymore. I am using 337.88 version on Windows 8.1 x64. Thanks .

Hi Saddler,

Are your 560 the same device ID? If they are then you would not need this patch.
In order to setup SLI on non SLI motherboard, would be to use Hyper SLI http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/hypersli-enabling-sli-on-non-sli-motherboards.153046/

I noticed it's not supported any more, but it works for others.[/QUOTE]

 

[RealNeil]

I had SLI working with my two GTX-570s already, but I tried this and it made them a wee bit faster. Go figure,...........

(One is an ASUS and the other is a PNY)

 

[LordSaddler]

Thanks . My videocars are 2 gb e 1 gb, how can i get their id?. I have already tried hypersli, nothing. Probably
It doesn't work anymore on new nvidia driver.

 

[THIAGO MATOS]

Good evening. sorry for writing because I am Brazilian and I am using a translator. really liked your post and this is very ultil for min. more like you would put a link to the drive 337.88. because I'm having a lot of bug with current games. I am waiting thanks

 

[newconroer]

I had SLI working with my two GTX-570s already, but I tried this and it made them a wee bit faster. Go figure,...........
Interesting Neil, thanks for sharing. Let us know if any problems arise.

(One is an ASUS and the other is a PNY)

Thanks . My videocars are 2 gb e 1 gb, how can i get their id?. I have already tried hypersli, nothing. Probably
It doesn't work anymore on new nvidia driver.

On the front page of this thread, there is a list of video cards by model. If they use the same DEVICE ID, then it should not matter what memory size they are, it just means that the 2GB card will only run at 1GB VRAM (limitation).
Otherwise, as long as your motherboard supports SLI, then you should not need this tool.

You are correct, hypersli is for non SLI motherboards, and probably doesn't work on new drivers.

Good evening. sorry for writing because I am Brazilian and I am using a translator. really liked your post and this is very ultil for min. more like you would put a link to the drive 337.88. because I'm having a lot of bug with current games. I am waiting thanks

Hello Thiago,

Have you tried 337.81 BETA?


Does anyone else know if 337.88 WHQL does not work?

 

[Snoopi25]

1. Actually, I had all ready done this, for an article I was doing on Overlord. Unfortunately, something went wrong with the data and it didn't encode properly. I still have the footage but no plans to release it. I do not have a problem with you making a tutorial and I doubt Ember does either.
As for Nvidia, they are aware of this, and I don't believe they can fix - even if they wanted to.

2. I haven't heard about the windowed mode crash. I ran a few titles in window and didn't have any issues.
Just to clarify, you are using two GTX 570 and they are the same device ID?

I'm not sure how to check the DEVICE ID that you mentioned, but I'm sure the 2 cards are the same chip. They have same VRAM, same clocks, etc. I am also using an SLI bridge. I don't know, it's just weird sometimes how mods work for some people flawlessly. I know that ever since HyperSLI, some people had some issues with the windowed mode. For me, as I said, I can play games in full screen, but if they launch in windowed mode (or if I change game settings to windowed mode) while SLI is enabled, my whole rig will freeze and I have to force restart.

Other than that, HyperSLI worked fine. Now with the latest drivers that came out, DifferentSLI is the best, if not the only option people like me have. It works, my performance in games and benchmarks is great. Just that windowed mode bug sometimes drives me crazy.

 

[newconroer]

You guys can check the DEVICE ID from the instructions on the front page which read :

"Before you get started, you will want to check compatibility based on architecture.
In your Windows device manager. Right click on your display adapter and go to properties. Switch to the "Details" tab, and in the combo box select "Hardware Ids."
The first three numbers following "DEV" must match for the cards to work together."

What I am trying to establish is why people are using this DifferentSLI tool when they all ready have matching graphics cards.
HyperSLI was something entirely different and to my knowledge did not allow you to mix and match different cards.

 

[LordSaddler]

You guys can check the DEVICE ID from the instructions on the front page which read :

"Before you get started, you will want to check compatibility based on architecture.
In your Windows device manager. Right click on your display adapter and go to properties. Switch to the "Details" tab, and in the combo box select "Hardware Ids."
The first three numbers following "DEV" must match for the cards to work together."

What I am trying to establish is why people are using this DifferentSLI tool when they all ready have matching graphics cards.
HyperSLI was something entirely different and to my knowledge did not allow you to mix and match different cards.

I have matching graphics cards (different only ram) but i am using this tool because HyperSLI doesn't work. My target is to make SLI on a P7P55D Motherboard (crossfire ready, but not SLI ready).

 

[newconroer]

I have matching graphics cards (different only ram) but i am using this tool because HyperSLI doesn't work. My target is to make SLI on a P7P55D Motherboard (crossfire ready, but not SLI ready).

Well if the SLI tool allows you to configure two cards on a non SLI motherboard, then that's awesome and something I was unaware of. However I would not be surprised if there's problems and instability.

I just want everyone to understand that the tool was never intended to work in that way.

 

[seanstizz7]

Well if the SLI tool allows you to configure two cards on a non SLI motherboard, then that's awesome and something I was unaware of. However I would not be surprised if there's problems and instability.

I just want everyone to understand that the tool was never intended to work in that way.

I am using DifferentSLIauto on a crossfire only board with 2 GTX560's and there are No Problems or instability At All. i was using HyperSLI for quite awhile until it was no longer supported. If anything i have gained performance/fps and my windows graphics score went from 7.6 to 7.7. Differentsliauto can be a little tricky to install, but all the information that might be needed is in this forum. Once again Big thanks to Ember for keeping this going.

 

[LordSaddler]

I am using DifferentSLIauto on a crossfire only board with 2 GTX560's and there are No Problems or instability At All. i was using HyperSLI for quite awhile until it was no longer supported. If anything i have gained performance/fps and my windows graphics score went from 7.6 to 7.7. Differentsliauto can be a little tricky to install, but all the information that might be needed is in this forum. Once again Big thanks to Ember for keeping this going.

Lucky, I am becomimg crazy! Maybe it doesn't work because 2 GTX 560 have different bios, or because I have 1 PCI E 16x and 1 PCI E 4x, or because mine are one 1 gb and the other 2 gb.

 

[Snoopi25]

Ok, I finally managed to get back on this forum. Yes, my 2 GTX 570's have matching ID's so that's no issue. The MAIN reason why I'm here is NOT to SLI different cards, but the SAME cards on a non-SLI motherboard. Why? Because HyperSLI doesn't work anymore and it has been proven not to work anymore on the latest Nvidia Drivers. DifferentSLI works perfectly on non-SLI motherboards. It's basically the new HyperSLI, and MUCH easier to install. As for my rig freezing up when I launch games in windowed mode, whatever, if there's no fix, then that's fine. I'll just stick to fullscreen games. Thank you Anatomylik and Ember. Great job on the mod.

 

[newconroer]

I am using DifferentSLIauto on a crossfire only board with 2 GTX560's and there are No Problems or instability At All. i was using HyperSLI for quite awhile until it was no longer supported. If anything i have gained performance/fps and my windows graphics score went from 7.6 to 7.7.
Differentsliauto can be a little tricky to install, but all the information that might be needed is in this forum. Once again Big thanks to Ember for keeping this going.

That's great news. And if the tool was programmed to encompass this extra benefit than double kudos to Ember.

Lucky, I am becomimg crazy! Maybe it doesn't work because 2 GTX 560 have different bios, or because I have 1 PCI E 16x and 1 PCI E 4x, or because mine are one 1 gb and the other 2 gb.

The PCI-E lanes do no matter. It could be Bios related but I thought we determined a while back that it's not relevant when using the same model of card.
I would wager it's down to the RAM size, which we know can cause problems sometimes.

Ok, I finally managed to get back on this forum. Yes, my 2 GTX 570's have matching ID's so that's no issue. The MAIN reason why I'm here is NOT to SLI different cards, but the SAME cards on a non-SLI motherboard. Why? Because HyperSLI doesn't work anymore and it has been proven not to work anymore on the latest Nvidia Drivers. DifferentSLI works perfectly on non-SLI motherboards. It's basically the new HyperSLI, and MUCH easier to install. As for my rig freezing up when I launch games in windowed mode, whatever, if there's no fix, then that's fine. I'll just stick to fullscreen games. Thank you Anatomylik and Ember. Great job on the mod.

Again, this is great news and we're happy that Different SLI can be seen as a successor to HyperSLI. If I am ignorant to this all ready available knowledge then apologies.
Maybe it's best for Ember to comment on whether he knew of this or intended it. If we get some more feedback, and a bit more testing, I can republish and market the tool as a replacement for Hyper SLI.

 

[Snoopi25]

No worries, I just want to post my situation here in case someone knows an answer. I am actually very happy there is a solution to our problems and that there are people working hard behind this. I will finish my benchmarking today and post my results here, just as another confirmation and praise.

One thing I cannot get me head around is, how do you post pictures here in the comments? I posted picture URL's but not pictures themselves... Sry, I must be blind lol

 

[newconroer]

If you use the little picture icon, it brings up a smaller window asking for the picture link. This must be a direct link e.g. www.imghost.com/xiaciejciaej/Snoopi25.jpg
Maybe the URL you're posting all ready has forum tags around it, but they're incorrect?

 

[Snoopi25]

Ok, now I'm in some deep doo-doo. Ok, so I was trying to do some benchmarking to post my results here. Unigine Heaven and Valley went perfect, but then I tried 3DMark11. The Demos went fine, but as soon as the Graphics Test 1 was loading, close to the end of the loading bar, my PC froze. It restarted and I checked WhoCrashed and it gave me BSOD dumps. I tried some common fixes, like reinstalling the drivers, enabling K-Boost through EVGA Precision, but to no avail. The 3DMark testing works fine if I disable SLI. Also, unfortunately, I got accepted to "The Crew" closed beta, but couldn't play cause it would crash and say, "The crew.exe has stopped working" as soon as it launches the first black screen. Here's my crash dump form WhoCrashed.

 

[Snoopi25]

Ok, here's the results I got from Unigine Heaven and Unigine Valley, before and after SLI enabled. I also scored 12015 in the Final Fantasy XIV benchmark in maxxed out settings. I did notice the 2 cards have different BIOS versions.

 

[RealNeil]

Are the two cards the same model? I read they're both 570s, but are the brands and everything else the same?
If so, I would flash them both to the latest BIOS, one at a time, with the second one removed from the motherboard while flashing the first. (and vice versa)
Then, use a good driver remover like DDU. After all of this, install the lastest WHQL NVIDIA driver and test again.

Also, maybe you could fill out your system's specs in your forum control panel.

 

[Snoopi25]

Ok, sorry about that, I posted my specs on my profile. Yes, the two cards are both EVGA GTX570 1.2GB VRAM (the regular, not OC versions). I made sure I would get the exact same thing. And, as I mentioned, their device ID's are the same. How do I flash the BIOS of the GPU? Is it just as risky or worse than flashing Mobo BIOS? Are there any software that can do that? Or a .cmd patch from nvidia I can download? I updated the BIOS for a friend's Lenovo gaming laptop graphics cards, and all I had to do was basically run a .bat file. OH! And I also did notice that my primary GPU runs at 988mV and my secondary at 975mV, but their clocks and shaders are the same, even the memory speed.

 

[RealNeil]

This,...........from the EVGA Forums:

"I apologize for any inconvenience. We no-longer post the firmwares. If you need one please contact us. 888-881-3842 24/7, submit a ticket under the card in your My Products, or e-mail support@evga.com."


Also: Here is a link from a reputable Tech site that has BIOS files available,.......


I hope that this helps you out.