How to set up SLI

[terencek]

Hey Everyone
Well, I've got two MSI 8800GTs on the way and I've never set up SLI before. I saw that MSI 8800GTs at Dell thread and the price was so good, I had to get a couple. Are there any steps that I need to take to turn SLI on or anything? Is there a "how-to" on setting it up? Or is it as simple as install the cards, put on the bridge between the cards, and boot up?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[JAG87]

install cards
put on bridge
boot up
install drivers
enable SLI

have fun wasting your life updating drivers every week and messing with game profiles. seriously, im not being sarcastic at all.

PS. just a quick time saver for you: when running in SLI, vsync is always broken with beta drivers. WHQL drivers fix this, but beta drivers are usually the drivers that bring you new profiles for the latest games such as COD4 and Crysis. Without those profiles, SLI is useless.

 

[aka1nas]

I'd also suggest running Nhancer as it makes profiles easier to deal with. I never really bothered to use Nvidia's profile system until I upgraded to SLI, it makes it much easier to manage settings.

The driver support issues JAG mentioned aren't quite that bad IME. SLI often requires profiles for new games to work correctly, but you usually only get bitten by this if you grab the game the first day it comes out. Nvidia is usually pretty good about at least releasing a Beta with a fixed profile very quickly after problems are discovered.

Of course, JAG has been running SLI a lot longer than I, so I don't begrudge him his well-deserved SLI-angst.

 

[JAG87]

Originally posted by: aka1nas
I'd also suggest running Nhancer as it makes profiles easier to deal with. I never really bothered to use Nvidia's profile system until I upgraded to SLI, it makes it much easier to manage settings.

The driver support issues JAG mentioned aren't quite that bad IME. SLI often requires profiles for new games to work correctly, but you usually only get bitten by this if you grab the game the first day it comes out. Nvidia is usually pretty good about at least releasing a Beta with a fixed profile very quickly after problems are discovered.

Of course, JAG has been running SLI a lot longer than I, so I don't begrudge him his well-deserved SLI-angst.

Because crazy people like us that spend more on video cards then any other component shouldn't have the right to play as soon as the game comes out?

Not only should SLI users get flawless drivers right away, but we should get the beta of the games a whole month before, so that if there are problems first and foremost we can report bugs. to make up for that annoyance we can at least brag that we've been playing the game before everyone else.

thats the minimum, considering how much food we put on nvidia's plate. instead we are beta testing SLI and while everyone else is getting their the performance they paid for, we get half.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Check your mb documentation as the implementation varies between manufacturers. On my msi mb I have to swap a small card around to enable sli before I install the video cards.

 

[CP5670]

have fun wasting your life updating drivers every week and messing with game profiles. seriously, im not being sarcastic at all.

Yeah, I got annoyed by all this too back when I used SLI. I was probably spending more time trying to get my games to fully work with it than actually playing them. You would think that the SLI users would get premium service considering all the money they're giving Nvidia.

 

[terencek]

Originally posted by: JAG87
install cards
put on bridge
boot up
install drivers
enable SLI

have fun wasting your life updating drivers every week and messing with game profiles. seriously, im not being sarcastic at all.

PS. just a quick time saver for you: when running in SLI, vsync is always broken with beta drivers. WHQL drivers fix this, but beta drivers are usually the drivers that bring you new profiles for the latest games such as COD4 and Crysis. Without those profiles, SLI is useless.

You say install drivers. Are you talking about the nVidia drivers for the card? Or are there other drivers for SLI? Also, where do you enable SLI?

 

[JAG87]

Originally posted by: terencek

Originally posted by: JAG87
install cards
put on bridge
boot up
install drivers
enable SLI

have fun wasting your life updating drivers every week and messing with game profiles. seriously, im not being sarcastic at all.

PS. just a quick time saver for you: when running in SLI, vsync is always broken with beta drivers. WHQL drivers fix this, but beta drivers are usually the drivers that bring you new profiles for the latest games such as COD4 and Crysis. Without those profiles, SLI is useless.

You say install drivers. Are you talking about the nVidia drivers for the card? Or are there other drivers for SLI? Also, where do you enable SLI?

yes the drivers for the card, there are no specific SLI drivers.

you enable SLI in the control panel, theres a specific section.

 

[quattro1]

It amazes me how many people dig in to the SLI profiles messing with them and then blaming SLI not working.

There should be no need to ever mess with the profiles related to SLI. You can change them to set specific AA/AF or quality modes for games but why would you ever change the pre determined SLI rendering mode? That's just dumb and asking for problems.

 

[JAG87]

Originally posted by: quattro1
It amazes me how many people dig in to the SLI profiles messing with them and then blaming SLI not working.

There should be no need to ever mess with the profiles related to SLI. You can change them to set specific AA/AF or quality modes for games but why would you ever change the pre determined SLI rendering mode? That's just dumb and asking for problems.

where in this thread did you read that we change the SLI rendering mode defined from nvidia? messing with profiles means creating profiles for those games that are either not popular or too new, and wasting time trying to find out which rendering mode produces the best performance without causing glitches and crashes.

I wrote messing 'with' profiles, not messing 'up' profiles, try not to misinterpret.

 

[quattro1]

Ok, which games do you play that do not have a profile for SLI?

 

[JAG87]

Originally posted by: quattro1
Ok, which games do you play that do not have a profile for SLI?

Call of Duty 4 and PES 2008 just to name a few.



If I use the 163.75 WHQL:

I can create a COD4 profile, but it does not help because regardless of which mode you choose, SFR AFR1 or AFR2, the frame rate is actually worse then single gpu.

I can create a PES 2008 profile, use AFR1 together with vsync and triple buffering for an optimal experience.

If I use 169.09 BETA:

I have a COD4 profile so my frames nearly double for an optimal experience.

I can still create a PES 2008 profile and use AFR1, but vsync does not work as in all beta drivers its broken when used with SLI, and the game tears so much that my eyes hurt.



Just an example of how SLI profiles can be a pain in the ass quattro1.

 

[quattro1]

169.09 was released before the game shipped I believe and I have no problem upgrading my drivers to get proper SLI support for new titles. Remember that you don't only get the SLI support, but also fixes in the a driver for upcoming games not always related to SLI.

I dont see any issues with updating drivers for new games when they come out. How else would you expect this to happen?

As far as PES 2008, had to look it up Looks like that game is locked to 60fps? Does perf jump for you when you force SLI?

 

[JAG87]

Originally posted by: quattro1
169.09 was released before the game shipped I believe and I have no problem upgrading my drivers to get proper SLI support for new titles. Remember that you don't only get the SLI support, but also fixes in the a driver for upcoming games not always related to SLI.

I dont see any issues with updating drivers for new games when they come out. How else would you expect this to happen?

As far as PES 2008, had to look it up Looks like that game is locked to 60fps? Does perf jump for you when you force SLI?

Hey I'm not saying theres anything wrong with updating drivers, on the contrary! I'm just saying that between the time the game is released, and the time nvidia releases proper drivers, I will not be able to enjoy the games fully. You have to understand at my resolution + AA and stuff, things are unplayable without SLI. An example is having to use 169.09 just to play COD4 properly, and having to suffer tearing in PES meanwhile.

As far as PES, the game is locked to 60 fps, but it tears like crazy without vsync. And performance wise, the game is very unique. It runs at 60 fps stuck while playing, but slows down horribly during cut scenes. At 2560x1600 during intro scenes, goal celebrations and replays, the frame rate drops to 20-30 fps, while with AFR1 enabled it hovers around 45-50 fps during the same scenes.