SLI problems - EVGA 8800gt's

[alphasigmookie]

I just picked up a second used 8800gt to SLI with my existing card. They are both EVGA cards. I installed the second card, connected the SLI bridge (does it matter which side is which? No indication on the bridge) updated the drivers and enabled SLI. Both cards show up in device manager and in GPU-Z and it lists SLI as enabled. However I've tried both the built in world in conflict benchmark and 3dmark06 and neither shows any difference between having SLI enabled or disabled.

Is there something I'm missing that I'm supposed to do? I've looked through my mobo manual and there are no extra instructions. I can't find anything about any jumpers on the board i'm supposed to change. I've also checked the bios and there is nothing in there. Of course I've done every combination of enabling/disabling and restarting that I can think of. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I might be missing?

FYI:
XP pro
MSI K9NSLI V2 (nForce 570LT)
X2 5000+

 

[toyota]

with that cpu your 3dmark06 score probably isnt going to change much anyway. depending on the game and settings that cpu will already noticeably limit a single 8800gt if you are below 1600. a second 8800gt isnt going to make much difference in many games if you are at a lower res.

 

[alphasigmookie]

Is there a good way to check that it's even working? I know there may be CPU bottleneck issues on some games, but I would think I'd see at least a bit of a boost in world in conflict at 1680x1050 and high detail. I know my CPU isn't a blazer, but I've got it OC'ed to 3ghz.

 

[toyota]

Is there a good way to check that it's even working? I know there may be CPU bottleneck issues on some games, but I would think I'd see at least a bit of a boost in world in conflict at 1680x1050 and high detail. I know my CPU isn't a blazer, but I've got it OC'ed to 3ghz.

well world in conflict is pretty cpu dependent so you likely get little to no benefit in it. even at 3.0 that A64 X2 is pretty poky for trying to push 8800gt sli in cpu intensive games.

 

[Puffnstuff]

There's an sli indicator in nvidia control panel. It will show the scaling if you enable and play a game. When I was running 8800gts 512's in sli they did not scale very well. My 480's on the other hand scale almost perfectly.

 

[MarcVenice]

World in Conflict is very cpu-limited (the minima, with the atombomb don't budge much unless you use a significantly faster cpu, like a Core i7 @ 3.0GHZ).

Then again, the benchmark in WiC isn't very good to determine how gameplay will be. I also wouldn't worry about 3DMark06.

Toyota claims a single 8800GT will be bottlenecked by a X2 5000+ but I say it's bullshit. In many gpu-limited games, the second 8800GT will matter. I do agree that you're on the edge though (two 8800gt's roughly equal a GTX 285, and I wouldn't throw more gpu-horsepower at a 5000+ then a GTX 285).

In the end, try some other games instead of just hose two.

 

[nenforcer]

For starters, I would follow others advice and try some slightly more modern games with SLI support (BioShock), COD4:MW even.

You then have 2 options of which I would consider both.

1. Upgrade the CPU to a Phenom X4 9850 which seems to be your last option.

2. Buy a more modern 64-bit OS like Windows 7. (glad you skipped Vista)

You also have DX10 GPU's you aren't taking advantage of in XP.

I don't think any more driver optimizations are being put into DX9 XP drivers other than maintaining compatibility at this point.

 

[alphasigmookie]

There's an sli indicator in nvidia control panel. It will show the scaling if you enable and play a game. When I was running 8800gts 512's in sli they did not scale very well. My 480's on the other hand scale almost perfectly.

I've looked for options within the driver menus, but the newest drivers don't seem to have many options that I can find. Where exactly is the sli indicator?

The other question is do I need ntune for sli to work? I tried installing it but it says I have a phantom version already installed but I can't find it or uninstall it. I've deleted every folder or file I can find with reference to ntune and it doesn't show up in the add/remove programs tab.

The ideas of upgrading to Windows 7 may be the best option. There is quite a bit of crap built up in this machine after upgrading multiple times over the years that maybe a clean sweep of everything is what is most needed.

 

[v8envy]

Toyota claims a single 8800GT will be bottlenecked by a X2 5000+ but I say it's bullshit. In many gpu-limited games, the second 8800GT will matter. I do agree that you're on the edge though (two 8800gt's roughly equal a GTX 285, and I wouldn't throw more gpu-horsepower at a 5000+ then a GTX 285).

Toyota is correct according to a bit of testing I did underclocking and overclocking my E2180 early in 08 or so at 1680x1050. Below 2.8 ghz I got a linear reduction in frames even in the halflife 2 benchmark, which is artificially light on CPU compared to a real FPS (which is even lighter on CPU than an RTS) using a single 8800GT.

A 2.8 ghz E2180 is miles faster than an X2 5000, so I can definitely see why two 8800GTs wouldn't seem any better than one. In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if they are SLOWER.

 

[toyota]

World in Conflict is very cpu-limited (the minima, with the atombomb don't budge much unless you use a significantly faster cpu, like a Core i7 @ 3.0GHZ).

Then again, the benchmark in WiC isn't very good to determine how gameplay will be. I also wouldn't worry about 3DMark06.

Toyota claims a single 8800GT will be bottlenecked by a X2 5000+ but I say it's bullshit. In many gpu-limited games, the second 8800GT will matter. I do agree that you're on the edge though (two 8800gt's roughly equal a GTX 285, and I wouldn't throw more gpu-horsepower at a 5000+ then a GTX 285).

In the end, try some other games instead of just hose two.

I said it would noticeably limit an 8800gt BELOW 1600 and that is true. I owned an 8800gt while I had a 5000 X2 so I know first hand gaming with it at 1280. many newer games are way more cpu intensive than they were 2 years ago so yes his cpu even at 1680 would still be a slight limiting factor with an 8800gt depending on the game and settings.

a second 8800gt should certainly help quite a bit at 1680 for many games. again though in cpu intensive games like World in Conflict it is of little help while using that 5000 X2.

 

[toyota]

Toyota is correct according to a bit of testing I did underclocking and overclocking my E2180 early in 08 or so at 1680x1050. Below 2.8 ghz I got a linear reduction in frames even in the halflife 2 benchmark, which is artificially light on CPU compared to a real FPS (which is even lighter on CPU than an RTS) using a single 8800GT.

A 2.8 ghz E2180 is miles faster than an X2 5000, so I can definitely see why two 8800GTs wouldn't seem any better than one. In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if they are SLOWER.

thanks and yeah that is true that it could actually be no faster or even slower in some cases due to the cpu overhead on that 5000 X2.

here even in Crysis with a 2.93 Core 2 an 8800gt sli is slower than a single 8800gt at 1280 and it takes a res of 1680 for the 8800gt sli to pull away. factor in that his 5000 X2 is much slower than a 2.93 Core 2 and he could easily be getting little to no benefit from that second 8800gt in some cpu intensive games even at 1680. http://techreport.com/articles.x/14168/8

 

[alphasigmookie]

I've got MW2 and far cry 2 (never actually installed) so i'll check those out tonight. Just ran the first few benchmarks I knew of that would give me a numerical result. After reading some more it does seem plausible that I'm just cpu bottle necked in the two benchmarks I've already run, but I should note that 3dmark06 only lists the single GPU in my system statistics which is another thing that's making me think I may have an issue.

 

[nenforcer]

Download the Lost Planet Demo (http://www.nzone.com) and I know for a fact it will tell you which combination you have enabled in your video cards as I ran the DX10 version on Vista. I don't think the DX9 version on XP is any different. Street Fighter IV benchmark does the same, I believe.

Far Cry 2 is suppose to have the best benchmark in the game so there should be no doubt it will tell you what you are using. I haven't played MW2 yet just MW1 and it has a enable SLI (dual GPU?) option in the menu.

 

[alphasigmookie]

Well found the SLI indicator and installed far cry 2 and ran the benchmark. It's working and I'm getting about a 50-60% boost in FPS with SLI vs. single gpu. Guess the other two were just CPU limited. Thanks guys!

 

[tweakboy]

Very cool, yap nice so with duals 8800GT SLI , how fast score in 06 ,, thanks many before I sent out my friend in NY to go get this

 

[Puffnstuff]

I've looked for options within the driver menus, but the newest drivers don't seem to have many options that I can find. Where exactly is the sli indicator?

The other question is do I need ntune for sli to work? I tried installing it but it says I have a phantom version already installed but I can't find it or uninstall it. I've deleted every folder or file I can find with reference to ntune and it doesn't show up in the add/remove programs tab.

The ideas of upgrading to Windows 7 may be the best option. There is quite a bit of crap built up in this machine after upgrading multiple times over the years that maybe a clean sweep of everything is what is most needed.

Look at the menus on top of the nvidia control panel and find the one that says 3d settings and enable the sli visual indicator.