SLI problems

[Kalgren]

I have an eVGA 7800gt and a BFG 7800gt OC, with nVidia says will work together in SLI mode. My setup seems to work, but if I reboot my system it goes back to 640 x 480 resolution. I will try Rivatuner today and see if anything there will help me out. Also I will run a 3dmark test and see if SLI is really working or if it just says it is working. I have been very dissapointed in how little documentation I have seen regarding setting up SLI. Oh and do all SLI cards have a pin that is used to denote single or SLI mode? I didn't see anything on my Cards or my mobo that suggest anything to the latter.

 

[MasterDuke]

different brands... ouch... could be trouble.....

 

[Doctorweir]

Newest drivers?
Tried swapping the cards around?

 

[Kalgren]

nVidia says that you can use different brands with the 80 driver. I hadn't tried swapping the cards around yet.

 

[TheRyuu]

Try these drivers.

Second, make sure the motherboard is in SLI config. Like telling it to split the PCIe lanes if it's that kind of mobo. Then if that doesn't work, try a new bios on the mobo. Then maby try new chipset drivers?

Beyond that I'm not sure. It should work.

 

[Kalgren]

I tried those drivers and it completely hosed my system. I can not get the monitor to show anything unless I unplug one video card, then load drives, then put second video card back in.
eVGA 7800gt
BFG 7800gt OC (nVidia says this combo works)
eVGA nForce 4 SLI mobo 133-K8-NF41-AX (the Jetway)

So far I find little information about this Mobo and what I might be doing wrong. But I must be doing something wrong if my benchmarks on 3dmark 2006 are only 3.5k, I also notice that my mother board has a power plug that is labled SLI and that my 2 video cards each require two 4 pin plugs, that is a LOT of power.

Also in my rig are:
300gb Sata drive
3200 939 Venice CPU
2 gb OCZ value ram
(crappy power supply and going to ask in another forum what I should buy)

 

[christopherzombie]

I have two eVGA 7800GTs and an eVGA NF41 mobo. One is a N518 and the other is a N516. SLI will only work with my system with the N518 in the top slot and the N516 in the bottom slot (I use 8x.xx drivers). I had the same problem with my cards in the swapped top/bottom config. Some times it would let me enable SLI and give me a black/blank screen, then it rebooted to 800x600-16bit without SLI??!! I think it's an issue with the mobo. Try swapping. If it still doesn't work, flash to the latest mobo bios (Jan 2006?)and test each card in the single middle slot. RMA if needed. Also, make sure your monitor is plugged into the bottom card.

 

[christopherzombie]

Originally posted by: Kalgren
IeVGA nForce 4 SLI mobo 133-K8-NF41-AX (the Jetway)
So far I find little information about this Mobo and what I might be doing wrong. But I must be doing something wrong if my benchmarks on 3dmark 2006 are only 3.5k, I also notice that my mother board has a power plug that is labled SLI and that my 2 video cards each require two 4 pin plugs, that is a LOT of power.

Try the eVGA forums:

eVGA Motherboard forum

 

[Kalgren]

I am not a full on tweaker, what is a decent score on 3dmark06 ?
I was thinking my score was real real low and that my SLI wasn't working but a friend of mine scored about a 1k and his system isn't too much behind mine just no SLI and no PCIx
The official forums don't seem to have much info, might need to buy a new Mobo.
anyone have any Powersupply suggestions?

 

[Bull Dog]

Heres a fix: copy the bios from one card and flash it to the other....volia! matched cards.

 

[Kalgren]

I will have to try that, though they both list the same BIOS I will update them both to the same one.

 

[compgeek89]

yea, flash them both with the same BIOS, the BFG ones on the eVGA because eVGA covers bios flashes in warranty, i dont think bfg does.

 

[quattro1]

I doubt it is a vbios or video card issue. It seems to be a motherboard config issue. Do you have your 2 cards plugged into the correct slots? Which card has the monitor connected to it?

Acording to the user manual for your motherboard, the cards should be plugged into the 2nd and 4th PCIE slot from the CPU with the monitor connected to the card in the 4th slot.
http://www.evga.com/products/pdf/manual-rev.pdf

With the way you have it setup, can you turn SLI on?

 

[Kalgren]

Originally posted by: quattro1
I doubt it is a vbios or video card issue. It seems to be a motherboard config issue. Do you have your 2 cards plugged into the correct slots? Which card has the monitor connected to it?

Acording to the user manual for your motherboard, the cards should be plugged into the 2nd and 4th PCIE slot from the CPU with the monitor connected to the card in the 4th slot.
http://www.evga.com/products/pdf/manual-rev.pdf

With the way you have it setup, can you turn SLI on?

SLI will turn on, and does so on it's own. It just loads in 640x480 instead of 1280 x 1024. I seem to have better video strength than I did. And yes I did what eVGA tells you in the manual. BUT they don't tell you if you need to have a 4 pin plugged into the mobo above the Cards or not. Seems a LOT of power for 2 video cards to be using. Total of 5 of my 4 pin connectors are now tied up for my video.
I use the top card as the main card.

 

[GOREGRINDER]

Originally posted by: Kalgren

Originally posted by: quattro1
I doubt it is a vbios or video card issue. It seems to be a motherboard config issue. Do you have your 2 cards plugged into the correct slots? Which card has the monitor connected to it?

Acording to the user manual for your motherboard, the cards should be plugged into the 2nd and 4th PCIE slot from the CPU with the monitor connected to the card in the 4th slot.
http://www.evga.com/products/pdf/manual-rev.pdf

With the way you have it setup, can you turn SLI on?

SLI will turn on, and does so on it's own. It just loads in 640x480 instead of 1280 x 1024. I seem to have better video strength than I did. And yes I did what eVGA tells you in the manual. BUT they don't tell you if you need to have a 4 pin plugged into the mobo above the Cards or not. Seems a LOT of power for 2 video cards to be using. Total of 5 of my 4 pin connectors are now tied up for my video.
I use the top card as the main card.

whats your power supply?,can you give the specs for it? ampage per rail,wattage etc,. i gather your saying you use 2 molex to pci-e adaptors because your power supply isnt atx 2.03 with 2xpci-e connectors right?

and have you flashed to the newest eVGA nForce4 SLi motherboard's bios yet like wizboy suggested?...date of 02/03/06 so its pretty new,.. i couldnt get a direct link to work for some reason but its under mainboards/bios update/nforce4 sli in that link provided


and btw just for kicks space any drivers you may have gotten off any driver cd like chipset drivers,.should be set 6.70 from nvidia.com

 

[quattro1]

Originally posted by: Kalgren

Originally posted by: quattro1
I doubt it is a vbios or video card issue. It seems to be a motherboard config issue. Do you have your 2 cards plugged into the correct slots? Which card has the monitor connected to it?

Acording to the user manual for your motherboard, the cards should be plugged into the 2nd and 4th PCIE slot from the CPU with the monitor connected to the card in the 4th slot.
http://www.evga.com/products/pdf/manual-rev.pdf

With the way you have it setup, can you turn SLI on?

SLI will turn on, and does so on it's own. It just loads in 640x480 instead of 1280 x 1024. I seem to have better video strength than I did. And yes I did what eVGA tells you in the manual. BUT they don't tell you if you need to have a 4 pin plugged into the mobo above the Cards or not. Seems a LOT of power for 2 video cards to be using. Total of 5 of my 4 pin connectors are now tied up for my video.
I use the top card as the main card.

SLI does not turn "on" on its own. You have to do this in the driver control panel. Does a bubble pop up in the bottom right telling you the system is SLI capable? Without you going into the control and enabling SLI, SLI will not be turned on.