8800GTX SLI question....

Aug 12, 2008, 04:37 AM

Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum so I hope I'm posting this in the right section.

I purchased a Dell XPS 710 from an individual last Friday and I have a question about SLI. I don't know anything about configuring a vga in SLI mode so I'm hoping someone on here can give me some pointers.

I have 2 - 8800GTX 768mb cards installed in SLI mode however, when I open NVidia's system monitor which is available on their site, it only shows temps, speeds, etc for (1) card instead of two cards. This would lead me to believe that it's not running in SLI configuration.

My question...is there some utility/program that will allow me to turn SLI on and off? If not, why is my system only showing one card running and how do I remedy this?

Quote:

My system specs:

Core 2 Quad Extreme QX6700 @ 2.66ghz
(4)gigs Corsair DDR2-667
(2) 300gb Velociraptors in Raid 0
Sound Blaster Fatal1ty sound
(2) 8800GTX 384-bit 768mb
Logitech G51 5.1 surround sound
Logitech G5 mouse
Logitech G15 keyboard
Dell 22" LCD

Purchase Price - $1000

**kris23** · Aug 12, 2008, 04:43 AM

dunno about how to enable SLi but man....

thats a real good price.

could use faster memory if compatible though......

Aug 12, 2008, 06:22 AM

Quote:

could use faster memory if compatible though......

I would really like to get new memory but I need to contact Dell and find out what other frequencies I can use, if any.

Aug 12, 2008, 02:35 PM

I plugged my LCD into my top card and I didn't get a picture. Does this mean that card is fried, or...?

**temeteus82** · Aug 12, 2008, 02:39 PM

Thread moved to nVidia card's forums.

Aug 12, 2008, 08:36 PM

Alright, I now have my cards in SLI. I had to enable something in the BIOS. I have a different problem now...my screen blinks uncontrollably when I have them in SLI. Can anyone give me some idea as to why this is happening and what I can do to fix it?

**kris23** · Aug 12, 2008, 09:59 PM

maybe thats the reason why your friend sold it for such a low price?

ok seriously, can you try and update the drivers to the latest on the nvidia site, that should help a bit at the very least.

**kris23** · Aug 12, 2008, 10:03 PM

a bit of searching has shown that the system supports a max of DDR2 667........

sucks.

~~n3td3v~~ · Aug 13, 2008, 04:04 PM

Yeah, it sucks about the ram...I may purchase a different mobo. Anyway, I did some searching on the issue of my screen blinking when the cards are in SLI and I found where others had posted elsewhere with the same issues. I have vertical sync turned off so that's not the problem. Both cards work just fine when they are running separately but the moment I enable SLI, my screen goes to blinking like a strobe light. Any clues as to why?

My current resolution/refresh is 1280x1024 @ 75hz

CDsDontBurn · Aug 19, 2008, 04:00 AM

is the screen an LCD screen or a CRT screen? if it's an LCD screen, then i suggest that you take the refresh rate down to 60Hz as the refresh rate of LCDs is different to that of CRTs.

when running the cards in SLI, you need to check the BIOS (like you already have), and also to enable/disable SLI through the NVIDIA control panel as well. this is located under the "3D settings" section of the NVCP. the subsection is going to be called "set multi GPU configuration" or "set SLI configuration" depending on what version of the drivers you are using.

also, simply disabling SLI does not guarantee that both cards are working correctly. have you tried to physically run each card individually? this means that you need to pull one card out and leave the other in. then pull that card and put in the other card. i know it's tedious, but it's necessary testing. Also, you can try different drivers. for a list of drivers, check out NVIDIA's driver page.

**kris23** · Aug 19, 2008, 04:21 AM

why was this guy banned?

CDsDontBurn · Aug 19, 2008, 04:22 AM

idk, but he posted as a "guest" first, and all his posts were in this thread?

PH3N0M · Sep 6, 2008, 11:40 PM

I wasn't banned, the name was banned, due to someone claiming I was impersonating him. I found the solution to my SLI issue by accident. The dimwit who owned this system before I bought it had the SLI bridge connected to the wrong terminals thus causing the screen to blink because it couldn't access the other 8800 GPU.

As for the RAM issue, the XPS 710 which uses the nForce 570i chipset can use DDR2-800 ram as long as you have the latest BIOS update of 1.4.1 which was released in May of 2007. I'm thinking of purchasing some OCZ Fatal1ty series. Does anyone have any other recommendations for gaming use?

**kris23** · Sep 6, 2008, 11:46 PM

the Fatal1ty RAM is junk... try some CAS 4 OCZ Platinums or Reapers

Newegg.com - OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

PH3N0M · Sep 7, 2008, 12:00 AM

It's funny you mentioned that ram because I was just looking at it on newegg. I would love to buy 8gb of that but Dell doesn't sell a 64bit XP OS and I'm not willing to downgrade to Vista. =\

blibbax · Sep 7, 2008, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PH3N0M

It's funny you mentioned that ram because I was just looking at it on newegg. I would love to buy 8gb of that but Dell doesn't sell a 64bit XP OS and I'm not willing to downgrade to Vista. =\

You don't need to buy the OS from Dell.

Syndicate2083 · Sep 7, 2008, 12:04 PM

And Vista really isnt a downgrade at all either....

-Syn

cozumel · Sep 7, 2008, 12:41 PM

Vista x64 sp1 improves performance over xp x64

PH3N0M · Sep 7, 2008, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blibbax

You don't need to buy the OS from Dell.

I have tried installing a retail version of Windows XP 64 and it will not install but everytime I input the Dell OS disc, it installs without a hitch. I've tried installing the 64 bit with 2 separate downloads with no luck.

cozumel · Sep 7, 2008, 02:53 PM

PH3NOM - I'm interested in the reasons you think Vista is a 'downgrade' from XP. Any chance of a quick explanation please?

Thanks

PH3N0M · Sep 7, 2008, 03:16 PM

Not only is Vista a resource hog but In my experience, Vista isn't as fast as XP, far more bloated with unnecessary shit than XP is, and is way too buggy.

**kris23** · Sep 7, 2008, 06:01 PM

from what everyone says when they compare Xp x64 to Vista x64..... they prefer Vista x64

nobody buys 32 bit vista anymore and you cant really compare 32 bit XP to Vista X64....

Vista x64 isnt buggy... this is from me who uses it...... 32 bit vista sucks though as it caps off the RAM, something it needs.... feels slower too....

im not going back to XP as my system is geared towards Vista and doesnt feel any better with XP....

PH3N0M · Sep 7, 2008, 06:08 PM

That being said, I may try out Vista x64 and see if I can get used to it.

cozumel · Sep 7, 2008, 09:02 PM

Do try out Vista x64 if you gave 4GB or more RAM. It is head and shoulders above XP. I don't know where you got the 'bugginess' thing from. And memory management is far superior to XP.

I have XP running on an intel E2160 and Vista on this. The Vista machine is miles quicker than the XP and only uses the memory it reuires to provide the quickest response times. (That means all the memory at times). If I added more memory it would use that again to boost performance further. That's not a resource hog, that's the best use of resources available. You don't want to buy memory and find that you're not getting an improved performance, which is what XP does.

XP was, and remains, an excellent OS. It's just that Vista has overtaken her and provides greater speed.

**kris23** · Sep 7, 2008, 09:06 PM

hey coz..... you got 3k posts now! that was fast...

rsc08 · Dec 18, 2008, 02:00 PM

I have Vista 64 and it runs like a charm.

Aug 12, 2008, 04:43 AM	#2
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,019 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	dunno about how to enable SLi but man.... thats a real good price. could use faster memory if compatible though...... __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Aug 12, 2008, 08:36 PM	#6
n3td3v Guest Posts: n/a	*update* Alright, I now have my cards in SLI. I had to enable something in the BIOS. I have a different problem now...my screen blinks uncontrollably when I have them in SLI. Can anyone give me some idea as to why this is happening and what I can do to fix it?

Aug 12, 2008, 09:59 PM	#7
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,019 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	maybe thats the reason why your friend sold it for such a low price? ok seriously, can you try and update the drivers to the latest on the nvidia site, that should help a bit at the very least. __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Aug 12, 2008, 10:03 PM	#8
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,019 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	a bit of searching has shown that the system supports a max of DDR2 667........ sucks. __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Aug 13, 2008, 04:04 PM	#9
~~n3td3v~~ Banned Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	*update* Yeah, it sucks about the ram...I may purchase a different mobo. Anyway, I did some searching on the issue of my screen blinking when the cards are in SLI and I found where others had posted elsewhere with the same issues. I have vertical sync turned off so that's not the problem. Both cards work just fine when they are running separately but the moment I enable SLI, my screen goes to blinking like a strobe light. Any clues as to why? My current resolution/refresh is 1280x1024 @ 75hz

Aug 12, 2008, 02:35 PM	#4
n3td3v Guest Posts: n/a	I plugged my LCD into my top card and I didn't get a picture. Does this mean that card is fried, or...?

Aug 19, 2008, 04:00 AM	#10
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,794 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	is the screen an LCD screen or a CRT screen? if it's an LCD screen, then i suggest that you take the refresh rate down to 60Hz as the refresh rate of LCDs is different to that of CRTs. when running the cards in SLI, you need to check the BIOS (like you already have), and also to enable/disable SLI through the NVIDIA control panel as well. this is located under the "3D settings" section of the NVCP. the subsection is going to be called "set multi GPU configuration" or "set SLI configuration" depending on what version of the drivers you are using. also, simply disabling SLI does not guarantee that both cards are working correctly. have you tried to physically run each card individually? this means that you need to pull one card out and leave the other in. then pull that card and put in the other card. i know it's tedious, but it's necessary testing. Also, you can try different drivers. for a list of drivers, check out NVIDIA's driver page. __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Aug 19, 2008, 04:21 AM	#11
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,019 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	why was this guy banned? __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Aug 19, 2008, 04:22 AM	#12
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,794 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	idk, but he posted as a "guest" first, and all his posts were in this thread? __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Sep 6, 2008, 11:40 PM	#13
PH3N0M The Master of Sarcasm Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: The U.S. of A Posts: 348 Rep Power: 37 System Specs	I wasn't banned, the name was banned, due to someone claiming I was impersonating him. I found the solution to my SLI issue by accident. The dimwit who owned this system before I bought it had the SLI bridge connected to the wrong terminals thus causing the screen to blink because it couldn't access the other 8800 GPU. As for the RAM issue, the XPS 710 which uses the nForce 570i chipset can use DDR2-800 ram as long as you have the latest BIOS update of 1.4.1 which was released in May of 2007. I'm thinking of purchasing some OCZ Fatal1ty series. Does anyone have any other recommendations for gaming use?

Sep 6, 2008, 11:46 PM	#14
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,019 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	the Fatal1ty RAM is junk... try some CAS 4 OCZ Platinums or Reapers Newegg.com - OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Sep 7, 2008, 12:00 AM	#15
PH3N0M The Master of Sarcasm Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: The U.S. of A Posts: 348 Rep Power: 37 System Specs	It's funny you mentioned that ram because I was just looking at it on newegg. I would love to buy 8gb of that but Dell doesn't sell a 64bit XP OS and I'm not willing to downgrade to Vista. =\

Sep 7, 2008, 12:04 PM	#17
Syndicate2083 HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Framingham, MA Posts: 228 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	And Vista really isnt a downgrade at all either.... -Syn __________________ -Crash the silence for the sake of memory. Intrinsic Realities, Veteran-USN.

Sep 7, 2008, 12:41 PM	#18
cozumel I'm dangerous but cute... Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Under the waves... Posts: 3,577 Rep Power: 60 System Specs	Vista x64 sp1 improves performance over xp x64 __________________ Don't worry about money - Be a beach bum! Scuba Rocks

Sep 7, 2008, 02:53 PM	#20
cozumel I'm dangerous but cute... Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Under the waves... Posts: 3,577 Rep Power: 60 System Specs	PH3NOM - I'm interested in the reasons you think Vista is a 'downgrade' from XP. Any chance of a quick explanation please? Thanks __________________ Don't worry about money - Be a beach bum! Scuba Rocks

Sep 7, 2008, 03:16 PM	#21
PH3N0M The Master of Sarcasm Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: The U.S. of A Posts: 348 Rep Power: 37 System Specs	Not only is Vista a resource hog but In my experience, Vista isn't as fast as XP, far more bloated with unnecessary shit than XP is, and is way too buggy.

Sep 7, 2008, 06:01 PM	#22
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,019 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	from what everyone says when they compare Xp x64 to Vista x64..... they prefer Vista x64 nobody buys 32 bit vista anymore and you cant really compare 32 bit XP to Vista X64.... Vista x64 isnt buggy... this is from me who uses it...... 32 bit vista sucks though as it caps off the RAM, something it needs.... feels slower too.... im not going back to XP as my system is geared towards Vista and doesnt feel any better with XP.... __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Sep 7, 2008, 06:08 PM	#23
PH3N0M The Master of Sarcasm Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: The U.S. of A Posts: 348 Rep Power: 37 System Specs	That being said, I may try out Vista x64 and see if I can get used to it.

Sep 7, 2008, 09:02 PM	#24
cozumel I'm dangerous but cute... Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Under the waves... Posts: 3,577 Rep Power: 60 System Specs	Do try out Vista x64 if you gave 4GB or more RAM. It is head and shoulders above XP. I don't know where you got the 'bugginess' thing from. And memory management is far superior to XP. I have XP running on an intel E2160 and Vista on this. The Vista machine is miles quicker than the XP and only uses the memory it reuires to provide the quickest response times. (That means all the memory at times). If I added more memory it would use that again to boost performance further. That's not a resource hog, that's the best use of resources available. You don't want to buy memory and find that you're not getting an improved performance, which is what XP does. XP was, and remains, an excellent OS. It's just that Vista has overtaken her and provides greater speed. __________________ Don't worry about money - Be a beach bum! Scuba Rocks

Sep 7, 2008, 09:06 PM	#25
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,019 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	hey coz..... you got 3k posts now! that was fast... __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Dec 18, 2008, 02:00 PM	#26
rsc08 HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 23 Rep Power: 0	Re: 8800GTX SLI question.... I have Vista 64 and it runs like a charm.