Help with SLi? New System Build

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lancelaut

n00b
Joined
Dec 30, 2006
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Hi, I just built a new system. The specs are in my signature. I upgrade from a [Athlon XP 2800+, 1Gb PC3200 Ram, Geforce FX 5700 128Mb AGP.Running XP pro 32bit] I installed this new system and setup Windows XP Pro x64 Edition. It came with 3dMark06 v1.0.2. I ran the free edition tests and my score was 39xx+40xx+2079cpu I thought this was low, so I did some checking and it said that I was running one vid card. Eventually I found a setting in the Nvidia Control panel to enable Sli. Ran test again same answer. I went to compare my results and found out that I needed to upgrade to a new build of 3dmark06. So I updated all my Nvidia drivers. Upgrade to the new build. Found A setting to set SLi rendering. Enabled that too. Ran 3dMark06 still say one vid card even thought the test shows SLi on the screen from the Nvidia indicator, and and now my FPS are even lower.
I play America's Army, on old system I would get 40-60FPS on 800x600, now in Sli, I get 85 @ 1024x768. However, on some maps, I still run 20-30 when there is ai. Why? Can somebody help me with this. I don't know if it is a bios issue, software, or hardware. The only thing not set to auto is my memory which was read as 5-5-5-18-2t when it should have been 5-5-5-12-2t. I changed the 18 to 12. My bios settings can be found here. Thx in advance for your help. I do not know anything about OCing. or bios for that matter, but this doesn't seem much better than my old Comp.

My Questions in Review:
1. Maybe some hints on best bios setup
2. How to make sure Sli is setup right.
3. Another good 3d benchmark software for free
 
okay, I reinstalled the drivers that came with my EVGA cd. They seem to be the same version, 9.1.4.7, however, they are very different. I reran 3dmark06, and got a score of 9007. pretty good enough for me. Came in 3rd next to 7 similar configs. no OC, just temporary software booster. Anyways, thx for the help. Think I got er figured out now.
2200cpu score
 
Sorry, I just want to give you my oppinion, if you still can return both of your 7950GT, I think it is better if you buy a single 8800GTX than two 7950GTs. Based on my experience with two 6800Ultras and a single 7950GT, two 6800Ultras will give a slightly higher score in 3DMarks 06 but in games a single 7950GT is faster. If you buy a single 8800GTX now, you will get Direct3D-10 support and by the time a newer card comes out later, the 8800GTX would be cheaper and you can just add another 8800GTX that time and you will get about the same performance as the latest card. Btw to really benefit from a fast graphic card you need to avoid having a CPU bottleneck. CPU bottleneck means your CPU will be the limiting factor for your performance, just like you said, when there is AI, the fps will drop. To avoid CPU bottleneck, you can either buy a faster CPU or use a higher resolutions(1600x1200). If you don't have a monitor that can support a higher resolution, I think that buying a new 24" LCD would be a good investment, not only it can support a high resolution(1920x1200) to avoid CPU bottleneck, the resolution is also suitable for HD contents(1080P=1920x1080).
 
The thought sounds interesting. I believe I could still return my vid card, I would much rather have the 8800. I believe my monitor supports 1600x1200 like you said. I have no clue at which refresh rate however. I should try it. Today I had a serious problem. I had two critical errors follwed by a reboot. So I ran SFC /scannow. Windows looked fine however, after I rebooted, I coul;d see everything from bios to boot screen. ie. Loading Windows Xp x64 Edition. Then I could hear Windows logon sound and no screen. Monitor said something about incorrect signal frequency. Change signal. Idkn how. So I tried to restore from safe mode. To no avail. Now I am currently reinstalling Windows on that machine. Any thoughts? I'll get back to you on the vid card return thing. Thx for your reply.
 
lancelaut said:
The thought sounds interesting. I believe I could still return my vid card, I would much rather have the 8800. I believe my monitor supports 1600x1200 like you said. I have no clue at which refresh rate however. I should try it. Today I had a serious problem. I had two critical errors follwed by a reboot. So I ran SFC /scannow. Windows looked fine however, after I rebooted, I coul;d see everything from bios to boot screen. ie. Loading Windows Xp x64 Edition. Then I could hear Windows logon sound and no screen. Monitor said something about incorrect signal frequency. Change signal. Idkn how. So I tried to restore from safe mode. To no avail. Now I am currently reinstalling Windows on that machine. Any thoughts? I'll get back to you on the vid card return thing. Thx for your reply.
Click to expand...
Sounds like your primary video card in BIOS and in Windows is not the same, a common problem with SLi setup, just change the primary display adaptor in BIOS and the monitor cable to the other video card. Btw if you buy a 8800GTX now and buy another one later, I think you need to upgrade you PSU later, 2x 8800GTXs need lots of power.
 
I tried the switch primary video cards thing, just as a hunch... like minds u know... and same thing. No screen. Re-install did the trick. Got to swap my documents stuff but everything else was on other drive. I split one drive in two and keep data on the D: that way I can re-install without losing stuff. Noticed a few differences this time however. Last install I had C: and E: for local disks and D: was CD drive?????? then web pages saved to disk had wrong Icons. Tried to change them in folder options, but they would not change. Seems better this time. Maybe faulty install first time around. We'll see. Only problem so far is this dang DCOM error in the system event viewer. Seems like 2x every 30 min. get this error. Permissioning error however I have default permissions on Administrator account no sub account created as Just installed the other day. ---

---Been thinking long and hard about the vid card upgrade. I have two options as Newegg will return it for refund - restocking fee or EVGA has the trade up program. Either way, its gonna cost more money and the Comp build already cost $2K. I have wife and four kids. Can't spend much more money on a hobby. Probably keep the two 7950GT KOsuperclocked cards. Could still use some help understanding Nvidia SLi technology though. How is it you can enable SLi, but then another setting says you are using 1GPU for rendering? To enable Multi GPU rendering under the Nvidia control panel, you must accept the risk of crashing your computer due to it not being supported by the OS's. So--1 setting says you are in SLi then the other setting says you are not. Which are you? I guess I do not understand the technology. Any guidance would be great. Thx
 
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