Need Help - SLI Drops GPU Usage

[Stangs55]

I just replaced my ATI 5970 with two MSI 580 Twin Frozrs in SLI and now I've got a problem.

BF3 (with the new drivers) runs great when I first launch it up...but then after about 10-15 minutes, it's like one of the cards just stop working and my FPS drops from 50ish to about 15 becoming unplayable.

I downloaded MSI Afterburner to see if I could figure out what's go on and, sure enough, one of the GPU's just stopped being utilized at 100%...then the other GPU drops utilization from 100%. Errr...why?

Top temps I'm getting are close to 90 C on each at full load, but I understand that this is still well within spec for these cards.

Thoughts?

 

[fwrigley]

Does it only happen with BF3? It might just be something to do with the beta.

 

[refraxion]

I would attribute it to the beta drivers.

 

[mrbigshot]

try under clocking them a little or getting more air to them you can tell by the upper graph that the cards are overheating and dropping clock speeds as a safety measure. its something you see all the time in folding.

if its dropping to 2d clock speeds than the factory overclock is unstable, if they behave when you put them back to reference 580 speeds (not the overclocked msi speeds) and they run without crashing than you can eaither underclock them or add more voltage. some of the twin frozr II cards have a voltage setting of only 1.000mv and some need 1.013 or even 1.025mv to become stable at the factory overclocked speeds.

 

[Stangs55]

try under clocking them a little or getting more air to them you can tell by the upper graph that the cards are overheating and dropping clock speeds as a safety measure. its something you see all the time in folding.

if its dropping to 2d clock speeds than the factory overclock is unstable, if they behave when you put them back to reference 580 speeds (not the overclocked msi speeds) and they run without crashing than you can eaither underclock them or add more voltage. some of the twin frozr II cards have a voltage setting of only 1.000mv and some need 1.013 or even 1.025mv to become stable at the factory overclocked speeds.

I had initially thought they were overheating as well...but if you look at the graphs, you'll see that the fan speeds drop as well, which is counterintuitive. You'd think that if the cards forced themselves to underclock in order to cool down because of heat, then the fans would keep blowing away to cool them down...but instead the fans drop off as well...

As to the power, I had previously worried that my Seasonic X750 wouldn't be quite enough to drive these two in SLI, so I already ordered a Corsair AX1200 which is arriving today...dunno of that could be contributing to the problem.

 

[mrbigshot]

could be unstable overclocks than. download afterburner install it and under setting enable voltage slider. try upping the voltage to 1.013mv and retest, if not try 1.025mv and retest. not all cards can run with a low factory voltage applied. happens to all the manufactures from time to time. they cant bin each card so they bin a few samples from each batch to determine what they can do. some cards just need a little more help

 

[cerwinvega]

I had initially thought they were overheating as well...but if you look at the graphs, you'll see that the fan speeds drop as well, which is counterintuitive.

The fans don't drop, they slowly roll off with temperature, which makes perfect sense.

Your cards are throttling. Follow mrbigshot's advice, and also work on your case airflow.