who is running SLI

Sleepy · #1 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007, 11:20 AM

ok, received my 2nd 8800 gts and installed, not a very noticable increase in my 3dmark scores and no increase in the source stress tests.

any others out there have noticable gains or am i missing something here?

specs: amd fx-60 oc to 2.9
asus sli deluxe mb
850 watt power supply
2 gigs of memory

I am not very happy with the performance side it actually plays the same as one card. when i installed the card the nivida control panel popped up which noticed the sli, enabled as needed. went to slizone and read a few things and of course everyone is noticing huge gains, what am i missing?

Dukefrukem · #2 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007, 11:40 AM

The source engine is optimized for Ati cards which is why youre not seeing any big results in the stress test. If your main game is source and other source developed games, return the card. Its not even worth the extra money spent.

You're lucky to see a 10 frame increase with SLI and source.

Sleepy · #3 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007, 11:49 AM

duke i can understand source from our previous conversations but what about the 3dmark scores? they should go up shouldn't they?

on the idea of returning they were warranty upgrades from my faulty 7900 so the next idea would be to sell one.

Guntizzle · #4 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007, 11:58 AM

sometimes you have to enable your 2nd card is your nvidia settings

trip7 · #5 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007, 12:14 PM

also you need to remember that for SLI to have very notable gains the game need to have SLI optimization. Source has SLI enabled but that doesnt mean jack shit unless theyve actually made changes to make it run better. im pretty sure it has crossfire support but its unlikely they went out of their way for nvidia users.

Teck · #6 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trip7

also you need to remember that for SLI to have very notable gains the game need to have SLI optimization. Source has SLI enabled but that doesnt mean jack shit unless theyve actually made changes to make it run better. im pretty sure it has crossfire support but its unlikely they went out of their way for nvidia users.

Isnt it like less than 20% even on an optimized game?

Craig · #7 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007, 03:23 PM

also, your GPU's are crushing the throughput of that CPU. It's surely a bottleneck, even though its a great chip...two 8800's of any flavor push some serious pixels

Relly · #8 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007, 03:38 PM

Damn, that's bad news bro

I hope you get your issue resolved. I was thinking about SLi'ing too. I might just go for the new 9series if it's not too much $ and sell this 8800

Also, you shouldn't expect double your 3Dmark scores. I've heard that when you SLi, it's only a 160% increase of what you used to get. Kind of sucks.

But don't give up. I'm pretty sure there's something missing. Make sure SLi is enabled through your nVidia control panel. Same for every other option that enables it.

Make sure your PSU and motherboard are SLi ready too. Sometimes that bottlenecks it as well.

K_Dog · #9 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007, 03:55 PM

I remember reading in Max PC that nvidia recommends testing 8800 SLI at huge resolutions because you don't see the benefits at lower res. It also helps a bunch with a lot of AA on.

YankeeDeuce · #10 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Relly

Also, you shouldn't expect double your 3Dmark scores. I've heard that when you SLi, it's only a 160% increase of what you used to get. Kind of sucks.

A 160% increase is more than double...