GPU question

[Jnapo87]

I have a nforce 780a sli asus board and was wondering if its plausable for me to use a single gpu - ati hd 5870 as my primary and use my current 9800gtx+ as a dedicated card for games that use the physX engine.

[Aaron_8015]

Yes it will work, last time I looked if running vista it will shut one of the cards down... not sure if it has been fixed though.....

[Jnapo87]

Im currently running XP64, which pretty much explains why my SLI isnt working. My current HDD is a POS WD caviar blue IDE 7200 and Im gonna turn it into a Slave and making my primary a 150g raptor. On the Raptor I am going to install Win 7 64 either Ultimate/ Enterprise/ Extreme Edition. And after that, if my SLI doesnt work then its got to be the other issues ive discussed in the past, like 65nm/55nm.

[Aaron_8015]

SLI works on XP 64bit... It only supports two card SLI though.... Also I run a 55nm and 65nm card in SLI just fine....

[Jnapo87]

In my Mobo Book it says SLI is Vista only and same on the Nvidia site. then how come I dont have the SLI option under 3d settings in Nvidia control panel, I have two 9800GTX+ in my system, primary is a 1g and second is 512mb. SLI serial cable on securely, and my System detects boths cards but no option so im currently running my 1g as primary and 512mb as dedicated for phsyX engine but not in SLI. Its pissing me off....

[Jnapo87]

Wait is that the problem!????

is it because one is a 1Gb and the other is a 512mb and the memory amounts need to be the same. only the clock speeds and manufacturers can be different.

noooo thinking that the extra 512mb would benefit me getting the 1gb not realizing that alone will make it not compatible.

[Aaron_8015]

It does not matter what memory sizes you use.... the larger one will always go down and use the max of the lesser card... It should still work. I gather you have reinstalled drivers and such?

[Jnapo87]

I was told by an Nvidia tech that the Memory amounts must be the same.

9800GTX+OC 512MB & 1GB SLI - NVIDIA Forums

Ive formated my drive and installed nforce and geforce drivers and no sli option

[Aaron_8015]

Wow really.... well from many sources that I have read, and I have even ran a 320mb and 640mb 8800 in SLI..... The only thing im not sure about is XP. I have run those cards in vista.

He is wrong... AFAIK they don't need to be the same.

[Aaron_8015]

Can you post a couple of images with two lots of gpu-z open (one for each card) and nvidia control panel on the SLI tab.

[Jnapo87]

well its not working for my xp 64

[Jnapo87]

Sparkle: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49...er/sparkle.gif
xfx: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49...eRaver/xfx.gif

there is no SLI tab to enable, just

Adjust image settings with preview
Manage 3D Settings
Set PhysX configuration

that's all in my 3D Settings

[Aaron_8015]

See now im confused... in the past you could SLI two cards with two different memory sizes. Unless they have changed this recently.....

[Jnapo87]

well the only way to find out is by getting a 512mb from evga and seeing if that works. If not, im taking a break from nvidia and gettin me an ati 5870

[ShyguyXPC]

as far as I know, that still holds, unless they changed it recently in one of the driver updates.

I know Triple and Quad SLI are Vista/7 Only, as far as SLI goes.



read here, see if that helps?: FAQ

How to Enable Coolbits

Not sure if that will work with XP64, but its worth a shot.

[Aaron_8015]

Here is coolbits link that i was digging up...

ForceWare Coolbits 2.0 download from Guru3D.com

[Jnapo87]

Thanks shy guy, I went into coolbits and modifyed the values to 18 and reboot, upon boot i got SLI window pop up and I enabled it, After 3 weeks of research and BS all i had to do is go into coolbits and change the values from 2 to 18.

L4D2 Maxed MSAAx4 AFx16 Very High settings 1900x1200 60fps solid.

[Aaron_8015]

Aha I knew it, curse those at the SLI forum for making me doubt myself. Glad you got it sorted.

[ShyguyXPC]

Aha I knew it, curse those at the SLI forum for making me doubt myself. Glad you got it sorted.

LOL, the funny thing is, those at the SLI forum said one thing, yet right on Nvidia's Own SLI FAQ's page it says quite the opposite, and even tells how to do it LOL...