Setting up Sli

[310thDiablo]

Originally Posted by RickRuski

Although I have only recently gone Sli I feel that I have found some things that help to get it running reasonably well.

(1) make SURE that all settings are the same in all adjustments (control panel, Invidia Inspector, etc) sometimes I have found that they aren't.

(2) Try and get all cards balanced so that voltages, frequencies, etc are the same. ( I use EVGA precision Tool for this purpose available at EVGA , my two cards are from different stables and therefore not the same clocks etc.)

(3) Overclocking sometimes has a negative effect (although my cards are factory O/C I have turned them down to stock settings and find them more stable)

Hope these few things that I have found during testing help others who might be struggling.

Here are my new "Profile" settings applied after 285.27 beta driver.

Sli compatibility bits (DX10) = 0x00000011
Sli compatibility bits = 0x00000011
AA-mode = override any application setting
AA-setting = 2x (2x Multisampling)
AA-Transparency Multisampling = Enabled
AA-Transparency Supersampling = Off/ Multisampling
Text filtering-Anisotropic sample opt.= OFF
Text filtering-Negative LOD Bias = Clamp
Text filtering-Quality = Quality
Text filtering-Trilinear opt. = OFF
Max pre-rendered frames = 3
Multi-display/mixed-GPUacceleration = Single display performance mode
Power management mode = Adaptive
Treaded optimization = Auto
Triple buffering = OFF
Vertical Sync = Force on

Sli : -

AA-SliAA = AA MODE SELECTOR SLIAA ENABLED
Number of GPU's to use Sli = SLI_GPU_COUNT_TWO
NVIDIA predefined No.GPU's = SLI_PREDEFINED_GPU_COUNT_DX10_TWO
NVIDIA predefined No. GPU's = SLI_PREDEFINED_GPU_COUNT_TWO
NVIDIApredefined SLI mode DX10 = SLI_PREDEFINED_MODE_DX10_FORCE_AFR
NVIDIA predefined Sli mode = SLI_PREDEFINED_MOED_FORCE_AFR
SLI rendering mode = SLI_RENDERING_MODE_FORCE_AFR

Other : -

Do not display this profile in the C/P = CPL_HIDDEN_PROFILE_DISABLED
Enable application for Optimus = 0x00000011 (Il-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover)

In the "Nvidia Control Panel" Sli setup RH panel I have set "PhysX settings" = cpu (The reason I have this setting is to take the "Physics" load off GPU1 and give me a better balance on both GPU cards) Edit: -28/9/11

Now have smooth play after cards reach operating temps.
Get EVGA "Precision" tool to show fps and card temps, also to balance frequencies and voltages. These will display on screen instead of using "Fraps".

My latest screen shot from "London Attack" after applying 285.27 and "Profile"update

I have had some feed back from the members at "Nvidia Sli Club" on my profiles, they seem to work ok with dual cards but not with 3+ cards in Sli. Those who are using 3+ cards all I can suggest is try different things in "Nvidia Inspector" to get the best results you can until an official release for Sli is done. (17/9/2011)

SOMEONE SAID IN ONE OF THE REPLYS SOMEWHERE THAT THE "EVGA PRECISION TOOL" WOULDN'T WORK WITH THEIR GIGABYTE CARDS, I HAVE BEEN ASSURED AT THE EVGA FORUMS THAT THEY WILL WORK WITH ALL NVIDIA CARDS, SO WILL THE ALTURNATIVE MSI TOOL. So people give it a try.


RickRuski

Rick...I wonder if your profile settings would work in a crossfire setup.

[RickRuski]

Hi Diablo,

You could try but I don't think so. Inspector is for Nvidia cards, don't know if ATI have a similar program. If they do all I can suggest is try.

Cheers

Rick

[RickRuski]

Hi GRATHos,

The Vram issue is what I thought as well, so I have a poll running in the main section. Interesting to see the results so far, some with an excess of 1gb Vram are also having problems. About 75% of replies to the poll are having stutter problems regardless of Vram size. It is all pointing to graphics engine optimisation.

Cheers

Rick

[335th_GRAthos]

Rick,

if you ever have some free time, test how SLI works in window mode....


I just noticed that my game runs very nicely at 3072x1024 window (my desktop is 3840x1024) but very poorly (with sutters) in Full screen or pseudo screen mode.

Who knows....


~S~

[RickRuski]

Hi GRATHos,

Tried your suggestion, made things worse as far as stutters were concerned. What I have tried is to use the best refresh rate my monitor will give, that seems to have helped a little (75hz).

Cheers

Rick

[jimbop]

Hi guys, I'm using 285.62 WHQL 64-bit with two GTX480s. Your suggested profile results in everything being mirrored between the two cards in Precision (GPU memory, temp, usage but only at abut 50%) but no increase in frame rates and stuttering which I don't usually get.

Also, IL-2 doesn't appear in the Inspector list now. Do you know if there have been some changes in 285.62 that stop your profile increasing FPS or am I doing something wrong? Thanks.

[KeBrAnTo]

Just tried Rick's settings and didn't work for me first time, only one GPU was doing the job.

I found out I had to enable another two options further down the list in nVidia inspector, and now SLI is working for me, both cards at 99%, temp at 80-81º and 50 fps average at 1680x1050 and medium settings ingame, very good

[KeBrAnTo]

Originally Posted by jimbop

Also, IL-2 doesn't appear in the Inspector list now. Do you know if there have been some changes in 285.62 that stop your profile increasing FPS or am I doing something wrong? Thanks.

It doesn't show up actually. You have to manually create your own "launcher.exe" profile and check if SLI is really working using a tool such e-vga precision.

Are you absolutely sure your SLI is working?. Did you check it using some kind of tool like I was mentioning before?