Asus P6T SLI problems, 2 Gainward GTX260'2 Not showing as SLI in GPUZ Options

[Keishii~89]

So I just threw in a second GTX260 in my rig, only to find SLI not working.

NVDA Control panel has no SLI setup option. GPUZ Is showing no SLI, EVGA Precision is also showing no SLI.

GPUZ is showing that 1st card is PCIe 2.0 x16
2nd card PCIe x16, basically saying the second slot isn't running at PCIe 2.0.

I know the P6T's PCIe's run at Rev.2.0 16x 16x 8x when using all three, so the top two should run perfectly at Rev.2.0 16x 16x, using two cards.

Except it's not. What's up with this board? And could the PCIe problem be preventing SLI?

I have used the provided SLI bridge on both sets of SLI fingers, but still doesn't help.

Would appreciate some insight into this. Thanks

[ScapeGoat]

Some people have reported the same problem and it looks like if you have an insufficient power supply it will not appear, however this doesn't seem do be the case since you have a pretty good PSU.

You can try a few things:

1- Checking if your second card is connected to the proper PCI-e slot.

2- Uninstall and reinstall the drivers.

3- Check if everything is well connected (SLI Bridge, card and power cables)

4- Check for SLi enabling option all over the nvidia control panel both in Advanced and Standard Settings. The proper place for it to appear is the 3D settings area.

This post has been edited by ScapeGoat: Nov 3 2009, 12:08 PM

[Keishii~89]

Some people have reported the same problem and it looks like if you have an insufficient power supply it will not appear, however this doesn't seem do be the case since you have a pretty good PSU.

You can try a few things:

1- Checking if your second card is connected to the proper PCI-e slot.

2- Uninstall and reinstall the drivers.

3- Check if everything is well connected (SLI Bridge, card and power cables)

4- Check for SLi enabling option all over the nvidia control panel both in Advanced and Standard Settings. The proper place for it to appear is the 3D settings area.

Did all those and still nothing.

Thing is the second card works fine. Shows up in all the aforementioned programs. So it's not DOA. I've posted a topic on Asus's boards in hope I'll get some help there aswell.

I'ma keep looking.

[ScapeGoat]

Have you also tried finding something related in the BIOS?

If not, the only thing I can think of is because your are using a still immature OS because the SLI message should appear automatically after the first login to Windows after the card has been installed.

This post has been edited by ScapeGoat: Nov 3 2009, 12:54 PM

[Keishii~89]

Have you also tried finding something related in the BIOS?

If not, the only thing I can think of is because your are using a still immature OS because the SLI message should appear automatically after the first login to Windows after the card has been installed.

The BIOS is the first place I looked. No option for changing anything but PCIE Freq.

As for win7 RC , I've done a bit of hunting around and it seems noone has problems running SLI or Crossfire with it.

Looks like it's hardware related. If all else fails, I'm selling all three of my GTX260's and using the money to get a 5870. Hopefully I'll end up with change .

EDIT: Is it true you can still run SLI WITHOUT the bridge in place? I was thinking of putting the 2nd card in the 3rd slot (even though it's only x8) to see if it's a problem with the slot. But It'll have to be without the bridge as this ASUS one is not long enough, And I don't see the point in forking out for a long one.

2nd EDIT: I think I may have solved my problem. It's the memory that's stopping it. I know that you CAN run Identical cards with different memory, what I DIDN'T know, is that you'vegot to "tweak" the cards using Coolbits. set a parameter, and it forces th larger card to "misplace" the extra memory. win.

This post has been edited by Keishii~89: Nov 3 2009, 01:50 PM

[ScapeGoat]

So is the problem finally solved? If it's so it will help lots of people out there.

About your question, yes it's possible to run SLI w/o the bridge but the performance will be too low because of the small bandwith. I wouldn't recommend using a third GTX260 in SLI without bracket because your performance gain will be really small (or even get less performance) and your PSU would be putted in high stress.

This post has been edited by ScapeGoat: Nov 3 2009, 02:07 PM

[Keishii~89]

So is the problem finally solved? If it's so it will help lots of people out there.

About your question, yes it's possible to run SLI w/o the bridge but the performance will be too low because of the small bandwith. I wouldn't recommend using a third GTX260 in SLI w/ a bracket because your performance gain will be really small (or even get less performance) and your PSU would be putted in high stress.

FIX'D

HAH YES! Gotta love coolbits! As old as it is lol

I installed Coolbits 2.0 reg's into HKEY/LOCAL MACHINE, and after a quick reboot, HEY PRESTO! Little systray popup Says " This system is using SLI capabilities ETC ETC"

Time to run some benches!

As for 3 way SLI, I wasn't intending to use it, as scaling sucks b4lls anyway. I actually wasn't supposed to end up with 3. I bought the first with my initial setup back in May.
Then I wanted to upgrade, so I started bidding on ebay for a few GTX260's.
lost all but one of them, but by the time I realised I'd won the last auction, I'd already ordered this Gainward from Scan.co.uk. So now I'm waiting on a BFG GTX260 OC Maxcore.


Read my rediculous story here: (it's only 14 posts ) http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.p...=169172&hl=

[ScapeGoat]

This is a perfect time to say:





Well one extra graphics card is always good, although if you don't want it you can send it to me. I'll gladly pay the shipment

[Keishii~89]

Like I said "rediculous" story.

Now I have this running, I'll see how it holds me up over the next few months.

With luck, HD5870's will be easier to get , and then I'll sell all three cards and get a 5870 to last me for a year or 2.

Whaddya reckon on the prices for them? Can you see them going up towards Q1 2010? or Down?

This post has been edited by Keishii~89: Nov 3 2009, 02:56 PM

[ScapeGoat]

Hard question. We don't know what Nvidia launch prices will be like not to mention we don't have a clue on the performance but eventually the prices will become lower although when that happens new cards will be on the market like 5890 for example.

What i can clearly say is that with your rig you will not have problems with gaming any time soon so don't worry

This post has been edited by ScapeGoat: Nov 3 2009, 03:05 PM

[Keishii~89]

Hard question. We don't know what Nvidia launch prices will be like not to mention we don't have a clue on the performance but eventually the prices will become lower although when that happens new cards will be on the market like 5890 for example.

What i can clearly say is that with your rig you will not have problems with gaming any time soon so don't worry

I'm not too bothered on 5870x2/5890 prices TBH. Whatever they're selling for won't really bother me unless they're like the GTX295 H20 prices were on launch ( rofl £600~ )

I'm thinking along the lines of what'll happen to the GTX260 prices. Would I be of more benefit to sell them now, or around Xmas, or even in Q1/Q2 2010?

Basically getting as much money back for them as possible.

Thanks for your help BTW.

This post has been edited by Keishii~89: Nov 3 2009, 03:55 PM

[Keishii~89]

And as for Fermi, it'll bomb. All the evidence points to it bombing in the ethusiast/gamer market.

Nvidia have said themselves that they're now putting the Gaming market on the 2nd/3rd rung of their production ladder. They've even said they're dropping support for the mid-range/high end GPU market. Whether this means (for example) GTX260-GTX285 being dropped from their Lineup , and only ludicrously priced cards in the same vein as the GTX295 being made in the Fermi guise, I don't know.

I'll be returning to the Red Team come Q3 2010. The 5850 and 5870 are astounding. 27w Idle? I'm definately up for that! temps aren't too great ATM, but I may just hold off for the boys @ SapphireTech to release the VaporX editions of the 58xx cards. That'll be a different beast altogether. OC'ing will be awesome.

Also, ScapeGoat, your avatar is WIN.

This post has been edited by Keishii~89: Nov 3 2009, 04:17 PM