SLI Issue

[Tiamat]

Hello all....I was supposed to get another 7800 GT in my machine a couple of months ago, but decided I didnt need the extra power at the time. Now with TES IV: Oblivion on its way I figure, what the hell!

 

Really, what I need is your advice because I have heard of many people experiencing problems when enabling SLI on this board....namely system instability and crashes. As far as I know I have everything I need to have this up and running. My PSU is adequate as far as I can tell, but when it comes to technical jargon i'm not exactly an expert so please tell me if you can think of anything I may have not considered.

 

To be honest i;m seriously thinking of returning this mobo....the temp sensors are blatently wrong (my x2 4400+ does not idle at 19c like SmartGaurdian claims) which has butchered my attempts to overclock and I dont know how else to gain a credible reading save buying a fan controller with temp probes. I've heard that MBMonitor does not give false readings, but I dont see how this can be when it is clearly a bad motherboard design problem.

 

I really dont want to have to buy a non-DFI mobo and be without one for weeks but if I cant sort this crap out I may have no choice. Cheers for any assisstance you can offer.

[EdLSmith]

I don't think it's a general thing, just a few and I'm not convinced it's hardware yet. If you hear me start crying, then dump it.

[palehorse]

To be honest i;m seriously thinking of returning this mobo....the temp sensors are blatently wrong (my x2 4400+ does not idle at 19c like SmartGaurdian claims) which has butchered my attempts to overclock and I dont know how else to gain a credible reading save buying a fan controller with temp probes. I've heard that MBMonitor does not give false readings, but I dont see how this can be when it is clearly a bad motherboard design problem.

there is no software solution for reading accurate CPU temps on the Expert... the best we can hope for is a BIOS fix, but even that's not likely. (especially given the snail's pace at which they're working to release a new beta BIOS...)

 

The best thing you could do is research the thermal resistance factor on your HSF solution, and then take the worst-case value and use it to calculate your true temperatures. I can provide you with the formulas if you need them... You can then take the computed delta and plug it into MBM5 as a manual offset.

 

The next best thing is to use a manual probe of some sort, but again, getting accurate temps is not likely given our inability to get close to the core itself with the probes...

 

DOH!

 

As for SLI, it works completely fine on my Expert, and has since day 1!

 

GL!

[chynn]

Same for me; everything is running just fine ... once I stopped trying to shortcut the build procedures.

 

If your box is running reliably now, then going to SLI should not be an issue provided you have enough juice in your power-supply to handle two graphics cards, the increased load on your dual-core CPU, and the increased load on the motherboard.

 

I have had no, zero, zilch, problems to date playing WoW at maxxed out settings and EQ2 at Very High Quality + maxxed slider settings. Am also able to run all three 3DMark benchmarks without crashing.

 

And I am gaming and benching with the "infamous?" 12/07/2005 BIOS.

 

Hope this helps ...

[BlackDragon24]

no probs with SLI here either

[Guest Upok]

I've had my share of sli problems with the expert, but when I had the majority of my problems, there wasn't alot about it on the web. With the abundance of info available now, and the fact that plenty of us(expert owners) have paved the "sli way" it's not something to be afraid of. I have had no problems with my sli for weeks. Many of us have had much better luck sticking with the 11/2 bios, rather than the 12/7.Check this thread out.

As far as whether or not to go sli, why not? If you're into benching, there's nothing quite like hitting 13000 in 3dmark05. But really, it all comes down to gaming. FEAR at 1600x1200 with all the eye candy is amazing, and at 80-100fps no less. COD2, HL2, and the rest of the most graphically stunning games out there are simply unbelievable in sli. And I can't wait to see what UT2007 looks like!

[Likwid]

I have had a few problems with my SLI set-up. But probably more related to my volt-modding adventures than anything. Before that, I was rock-steady at stock clocks/volts.

[enkrypt3d]

I dont have the expert board like you do and I'm not sure of all the differences, but it did take me a few days to work out all the kinks with my SLi setup....... now I'm getting insane 3dmark05 scores! 12,227 seems great compared to the 8,650 I was getting with one card.... I know that installing coolbits helped quite a bit...

[HanzoRazor]

I too, recently purchased another 7800 GTX 512 (they are difficult to find... but not worth trying to sell the card I have + buying two 7900 for a 9% ~1fps difference...)

 

I am hoping not to experience any issues with this motherboard. I've read my PSU might be an issue but if I use a molex adapter from the 12v rail it should balance the load. I am also prepared to go back to the 11/02 bios. I just hope my memory and CPU settings are still stable with that bios because it took days to get to a stable setting with this thing.

 

^(and yes, Oblivion was one of the main modivating factors, and at age 24 with more work piling up and with less free time to myself I figure I may as well have fun this year while time/money still last. all this expencive tech equipment is a nice work motivator!)