Poor performance with dual Zotac GTX 760 AMP in SLI

DrDinger

Reputable
Dec 27, 2014
16
1
4,510
Hi,

Thanks for your help.

My problem is that I do not think that I am getting good performance with the graphics onmy rig, despite it being quite new. I was wondering if anyone had any advice?

I'm running:
Coolmaster Silent-Pro Hybrid 1050w PSU
Intel I7-4770k overclocked to 4.3 GHz Close loop water cooling
Gigabyte Z97X-UHD3-CF Motherboard, aircooled
16GB DDR3 RAM @ 1600MHz
Dual Zotac GTX 760 AMP in SLI
-Motherboard supports 3 way SLI
-1 x SLI bridge installed
-Primary card in first PCIe slot
-Cards running on 8 PCIe Lanes each
-3rd PCIe slot is empty
-6 x extra power pins connected on both cards
Windows 8.1
Windows up-to-date
Graphics drivers up-to date
SLI enabled in Nvidia Control Panel
-I have gone through settings thoroughly to try and optimize them for my setup
1980x1050 @ 60Hz. Other monitors are connected (TV and 1680x1050 monitor, but both are infrequently used, and are switched off)

I get quite low FPS 20-30 in most FPS / RPG games. If I benchmark with 3dmark or Heaven I get similarly low FPS at high end settings. If I OC the graphics cards I can get the FPS up to 40.

When I purchased the setup it was comparable GTX Titan (http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1160&page=16)

The actual cards don't seem to be pulling their weight. The primary cards heats up to about 80 and the secondary card stays in the 60s range.

I really expected this sort of setup to provide at least 60 frames per second rendering and I would appreciate any advice about maximizing my performance here?

Thanks for your help,

DrDinger
 
Solution
You're not supposed to use two SLI bridges. Also make sure that your cards are in the main x16 slot and the x8 slot of your motherboard. SLI will be disabled if you use the x4 slot.

After that, I recommend starting over with installing the latest drivers.

DrDinger

Reputable
Dec 27, 2014
16
1
4,510
I have installed a second SLI bridge and I have also noted that my PSU is 1300W, not 1050W.

I reset the settings in Nvidia control panel to default. It indicates SLI is enabled.

I ran Unigine Heaven 4.0 to get the results. The score on ultra quality, extreme tessellation full screen 1980x1050 was 614, FPS +-24

GPU1 usage 72% GPU2 usage around 0%, GPU1 temp +- 74, reach 80. GPU2 temp +-60, GPU1 core clock 1202 GPU2 core clock 1163.
 
You're not supposed to use two SLI bridges. Also make sure that your cards are in the main x16 slot and the x8 slot of your motherboard. SLI will be disabled if you use the x4 slot.

After that, I recommend starting over with installing the latest drivers.
 
Solution

DrDinger

Reputable
Dec 27, 2014
16
1
4,510


 

DrDinger

Reputable
Dec 27, 2014
16
1
4,510
Hi 17seconds,

Thanks for your assistance! Really appreciate it.

The reason I added the second SLI bridge was that it is recommended in the SLI / Crossfire FAQ sticky in this forum (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/245454-33-crossfire-faqs) "A very important note about bridges."

I think the second bridge was giving me issues. I have removed it and left the original bridge. My score in Unigine Heaven 4.0 is now up to 1500 and FPS is 60, so I am much happier. I think what also helped was rechecking through the Nvida control panel options. The cards seems to take a bit of time to get to their maximum throughput while warming up but then is working great. I'm think that second bridge was faulty.

Moving ahead:
Thanks 17seconds for helping me
Issue is resolved.
Sticky note may need to be updated (I will message there)
A guide to Nvidia settings in the control panel would be a helpful sticky.

Thanks again, so much,

Adam