6600 Gt and SLI Issues

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

I got my ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe today along with an AMD 64 3200+ and 2 x
XFX 6600GT PCI E video cards.

I am having nightmaares getting SLI working.

I have tried the 66.31 drivers that came with the card, 66.93 from XFX,
71.24 from ASUS, and even 61.77 from Nvidia in desperation.

The only driver that allows SLI to be activated is the original, 66.31,
and when I try to run the Quake demo the screen is covered in green
wavy lines. If I try to activate my second monitor I get one blank
monitor and the other covered in wavy lines.

I appreciate that SLI is new but I did expect it to work to some extent.

Any suggestions? I don't know whether to reject the graphics cards or
if I just need to wait for decent drivers to come along.

--
Jeff Gaines
Posted with XanaNews 1.17.2.7

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On 1 Mar 2005 23:13:51 GMT, "Jeff Gaines" <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

>
>I got my ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe today along with an AMD 64 3200+ and 2 x
>XFX 6600GT PCI E video cards.
>
>I am having nightmaares getting SLI working.
>
>I have tried the 66.31 drivers that came with the card, 66.93 from XFX,
>71.24 from ASUS, and even 61.77 from Nvidia in desperation.
>
>The only driver that allows SLI to be activated is the original, 66.31,
>and when I try to run the Quake demo the screen is covered in green
>wavy lines. If I try to activate my second monitor I get one blank
>monitor and the other covered in wavy lines.
>
>I appreciate that SLI is new but I did expect it to work to some extent.
>
>Any suggestions? I don't know whether to reject the graphics cards or
>if I just need to wait for decent drivers to come along.
>
>--
>Jeff Gaines
>Posted with XanaNews 1.17.2.7

You might just be looking in the wrong place:-

The following ( slightly modified here) was posted yesterday by me to
a different thread:-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For those contemplating purchase, or those having any compatibility
trouble with the current Asus A8N-SLI working with non-Asus SLI-video
cards ( see the last couple of pages of the review ) carefully digest
the following excellent article:-

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2358

Anand and his testers also have very useful advice for first-time
SLI-system builders embedded in this article.

Some personal observations:-

At the present time, do NOT impulse-buy a SLI MB (or 'SLI-capable'
video cards either...) . Very carefully read all technical reviews and
then wait a few months for production "maturity".... Ignore all
marketing blurb or "gotta-be-first" inclinations --- you will probably
regret it, end up highly frustrated and/or be a little poorer after
extracting yourself from a self-generated predicament. Also, in the
next few months, a much wider selection will be available, and the
later products will have learned a lot from previous implementation
mistakes. Here it will pay off handsomly to let others be
guinea-pigs... such as Anand's highly-frustrated-for-a-time reviewers.

SLI-style PCIe motherboards ( and video-cards ) are definitely here
to stay. Note that with the MB in non-SLI mode, you can have (up to)
4-head video out. Essentially useful for time-critical artistic and
video-production work. Remember also that a SLI MB is a dual 8x PCIe
board, so the extra "video" slot if not used for video-out could be
filled in the future with high-performance dedicated hardware - say,
real-time video-image/animation processing.......

And the current incremental cost of a SLI-capable MB over non-SLI
(< $30) is miniscule compared to the complete system-build cost.

John Lewis

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"Jeff Gaines" <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> skrev i en meddelelse
news:xn0dz8ywql83c000@news.individual.net...
>
> I got my ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe today along with an AMD 64 3200+ and 2 x
> XFX 6600GT PCI E video cards.
>
> I am having nightmaares getting SLI working.
>
> I have tried the 66.31 drivers that came with the card, 66.93 from XFX,
> 71.24 from ASUS, and even 61.77 from Nvidia in desperation.
>
> The only driver that allows SLI to be activated is the original, 66.31,
> and when I try to run the Quake demo the screen is covered in green
> wavy lines. If I try to activate my second monitor I get one blank
> monitor and the other covered in wavy lines.
>
> I appreciate that SLI is new but I did expect it to work to some extent.
>
> Any suggestions? I don't know whether to reject the graphics cards or
> if I just need to wait for decent drivers to come along.
>
> --
> Jeff Gaines
> Posted with XanaNews 1.17.2.7

Check out the 75.90 beta. There is a 75.90/SLI test already to find (
Google... )

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

Jeff Gaines wrote:
> I got my ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe today along with an AMD 64 3200+ and 2 x
> XFX 6600GT PCI E video cards.
>
> I am having nightmaares getting SLI working.
>
> I have tried the 66.31 drivers that came with the card, 66.93 from XFX,
> 71.24 from ASUS, and even 61.77 from Nvidia in desperation.
>
> The only driver that allows SLI to be activated is the original, 66.31,
> and when I try to run the Quake demo the screen is covered in green
> wavy lines. If I try to activate my second monitor I get one blank
> monitor and the other covered in wavy lines.

What sort of wavy lines? If you turn on the "show SLI load balancing" in
the driver you'll get some green lines on the screen..

--
Robert Hancock Saskatoon, SK, Canada
To email, remove "nospam" from hancockr@nospamshaw.ca
Home Page: http://www.roberthancock.com/

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On 03/03/2005 Robert Hancock wrote:

> Jeff Gaines wrote:
> > I got my ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe today along with an AMD 64 3200+ and 2
> > x XFX 6600GT PCI E video cards.
> >
> > I am having nightmaares getting SLI working.
> >
> > I have tried the 66.31 drivers that came with the card, 66.93 from
> > XFX, 71.24 from ASUS, and even 61.77 from Nvidia in desperation.
> >
> > The only driver that allows SLI to be activated is the original,
> > 66.31, and when I try to run the Quake demo the screen is covered
> > in green wavy lines. If I try to activate my second monitor I get
> > one blank monitor and the other covered in wavy lines.
>
> What sort of wavy lines? If you turn on the "show SLI load balancing"
> in the driver you'll get some green lines on the screen..


That's interesting, these are a light green and cover from 50% to 80%
of the screen. Theyr're visible with load balancing off.

The suppliers think it's a mobo problem, I think it may have to be
replaced.

--
Jeff Gaines

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On 3 Mar 2005 09:35:20 GMT, "Jeff Gaines" <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

>On 03/03/2005 Robert Hancock wrote:
>
>> Jeff Gaines wrote:
>> > I got my ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe today along with an AMD 64 3200+ and 2
>> > x XFX 6600GT PCI E video cards.
>> >
>> > I am having nightmaares getting SLI working.
>> >
>> > I have tried the 66.31 drivers that came with the card, 66.93 from
>> > XFX, 71.24 from ASUS, and even 61.77 from Nvidia in desperation.
>> >
>> > The only driver that allows SLI to be activated is the original,
>> > 66.31, and when I try to run the Quake demo the screen is covered
>> > in green wavy lines. If I try to activate my second monitor I get
>> > one blank monitor and the other covered in wavy lines.
>>
>> What sort of wavy lines? If you turn on the "show SLI load balancing"
>> in the driver you'll get some green lines on the screen..
>
>
>That's interesting, these are a light green and cover from 50% to 80%
>of the screen. Theyr're visible with load balancing off.
>
>The suppliers think it's a mobo problem, I think it may have to be
>replaced.
>
>--
>Jeff Gaines


Did your read the brand-new Anandtech article that I referred to in my
previous posting ? Here is the relevant quote:-

"Despite having the correct Series 400 6800 Ultra video cards, we
could not get our nVidia Reference cards to work in either single or
dual video mode on the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe. Asus rushed a pair of Asus
6800 Ultra video cards to us for testing, and the pair of Asus 6800U
worked fine in both single and SLI. However, this did not answer our
concerns that other video cards might not work properly in the Asus
SLI board. After extensive work with the Asus R&D and BIOS development
team, Asus was able to find the timing issue that caused the nVidia
Reference cards to fail, and after many attempts, Asus was able to
supply a test BIOS that worked correctly with the nVidia Reference
6800 Ultra cards. Asus will soon be releasing an updated BIOS with
these fixes for certain video cards."

URL for the complete page containing this text. Lots of other useful
info in this page:-

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2358&p=20

No idea whether the MB timing problem will affect some 6600GT cards
as well as the 6800 Ultra, but assume the worst until told different.
It is pretty certain that your MB does NOT have the updated
BIOS. Anand's article is brand-new. Also highly unlikely that a
replacement board unless it comes straight from Asus will have the
fix. Check with the asus support website. The BIOS readme will
contain a reference to the timing fix when the updated BIOS is
released. Also, a little strange that a BIOS change can fix a <board>

timing problem without a nasty compromise elsewhere. Expect a
board rev. in the near future. Which brings me back to the comments
in my original reply to your posting.

John Lewis

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On 03/03/2005 John Lewis wrote:

> Did your read the brand-new Anandtech article that I referred to in my
> previous posting ? Here is the relevant quote:-


I did indeed, John, many thanks.

I decided it was too early for SLI and I am in the process of returning
the motherboard.

I have ordered the DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D PCI-E, which is not SLI,
as a replacement.

--
Jeff Gaines

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

Have you plug the "little card" in between the 2 PCI-E slots in the "SLI"
way? Just to checking for sure.

"Jeff Gaines" <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:xn0dz8ywql83c000@news.individual.net...
>
> I got my ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe today along with an AMD 64 3200+ and 2 x
> XFX 6600GT PCI E video cards.
>
> I am having nightmaares getting SLI working.
>
> I have tried the 66.31 drivers that came with the card, 66.93 from XFX,
> 71.24 from ASUS, and even 61.77 from Nvidia in desperation.
>
> The only driver that allows SLI to be activated is the original, 66.31,
> and when I try to run the Quake demo the screen is covered in green
> wavy lines. If I try to activate my second monitor I get one blank
> monitor and the other covered in wavy lines.
>
> I appreciate that SLI is new but I did expect it to work to some extent.
>
> Any suggestions? I don't know whether to reject the graphics cards or
> if I just need to wait for decent drivers to come along.
>
> --
> Jeff Gaines
> Posted with XanaNews 1.17.2.7

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On 3 Mar 2005 17:46:03 GMT, "Jeff Gaines" <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

>On 03/03/2005 John Lewis wrote:
>
>> Did your read the brand-new Anandtech article that I referred to in my
>> previous posting ? Here is the relevant quote:-
>
>
>I did indeed, John, many thanks.
>
>I decided it was too early for SLI and I am in the process of returning
>the motherboard.
>
>I have ordered the DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D PCI-E, which is not SLI,
>as a replacement.
>

Ah... you can apparently modify the nF4 package on the DFI to be fully
SLI-compatible, if/when you are brave... Both the SLI and non-SLI DFI
boards are identical board-design ( Not an officially-approved nVidia
mod, and nVidia might quickly change their nF4 non-SLI package to
prevent such a mod...however, it will take quite a while to work such
a change through to retail )

See:-

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2337

Dunno where you would get the little SLI bridge-board that connects
between the 2 video-cards, since it is not included with the UT.
However 3rd-parties may have it available in the future, or it may
eventually be included with every SLI-compatible video card;
manufacturing cost is probably < $1.

The DFI nF4 design got a rave-review from Anandtech, in both non-SLI
and SLI form.

John Lewis


>Jeff Gaines

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On 03/03/2005 John Lewis wrote:

> The DFI nF4 design got a rave-review from Anandtech, in both non-SLI
> and SLI form.


Well that's encouraging

I wanted to look at the SLI technology but I am not a game player
(apart from Spider Solitaire) so the defect in the original card is
something of a blessing really, I just made a bad decision.

The new card is due to arrive in 3-4 hours.

--
Jeff Gaines

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On Thu, 03 Mar 2005 22:11:54 GMT, john.dsl@verizon.net (John Lewis)
wrote:

>On 3 Mar 2005 17:46:03 GMT, "Jeff Gaines" <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk>
>wrote:
>
>>On 03/03/2005 John Lewis wrote:
>>
>>> Did your read the brand-new Anandtech article that I referred to in my
>>> previous posting ? Here is the relevant quote:-
>>
>>
>>I did indeed, John, many thanks.
>>
>>I decided it was too early for SLI and I am in the process of returning
>>the motherboard.
>>
>>I have ordered the DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D PCI-E, which is not SLI,
>>as a replacement.
>>
>
>Ah... you can apparently modify the nF4 package on the DFI to be fully
>SLI-compatible, if/when you are brave... Both the SLI and non-SLI DFI
>boards are identical board-design ( Not an officially-approved nVidia
>mod, and nVidia might quickly change their nF4 non-SLI package to
>prevent such a mod...however, it will take quite a while to work such
>a change through to retail )
>
>See:-
>
>http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2337
>
>Dunno where you would get the little SLI bridge-board that connects
>between the 2 video-cards, since it is not included with the UT.
>However 3rd-parties may have it available in the future, or it may
>eventually be included with every SLI-compatible video card;
>manufacturing cost is probably < $1.
>

Foillowup, hot off the press from Anandtech:-

"UPDATE 2/05/2005: nVidia has acted to prevent, or at least make it
more difficult, to mod the (DFI) Ultra board to SLI. First, DFI has
advised us, and posted on their website, that they will NOT sell the
SLI bridge to buyers of the Ultra board. Second, nVidia has advised us
that future shipments of the Ultra chipset have been modified so that
the mod to SLI will no longer be possible. An additional side effect
of this second action is that the "Dual Video" mode, which performs at
about 90% of SLI performance levels, will only work with nVidia SLI
drivers 66.75 or earlier. If you do a quick check of web driver
postings you will see it is now very difficult to find 66.75 drivers.
With a chipset modded to SLI the "Dual Video" mode worked through
70.xx versions of the nVidia driver. nVidia also made it clear they
will continue to make driver changes to prevent functioning of any
"non-standard" (8X/8X) operation of their SLI driver. This also throws
into question whether the VIA "dual graphics" mode on the 894 Pro
chipset will ever work with nVidia graphics cards. If you are
interested in the current UT Ultra-D we suggest you buy one now if you
can find it. Future versions of the UT Ultra-D will not have the same
capabilities as a result of these actions."

Not that it matters much... with a price difference of only ~ $30,
best to get the genuine SLI board anyway, for those interested in SLI.

John Lewis

>The DFI nF4 design got a rave-review from Anandtech, in both non-SLI
>and SLI form.
>
>John Lewis
>
>
>>Jeff Gaines
>

 

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"John Lewis" <john.dsl@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:422a99ad.40275562@news.verizon.net
> On Thu, 03 Mar 2005 22:11:54 GMT, john.dsl@verizon.net (John Lewis)
> wrote:
>
>> On 3 Mar 2005 17:46:03 GMT, "Jeff Gaines"
>> <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> On 03/03/2005 John Lewis wrote:
>>>
>>>> Did your read the brand-new Anandtech article that I referred to
>>>> in my previous posting ? Here is the relevant quote:-
>>>
>>>
>>> I did indeed, John, many thanks.
>>>
>>> I decided it was too early for SLI and I am in the process of
>>> returning the motherboard.
>>>
>>> I have ordered the DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D PCI-E, which is not
>>> SLI, as a replacement.
>>>
>>
>> Ah... you can apparently modify the nF4 package on the DFI to be
>> fully SLI-compatible, if/when you are brave... Both the SLI and
>> non-SLI DFI boards are identical board-design ( Not an
>> officially-approved nVidia mod, and nVidia might quickly change
>> their nF4 non-SLI package to prevent such a mod...however, it will
>> take quite a while to work such a change through to retail )
>>
>> See:-
>>
>> http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2337
>>
>> Dunno where you would get the little SLI bridge-board that connects
>> between the 2 video-cards, since it is not included with the UT.
>> However 3rd-parties may have it available in the future, or it may
>> eventually be included with every SLI-compatible video card;
>> manufacturing cost is probably < $1.
>>
>
> Foillowup, hot off the press from Anandtech:-
>
> "UPDATE 2/05/2005: nVidia has acted to prevent, or at least make it
> more difficult, to mod the (DFI) Ultra board to SLI. First, DFI has
> advised us, and posted on their website, that they will NOT sell the
> SLI bridge to buyers of the Ultra board. Second, nVidia has advised us
> that future shipments of the Ultra chipset have been modified so that
> the mod to SLI will no longer be possible. An additional side effect
> of this second action is that the "Dual Video" mode, which performs at
> about 90% of SLI performance levels, will only work with nVidia SLI
> drivers 66.75 or earlier. If you do a quick check of web driver
> postings you will see it is now very difficult to find 66.75 drivers.
> With a chipset modded to SLI the "Dual Video" mode worked through
> 70.xx versions of the nVidia driver. nVidia also made it clear they
> will continue to make driver changes to prevent functioning of any
> "non-standard" (8X/8X) operation of their SLI driver. This also throws
> into question whether the VIA "dual graphics" mode on the 894 Pro
> chipset will ever work with nVidia graphics cards. If you are
> interested in the current UT Ultra-D we suggest you buy one now if you
> can find it. Future versions of the UT Ultra-D will not have the same
> capabilities as a result of these actions."
>
> Not that it matters much... with a price difference of only ~ $30,
> best to get the genuine SLI board anyway, for those interested in SLI.
>
> John Lewis
>
>> The DFI nF4 design got a rave-review from Anandtech, in both non-SLI
>> and SLI form.
>>
>> John Lewis
>>
>>
>>> Jeff Gaines

Maybe it's just too early and I haven't had enough coffee yet, but why
in the world would DFI and nVidia want to STOP this mod? Dual 8X boards
in dual view? Seems kinda stupendous to me! What's wrong with that?
McG.

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

McGrandpa wrote:
>
> Maybe it's just too early and I haven't had enough coffee yet, but why
> in the world would DFI and nVidia want to STOP this mod? Dual 8X boards
> in dual view? Seems kinda stupendous to me! What's wrong with that?
> McG.

Because it lets people get near the same speed of the SLI boards without
paying extra for the SLI version of the chipset.

--
Robert Hancock Saskatoon, SK, Canada
To email, remove "nospam" from hancockr@nospamshaw.ca
Home Page: http://www.roberthancock.com/

 

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"Robert Hancock" <hancockr@nospamshaw.ca> wrote in message
news:_oFWd.583170$8l.3837@pd7tw1no
> McGrandpa wrote:
>>
>> Maybe it's just too early and I haven't had enough coffee yet, but
>> why in the world would DFI and nVidia want to STOP this mod? Dual
>> 8X boards in dual view? Seems kinda stupendous to me! What's wrong
>> with that? McG.
>
> Because it lets people get near the same speed of the SLI boards
> without paying extra for the SLI version of the chipset.

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"Robert Hancock" <hancockr@nospamshaw.ca> wrote in message
news:_oFWd.583170$8l.3837@pd7tw1no
> McGrandpa wrote:
>>
>> Maybe it's just too early and I haven't had enough coffee yet, but
>> why in the world would DFI and nVidia want to STOP this mod? Dual
>> 8X boards in dual view? Seems kinda stupendous to me! What's wrong
>> with that? McG.
>
> Because it lets people get near the same speed of the SLI boards
> without paying extra for the SLI version of the chipset.

Ok, I hadn't been keeping up. So there is an SLI and a Normal version
of the same PCI Express board. Gone are the daze of just slapping in
two Voodoo2's and RUN....

From another post in the thread, it seems the SLI boards don't cost that
much more than the normal boards. You gotta get two each no matter
which version it is, so another $60 to do it the correct way and get the
tie in connector seems worth it.
Now, if I could just do that with a pair of eVGA 6800 GT's !!! ))
McG.

 

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On Sun, 06 Mar 2005 17:00:07 GMT, "McGrandpa"
<McGrandpaNOT@NOThotmail.com> wrote:

>"Robert Hancock" <hancockr@nospamshaw.ca> wrote in message
>news:_oFWd.583170$8l.3837@pd7tw1no
>> McGrandpa wrote:
>>>
>>> Maybe it's just too early and I haven't had enough coffee yet, but
>>> why in the world would DFI and nVidia want to STOP this mod? Dual
>>> 8X boards in dual view? Seems kinda stupendous to me! What's wrong
>>> with that? McG.
>>
>> Because it lets people get near the same speed of the SLI boards
>> without paying extra for the SLI version of the chipset.
>
>Ok, I hadn't been keeping up. So there is an SLI and a Normal version
>of the same PCI Express board. Gone are the daze of just slapping in
>two Voodoo2's and RUN....
>

As I did, all 24 meg of video RAM...

The nF4 SLI board is a "superset "board. It will function as a dual
x8/x8 board (4-head) by just swapping 6 sets of jumpers (DFI) or
rotating a fiddly little card on Asus ( with a very flimsy
retaining-latch- MSI ). For future-proofing you should always go with
the SLI version - you also get the SLI-bridge card (linking the top
of the 2 video cards) thrown in. At the present time, getting the
SLI-bridge as a separate item is well-nigh impossible. It is not
currently packaged with SLI-capable video cards ( unlike Voodoo 2)

However, rolling back to an original comment by me in this thread --
if possible, hold off purchase of any PCIe system for at least six
months. Lots of PCIe offerings will be coming down the pipe, both
AMD and Intel-oriented. Also, the SLI-capable offerings will
have matured significantly. And prices of all PCIe "pieces"
are dropping quite steeply.

>From another post in the thread, it seems the SLI boards don't cost that
>much more than the normal boards. You gotta get two each no matter
>which version it is, so another $60 to do it the correct way and get the
>tie in connector seems worth it.

Yes, indeed...

>Now, if I could just do that with a pair of eVGA 6800 GT's !!! ))

PCIe yes... AGP, nope, sorry...

John Lewis

>McG.
>
>

 

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"John Lewis" <john.dsl@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:422506e5.4769486@news.verizon.net...
> On 1 Mar 2005 23:13:51 GMT, "Jeff Gaines" <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>I got my ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe today along with an AMD 64 3200+ and 2 x
>>XFX 6600GT PCI E video cards.
>>
>>I am having nightmaares getting SLI working.
>>
>>I have tried the 66.31 drivers that came with the card, 66.93 from XFX,
>>71.24 from ASUS, and even 61.77 from Nvidia in desperation.
>>
>>The only driver that allows SLI to be activated is the original, 66.31,
>>and when I try to run the Quake demo the screen is covered in green
>>wavy lines. If I try to activate my second monitor I get one blank
>>monitor and the other covered in wavy lines.
>>
>>I appreciate that SLI is new but I did expect it to work to some extent.
>>
>>Any suggestions? I don't know whether to reject the graphics cards or
>>if I just need to wait for decent drivers to come along.
>>
>>--
>>Jeff Gaines
>>Posted with XanaNews 1.17.2.7
>
> You might just be looking in the wrong place:-
>
> The following ( slightly modified here) was posted yesterday by me to
> a different thread:-
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> For those contemplating purchase, or those having any compatibility
> trouble with the current Asus A8N-SLI working with non-Asus SLI-video
> cards ( see the last couple of pages of the review ) carefully digest
> the following excellent article:-
>
> http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2358
>
> Anand and his testers also have very useful advice for first-time
> SLI-system builders embedded in this article.
>
> Some personal observations:-
>
> At the present time, do NOT impulse-buy a SLI MB (or 'SLI-capable'
> video cards either...) . Very carefully read all technical reviews and
> then wait a few months for production "maturity".... Ignore all
> marketing blurb or "gotta-be-first" inclinations --- you will probably
> regret it, end up highly frustrated and/or be a little poorer after
> extracting yourself from a self-generated predicament. Also, in the
> next few months, a much wider selection will be available, and the
> later products will have learned a lot from previous implementation
> mistakes. Here it will pay off handsomly to let others be
> guinea-pigs... such as Anand's highly-frustrated-for-a-time reviewers.
>
> SLI-style PCIe motherboards ( and video-cards ) are definitely here
> to stay. Note that with the MB in non-SLI mode, you can have (up to)
> 4-head video out. Essentially useful for time-critical artistic and
> video-production work. Remember also that a SLI MB is a dual 8x PCIe
> board, so the extra "video" slot if not used for video-out could be
> filled in the future with high-performance dedicated hardware - say,
> real-time video-image/animation processing.......
>
> And the current incremental cost of a SLI-capable MB over non-SLI
> (< $30) is miniscule compared to the complete system-build cost.
>
> John Lewis

I highly doubt this is the kind of help the OP was looking for. Do you also
run around telling kids in malls at Christmastime that Santa isn't real? :-S

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"John Lewis" <john.dsl@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:422d27aa.39655805@news.verizon.net...
>
> However, rolling back to an original comment by me in this thread --
> if possible, hold off purchase of any PCIe system for at least six
> months. Lots of PCIe offerings will be coming down the pipe, both
> AMD and Intel-oriented. Also, the SLI-capable offerings will
> have matured significantly. And prices of all PCIe "pieces"
> are dropping quite steeply.

When is it EVER a good time to purchase ANY tech equipment?

The A8N-SLI came out late last November. I had been waiting for the nForce4
boards for several months already. But despite that wait, I held off for an
additional 6 months because Asus chose to release its SLI version before its
non-SLI counterpart, and I had no need for SLI. Plus, it was too new. A
couple of weeks ago (4 months later), Asus finally released the A8N-E. Turns
out it's just a dumbed-down A8N-SLI with no pluses to speak of, and only $30
cheaper.

Considering I upgrade my computers every 3-4 years, what would you have me
do? Wait another 6 months because there will be more SLI options then? I'm
not even all that interested in SLI. I'm interested in nForce4, and Asus,
because I've never had any problems with them.

Waiting another 6 months would mean having waited a FULL YEAR total... and
for what? Can anyone guarantee to me that what will be available in the fall
will have been worth the year-long-plus wait? No, we're all just
speculating, and afraid of new things... like the current batch of SLI
boards.

And who's to say that in 6 months, when SLI will be more common, there won't
be ANOTHER hot new feature introduced on the marketplace that people will be
tempted to jump onto? And they'll be recommended to wait another 6 months
for it to become stable and common.

It's a fight you can't win. There is no "right time" to buy a tech item..
especially a motherboard. I waited 6 additional months for the non-SLI
version of the nForce4 to be released, and I now realize I wasted by time
because I will be going with the SLI I could have bought last year, even if
I'm not using SLI -- simply because the rest of the board is a lot more
interesting and chalk full of features.

I'll sleep better knowing I waited, sure, but ultimately, we could keep
tacking 6 month wait after 6 month wait and there will always be a great
reason to do so.

It's just never a good time to buy.

I already ordered my A8N-SLI, for better or worse. Waiting another 6 months
wouldn't have guaranteed me anything. And like I said, I've already been
waiting for 6 months. How long can I possibly keep running on a Thunderbird
for? I bought it in early 2001 fer chrissakes.