What's going on here?

[rmmil978]

Odd GTX 470 problem. Running 2 brand new GTX 470's in SLI. When I play any non-physx game, demo, benchmark software etc. everything runs smooth as silk. But if I do anything involving Physx, I get a black screen or BSOD. I've tried various different driver versions, various different Physx system software packages, all the same results. Oddly enough, if I add my old GT 240 as a dedicated phsyx card, then physx stuff works just fine. I have a 1000 watt certified gold PSU, so I doubt it's a PSU issue, especially since adding a 3rd card helps the issue.
So, any thoughts? I mean I suppose one of the 470's could be bad, but is it possible for a card to be bad in such a way that only Physx doesn't work? I've run stress tests and the temps never get past 85 C, even using OCCT for over an hour, and no errors. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[strangestranger]

Does it happen regardless of which way round they are, i.e which one is the primary card?

You are right that it is odd that it works fine for gaming but not anything physx related. If it only happens with one of the cards as the secondary card then that would point to a bad card perhaps but if it happens with both I am not sure.

What error code comes up with the blue screen btw.

 

[Mousemonkey]

I'm assuming that the various options in the control panel have been tried?

 

[GunBladeType-T]

Odd GTX 470 problem. Running 2 brand new GTX 470's in SLI. When I play any non-physx game, demo, benchmark software etc. everything runs smooth as silk. But if I do anything involving Physx, I get a black screen or BSOD. I've tried various different driver versions, various different Physx system software packages, all the same results. Oddly enough, if I add my old GT 240 as a dedicated phsyx card, then physx stuff works just fine. I have a 1000 watt certified gold PSU, so I doubt it's a PSU issue, especially since adding a 3rd card helps the issue.
So, any thoughts? I mean I suppose one of the 470's could be bad, but is it possible for a card to be bad in such a way that only Physx doesn't work? I've run stress tests and the temps never get past 85 C, even using OCCT for over an hour, and no errors. Any help would be appreciated!

Anything wrong int he Bios Setting give it check, try disabling video card shadowing? BSOD usually are memory error problems, try a less aggressive memory timings in the bios!

 

[rmmil978]

Discovered the issue after many hours of tinkering. Tried different power supply, cycling the RAM 1 stick at a time, nothing changed. Tried 1 video card at a time, and then Physx started to work, making me think it wasn't a bad card, but perhaps a bad slot on the motherboard. Was about to RMA the board, but before I went thru that pain (again) I decided to try one more thing. Set cards in SLI, then I set card #1 slot #1 as the physx card, and physx failed, as usual. Set card # 2 slot #3 as physx card, and it worked....hmm.
So then I switched the cards, and set card#1/slot#1 as physx...and it worked! Set card#2 slot #3, failed. So I narrowed it down to the following problem : One of my GTX 470's was failing physx processing but only if it was in a SLI configuration. Talk about a specific problem! RMA time!

 

[rmmil978]

Best answer selected by rmmil978.