Setting up SLI/Crossfire & I have two options?? Any help would be gr8!

pathfinder2

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Hi guys, id like to try and set up two graphics cards..I really dont have much knowledge about Crossfire or SLI, however do have the following graphics cards to work with, Oh and iv got a corsair 850watt modular PSU..any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!


XFX HD-577X-ZMF3 Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

AND

Two-
Palit NE5X460SF1102 GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Sonic 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

I also another GTX 460
GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

So
 

nuqq

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Dual GTX460 would be the better option. Also as stated above your PSU will handle it without any problem. You didn't mention your Motherboard, therefore I'm assuming that it will run SLi without a problem, be sure to check that before investing money into multiple GPUs :D

Cheers,
Hope this helps.
 

pathfinder2

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f


Thank you so much for your quick response, i have an asus P7P55D-e pro with an I7-860 8 gigs of corsair xms3, i just installed the corsair H70 and its all going in my new Obsidian 800D.

While im writting, maybe you can advise me as to anotherfeature im going to try...id like to set up raid0 with two Western Digital Raptor 600GB ...have you and suggestions as to set this up? Thanks so much!
 

nuqq

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Very nice setup, that 800D is a superb case, everything looks so clean in it.

As far as setting up RAID0, there's not much to it, set your SATA Controller to RAID in the BIOS. During your POST/Boot you'll need to hit CTRL-I in order to enter the Intel Matrix RAID setup utility, there you just need to create a new RAID0 array select the drive you want to include in the array (your 2 Raptors). It is recommended to connect your drive in the lowest SATA Port # possible (0 and 1) when running RAID as your boot drive.

Hope this helps,
And have fun building that computer :D
 

pathfinder2

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Hey thanks again for the quick response, so this is my first build with two Graphics cards and a raid0 connection, now you mentioned to connect the lowest sata port...well each drive is sata 6 and on the p7p55d-e pro there are two white sata connections which id like to use...would you suggest i use them and get the most out of the two raptors for a raid0...again i dont know much about these two topics,

as for setting up the two Palit NE5X460SF1102 GeForce GTX 460 cards, (which we all seem to agree is a better set up than the radon 5770 correct?) o then simply attach the crossfire bridge, and then which slot do i want to plug the monitor into?

Also if you have seen the obsidian case i installed the two raptors in the lower bay which holds just two Harddrives, i did not install them in the hotswappable bays. I just want to make sure id be setting this up correctly by pluging the sata cable right into the two white sata 6 slots, rather than slots 0 @ 1...or should i ignore the sata 6 factor and install them in the two blue ones?

Again thank you so much for your advice with this :)
Ed
 

It's not a CrossFire bridge, it's an SLI bridge connector and it's included with motherboards that support SLI mode.

In a non-NV Surround dual card SLI setup there is a primary card that is located in PCIe 2.0 x16_1 slot (blue) to which the monitor(s) are connected.

You should download and install the latest graphics card driver from NVIDIA's website. Don't use the obsolete drivers on the CD/DVD that is included with the graphics card.

You have to open the NVIDIA Control Panel to set the SLI and PhyX Configuration. By default SLI is disabled whenever you install the graphics card driver, that includes installing a later version of the driver.
 

pathfinder2

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Okay great thank you...my motherboard did come with an SLI bridge....Do you think this is a wise set up im thinking about? As for the two raptor drives in Raid0, and the two GPUS in SLI....i did just install a corsair H70 so cooling shouldn't be an issue.
 

pathfinder2

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Im sorry but what exactly do you mean? Do you have any info that can help me figure out how to set all this up properly, i am fairly new at this.
Thanks,
Ed
 

adampcman

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Don't say thanks to him Ed, because he is just being rude. Yea 4745454b thanks for being so helpful.. :sarcastic:

Palit GTX 460 in SLI is the best option for you and that is a fact! Don't worry, also your raptors in raid would be awesome! I wish you luck!
 

4745454b

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Was being rude to make a point. The OP is simply setting up things he's heard about. I had a coworker once try to convince me his 6600s (not the GT) in SLI was faster then my x1800xt because he was using two cards. You can't cf/sli a 5770 and a GTX460. You can SLI the two 460s, but you have to make sure your mobo supports it. Just running out and setting things up you've heard about pretty much guarantees failure. Asking questions on what you need to do to accomplish X works a lot better.

But what do I know. I'm not running SLI so obviously my opinion doesn't count.
 

I changed my two Raptors in RAID0 to an SSD. The SSD is definitely faster. Extremely low latency, no noise, very little power consumption and almost no heat.
 

adampcman

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Ofc that you can't cf/sli 5700 and GTX 460, and he knows that! He said two Palit GTX 460 in sli... Did you read pathfinder2 question? I don't think so... :non: :pfff:

"If your mobo supports it" What was that about? Hes mb supports SLI and CF. pathfinder2 said what mb brand/model he own! You don't read other ppl opinions and btw you are being rude? :pfff: Very professional... :sarcastic:

"Asking questions on what you need to do to accomplish X works a lot better." I agree with you on this one. But you don't need to be rude to someone and you better read questions before trying to help someone. This is my advice to you 4745454b. Cheers man!


EDIT: typo
 

pathfinder2

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Thank you adampcman, and to everyone else who is sincere in there reply's...yes its true, i am not very knowledgeable about setting up two GPUs asewell as setting up any of the Raid Levels,

However I already have the graphics cards and the hard drives, I didn't run out and buy everything at once...


I just now completed the build, have all the fans running, and inserted the windows 7 64bit disc, Right now Im stuck with trying to figure out how to install the drives in raid0, im reading my Manuel and looking for a guide on line to get them installed correctly and most efficiently.

Thats when i checked this post and saw the messages, Again thank you ADAMPCMAN, your suggestions and guidance is greatly appreciated...If you have any advice as to how to get the raid set up it would be great, im sure ill figure it out by reading up on the topic some more...but any suggestions would be wonderful!
Ed
 

adampcman

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Thank you Ed.

About raid setup i only know theory (what i learned from school and my own online research) and i don't have practical experience.

So i suggest that you listen to "nuqq" advice, he told you step by step how to setup your raptors in raid. It's no big deal, just follow his instructions... :)
 

pathfinder2

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Hi NUQQ....so i followed your directions however i canonot get into the intel matrix setup utility? I guess my first question would be do i need to install windows on one drive, and then create a Raid0 Array? I did go into the Bios and set it from IDE to Raid and when i hit f6 or CTRL-I id get a screen that asked me to select 1 of 3 choices, i picked the create a ahci/raid which was number 1 then the next screen opted me to select 32bit or 64 bit...then it asked for drive A, however i do not have a floppy drive..so then i googled around to see if i could put it on a usb drive and i ended up following those directions but to no avail?

Also you mentioned if possable connect the two drives to 0&1, well i wanted to connect them to the sata 6 ports which are white and at the bottom of the MOBO which again is a P7P55DE - PRO.....

If there are any ideas or experinced suggestions i could use them about now, thanks so much!
 

Ten98

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My advice: Don't bother with SLI or Crossfire at all. The performance gains are never what you expect and the driver support is average at best.

For the money you spend on 2 mid range graphics cards you could get a top-end graphics card which delivers far greater FPS and you won't have to spend all your life downloading patches & driver updates and looking at BSOD and wondering what you did wrong....
 

adampcman

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First, setup asked you to insert floppy disk because it needed drivers for raid... Maybe it's because you don't have Windows 7 installed. Windows 7 comes with raid drivers already installed and there is no need for floppy disk driver installation! ;)

Second, raid 0 and raid 1 are standards ( modes, how your raptors will work together), not sata connectors on your main board.

RAID 0 mode offers no security whatsoever for your data, but it will increase your speed. If you decide to use raid 0 mode i suggest that you do backups more often. Because if one raptor fails, you lost your data. Because Raptors in raid 0 works as one hard drive, and data will be stored in that virtual hard drive. So if one fails, you lose your data, i hope that you understand me.
RAID 1 mode offers data security while speed remains the same. You will have only one raptor capacity for data storage, but if one fails you will have backup for your data.

I hope that my theory helps. :)


EDIT: And ofc if you install Windows 7 64 bit you must chose (select) in setup 64 bit, but i think that you know that already...
 

pathfinder2

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Hi there Friend, Yes i already installed windows 7 and i do understand that the two drives will work as one and split files by putting half on one drive and half on the other.

So all last night and this mourning I have been trying to get this set up however i just cant seem to get it going?? I Installed Windows 7 64bit, i installed the Intel Rapid Storage driver, aswell as the 64-​bit Floppy Configuration Utility.

i changed the Bios from IDE To Raid, reboot

Then i hit Ctrl-I or F6 i and I am directed to a page that says

"welcome to ASUS MOBO Make Disk For Dos Menue" rev.1.1

Options are
1) Intel AHCI/RAID driver Disk
2) Marvel 9123 AHCI Driver Disk
3) Free DOS Command Prompt

If i choose #1

My options are
1) Intel AHCI/RAID 32bit driver Disk
2) Intel AHCI/RAID 64bit driver Disk
3)Return to Main Page

But i dont have a floppy drive, so i used a USB Drive and changed the drive letter to "A"

But i keep getting errors this way.

Then I went into windows and used the Intel program to make disk...and that is where i am, LOST....

Is it because i need a floppy drive? Do you have any suggestions at all?

Thank you so much for your time in responding to my posts, It truly is appreciated!
 

adampcman

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About your raid setup all i can say is that if you have Win 7 installed then you don't need floppy drive. I can't give you additional advice on this because like i said, my raid knowledge is limited and more theoretical than practical. I would read main board user manual on how to configure raid... It's stupid but it may help.

Sry Ed, i will monitor your progress but right know i can't give you any real advice. Please guys, help pathfinder2 to setup raid configuration.


EDIT: syntax
 

pathfinder2

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Thanks adampcm...i needed to take a brake from this project...i did read it might work better with the vista raid driivers? I also posted another question in the storage fourm.....again thank you for your time my friend, have a great weekend.
Ed
 

Vnix

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Not necessarely the truth. Two GTX460s can outperform One GTX480 (Performance/Power Consumption/Heat). SLi is definitely a good investment. Also Nvidia does better job at configuring drivers for their cards, while ATi obviously not (since Catalyst 10.4 everything is down the toilet). Personal experience.

Also read here:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/261913-14-setting-raid

Cheers,

V.


 

4745454b

Titan
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But there are games where it won't work at all (GTA4) and others where it works poorly (WoW:Cata) In these cases you're stuck with a single card instead of two.

My issue with AID0 is that while it works, it only works when you are reading or writing to the drive. This doesn't happen all that much in a gaming rig, and the $$$ spent on a second drive probably is better spent on a faster CPU or GPU. Worse the drive loss issues that can happen to that system. Why go through all that if you can just buy an SSD and not have to worry about it?