Dual GTX 285 in SLI screen flickering

If you're using DVI try HDMI, or DVI if you're using HDMI.

My cards only have DVI and S-video   and my monitor doesnt support S-video

Oh right the GTX 285 doesn't have HDMI I forgot. Try using the other DVI port.

You do realize that SLI requires the SLI connector, right? Without the connector you are not doing SLI.

switching my dvi doesnt work and no my motherboard enables sli even without the bridge, there is a performance increase but its not as good as what it could be with the bridge.

If the bridge works fine in your friend's PC and you already tried every driver then the only thing else I can think of to try is more drastic measures, such as reformatting windows or buying another motherboard. But before that, try both your cards in SLI on your friends PC if possible just to make sure nothing is wrong with the cards themselves.

Well, I just tried a few more things and everything run perfectly in window mode... interesting... and the screen flicker ONLY happens when im playing games by the way.

Try another DVI cable if you have it, or grab your friend's cable.

Just tried it   no luck  

I'm out of ideas  

Maybe try a DVI to HDMI adapter if you have one. The only other thing I can think of is either reformatting or buying a new motherboard.

Also, try putting your cards in your friends PC to make sure it's not the cards themselves.

I know when I play Skyrim with my cards in SLI it causes all sorts of issues. If you disable SLI and play the game all is well.

AHhh oh well thanks for the response guys!   Skyrim works AWESOME by the way   just as long as I dont have my sli bridge on haha

Have you tried going to the Nvidia control panel and under "manage 3D settings" turned or forced on "vertical sync" for the applications that you see flickering in? This might solve the problem.

When doing this keep the bridge on and then restart the computer.

Good luck.

Thanks icode, actually, I fixed the problem!!    Using evga precision I just clocked both cards at the same exact settings rofl! They seemed to have been running out of sync! wooohooo!

I created an account just to help others with this issue.

My story: I have two Geforce 560Ti cards and after installing the 2nd card to run SLI I would get lots of "screen flickering" when starting to play a game. The flickering even affected the opening menus of the game. This was not artifacting or tearing. This was total screen flickers of black and possibly other colors (this is explained later).

I have read all the threads I could find, much like you all have. People have blamed the card itself, the drivers, the graphics settings like vsync and resolution. The issue is with none of that.

THE PROBLEM IS THE SLI BRIDGE.

You have heard that before though. Lots of people have ordered new bridges to try and fix the issue. I have discovered that the issue is not that the SLI bridge is "broken".

THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE SLI BRIDGE HAS A POOR CONNECTION.

Now the fix:

Leave your computer on and go into one of your games. You want to have your screen flickering. Now carefully begin to adjust the SLI bridge connection. I don't have an exact method for this, but I just started with one slide and began slowly pulling it out bit by bit to see how the picture changed. I say pull out because most of us probably installed the bridge by pushing it all the way down, which would make sense. After adjusting how the bridge was seated on my graphics card I eventually (less than 2 minutes) was able to have my screen be flicker free.

Oops I forgot to explain the "colors" part. It's not very important but as you adjust the SLI bridge you might see the flickers change colors to like blue or purple. I did anyhow...

After getting the flicker problem I tried installing a different SLI bridge. I then noticed that my flickering took on a purple shade. This is what led me to believe that the SLI bridge was directly involved in the issue. Trying to adjust the bridge with my computer running was just an idea I came up with out of frustration.

I would have to say this is highly risky. With a running computer and sliding around an electrical connector like this can cause you to lose both video cards.