Any way to improve SLI

[KirkR]

Alright mentlegen, I need some help!

I just recently received my second GTX 460 for use in an SLI setup.
I have SLI enabled in the Nvidia Control Panel, but when I play games to look for visible improvements, the framerates don't seem to be that much better, as I had hoped. I have a few questions:

-Is there any way to improve SLI performance past the Nvidia Control Panel settings?

-What does the SLI visual indicator indicate, usage? efficiency? What?

-Would running two monitors reduce performance?

-I have a game (Crysis, for example) running on my main monitor, and a GPU monitor running on my second monitor, I'm not getting the best frames possible, and it looks like the graphics cards aren't using as much as they should be, for the frames I'm getting. I could be getting 40 frames or so on Crysis and the second card will be running at about 50% usage. Is this normal?

Any information would be helpful!

Thanks,
~Kirk

 

[Mousemonkey]

What happens if you only run one monitor?

 

[KirkR]

I'll give it a shot.

 

[KirkR]

Same problem, Running Crysis on very high, No MSAA, 20-30 FPS.

AMD 965 - 3.4GHz
GTX 460 x2
Asus M4N98TD Evo Mobo
16GB DDR3 1333
800W PSU

 

[KirkR]

But the cards aren't running at load, so my logic would tell me they should start handling more to make it run smoother.

But then again, I don't know much past your signature in the way of video cards.

 

[Mousemonkey]

What res are you running at?

 

[KirkR]

1920x1080 for both.
1920x1080 for the single monitor test.

 

[ahnilated]

Do you have the SLI jumper between the 2 cards?

 

[KirkR]

Yessir.

 

[Mousemonkey]

If you run your CPU at the default clock speed does your framerate decrease or stay the same?

 

[KirkR]

It's at clock as is, I'll get Pheonomtweaker and check.

 

[skrendie]

And other games?

 

[Mousemonkey]

Your sig claims 4.1ghz.

 

[KirkR]

Frames stay the same.

 

[KirkR]

I had it at 4.1GHz, but I was testing an issue with my wireless card that someone suggested, but have been too lazy to throw it back to 4.1

I'll do that now, as long as I'm dinkin' around.

 

[nforce4max]

Bump the clocks on the cpu and report back. Sound like either the cpu or an i/o bottleneck.

 

[KirkR]

Alright, from 3.4 to 4.1, gonna test now.

 

[benski]

The GPU2 thingy that pops up in the top right when SLI is turned on is useless. It will say GPU2: 50% when the 2nd GPU isn't doing anything at all. Download MSI afterburner it will show you both cards usage individually, and try a game other than Crysis, parts of that game are heavily CPU dependent and won't let your GPU setup stretch its legs.

And running 2 monitors will definately reduce performance, and if one of those monitors is plugged into the 2nd GPU SLI won't work at all.

 

[KirkR]

Frames increased by about 5-8 FPS, not exactly what I was looking for, but it's an improvement.

I have afterburner, I'll check that out.

 

[KirkR]

Also, here's the motherboard I have:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131636&Tpk=m4n98td%20evo

 

[hapkido]

Are you running games fullscreen or windowed-mode (including borderless window)?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I use this version (2.2.0 Beta)

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=2816

 

[KirkR]

Fullscreen.

I also tested Skyrim just now on Ultra, I get 40-60 frames, but I find it odd that when the frames are lower, there's less GPU usage, and vice versa. I mean, I get how that makes sense, but I don't understand why it would do that.

 

[DelroyMonjo]

Go to Nvidia control panel. Set SLI and PhysX configuration. Set to Maximize 3D performance. You should see about a 170% to 190% bump in frame rates from a single card. Also, you can overclock GTX 460's quite generously without adding voltage.

 

[hapkido]

It may be a driver issue. Try deleting and reinstalling the GPU driver.