DFI X58 = no QuadSLi, change to Asus R2E?

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02-12-2009, 04:25 PM
Shadowjump

DFI X58 = no QuadSLi, change to Asus R2E?

I just snapped 2 GTX295 in my rig today. After a few restarts, I started checking around to see why it would not find the 2nd 295. Finally, I found out that this motherboard does not support Quad SLi, only Tri-SLi.

I can take it back from where I purchased it, and with extra 40E get the Rampage II Extreme.

Is it worth it? I mean, I know the DFI has the full digital Voltera PWMs and thats a good advantage over the competition. Also, the SB/NB/PWM temps are very very low, which I like cause there is no fan (due to watercooling) and I dont know how the Asus will behave without one.

And last drawback of the Asus would be that when I ll Install the 2 Graphics Cards, the one and only PCI slot, will be inaccesible, thus my X-Fi Xtreme Gamer will be sitting on my shelf. (Unless there is absolutely no difference between the Creative X-Fi and the Asus provided X-Fi)

Whats your opinion on this?

Thanks!
02-12-2009, 04:28 PM
BenchZowner

Don't even think about that.
I'd stay away from the R2E.

Also the difference between your X-Fi and the "Asus X-Fi" is very very noticeable.

By the way, there's some BloodRage stock in the UK, and if I were you, I'd hit it ;)
And you can give me a call and have you by my place and test it yourself ;)
02-12-2009, 04:41 PM
Shadowjump

Hehe, I am not from the UK ;) But thanks for the invite!

Why stay away fromt he R2E? Whats so bad about it? Oo My Striker II Formula, Maximus I and II Formula, Crosshair Formula were pretty good.
02-12-2009, 04:47 PM
BenchZowner

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadowjump

Hehe, I am not from the UK ;) But thanks for the invite!

Why stay away fromt he R2E? Whats so bad about it? Oo My Striker II Formula, Maximus I and II Formula, Crosshair Formula were pretty good.

It's Bill you noob ( *******178 ).
Talk to you on teh phone tomorrow.

oh and are you 100% sure that your DFI does not support Quad SLI ?
02-12-2009, 04:49 PM
zanzabar

the dfi should support should quad gpu since its 2 card sli, it dosnt do quad card

and for xfi u can get the driver from foxconn and use it on any board with the same realtec chip and get xfi
02-12-2009, 05:02 PM
Shadowjump

Wow, didnt know about that X-Fi thing. Which driver section? For the Bloodrage?

As for the DFI, nope, it does not support Quad SLi for some reason.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Overclock3D.Net

The UT X58-T3eH8 doesn’t support Quad-SLI, but it does fully support three-way SLI with an x16, x8, x8 expansion slot configuration

Though, AndreYung HERE did run a Quad SLi Setup. Argh!!! Whats going on?
02-12-2009, 05:20 PM
zanzabar

its a bios problem, NV licenses by the card number not the # of gpu's, so slii is 2 cards tri is 3, quad on a MB is 4 cards (currently workstation only)

if it didnt support quad sli it would still go to windows and just show 2 2gpu sli settups

and here is the driver, u may have to do ini modding but it works on the x38/48 dfi and the p45/35 and x58 all use the same card
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/suppor...D=en-us0002319
02-12-2009, 05:25 PM
mikeyakame

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadowjump

Wow, didnt know about that X-Fi thing. Which driver section? For the Bloodrage?

As for the DFI, nope, it does not support Quad SLi for some reason.

Though, AndreYung HERE did run a Quad SLi Setup. Argh!!! Whats going on?

From what I recall that needs to be setup correctly is "memory gap" option in bios. Try playing around with that and see if you can get both 295s working.
02-12-2009, 05:46 PM
Shadowjump

Thanks for your assistance zanzabar!

And yes, it was the memory lowgap, searched a bit and found it! Thanks for the input mikeyakame. The lowgap has to be over 2048 in order to work with CrossFire X - Quad SLi
02-12-2009, 06:11 PM
tobe22

For those who are wondering what low gap is (from the T3 manual):

Memory low gap is for mapping local memory (add-on-cards) to system memory address size. It most like the Aperture size of AGP or 250M fixed mapping size of PCIE 1st generation. Extend it can solve when if "add-on cards" request a bigger size, when if we would like to enable Qual SLI on Nvidia new 280, 295GTX or CF on 2 pieces of ATI 4870X2, it must be extend over 2048M.

AndreYang suggests "Try Memory LowGap 2176 or 3078":
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=212286
02-12-2009, 06:20 PM
mikeyakame

That about sums it up. It's the gap below 4096mb for PCI addressing. Usually the "low gap" is from 3072mb to 4096mb which is assigned to address space for PCI/PCIE devices. Then memory from this gap is mapped above 4097mb. Each GTX280/285 card requests 1024mb of PCI address space, so SLI will require 2048mb low gap generally. Quad SLI/Crossfire X will no doubt require more. Not sure how much though.
02-12-2009, 11:09 PM
zanzabar

u would need 3584 (1792x2), and more if u have anything else with ram like an xfi ext, so i would bump it to 3700 or so or 4096 to keep it 2^x
02-12-2009, 11:29 PM
mikeyakame

Quote:

Originally Posted by zanzabar

u would need 3584 (1792x2), and more if u have anything else with ram like an xfi ext, so i would bump it to 3700 or so or 4096 to keep it 2^x

You need some base low memory for bios, and shadowing and what not. I wonder what they'll do when it gets to that point!
02-12-2009, 11:44 PM
eva2000

cough cough http://i4memory.com/102537-post3.html ;)

Quote:

Memory LowGap: is for mapping local memory (add-on-cards) to system memory address size. It most like AGP port Aperture size or PCIE1gen 250M fixed mapping size. Extend it can solve when if "add-on cards" request a bigger size as like we would like to enable Qual SLI on NV new 295, it must be extend over 2048M. Can confirm that with 2x HD4870x2 in Crossfire I had set my LowGap to around 2176 at least. With Highpoint 3520LF PCI-E x8 256MB cache controller added into HD4870x2 Crossfire, I needed at least LowGap of 2560 otherwise windows boots to a blank window and doesn't go any further. As to how this effects windows available memory, with single HD4870x2 installed and 3x1GB memory, if I set LowGap to 2560, WinXP Pro SP3 32bit sees 1.5GB available memory. If I set LowGap to 1024, WinXP Pro SP3 32bit sees 3.0GB available memory IIRC.

i think with number of free pci-e/pci slots after double slot crossfire/sli + additional device (i.e. highpoint 3520lf) is installed, you'd be okay with maybe 2560-3072 lowgap

http://nx.i4memory.com/reviewimages/...sfirex_003.jpg

http://nx.i4memory.com/reviewimages/...sfirex_008.jpg
02-13-2009, 03:22 AM
mikeyakame

Quote:

Originally Posted by eva2000

cough cough http://i4memory.com/102537-post3.html ;)

i think with number of free pci-e/pci slots after double slot crossfire/sli + additional device (i.e. highpoint 3520lf) is installed, you'd be okay with maybe 2560-3072 lowgap

http://nx.i4memory.com/reviewimages/...sfirex_003.jpg

http://nx.i4memory.com/reviewimages/...sfirex_008.jpg

I think i'm sold on a DFI x58, bought myself a DFI X48-LT T2R for something to play with while my Asus X48 board is being unbroken and I'm in totally in love with the ridiculous amount of bios adjustibility and sensory data. I imagine the X58 bios is the same and is probably nearly as complex. :D