Nvidia 9800Gx2 Club!

[wilson]

Any joy with the drivers touGe ??

[optical10]

amprage on the +12v rail is very important. My PSU uses 60amps on a single huge rail and that seems to do very well.

It could be that your system is lacking current, or certain parts are.

Also, a q6600 G0 oc'ed to 3.5ghz is around 300w at load.

a 9800GX2 at default clocks is almost 300w at load.

that's 600w right there, not leaving much wattage left for any other devices such as USB, DVD drive etc.

I'd say you're lacking raw power or current. My PSU is the PC power and cooling 750w silencer +12 single 60a and that couldn't even do a q6600 G0 + 9800GX2, and that PSU can handle 820w on load :O!

Thanks for your reply, that makes a lot of sense, you know when you just get that feeling but we need to hear somebody else.

I was so close to buying an Enermax 1000w PSU today when I got a reply from Asus Tiawan telling me to use Award Bios Flash to flash the old fashioned way.

But It gets worse, I have tried to update the BIOS using awdflash version 1.33 [lastest version] but it has frozen at 50% . I have not turned off the power or reset the system, as I am awaiting instructions from Asus or any other experienaced user who can get me out of this loop without frying the BIOS CHIP with a restart mid-upgrade.

If I have to currupt the BIOS will I have to send this 3rd SIIE mobo for RMA or do you guys know a way of saving this FLASH upgrade? The thought of disconnecting my W/C loop for the 4th time is getting me down .

Any AWARD FLASH SAVING TRICKS appreciated .

A photograph of the AWARD BIOS FLASH frozen at 50%:

[swiftex]

&*(^%$ what a predicament, sorry to hear - good luck!

never scrimp on psu - get a good psu - a beefy single 12v takes the guesswork outta figuring out what to connect to what rail on the multi rail psu's

holy crap! i'd been interested to find out if there is a solution for this problem - all you need now is a blackout

[swiftex]

I cant seem to install the 174.88 drivers as it say`s cant find the nv??-dl or something. This is with two downloads from different people, it may just be the xp x64 drivers that do it or does it happen on all of them?

I just tried and got the nvcpl.dll error as well, had to revert back to 174.74 x64

[swiftex]

i gotta say this is one heckuv a video card once you start getting the hang of it -

it may be a pain switching modes back and forth

but 1 24" panel in sli on intel board can really rock in a deathmatch game - and thats stock clocks for sli

using hardware raid so sli with 2 cards is not an option for me

frigg what will i do if they cut out the 1 slot 2gpu configuration - go back to dating 60 year old chicks

[TouGe]

Any joy with the drivers touGe ??

No, I haven't tried yet. I ended up going into work a little early yesterday so didn't get around to it yet. I've got some testing to do on other things and, hopefully, get a few hours of sleep so I probably wont get around to it until later tonight.

I just tried and got the nvcpl.dll error as well, had to revert back to 174.74 x64

Did you try what was suggested earlier, extract the files to your C directory before installing?

[swiftex]

No, I haven't tried yet. I ended up going into work a little early yesterday so didn't get around to it yet. I've got some testing to do on other things and, hopefully, get a few hours of sleep so I probably wont get around to it until later tonight.



Did you try what was suggested earlier, extract the files to your C directory before installing?

put in a folder i created in c directory - a folder in my downloads folder - is that why? maybe? (always worked before)

[Mhill2029]

I have 2x EVGA 9800GX2's and i have no clue as to what is going on. Basically, i get the performance of slightly less than that of a Single GX2.

I have tested so much it's not even funny...

Installed and tested various different drivers ranging from 174.53 upto 174.9x, changed chipset drivers, flashed my mobo's Bios, tested each card individually and tested each PCI_E slot also. I even ran 2x PSU's just out of curiosity.....nothing nada....still performs the same.

And before anyone mentions my CPU clockspeed....i have several ppl posting results with the same clockspeed and they perform more than 14FPS AVG in the Crysis Bench @ 1900x1200 NO AA, ALL VERY HIGH DX10.

[wilson]

whats your 3dmark06 score !

[Mhill2029]

3Dmark06 isn't really relevant to be honest as it won't show much. But here's what i get, Single Card 1 and 2 represent individual testing of a particular GX2

3Dmark06 Defaults 1280x1024

Quad SLI

SM2.0 Score: 5682
SM3.0 Score: 7853
CPU Score: 4023

Overall: 15,348

Single 9800GX2 1

SM2.0 Score: 5708
SM3.0 Score: 7370
CPU Score: 4144

Overall: 15,043

Single 9800GX2 2

SM2.0 Score: 5750
SM3.0 Score: 7353
CPU Score: 4085

Overall: 15,018



1920x1200 NO AA, 16x AF

Quad SLI

SM2.0 Score: 5392
SM3.0 Score: 7123
CPU Score: 4136

Overall: 14,525

Single 9800GX2 1

SM2.0 Score: 5475
SM3.0 Score: 6136
CPU Score: 4200

Overall: 13,726

Single 9800GX2 2

SM2.0 Score: 5475
SM3.0 Score: 6148
CPU Score: 4222

Overall: 13,753

[swiftex]

up that q6600 to 3.5 - 3.6ghz

i wasn't too impressed with the gx2 at first but once the quad hit 3.5ghz it was playoff time, regular season was over

still seem to be driver issues but what the heck - could be worse

[adidassler]

ey guys, hows the x64 drivers for gx2? any good driver out there? im having problem benchmarking with 174.74 vista 32bit, now im adding 2x1gb so going on 64bit Vista OS now...

which Driver should you suggest and performs well in gaming and benchmarking?

Thanks!

[slugzkea]

For those using quad sli (dual GX2) and not getting good results, this is why:

- No forceware yet natively supportss quad SLI.
- No CPU up to this date can perform on par with the GX2 thus, bottlenecking.

Even if newer forceware improves quad SLI, you'll only get a minor performance increase.

The single GX2's main purpose is so people don't have to go SLI in the first place, hence, using intel boards.

Sorry to bust your bubble

- Oh, try overclocking both the cards. that should get you an extra 4,000 points in 3dmark 06.

[swiftex]

For those using quad sli (dual GX2) and not getting good results, this is why:

- No forceware yet natively supportss quad SLI.
- No CPU up to this date can perform on par with the GX2 thus, bottlenecking.

Even if newer forceware improves quad SLI, you'll only get a minor performance increase.

The single GX2's main purpose is so people don't have to go SLI in the first place, hence, using intel boards.

Sorry to bust your bubble

- Oh, try overclocking both the cards. that should get you an extra 4,000 points in 3dmark 06.

o/c 703/1101/1757 fan fixed 80% - how you keeping heat in check?

[Dualist]

Loving mine

Clocks.. 750/1150/1900 on air with a 120 delta fan going like lordie at it (mods happening next week) cpu @ 5.3-5.4ghz. Check my hwbot for scores.

Quad sli won't really happen unless you push 5.4ghz+

[swiftex]

no quad sli for me = love my hardware raid too much
single gx2's as close to sli i'm gettin
you're right u need a honkin cpu for throughput

[slugzkea]

I use Lavalyst Everest version 4.50 to monitor gpu temps. It can also monitor VRM and mem and everything else (diods, etc).

[wilson]

What setting do u guys use for the pre rendered frame option in the nvidia options?? Do u use the default 3 or not...

[slugzkea]

pre-rendered? what benefit is that?

[wilson]

Not sure !! Have a look in the nvidia control panel under the 3d options and see what you make of it..

[Retro]

Not sure !! Have a look in the nvidia control panel under the 3d options and see what you make of it..

Kinda wondering about that too. I have also left it at the default 3. Worked fine with my previous 8800GTS, and it does with the Gx2, but it would be interesting to know if that's optimal for the ubersandwich

[slugzkea]

I've gone back to 174.74

174.83 was unstable, getting the nv4 dll error.

[wilson]

this may not be true but ive read that 0 is a performance hit and 8 will help with performance. But xp only supports 3 or below and thats why nvidia has set it at 3. Another thing is that the higher you go with it it can start to cause lag with the mouse and movement in game. I have set mine to 0 and i cant tell any difference between that and 3. I think its more for low end cards to help with low fps but i may be wrong....

[fornowagain]

Also, a q6600 G0 oc'ed to 3.5ghz is around 300w at load.

a 9800GX2 at default clocks is almost 300w at load.

that's 600w right there, not leaving much wattage left for any other devices such as USB, DVD drive etc.

I'd say you're lacking raw power or current. My PSU is the PC power and cooling 750w silencer +12 single 60a and that couldn't even do a q6600 G0 + 9800GX2, and that PSU can handle 820w on load :O!

The GX2 doesn't use anything like 300W. TDP is 197W, actual power used would be less. I've clocked a GX2@780/2250 and QX@4.7Ghz quad on a 500W (34A@12v) PSU with no problems at all. A 60A PCP&C should be able to power 2 of those without any effort.

Likewise you should recalculate the cpu usage, my Q6600 used approx 200W@3.5Ghz.

[phelan1777]

My experience thus far with my EVGA GX2.

I am running XP Pro, QX6700 3.4ghz, 1200W TTPSU, 4GB Crucial Ballistix Tracers 4-4-4-12

Latest drivers from EVGA site.

When I run Multi GPU, I get stuttering and random FPS drops.

When set to mulit display............oddly enough my FPS maintains and games run fine.

Not to pleased with not being able to set mulit GPU.



I saw mentioned in a previous post that the +12v A is something that is important and I am saying based on exp that this is very often over looked. Especially when someone goes out and buys a 700+W PSU, only to get one that hardly supports 17-22 amps, though seems like alot, actually isn't.

When looking for a PSU please take the time to double/triple check the minimum amps for the Card. It will you save you having to call in and save people headaches, frustration and aggrivation.