GTX 460 SLI issue?

[erocker]

I'm currently running two GTX 460's 768mb in SLI. For the most part things are working great but I do have one issue. In games like Dirt 2 and Dragon Age when there are many particles (dirt, smoke, etc) present I'm getting a noticable slowdown in FPS. The only thing I can think that may be causing this is a lack of video memory but then again I would think that 768mb would be sufficient for 1920x1200. Is this the case or can someone else who may be running this setup give me another suggestion as what the problem is?

Thanks!

[[Ion]]

What do you mean by 'noticeable loss'?

I can see that 768MB could be low for 1920x1200, from what I've seen at least 1GB is beneficial at those resolutions.

How is performance with just a single card?

[erocker]

Originally Posted by [Ion]

What do you mean by 'noticeable loss'?

I can see that 768MB could be low for 1920x1200, from what I've seen at least 1GB is beneficial at those resolutions.

How is performance with just a single card?

Dirt 2 for example can go from nice high framerates (Mid-80's ish and higher) to somewhere in the mid 40's. This causes the games to slow down considerably especially making it difficult for a racing game. Same thing happens with a single card. When heavy particles aren't present the framerates remain high and solid, gameplay is smooth. So, I suppose it could be the memory doing it, but I've had many 512mb cards that never had this issue with many particles present.

[20mmrain]

Originally Posted by erocker

I'm currently running two GTX 460's 768mb in SLI. For the most part things are working great but I do have one issue. In games like Dirt 2 and Dragon Age when there are many particles (dirt, smoke, etc) present I'm getting a noticable slowdown in FPS. The only thing I can think that may be causing this is a lack of video memory but then again I would think that 768mb would be sufficient for 1920x1200. Is this the case or can someone else who may be running this setup give me another suggestion as what the problem is?

Thanks!

Which driver are you using bud??? I can tell you that with mine certain drivers didn't do as well as others with the particles and such. For benching I used the latest 260.89 and 260.63 drives but after I was done doing the for awhile I found out I got better performance in gaming and the like when I reverted back to the 258.96 drivers.

My cards especially did not like the AVP/ Dirt 2/ and Just cause 2. But when rolled back the drivers the problems went away for the most part. Especially in Dirt 2 and AVP. Just cause 2 still was having a little bit of issues but I think that is just how that game is.

I play at a similar res to you....1920x1080 and I did studies with MSI AB's info status on the top. Two cards with 768MB never got maxed out with memory. The closest I saw it come was 1300 something.

Hope this helps bro

What do you mean by 'noticeable loss'?

I can see that 768MB could be low for 1920x1200, from what I've seen at least 1GB is beneficial at those resolutions.

How is performance with just a single card?
__________________

What he is talking about in Dirt 2 for example when there are allot of cars around you kicking up dirt you will get almost like a Prolonged micro stutter. Were your FPS will go from 80 to 25.... and choppy. Or when you are taking a turn around a corner and allot of dirt smoke and tracks will get kicked up the same thing happens.

[hv43082]

I am also running 2 460 GTX 768MB in SLI but at 2560x1600 resolution. It is very likely that the limited memory is the problem. For instance, in Bad Company 2 at Hi setting + 1x AA, I'd get 50's-60's fps when moving around but as soon as big fire fights broke out, it dropped to 30's.

[erocker]

Originally Posted by 20mmrain

Which driver are you using bud??? I can tell you that with mine certain drivers didn't do as well as others with the particles and such. For benching I used the latest 260.89 and 260.63 drives but after I was done doing the for awhile I found out I got better performance in gaming and the like when I reverted back to the 258.96 drivers.

My cards especially did not like the AVP/ Dirt 2/ and Just cause 2. But when rolled back the drivers the problems went away for the most part. Especially in Dirt 2 and AVP. Just cause 2 still was having a little bit of issues but I think that is just how that game is.

I play at a similar res to you....1920x1080 and I did studies with MSI AB's info status on the top. Two cards with 768MB never got maxed out with memory. The closest I saw it come was 1300 something.

Hope this helps bro

Yeah, latest two sets of WHQL's have the same issue, I guess the RAM just isn't cutting it. I guess I can go back to my 5850 and just use these things as dedicated folders.

Originally Posted by 20mmrain

What he is talking about in Dirt 2 for example when there are allot of cars around you kicking up dirt you will get almost like a Prolonged micro stutter. Were your FPS will go from 80 to 25.... and choppy. Or when you are taking a turn around a corner and allot of dirt smoke and tracks will get kicked up the same thing happens.

Exactly the issue.

[20mmrain]

Originally Posted by hv43082

I am also running 2 460 GTX 768MB in SLI but at 2560x1600 resolution. It is very likely that the limited memory is the problem. For instance, in Bad Company 2 at Hi setting + 1x AA, I'd get 50's-60's fps when moving around but as soon as big fire fights broke out, it dropped to 30's.

At that res I might agree with you but have you tried to watch your stats while in games..... 768MBx2 does not get used all that quickly.

Yeah, latest two sets of WHQL's have the same issue, I guess the RAM just isn't cutting it. I guess I can go back to my 5850 and just use these things as dedicated folders.

Before you do that look at your stats while in game though. The memory isn't really being used all that much though bud.

I mean you guys could still be right. the stats could not be that accurate. But my findings were that the memory wasn't getting used all that much.

I personally think nvidia is slacking on their drivers

[SwagBlow]

I can vouch that the 258 drivers work best for me as well...

In Dirt 2 on a GTX460 1GB I get really smooth framerates which never drop, so it could be memory

However I'm only running at 1280x1024, but still everything maxed out etc even at this res should still give it a run for it's money

It's this kinda problem that made me avoid getting anything less than 1GB on a video card, I just didn't wanna take the risk

I don't really know how the SLi works, but if it combines the memory of both cards then you should have more than enough :/

[erocker]

Originally Posted by SwagBlow

I can vouch that the 258 drivers work best for me as well...

In Dirt 2 on a GTX460 1GB I get really smooth framerates which never drop, so it could be memory

However I'm only running at 1280x1024, but still everything maxed out etc even at this res should still give it a run for it's money

It's this kinda problem that made me avoid getting anything less than 1GB on a video card, I just didn't wanna take the risk

I don't really know how the SLi works, but if it combines the memory of both cards then you should have more than enough :/

Unfortunately it doesn't combine the memory. 1280x1024 is quite low for resolution, but it reminds me that I should try at a lower resolution to see if the problem goes away. I'm guessing it will.

Originally Posted by 20mmrain

I personally think nvidia is slacking on their drivers

This could also be true since I've had better with cards with less ram than 768mb.

[20mmrain]

Originally Posted by erocker

Unfortunately it doesn't combine the memory. 1280x1024 is quite low for resolution, but it reminds me that I should try at a lower resolution to see if the problem goes away. I'm guessing it will.



This could also be true since I've had better with cards with less ram than 768mb.

Too bad I got to go to work now... but I will definitely check back later to see if that worked man. Good luck.

[AthlonX2]

try using the SLI enhancement packages,they usually add fixes for people that run SLI

[erocker]

Originally Posted by AthlonX2

try using the SLI enhancement packages,they usually add fixes for people that run SLI

Ah, I forgot about those. Do you get those from Nvidia or is that just an eVga thing?

[AthlonX2]

nvidia makes them evga just tweaks them

http://www.evga.com/articles/00463/

[Wrigleyvillain]

OMG dude thanks for being my guinea pig here as I know all along I wanted 1GB SLI but couldn't wait to try a 460 in general and bought a used 768 at XS. So I have been tempted to just get another but having already run into similar things as you report (and chalking it up to probably needing more VRAM) I have held off. 768 in my past experience as well is just not quite enough for 1920x1200 in some scenarios esp if you like AA. In fact, backing down on the AA settings has helped remove those sudden FPS plummets it would seem so it all points to VRAM.

[erocker]

Originally Posted by Wrigleyvillain

OMG dude thanks for being my guinea pig here as I know all along I wanted 1GB SLI but couldn't wait to try a 460 in general and bought a used 768 at XS. So I have been tempted to just get another but having already run into similar things as you report (and chalking it up to probably needing more VRAM) I have held off. 768 in my past experience as well is just not quite enough for 1920x1200 in some scenarios esp if you like AA. In fact, backing down on the AA settings has helped remove those sudden FPS plummets it would seem so it all points to VRAM.

Yup. SLi enhancement patch didn't resolve the issue. Turning off AA does as well as lowering the resolution. All signs point to VRAM for sure. Bummer.

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

[newtekie1]

Leave MSI Afterburner or GPU-z running in the background while you play the game and monitor how much VRAM is being used. If you get up near that 768MB mark you can be assured that the card is starting to have to swap memory out to the system RAM, which will cause a noticeable performance hit. This way you will know for sure it is running out of VRAM.

I would think 768MB would be a little low for 1900x1200, especially with tessellation enabled.

[T3kl0rd]

Those cards won't run Just Cause 2 at high res. I can't lock that game @ 60 FPS with my GTX 470s @ 1920x1200 res, 4xAA.

768MB should be sufficient for many games but ones like GTA IV or Oblivion that use all of your GPU RAM, it won't be. GTA IV uses almost all my GPU RAM when I max the settings. Would have gone with the 1GB model myself because 768MB is generally low for todays games.

Question: Does the EVGA SLI enhancement patch do anything besides add SLI to non SLI games?

[the54thvoid]

Pretty sure that was the achilles heel of my GTX 295. 1792 total memory but that was effectively 896 each 'chip' (being two GTX 275's on one board). Seems to be in some situations, at that resolution, 1GB per 'card' is required for enabling all the eye candy.

"768MB should be sufficient for many games but ones like GTA IV or Oblivion that use all of your GPU RAM, it won't be."

Yup, that hits it on the head for my issues.

[erocker]

Originally Posted by T3kl0rd

Those cards won't run Just Cause 2 at high res. I can't lock that game @ 60 FPS with my GTX 470s @ 1920x1200 res, 4xAA.

Max settings with 8xAA with two 5850's my frames would never drop below 60 FPS. These cards just don't seem to handle AA as well.

I actually find that these 460's run GTAIV better than my 5850's did. :/

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Hmm.. profiles should be able to iron it out.

Must be a dual gpu thing again. Its insanely fast on some apps, but sometimes, a quirk or two may come up. I experienced framedrops from some titles back when I was on 260 SLi, although sli profiles would fix this, but by the time they release them profiles, I finished the game. Vowed just to keep single but fast gpu ever since.

[erocker]

Originally Posted by Bjorn_Of_Iceland

Hmm.. profiles should be able to iron it out.

Must be a dual gpu thing again. Its insanely fast on some apps, but sometimes, a quirk or two may come up. I experienced framedrops from some titles back when I was on 260 SLi, although sli profiles would fix this, but by the time they release them profiles, I finished the game. Vowed just to keep single but fast gpu ever since.

Nah, tested and it happens with a single card too. Obviously framerates are less overall than with the two cards, but the slowdowns still happen. I guess in this case 768mb simply is not enough for this resolution. Previously I wouldn't of thought this was the case but now I'm quite certain that it is with these cards.

[T3kl0rd]

Originally Posted by erocker

Max settings with 8xAA with two 5850's my frames would never drop below 60 FPS. These cards just don't seem to handle AA as well.

I actually find that these 460's run GTAIV better than my 5850's did. :/

I have water physics and bokeh filter on which drops the framerate at least 15 FPS. HD 5850 can't support those features as they are nvidia proprietary.

GTA IV is nvidia optimized.

[erocker]

Originally Posted by T3kl0rd

I have water physics and bokeh filter on which drops the framerate at least 15 FPS.

Seems to be a pretty useless feature if two 470's can't handle it. How does it work with those two settings off?

[T3kl0rd]

Originally Posted by erocker

Seems to be a pretty useless feature if two 470's can't handle it. How does it work with those two settings off?

Haven't tried it yet with it off, I always max my games before I play them in all features with as much AA as possible to still achieve 60 FPS. I'll try it here soon and update.

[erocker]

Originally Posted by T3kl0rd

Haven't tried it yet with it off, I always max my games before I play them in all features with as much AA as possible to achieve 60 FPS. I'll try it here soon and update.

Same here. Well, if you get a chance to try it with those two options disabled, let me know.