Quick questions About SLI

[jonathan1107]

• When I disable SLI (for games that don't support SLI) can I use my 2nd card (inactive card) for physx? or is it by default going to be my cpu or gpu1?
• Why does nvidia require a bunch of programs to be closed to deactivate SLI? I don't recall having this issue when I had 2x gtx 670
• Does changing the SLI type really affect frame performance? (alt render 1 vs 2 vs sli)?
• Why does SLI seem to hate "borderless" window for gaming?
• Are there tricks to make sure you get the most out of your 2x gpus? I mean gpu usage

 

[newtekie1]

When I disable SLI (for games that don't support SLI) can I use my 2nd card (inactive card) for physx? or is it by default going to be my cpu or gpu1?

You can set your Physx card in the driver. Though I don't know of any game that uses hardware Physx but doesn't support SLI. Also, you don't need to disable SLI just because a game doesn't support it. Games that don't support it will just use one card.

Why does nvidia require a bunch of programs to be closed to deactivate SLI? I don't recall having this issue when I had 2x gtx 670

If something is using the GPU, and the driver can't suspend the process, the program will have to be closed. For some reason the Logitech software is the only software I've had to close when enabling SLI.

Does changing the SLI type really affect frame performance? (alt render 1 vs 2 vs sli)?

Not enough to matter. I suggest you use the default setting.

Why does SLI seem to hate "borderless" window for gaming?

SLI needs the game to be full screen to work. When a game goes full screen in triggers certain things and gives the game exclusive control of the GPU. SLI needs this exclusive control to work properly.

Are there tricks to make sure you get the most out of your 2x gpus? I mean gpu usage

None that I've seen or needed.

 

[GhostRyder]

You can set your Physx card in the driver. Though I don't know of any game that uses hardware Physx but doesn't support SLI. Also, you don't need to disable SLI just because a game doesn't support it. Games that don't support it will just use one card.



If something is using the GPU, and the driver can't suspend the process, the program will have to be closed. For some reason the Logitech software is the only software I've had to close when enabling SLI.



Not enough to matter. I suggest you use the default setting.



SLI needs the game to be full screen to work. When a game goes full screen in triggers certain things and gives the game exclusive control of the GPU. SLI needs this exclusive control to work properly.



None that I've seen or needed.

What he said^

If you use PhysX at all in SLI, you should just force set it to the second card at all times to alleviate that cause (Albeit I do not know a game with PhysX that does not support SLI).

 

[ChevyOwner]

Not enough to matter. I suggest you use the default setting.

SLI needs the game to be full screen to work. When a game goes full screen in triggers certain things and gives the game exclusive control of the GPU. SLI needs this exclusive control to work properly.

For me Skyrim, and a few others run better with alt 1.
SLI works fine in border-less windowed for me.

 

[cadaveca]

• When I disable SLI (for games that don't support SLI) can I use my 2nd card (inactive card) for physx? or is it by default going to be my cpu or gpu1?
• Why does nvidia require a bunch of programs to be closed to deactivate SLI? I don't recall having this issue when I had 2x gtx 670
• Does changing the SLI type really affect frame performance? (alt render 1 vs 2 vs sli)?
• Why does SLI seem to hate "borderless" window for gaming?
• Are there tricks to make sure you get the most out of your 2x gpus? I mean gpu usage

Tricks for more performance? Use Geforce Experience, but not many games are supported. Out of the 130 or so games I have installed, only about half have profiles in GF-Experience. It will do things like set the game to render at a higher res, and then automatically scale it down (there's some fancy name for this), make sure proper settings are enabled in-game for decent performance (it changes options based on your monitor's resolution and the number of GPUs you have installed), and many other things that help ensure that with supported titles your rig plays everything really well.

SLi doesn't enable for non-supported games. You never need to disable.

Otherwise, just leave it alone one you set it. Nvidia has spent many 1000's of man-hours making sure the driver is intelligent enough to do most things for you, provided you give it some primary basic feedback about your configuration.

 

[jonathan1107]

Tricks for more performance? Use Geforce Experience, but not many games are supported. Out of the 130 or so games I have installed, only about half have profiles in GF-Experience. It will do things like set the game to render at a higher res, and then automatically scale it down (there's some fancy name for this), make sure proper settings are enabled in-game for decent performance (it changes options based on your monitor's resolution and the number of GPUs you have installed), and many other things that help ensure that with supported titles your rig plays everything really well.

SLi doesn't enable for non-supported games. You never need to disable.

Otherwise, just leave it alone one you set it. Nvidia has spent many 1000's of man-hours making sure the driver is intelligent enough to do most things for you, provided you give it some primary basic feedback about your configuration.

Thanks guys. The reason I was asking is because I'm playing Nosgoth lately and my 2x Gpus were sitting @ 25% usage and I figured there was prob a way to turn off one of my cards. In the "nvidia 3d settings" there is an option (sli mode) to force "single card" for any specific game, just add the game to the 3d settings and customize it (with the available option for sli on or off)