How To: Enable SLI on pre-i7/i5 hardware

[TiN]

I need to use string

443817712091Genuine NVIDIA Certified SLI Ready Motherboard for GIGABYTE P55 UD6 3287-Copyright 2009 NVIDIA Corporation All Rights Reserved-876112936219(R)

Right? Sorry for dumb questions.
Will try this evening on P965-DQ6 and two GF 6600's, on XP 32bit.

 

[sveetsnelda]

No, it needs to be an X58 SLIC. The one you posted was for a P55. Use:

987134512781Genuine NVIDIA Certified SLI Ready Motherboard for GIGABYTE XXXXXXXXXXX3287-Copyright 2008 NVIDIA Corporation All Rights Reserved-765289891023(R)

 

[TheWolf]

Here seems to be a simple file host & no account is needed: http://www.mediafire.com/
Here is a quick example of a file I just uploaded: http://www.mediafire.com/?cfnziniwzuz
the old NGO-sli-patcher... lol

 

[sveetsnelda]

The 2x 260GTX are on a W7 64 bit system at the moment, but I can setup a dual boot system with XP 32 bit,NAP.

W7 64 bit is what I intend on running, so I'll likely be hitting that one next. I started with XP 32 bit because I figured it would be easiest. Now that I know it can work, I'll hit the W7 drivers.

TiN, if the Windows XP 64 bit driver is easy, I'll do that one too. It's not a very good OS to be using for a nice SLI setup though... What are you running it for?

 

[stangman86gt]

you have it hosted up anywhere yet? =) send me a pm if you do

 

[TheWolf]

Don't post in the open forum a link to the host file, PM me please.

Edit: I'm setting up XP 32 bit as we speak..

 

[TiN]

sveetsnelda

My 24/7 engineering rig. Also 2003 (32bit one) is little faster than XP 32bit in 3D.
But it's not essential, just for future, if you will have interest.

BTW

where to put SLIC block? I've just got DSDT and disassembled it using OS registy.

My original DSDT : http://www.xdevs.com/sli/dsdt.dsl
192KB.

When I'll make it checked, i'd write complete Howto guide in english and russian, and attach with binaries of mod. Just to let people ask less

 

[MoonPig]

Hold on... you lot have got SLi working on P45 boards?

 

[sveetsnelda]

Driver sent to everyone who has messaged me so far.

My 24/7 engineering rig. Also 2003 (32bit one) is little faster than XP 32bit in 3D.
But it's not essential, just for future, if you will have interest.

Ah... That makes sense (your engineering rig). Interesting... I didn't know it was faster in server 2003.

where to put SLIC block? I've just got DSDT and disassembled it using OS registy.

For yours, put it almost at the end of the file. Here's the original:

Device (\_SB.PCI0.EXPL)
        {
            Name (_HID, EisaId ("PNP0C02"))
            Name (_UID, 0x04)
            Method (_CRS, 0, NotSerialized)
            {
                Name (BUF0, ResourceTemplate ()
                {
                    Memory32Fixed (ReadWrite,
                        0xD0000000,         // Address Base
                        0x04000000,         // Address Length
                        )
                })
                Return (BUF0)
            }
        }
    }
}

Put it here:

Device (\_SB.PCI0.EXPL)
        {
            Name (_HID, EisaId ("PNP0C02"))
            Name (_UID, 0x04)
            Method (_CRS, 0, NotSerialized)
            {
                Name (BUF0, ResourceTemplate ()
                {
                    Memory32Fixed (ReadWrite,
                        0xD0000000,         // Address Base
                        0x04000000,         // Address Length
                        )
                })
                Return (BUF0)
            }
        }
        Scope(\_SB.PCI0)
        {
             Name(SLIC, Buffer (0x9E)
             ...
             ...
        }
    }
}

 

[JrRacinFan]

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx227/sveetsnelda/P45SLIScreenshot.png

Yup he did MoonPig!!

 

[TiN]

sveetsnelda

btw, is that modded driver work only on P45, or all chipsets supported?

Setting up P5B Deluxe (p965 chipset) with two 6600 right now

I'll host driver on server with link here, yes?

 

[MoonPig]

Wow... that's cool.

Good work.

Whats scaling like? same as SLi boards?

 

[TiN]

MoonPig

Please, be patient. We just managed to enable SLI, tests and benchies will follow later, after making some Howto and mod available for testers.

 

[sveetsnelda]

The driver *should* work on any board as long as you put an **X58** SLIC in there. I hardcoded the X58 chipset into the driver's check routine, so it always thinks your chipset is 8086 3400 (X58) when it does the SLIC string check.

Also, your motherboard's manufacturer name must be written into the driver (and your SLIC needs to match one that is in there). This shouldn't be a problem, since I assume most major manufacturers are. EVGA is in there, ASUS is in there, GIGABYTE was in there, etc.

Here's more detail:

The driver begins by grabbing your chipset's hardware ID. After it is successful, it runs a subroutine that decrypts some tables that are stored in the driver. These tables contain a list of hardware IDs for a bunch of common chipsets. Next to each hardware ID are 3 DWORDs. Two of these DWORDs contain memory addresses of functions that should be executed if you have that particular chipset. One of these functions is to check for the SLIC string in the ACPI table. Lets use the X58 as an example. If the X58 chipset is found, it executes the function to check for the SLIC string and compares it against a hard-coded SLIC. Here is the hard-coded SLIC for the X58:

987134512781Genuine NVIDIA Certified SLI Ready Motherboard for XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXYYYY-Copyright 2008 NVIDIA Corporation All Rights Reserved-765289891023(R)

It compares this string byte-for-byte, except for the "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXYYYY" part. The "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXYYYY" portion of the string needs to contain the manufacturer (at the beginning) and the rest of the string doesnt matter except for the 4 numbers in "YYYY". These 4 numbers are also looked up in a table, and I haven't looked into this function to know exactly what it's looking for. All I know is that 0101, 3287, and 8432 work for some reason. I'll look into it later.

Again, the only thing changed in the driver is that manufacturer "8086" (intel) and device "3400" (X58) are hard-coded.

 

[sveetsnelda]

Wow... that's cool.

Good work.

Whats scaling like? same as SLi boards?

What game should I test it with? I tried with 3DMark 06, but it doesn't scale well with SLI in the first place.

 

[TiN]

Oh, now I see. That's why just putting SLIC without fooling driver to think that we have X58 won't enable any SLI for us. Driver just got that we have not X58, and uses more complex check, not just simplified SLIC string validation for X58. Thanks for clarifying.

3dmark03 is scaled SLI best. 05 good too.

Can I upload file to server and give link here?

 

[sveetsnelda]

Sure. You can host it whereever you want. Keep in mind that this is a pretty early "beta". It might not work for some people. I plan on getting rid of the SLIC check entirely if I can. Should make things a lot easier.

 

[sveetsnelda]

Downloading 3Dmark 2003.

I fired up COD5, and there was a very noticible improvement. I'll post what 3Dmark 2003 says.

 

[Mussels]

use synthetics first (3dmark series) - but DEFINATELY test games as well.

 

[TiN]

Great.

Little description for those who know what to do.

Hardcoded X58 chipset driver ForceWare version 190.62 (XP 32bit only ATM)

After driver unpack, put this file to C:\nvidia\displaydriver\190.62\english

http://www.xdevs.com/sli/nv4_mini.rar - 2.1MB

Then install as usual.
DSDT table must have valid SLIC X58 string.

Full detailed installation manual will follow after initial checks.

 

[sveetsnelda]

Agreed... I just don't know any methodology behind testing many games (in other words... I can fire up a game and roam around & post an average FPS that I see, but how can I get a consistant result?)

 

[sveetsnelda]

Thanks for putting that up, TiN

 

[Mussels]

Agreed... I just don't know any methodology behind testing many games (in other words... I can fire up a game and roam around & post an average FPS that I see, but how can I get a consistant result?)

use games with an inbuilt benchmark, Crysis, company of heroes, HAWX, etc.

 

[sveetsnelda]

I didn't know Crysis had a built-in benchmark... I'll give that a shot.

 

[TiN]

Or you can use FRAPS on those games, which support timedemo recording and replays.