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

Wile E · May 16, 2010

The psu you have actually behaves like a single rail. It doesn't matter where you plug the cables.

oiluj · May 18, 2010

anatolymik, any news about your (awesome) work with the new 'HyperVisor' version of the SLIpatch ??

anatolymik · May 18, 2010

oiluj said:
anatolymik, any news about your (awesome) work with the new 'HyperVisor' version of the SLIpatch ??

it'll be not a HyperVisor

. at least i think about. the matter is there is a method more simplier which enables io port emulating.

TiN · May 19, 2010

I will maybe test how sli patch work with 2xGTX480 in asus X48 REX board soon.

Ross211 · May 19, 2010

TiN said:
I will maybe test how sli patch work with 2xGTX480 in asus X48 REX board soon.

Looking forward to this :rockout:

ken2cky · May 20, 2010

I have finally 2x GTX 260 with a SLI Bridge in my rig.
I really can see the difference in 3DMark V (almost 2x GPU points) but not in games... why :confused:

I tried: Assassin's Creed 2, Mirror's Edge, Dirt2, H.A.W.X and SLI or not, I got the same FPS. I'm running at 1280*1024 (17" xD) all maxed out.

I click "Do not use SLI" to test games with one card and all Nvidia Control Panel setups are default but I select the .exe file of the game.

I see 3 options for SLI: Single GPU, AFR1, AFR2 (or Nvidia Recommended)
Which one should I select?

Ross211 · May 20, 2010

I don't believe you'll see a benefit with another card if you are running your games in 1280x1024.

You'll only see a significant improvement in your frame rate at 1280x1024 if you get a better CPU. (single card or SLI). 1280x1024 simply isn't much work for a single GTX 260, let alone two. At 1280x1024 you are CPU bottlenecked.

I'm pretty certain SLI scales best at 1920x1080 or higher (ie 2560x1600).

johnspack · May 20, 2010

Yep, sure does scale well at higher res. I'm at 1920x1200, and games like Crysis scale at least 60% or better. As for sli settings, open up your cp and go to Manage 3D Settings, click on the Program Settings tab, click Add, and navigate to the game exe that launches the game. The cp will automatically set the correct sli mode. Done!

ken2cky · May 20, 2010

Ok... so I'll have to wait till my 52" TV arrives to see the difference?

But SLIpatch worked perfect here right??

Can I just disable SLI and unplug the PCI-E power cables of the 2nd card so its consumes less power?? It's struggle to remove the card from the case... Or will that damage the card?

johnspack · May 20, 2010

No don't unplug the pcie cables. If only one or no monitor is plugged in, it will just downclock. Leave them in sli, just disable sli in cp, and only one card will be used.
Edit: when you switch sli on/off, you may have to reboot, less likely if you have win7. When you switch to sli mode, take a look at program settings, the sli mode each app uses
should be highlighted in BLACK BOLD. If not, reboot.

ken2cky · May 20, 2010

How much many watts a downclocked GTX260 consumes?

No problem switching SLI/no SLI under Win7. It does everything automatically.

Thank's to all for your answers

Ross211 · May 20, 2010

ken2cky said:
How much many watts a downclocked GTX260 consumes?

No problem switching SLI/no SLI under Win7. It does everything automatically.

Thank's to all for your answers

I'm not sure how much power a downclocked GTX 260 will consume. You should check out this article Tom's did - Actual Power Consumption And Current Requirements.

tdbone1 · May 21, 2010

Hi all:

I just got a msi 8900gxm-g65 amd crossfire with 2 pcie x8 slots
I also have 2 8800gts 512mb (g92 chip) video cards
I am running vista x64 currently but will probably be upgrading to win7 x64

can anyone tell me the correct drivers or bios mods or whatever i need to do to get sli to work with my setup?

thanks.

johnspack · May 21, 2010

Just install this: http://www.xdevs.com/sli/SLIPatch 0.7 WinVista x64 alpha.zip
Then reboot, your boot menu will have added SliEnabled Vista ect, use that to boot. Use any driver, preferably newest. Go into cp, and enable sli mode. Done!

johnspack · May 21, 2010

Refresh your browser, I changed the link from 32bit to 64bit, oops.
Edit: here's for Win7 x64: http://www.xdevs.com/sli/SLIPatch 0.7 Win7 x64 alpha.zip
Edit2: newer version for Win7 x64: http://xdevs.com/sli/SLIPatch 0.7 Win7 x64R2 alpha.zip
Edit3: full instructions as well are on the first page. Look at the top, see the spoiler button? Click show!

tdbone1 · May 21, 2010

AWESOME!

just to recap

SLIPatch 0.7 WinVista x64 alpha
Vista x64 (UAC turned to OFF)
MSI 890GXM-G65 bios 1.6
(2) msi 8800gts 512MB in SLI (with SLI Bridge connector)
197.45

didnt know any driver worked...

gonna switch to the newer driver and run some benchmarks.

here are the benchmarks for non-sli and sli with the 197.45

3400mhz 17x200 (955BE)

3DMark Score 14869
SM 2.0 Score 6384
SM 3.0 Score 6116
CPU Score 4670

3400mhz 17x200 SLI

3DMark Score 17857
SM 2.0 Score 6848
SM 3.0 Score 8799
CPU Score 4785
Thanks for the quick info.

Sailindawg · May 22, 2010

Any one try this with either a pair of 470's or 480's yet?

EDIT: Tin, missed your earlier post. Looking forward to your results.

johnspack · May 22, 2010

Try Vantage tdbone1, you will see a much bigger difference. You will in games too. XP64 under sli just screams! But 3dmark06 is too cpu bound.

tdbone1 · May 23, 2010

To Johnspack

http://service.futuremark.com/home.action?resultId=2200772&resultType=19

i dont have the before 3d vantage benchmarks.

it only let me run it one time and the results are in the link above.

Neeyon · May 24, 2010

Everyone is reporting that the newest Nvidia 257+ drivers are boosting framerates for some games like crazy. Has anyone confirmed that these drivers work for SLI Patched boards? I would try it out myself and post my results but unfortunately, I am at work.

johnspack · May 25, 2010

Haven't had much time to test yet, but 257.15 works fine with sli patch. This is what the new sli section looks like in cp:

r3b00t3r · May 25, 2010

Neeyon said:
Everyone is reporting that the newest Nvidia 257+ drivers are boosting framerates for some games like crazy. Has anyone confirmed that these drivers work for SLI Patched boards? I would try it out myself and post my results but unfortunately, I am at work.

I installed these new 275.15 drivers, and ran 3DMark Vantage in default settings before (with 197.45) and after installation.

SLI works flawlessly with this bench (I haven't tried any games yet), but I don't see any improvements. I had the following results:

197.45 - P22033
275.15 - P21903

Because of the dispersion in 3DMark Vantage results (I've done some testing and I concluded that a 200 marks difference is not significative), I think I can say with a good confidence level that these new drivers, for my cards (and the rest of my system), has no impact in 3DMark Vantage performance.

Let me remember that this performance boost you said is only for the new GTX4XX series, with checked results for a single GTX480.

johnspack · May 25, 2010

Like I said, I haven't done any testing yet, but from what I've read around the net, these drivers improve performance on all cards. BFBC2 is supposedly really improved. Many people with sli 260s give it a thumbs up, so I image they help with most cards. And use Vantage to check for improvement, only way 3dmark06 will get higher is if you oc your cpu!

r3b00t3r · May 25, 2010

johnspack said:
Like I said, I haven't done any testing yet, but from what I've read around the net, these driver improve performance on all cards. BFBC2 is supposely really improved. Many people with sli 260s give it a thumbs up, so I image they help with most cards. And use Vantage to check for improvement, only way 3dmark06 will get higher is if you oc your cpu!

Nice to know that! Probably I will not test these drivers with some gaming until thursday or friday, but it's very good to expect some gaming improvement!

ken2cky · May 25, 2010

Does installing new drivers undo the SLIPatch? I mean, how do I install the new drivers?
1. Uninstall SLIPatch
2. Uninstall older drivers
3. Install new drivers
4. Reinstall SLIPatch
Or can I pass step 1 & 4 and only do 2 & 3??

System Name	The ClusterF**k
Processor	980X @ 4Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 BIOS F12
Cooling	MCR-320, DDC-1 pump w/Bitspower res top (1/2" fittings), Koolance CPU-360
Memory	3x2GB Mushkin Redlines 1600Mhz 6-8-6-24 1T
Video Card(s)	Evga GTX 580
Storage	Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB, 2xSeagate 320GB RAID0; 2xSeagate 3TB; 2xSamsung 2TB; Samsung 1.5TB
Display(s)	HP LP2475w 24" 1920x1200 IPS
Case	Technofront Bench Station
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Fi Forte into Onkyo SR606 and Polk TSi200's + RM6750
Power Supply	ENERMAX Galaxy EVO EGX1250EWT 1250W
Software	Win7 Ultimate N x64, OSX 10.8.4

Processor	Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 (G0)
Motherboard	Asus P5K Premium/WiFi-AP (Intel P35)
Cooling	Zalman CNPS8700 LED
Memory	4GB: Corsair Dominator DDR2-1066 2x2GB kit
Video Card(s)	2x nVidia 8800GT in SLI (YES, I said "in SLI" with a P35 chipset!!)
Storage	WD VelociRaptor 150GB + 2x WD CaviarBlue 500GB in RAID 0
Display(s)	Samsung SyncMaster 226CW + LG Flatron F900P
Case	NZXT Apollo
Audio Device(s)	Analog Devices AD1988B HD-Audio (Integrated)
Power Supply	Enermax Infiniti 720W

System Name	selfmade caseless :D
Processor	Intel ES
Motherboard	EVGA X299 DARK ES :)
Cooling	LN2
Memory	G.SKILL DDR4 @ 3600MHz
Video Card(s)	GTX Kingpin's
Storage	Intel P4500 4TB
Display(s)	Philips BDM4350
Case	none
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi
Power Supply	EVGA NEX 1500W's
Mouse	None (trackball)
Keyboard	Steelseries APEX RAW and Corsair K-something
Software	W2k8 R2 64bit SP1, FreeBSD 12
Benchmark Scores	http://www.hwbot.org/community/user/tin?oldstyle=true

System Name	Late 2013 rMBP 13'' w/ 250 GB SSD
Display(s)	Dell P2416D @ 2560x1440 & Dell U2211H @ 1920x1080
Audio Device(s)	NuForce uDAC-2 w/ Klipsch Promedia 2.1 & Sennheiser HD595
Mouse	Logitech G400 @ 1600 DPI
Keyboard	Razr Black Widow
Software	OS X

Processor	E8500 @ 4,3Ghz
Motherboard	P5Q Pro
Cooling	NH-U12P
Memory	2*2 Gb G.Skill PK PC8500
Video Card(s)	Gainward + Zotac: GTX 260 SLI
Storage	Samsung Spinpoint F1 1Tb
Display(s)	Dell 17" T_T => waiting for my Sony 52" TV ^_^
Case	Thermaltake Amor+ MX => Very good cable management
Power Supply	Corsair HX620
Software	Win7 Pro 64bits
Benchmark Scores	3DVantage: 21946

System Name	System2 Blacknet , System1 Blacknet2
Processor	System2 Threadripper 1920x, System1 2699 v3
Motherboard	System2 Asrock Fatality x399 Professional Gaming, System1 Asus X99-A
Cooling	System2 Noctua NH-U14 TR4-SP3 Dual 140mm fans, System1 AIO
Memory	System2 64GBS DDR4 3000, System1 32gbs DDR4 2400
Video Card(s)	System2 GTX 980Ti System1 GTX 970
Storage	System2 4x SSDs + NVme= 2.250TB 2xStorage Drives=8TB System1 3x SSDs=2TB
Display(s)	2x 24" 1080 displays
Case	System2 Some Nzxt case with soundproofing...
Audio Device(s)	Asus Xonar U7 MKII
Power Supply	System2 EVGA 750 Watt, System1 XFX XTR 750 Watt
Mouse	Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum
Keyboard	Ducky
Software	Manjaro, Windows 10, Kubuntu 23.10
Benchmark Scores	It's linux baby!

System Name	Medium
Processor	AMD Phenom II x6 1090T @ 3.6GHz
Motherboard	MSI 890GXM-G65
Cooling	stock cooler
Memory	G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s)	2 * 5870 in crossfire
Storage	1 40GB intel SSD and 1 750GB WD
Display(s)	Samsung SyncMaster 226BW
Case	NZXT Vulcan
Audio Device(s)	Logitech Clear Chat Pro USB Headphones
Power Supply	Thermaltake 680 pure power with 15A, 14A and 23A 12v rails
Software	Windows 7 Premium x64

Processor	Q6600
Motherboard	Black Ops
Cooling	D-Tek Fuzion v2, MCW30 + Swiftech MCR Drive 360
Memory	8 G Mushkin D9GTR/S
Video Card(s)	5870
Storage	Intel X-25 + Raptors
Display(s)	HP LP2475
Case	CM Stacker TC101
Audio Device(s)	X-Fi Xtreme Music
Power Supply	PCP&C 910 Silencer
Software	Win 7 64 bit Pro

Processor	Intel Q9550 E0 @ 3825MHz
Motherboard	Asus P5Q Deluxe
Cooling	Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 Black + 10 X Noctua P12
Memory	2X2GB GSkill Ripjaws 1200MHz 1.9V @ 5-5-5-15
Video Card(s)	2 X EVGA GTX260 Core 216 55 nm SuperClocked @ SLI
Storage	1 X SSD GSKILL FALCON I 128GB + 1 X Samsung F3 2TB + 2 X Samsung F3 1TB @ RAID1
Display(s)	Samsung 223BW
Case	modded Lian Li A77
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music
Power Supply	Corsair HX620
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Benchmark Scores	about P22000 in 3DMark Vantage

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

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