I'm sick of SLI issues - gonna get rid of it

[qubit]

I've got two MSI 780 Ti Gaming cards in SLI and while it's not massively problematic, it's niggly enough that I want to get rid of it now.

The latest is with GTA V that I bought a couple of days ago. I've not had much time with the game yet (busy with Real Life stuff, lol) but I've already spotted some awkward problems.

1 With SLI on, the benchmark mode shows a black screen with the framerate counter and occasional sun effects. A quick google didn't find a solution to it. Looking harder or further troubleshooting might.

2 The game appears to run at the same speed with SLI on as SLI off, so no benefit from my investment. Gotta check this further, but it seems right. EDIT: having played the game a bit more, I can say that SLI is actually working fine, other than benchmark mode. I get around 90 - 190 fps with SLI on and I suspect that my CPU is the bottleneck at times.

I've therefore decided that I'm going to eBay the cards and get one 980 Ti instead (likely the MSI Gaming one) and get rid of these issues once and for all. Yes, I've got the latest drivers and W7 patches etc.

Note that I got the second 780 Ti much more recently when there were a batch being sold cheaply as a one-off and before the 980 Ti was released and we didn't even know when that was going to be.

 

[AsRock]

Shouldn't the title say SLI\CF as we don't want to upset those nVidia fans now do we ?

 

[qubit]

Shouldn't the title say SLI\CF as we don't want to upset those nVidia fans now do we ?

No it shouldn't, as I'm talking about my setup specifically.

 

[R-T-B]

No it shouldn't, as I'm talking about my setup specifically.

Makes enough sense. Don't underestimate the ability of people to get butthurt though.

 

[qubit]

Makes enough sense. Don't underestimate the ability of people to get butthurt though.

Sure, but that's their problem. Once thing I don't do is pander to unreasonableness whether online or offline.

 

[R-T-B]

Sure, but that's their problem. Once thing I don't do is pander to unreasonableness whether online or offline.

Heh, I know man. Just stating the obvious.

Welcome to the single-GPU camp BTW. Where things just work (tm).

 

[SonicZap]

I have an Llano-based laptop with dual graphics. Back then all the benchmarks focused on raw FPS, no one cared about frame times. So, I was foolish and bought one. I've never seen an improvement in a game with CrossFire / Dual Graphics enabled, every game runs just as well if not better with the discrete GPU alone.

Maybe it'd be better with Kaveri / Carrizo and a discrete GPU, but the experience on my laptop has been horrible enough to make me avoid multi-GPU configs, at least unless they're composed of high-end GPUs.

 

[HossHuge]

I got sick of SLI and having a tri-moniter set up. Not only did I have a Nvidia surround set-up on my desk, but I also had my projector and TV connected as well. It got to be too much turning them on and off. Such a waste of time. I should say though that I never really had many driver issues.

 

[Cybrnook2002]

You should have separated out for those that feel more strongly about one camp than the other. Some may be more tired of SLI than CF, and vice versa.

 

[Blue-Knight]

SLI is unnecessary. I wouldn't invest in that unless I had money to throw in the garbage.

P.S. Just my opinion.

 

[erocker]

Single channel RAM is where it's at dudes! oh wait... I've actually have had a pretty good experience with two 970's.

SLI is unnecessary. I wouldn't invest in that unless I had money to throw in the garbage.

P.S. Just my opinion.

Computers are unnecessary.

 

[bretts31344]

My only experience with crossfire/sli is with a laptop with an A8 APU and a dedicated 6650m. It has an option for hybrid crossfire or whatever it's called when the GPUs aren't the same. Games sometimes ran worse when enabled, but mostly I never saw a noticeable increase when enabled. The worst part is there was no option to just use the dedicated GPU (which is definitely better than the integrated one), so I just settled for disabling crossfire. No more problems, or running multiple benchmarks to see if everything was working correctly. SLI/Crossfire seems great, and there are some good combos, but I don't like having even more issues to deal and tinker with.

 

[qubit]

Single channel RAM is where it's at dudes! oh wait... I've actually have had a pretty good experience with two 970's.

You're comparing different things that can't be compared.

Do you see the issues I do when running GTA V?

 

[LightningJR]

I always thought of sli/cf as a "3 years down the road get another card to keep your PC relevant until AMD/NVidia comes out with their new latest and greatest" option.

 

[erocker]

You're comparing different things that can't be compared.

Do you see the issues I do when running GTA V?

I don't. Perhaps you have one of the settings enabled that no GPU can run well. Lemme grab some screenshots of my settings.

 

[the54thvoid]

.....

You have a mighty habit for this sort of thread and vote. You are well enough versed in tech that you know the pros and cons of dual GPU set ups. I'm surprised you need to canvas opinion, you're not a newbie at this.

Anyhow, mild frustration aside, I'm in foreign lands at the mo and can't see your system spec. If you're on an older mobo (sandy era) make sure you upgrade your BIOS. My X79 didn't recognise my 980ti until a BIOS flash.
FWIW, a single 980ti at about 1400mhz is about 80-90% the speed of two 780ti's at about 1100mhz, with optimum sli scaling.

 

[erocker]

Here's my settings. I get 60fps constant everywhere in the game.
<-- System specs are current. No OC.






You could always try using different (one or two builds older) drivers. Also! I found with some games that if I set SLI mode (in Nvidia CP) to "CPU" instead of "AUTO" that it actually helps with performance in some games.

But yea.. SLI isn't necessary. I bought these two cards on a whim not thinking I'd keep them long. Surprisingly they've been great! They boost to 1420 MHz out of the box and with this game, Witcher 3, Star Citizen and Elite Dangerous (x1.5 resolution) they've really done the job.

 

[GreiverBlade]

voted "other" while i think it's a little pointless ... i had a GTX 580 (Matrix Platinum) SLI who did run flawlessly, so as i never experienced any issue with one or the other, i can't really say anything about.

currently a single GTX 980 is way enough for me.

 

[cadaveca]

Windows10 SLI is currently broken w/780 Ti. Too many titles to list get nearly no boost from second card, just added latency. Works fine in 7 and 8.1, though. I'm sure it'll get fixed at some point.

 

[HWTactics]

Never been a fan of SLI or CF. Most games I play don't support either, and those that do, don't support them very well.

I'm happier with a single faster card than two slower ones.

 

[Aquinus]

My success rate for gaming just simply working with both of my 6870s was 90% or higher. It was very rare that I would encounter a serious issue and when I did it was usually with either really new games or really old games. I do wish that multi-GPU was as stable as single GPU but, I think that's a little bit of wishful thinking. With that said though, I would buy a second 390 if that was the cheapest upgrading going forward for me... not that I'm planning on upgrading again soon.

I think it's important to realize that SLI/CFX is rarely going to scale perfectly, even when it does work well.

 

[Dent1]

I'm just commenting just to gloat. Funny if the OP had an ATI / AMD card everyone here would be saying "ATI drivers suck", "Crossfire drivers suck" "Catalyst sucks" etc. but since its Nvidia somehow everyone is more reserved and diplomatic with their responses.

I actually removed my second 5850 from my rig, not because of the CF driver issues but because of the noise at 100% load.

 

[manofthem]

Computers are unnecessary.

Computers are as unnecessary as testicles; sure you could get by without them but life would be a whole lot more boring

 

[Aquinus]

Computers are as unnecessary as testicles; sure you could get by without them but life would be a whole lot more boring

That's a bad comparison. Lack of testicles means no reproduction which means life ends with you.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Windows10 SLI is currently broken w/780 Ti. Too many titles to list get nearly no boost from second card, just added latency. Works fine in 7 and 8.1, though. I'm sure it'll get fixed at some point.

This. SLI runs like a raped date in Windows 8.1. They have been having issues with SLI in windows 10 due to WDDM 2.0......from what little I understand. It should be fixed soon.

As for SLI over all I wont go back to a single card. Been running SLI over a year without issue.