GTX 660 Ti SLI problem

[Turtleshotz]

I just bought another GTX 660 ti ( http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Displayport-PCI-Express-Graphics-GV-N66TOC-3GD/dp/B009LTUC6I/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1371045851&sr=8-8&keywords=gtx+660+ti+3gb ) to install in SLI. When I tried booting my computer for the first time with both cards installed it crashed during sign in. I then took out the new card, uninstalled drivers and then switched the cards out so just the new one was running. I had no crash until I tried to install the graphics driver. This happened every time I tried to install. I finally got the driver installed by booting into safe mode and doing it that way. The graphics card seemed to be working now, but when I tried to SLI again I had more crashing issues. Finally after several crashes the system seems to have stabilized and is now running SLI fine. I have played Tomb Raider, Crysis 3, and Metro Last Light on the pair of cards and the only issue that I have had is that in Metro Last Light there are some transparent lines continuously running up the screen, barely noticeable, almost like watching a screen through a video camera or something.

My big question is do you think there may be something wrong with the new video card that I should send it in for a replacement, or perhaps some other issue that I am missing.

System Specs
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Mobo
Intel Core i5 3570k CPU
16GB system Ram
2x Gigabyte GTX 660 Ti 3GB
Corsair TX650M PSU
Running 1920x1080 through DVI

 

[Thurwell]

According to this article, a 660 ti under load can draw 312 watts. Add in another 119 for your 3570k, and you're at 743 before you overlock or add in the rest of your components. You have a 650 watt power supply...

Then again this article claims it only draws 133 under load, so it's hard to tell.

 

[Turtleshotz]

I had considered that it could be a power issue, but I did run several games for awhile in SLI once I got it working, and when the system did crash (before it was working) it was when both cards were idling. So power supply does not seem to be an issue imo

 

[Thurwell]

I had considered that it could be a power issue, but I did run several games for awhile in SLI once I got it working, and when the system did crash (before it was working) it was when both cards were idling. So power supply does not seem to be an issue imo

Well I edited my above answer, apparently how much power the cards draw under load varies considerable depending on who you ask, so maybe you're fine for power.

More editing, that article does mention this line, "GeForce GTX 660 SLI - On your average system the cards require you to have a 700 Watt power supply unit as minimum." And that's not even a TI. It's just that as soon as you said added another card and crash my instinct is power shortage. Booting into safe mode and getting the drivers installed confuses me though. Have you watched something like EVGA precision to see if the drivers are underclocking the cards to keep them from crashing?

 

[chesteracorgi]

Are you using MSI Afterburner. I am not suggesting that you OC the cards, but Afterburner is a good monitoring tool for the cards and can show anomalies in heat and voltage. You can also fine tune the SLI with Afterburner.

I had a similar situation when I recovered and reinstalled a second GTX 470 in SLI. My configuration os similar:

3570 K
ASRock Extreme6 Z77
16 GB RAM
2 X GTX 470
PCP&C 950 W

I had Win 8 crash twice recently and had to refresh the system to restore it. It is a PItA because I have to re-install all of the desktop apps.

When I ran the 470s in SLI on a 2500K system (with virtually the same specs) in Win 7 there was no problem.

I am suspicious, but not certain that the problem is OS bound because I am an enthuiast and builder (not a big gamer) and I run a lot of ancillary control apps for monitoring cooling and performance.

 

[chesteracorgi]

BTW, I agree with Thurwell that the PSU may be a an issue in producing the visual effects.

 

[Turtleshotz]

I am running Windows 8 but it's been out for 9 months now I would have thought they would have fixed any OS issues regarding SLI.

In regards to power I saw several posts including this one http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1718837 where people were running 660 Ti SLI on 600W PSUs

EDIT: Here's another from this site showing that a 660ti draws at most 143W http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-ti-memory-bandwidth-anti-aliasing,3283-14.html

 

[Optimus_Toaster]

Are you using the 320.18 drivers? Because they are terribad, awful, dangerous and rubbish in one 200MB folder.

 

[Turtleshotz]

I am using the 320.18 drivers, is there an older version driver you suggest I try?

 

[Thurwell]

> I then took out the new card, uninstalled drivers and then switched the cards out so just the new one was running. I had no crash until I tried to install the graphics driver.

Does this line mean that with just the new card in you couldn't get the graphics driver to install? Because that's not supposed to happen. Maybe that card is a bit flakey after all.

Or you could try a clean install of Win8, but that shouldn't be necessary for a graphics card.

I'm still suspicious of your power supply, but if it's running games without black screening it's probably ok.

 

[Turtleshotz]

Yes with just the new graphics card in I had to go into safe mode to get the graphics driver to install, otherwise the system would crash. After that I re-installed the driver in normal Windows with no issue, also the games I mentioned above ran smoothly on it. I did however have more crashes when I tried to SLI again but eventually it got working.

 

[Optimus_Toaster]

Try version 314.22. There are thousands of complaints about 320.18 from installation issues, artefacting, weird textures, funny dots/lines on the screen, dead cards and massive performance decreases. So yeah, they're bad.

Here is the page where you can download all the Nvidia drivers that have been released:
http://www.geforce.co.uk/drivers

 

[Mousemonkey]

I had considered that it could be a power issue, but I did run several games for awhile in SLI once I got it working, and when the system did crash (before it was working) it was when both cards were idling. So power supply does not seem to be an issue imo

Well I edited my above answer, apparently how much power the cards draw under load varies considerable depending on who you ask, so maybe you're fine for power.

More editing, that article does mention this line, "GeForce GTX 660 SLI - On your average system the cards require you to have a 700 Watt power supply unit as minimum." And that's not even a TI. It's just that as soon as you said added another card and crash my instinct is power shortage. Booting into safe mode and getting the drivers installed confuses me though. Have you watched something like EVGA precision to see if the drivers are underclocking the cards to keep them from crashing?

My 660Ti's are running on an old 620w PSU which was running a pair of the more power hungry 560Ti's before that, I don't know where your figures are coming from but I think they may be a bit wrong.