NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI Flickering

[kshawkeye]

Hi, I have two NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ cards in SLI, so far I love them, other then my flickering problem.

When I load a game, (Crysis for example) the texures/skybox/trees/lights flicker here and there. When I load the map everything starts fine, then I will move around a bit, and once some stress is put on the cards the frame rate drops, and then the flickering problem starts.

It can happen when I walk into another room, or when I go from outside to inside, or inside to outside. The flickering doesn't stop either, unless I stay still and don't move, till it seems to work through the problem, but this solution doesn't always work. The flickering is best described as flashing, the walls or lights or whatever it is just keeps blinking.

I read somewhere that it might be a SLI bridge problem, yet my SLI bridge is brand new, and I've tried to flip it and switch it every way possible and the problem still occurs. I also read that it might be related to drives, which I have uninstall and installed but no go. I'm using driver version 258.96 from NVIDIA which is the latest that are out right now.

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (if anyone needs to know). I even tried to uninstall and install all of Crysis again, and patch it up to 1.21 yet that didn't work.

Any help would be great, thanks.

 

[silversurfernhs]

I get flickering too (not in cryssis though) - i think its drivers - try the new beta drivers released just recently (i get flickering grass in world in conflict on my 480s sli).

 

[reccy]

Same thing for me in SLi 470's in Assassins Creed II, trees, posters, wall flags etc sometimes flickers, no drop in FPS thou.

 

[dragon5677]

seems its the drivers wait for new ones or downgrade

 

[nforce4max]

One more reason why I am slow with driver updates.

 

[megamanx00]

Check your temps. Once card could be blocking air for the other. Also make sure your SLI cable is secure

 

[kshawkeye]

The drop in frame rate is only for a second, after the flickering starts there is no lag.

My temps are good, and the SLI "cable" (I think you mean bridge) is secure.

As far as drivers go, I will try the new beta ones, and if those don't work I will start downgrading till I hopefully find one that do.

I'll report back with my findings, thanks.

 

[kshawkeye]

Well, driver version 260.63 beta didn't fix the problem, any ideas?

I made a short video of whats happening, just so we are all on the same page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZpZc_2qRQY

 

[silversurfernhs]

wow, thats gotta be f***ing annoying to try and ignore... does it go away if you disable anti aliasing?

 

[kshawkeye]

I don't even have anti-aliasing enabled.

 

[nforce4max]

I left a comment on your video.

 

[kshawkeye]

195.62 WHQL was released at 2009.11.26, that's a big jump back in time, so I'm hesitant as to if I need to go that far back. None the less I will try 195.62 WHQL.

 

[nforce4max]

195.62 WHQL was released at 2009.11.26, that's a big jump back in time, so I'm hesitant as to if I need to go that far back. None the less I will try 195.62 WHQL.

 

[kshawkeye]

NVIDIA 197.45 WHQL drivers did not solve the problem. Trying 197.13 WHQL...

 

[Mousemonkey]

Have you tried different rendering modes?

 

[kshawkeye]

Are you talking about force alternate frame rendering 1 or 2? No, it has been set to "NVIDIA recommended (SLI)" only because I tried those two before with Crysis, and performance with both was seriously effected.

 

[kshawkeye]

Just tried both 1 and 2, both didn't work.

 

[nforce4max]

Hmm see if you can enable SFR if the same continues then test each card, that is what I do with my 9800gt sli and I had two sli setups before that. I wish that my quad 7900gtx would work. Got two 7900gtx duo the first sli on a single card before the 7950gx2.

 

[kshawkeye]

Down to 196.21 and still the problem exists.

I don't know how to enable SFR without another program like nHancer, and I have had bad experiences with nHancer so I don't want to try that again.

Both cards work perfectly, and the SLI bridge works too. This is a brand new system (more or less) and all parts work and are new.

 

[nforce4max]

Hmm this is a hard one then and may take a few days for every one to suggest their fixes for this problem so wait and maybe we are missing something and hopefully it isn't complicated.

 

[kshawkeye]

I'll keep my current drivers installed only because I feel downgrading more will not solve the problem, maybe it will, but I doubt it.

Any ideas are welcome, I'm dying to beat Crysis Warhead.

Thanks.

 

[notty22]

There are new drivers out today, but I think there might be something else going on.
Is your m/b bios updated to its latest version ?


http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-winvista-64bit-260.63-beta-driver.html

 

[kshawkeye]

I downloaded and tried the new drivers already, they did not fix the problem.

My BIOS is up to date.

 

[kshawkeye]

I'm down to 195.62 and the problem is still happening.

 

[silversurfernhs]

Sounds like iether a hardware problem, or a software problem that slipped by the driver teams...