SLI doing weird things, extremely high Power.

Elie_Stevens

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Oct 11, 2015
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Hello there, i have a little problem... My SLI was working fine since 2 days ago, i've tried to install GTA V on Win 10, and it screwed up, i couldn't get it to start due to compatibility issues. So, after i uninstalled all the shit it installed, i went to play my usual games and there's things that doesn't works correctly.
1- Sometimes the screen freezes, flashes white then back to normal. This ussually happens many times during the same game in intervals of 30 secs - 5 minutes. Note, this also happens since i hooked a 3rd monitor to my Main GTX 680 via Display port. Before it was on the 2nd one in DVI-I, but i couldn't use it when i wanted SLI to be enabled, so i bought an Adapter.
2- MSI AB shows weird stats, GPU power going to 300-700%, wich is ridicul. i also experience lower FPS than before.

SS:
HT9KKFo.png



I also got a BSOD in WIN 10, looks awesome btw :D
There's the MiniDump File if someone can help me with it!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4JpCX6gBBK9YnkwSy1icHBxRHM/view?usp=sharing
 
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Vogner16

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Jan 27, 2014
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Check for new drivers uninstall old one then fresh install new one. something wacky went on with that install.

Sad but NVidia sli drivers I have seen are usually not that hot. 680 has 2 gb of vram right? what that comes down to is a vram shortage resulting in frame buffer stuttering. I experienced it with 7870's (which also have 2 gb each and are slower cores than a 680) it plays for a second at 80 fps then jumps to 30 and back to 80 and alternates for the entire play time. only recommendation is to lower settings so your not maxing your 2 gb of vram out. you will get a stupid FPS but it wont stutter and without maxing the buffer it shouldn't crash either.
 

Elie_Stevens

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Alright, so, i'll do a clean install of Nvidia Drivers using DDU, BUT is there a posibility to save the changes i made in Nvidia inspector for my SLI config? I mean in Win 7 they were working great and i really don't wanna do it again for them ^^ btw, i will uninstall it now and try a clean reinstall and i'll comeback to you. Thanks a lot.
 

Elie_Stevens

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Well, no matters, still happening... I'm pretty sure it has something to come with this C++ Windows idk what is it, coz GTA V installed that shit and since then it doesn't works properly. I may go for a clean reinstall of Win10 to see... but id like to avoid it.
 

Elie_Stevens

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it doesn't crash, using only 1 works fine, nearly better than SLI... Lower or higher settings does nothing. I play with Vsync so they ain't even at 50% each. Can you be more clear explaining how i reinstall C++? Thanks.
 

Vogner16

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i think if you look in drive C under NVidia file there is a folder named vkchk_x86.exe or something like that and there is a application you click on that installs C++. I have intel HD at work so I cant look here where its located and I have amd cards at home. its just going to take a little bit of hunting.

I am 90% certain that you are experiencing a memory leak issue in SLI. this is most certainly caused by poor drivers. the only thing you can do it disable SLI when playing that game. I think MSI afterburner could verify the memory usage.

Now you see the downside to Dual gpu systems. I experienced the same thing you are right now and will never go back to cfx/sli ever again. the only card on the market today that would be worthy of a dual gpu system is the 390x with its 8 gb vram buffer, and then your spending $800.

Sorry I cant be more help.
 

Elie_Stevens

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Oct 11, 2015
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So, i did a clean reinsttall of Windows 10, reformat and install, updated it, installed drivers and it still happens. Im thinking that i could be a problem coming from Vram, maybe they overheat, maybe there's dust doing shit inside. But if after reinstalling all of it and also reflashing Stock bios to both GPU this still happening... idk, i will unmount them and clean them tomorrow, i'll comeback with a reply once that's donde. If it still happens im gonna install Win 7 to see if it does on it.
Im kinda worried about, i may have fried it :D but i don't think so... I mean i had them running both at 1.121v and they were running like gold for a while... I also tried overclocking Vram a bit higher to see if it happens more frequently, but it does less frequently... idk what can it be. Also checking Asics quality shows that GPU0 has 84% meanwhile GPU1 wich is working fine has only 70%
Maybe it's caused because i hooked a 3rd monitor, VGA one with an adapter to the DisplayPort ? I mean, i had to do that because i wanted to run my 2 19" monitors with my 27" center.

They going like this-> 19" Portrait DisplayPort-VGA converter // 27" Landscape HDMI-HDMI // 19" DVI-VGA converter Portrait.
I just noticed that this happens since i hooked the 3rd monitor to the main card because i wanted to be able to use SLI on Center monitor, since i can't surround with PLP Setup and my desk is too tiny to run Surround with 3 Landscape Monitors. Also, i don't wanna be running surround... i mean i enjoy pretty well playing on my Single 27" monitor. ^^

Thanks for your help @Vogner16
 

Vogner16

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no problem keep me updated with what cleaning does. I was unaware you over volted ram. in general for graphics cards I just don't do that. you may have fried one of the modules and once it starts to write to it it crashes. im really unsure what to say to do here once you start messing with voltages you risk trashing everything. I personally never go more than 5% over voltage with GPU's ever because you don't have to risk that chance of destroying a card from over volting. just another thought I know vram is kept at high clock with multi mon pluged in and sli enabled try to unplug other moniters and try that. I highly doubt that heat is the issue with your ram unless your still overclocking the ram and have no heatsink on it.

asics quality is irelevent has to do with power efficiency and I think your crashing is related to memory.

have you tried running just the second card? alone? the 84% one. I know you ran the 70% one alone.
 

Elie_Stevens

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So there we go, i cleaned up both cards, changed thermal paste, cleaned heatsing on vram and shit, it wasn't really dusty, but we have a 5-7ºC improvement on both cards wich is pretty good. Overvolting well, it wasn't really overvolting. Nvidia says that the max recomended is 1.212v so, i didn't go more than that. Everything works fine. I've tried already both cards alone, also swapping them makes the other one do the same shit. So, i unpluged the DisplayPort monitor, and guess what, isn't happening anymore. This is really cruel for me, i love to have my 3 monitors. If i hook it to the slave card, then i cannot run SLI. And still cannot run Surround due to PLP setup. So, there is an issue when hooking my DisplayPort adapter to VGA on main Card. If SLI is dissabled all works fine. By the way, i don't really notice a huge improvement by SLI'ing those cards. I mean, the improvement is on Temperatures. YES, temperatures are lower when running SLI than only working 1 GPU. But fps are kinda the sames, 5-10 improvement doesn't seems to be worth it. Also, power level runs at 50-60% when SLI'ing, if Single gpu working they go above 90%. The only true improvement here is on Benchmarks... No real improvement in games, even playing at 1440p.
What can i do for this DisplayPort issue ? Should i buy a higher quality adapter ? Because i think i bought the cheapest one that were on Amazon for 12€ or so.

EDIT: Am i reading over the net that DisplayPort should be working as Center monitor and not as Slave monitor, maybe this has something to do ? In order > DP-HDMI-DVI-VGA
Im currently using HDMI as Center monitor since my monitor doesn't has a native DP on it. Maybe i should return this Adapter and get one for HDMI to DP and HDMI to VGA ?
 

Vogner16

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Sorry to hear this looks like you will just have to disable the surround monitors. Its certiantly drivers related and you can try pluging in with different inputs but I have my doubts as to if that will work. your not using eyefinity for gaming are you? my bet is you will just have to disable other monitors and go for broke with just the center one.

regarding your edit directly it cant hurt much to try an adapter is what $10? order one online and try it.
 

Elie_Stevens

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I am not Using Eyefinity or Nvidia Surround to play. Just Max 3D performance with SLI, wich just works for center monitor and not the other. Im using the "wings"
70bOW.jpg

isn't exactly like that, but that's the point of my setup. My wings are a bit bigger than my center. So i don't wanna surround or eyefinity, im happy with gaming on a single monitor. I use wings for watching graphs and shit while im in game, guides, also to monitor my temps and my apps running in background. I don't want to loose that but wte, if i have to... Actually looking to sell them, so i can buy a 970G1 wich will indeed work well better than SLI i guess. No more SLI in my life, feels really useless and a waste of money...

Thanks for your help tho.
 

Vogner16

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Jan 27, 2014
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Sick setup! those monitors sideways look sweet with how the edges line up and the stands all match! Plus the sweet looking alienware case to boot you have an awesome setup man wish mine was as nice!

I agree with your situation to get away from SLI. I came to the same conclusion with cfx about a year ago and just a few months ago sold the cards on ebay. my only recommendation left would be for the future and what to get next. as you have a 8350 like me you should really upgrade to a new skylake setup if you want to utilize faster than a 680. that 970 will be bottlenecked so bad that you wont get the full potential from it.

As it seems your not cheap from that sweet looking setup you have there id recommend a solid 6700k build with a 390x.

reasons.
1 the vram on the 970 is only 3.5 and while with games today that's not an issue but as batman archam knight uses 3.7 for high settings today (which the 970's gpu can render at above 30 fps) id say that vram will be a limiting factor again just like the 680s had.
2 the vram on the 390x is 8 gb and faster bandwith than 980. this prevents the vram bottleneck as NO game in the next 10 years will need 8 gb of vram that is possible to be rendered by the gpu on the 390x.
3 390x is as fast as to a little faster than a 980 overclocked.
4 390x as a rebrand has more mature drivers
5 at roughly $60 more than the 970 and 10 to 20 fps faster in most games the 390x makes a very compelling price to performance argument.
6 I am a huge amd fan I wouldn't lie about this ever. look at my profile pic haha.
7 NVidia's poor community support with business practices such as 970 incorrect specs and gameworks destroying framerates on games to prevent hardware without PhysX support from being able to render such effects.
8 IF you were to decide 3 years later to try dual gpu again 390x would NOT have the ram bottleneck that 970,980 will have. ( I would get stuttering with my gpu when frame buffer got maxed out reason I thought that was your problem at first)
9 Amd dual gpu scaling is better than NVidia as amd uses XDMA with a faster interconnect than the outdated SLI bridge. results in 10% better fps per card added compared to NVidia. AKA 1 card is 100% 2 AMD is 187% and NVidia 2 is only 180% (of theoretical 200%)

Then again its your money and the 970 is a fast single gpu setup. :/

EDIT: The 6700K is a great cpu and pushes great framerates as well as great rendering power. cpu upgrade alone will make a huge difference in fps.
 
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