SLI in Dell Precision T5400> Quadro FX 4800 > Win 7 Ult

[bambiboom]

> Unable to configure Quadro FX 4800 in SLI in Dell Precision T5400 under Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

2.11.13


Mates,

I would be very interested in a definitive answer : Is it possible to configure a second Quadro FX 4800 in SLI in a Dell Precision T5400 under Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit? Research indicates that I should see in the NVIDIA control panel a resident option to enable SLI, but this option is not available.

[Xeon x5460 QC 3.16 GHz, 12GB DDR2- 667, FX4800 (1.5GB) - Driver , WD RE4, Win 7 Ult 64 The driver is 12/29/12 > 9.18.13.1090]. The T5400 when new (running Vista Business 64 bit) is specified as supporting the then-current Quadro SLI GPU's, including the FX4800.

The Nvidia site has a listing for current SLI capable GPU's and mentions among others, a feature I would dearly like to have>

> "SLI FSAA (Full Scene Anti Aliasing): Combines two PCI Express graphics cards with an SLI connector to transparently scale image quality on a single display by presenting them as a single graphics card to the operating system.
Benefits:

SLI FSAA increases the FSAA level up to 128x to remove jaggies from contours of geometries in real time.
Design review and digital mockup (DMU), visual simulation, and scientific visualization applications that require high level of FSAA will benefit from using the FSAA mode. [ > This level of anti-aliasing is the principal reason I changed from a GTX 285 to the FX4800]

[SLI FSAA]

Requirements:

Two identical NVIDIA Quadro 6000, 5000, FX 5800 or FX 4800 graphics cards with SLI Connector
Quadro Plex 7000 and 2200 D2 visualization system "" <END

-a list of SLI capable systems- which are current or one generation back>

http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro_sli_compatible_systems.html

, and in the Knowledge Base, this very relevant post >

>"" No option to enable SLI in the NVIDIA Control Panel in Windows Vista and Windows 7".
Answer ID 2914 | Published 02/15/2011 10:27 AM | Updated 03/01/2011 09:30 AM

This is expected behavior with some of the older generation GPUs. These GPUs only support SLI under Windows XP, there is no SLI support under Windows Vista or Windows 7. Refer to the list below.

GeForce:

GeForce 6800 Ultra
GeForce 6800 GT
GeForce 6800 XT (formally known as V)

Quadro:

Quadro FX 1400
Quadro FX 3400
Quadro FX 3450
Quadro FX 4000
Quadro FX 4400 ""<END

The thing is, given the SLI technology and FSAA notes, that the FX 4800 is not in the list of no longer supported SLI GPU's, I still do not see the SLI option appearing in NVIDIA Control Panel. I've seen a number of other posts to this effect, though none mentioning the T5400 and FX4800 specifically.

I was planning to add a second x5460 and more RAM as I have 40+ 1900 X 1200 renderings (vray) of a 110MB Sketchup model to do. I should be very unhappy if my 2 year old, $1,100 new graphics card - which I specifically bought for SLI capability- is no longer supported in SLI.

Ideas?

Cheers,

BambiBoom

 

[bambiboom]

RE> Unable to configure Quadro FX 4800 in SLI in Dell Precision T5400 under Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit-
> There's a good Reason!

2.15.13

Mates,

Embarrassing as it is, I've learned (after only nearly three years' ownership) that the Dell Precision T5400 supports dual graphic cards, so as to allow multiple monitors, but the cards are not in SLI mode. I found this by comparing online *.PDF's of the T5400 and the contemporary next level model, the T7400. I suppose my confusion arose from seeing so many- quizzical posts from 2-3 years ago asking how to configure SLI on their T5400 and that the 2- PCIe X16 slots just look spaced so invitingly SLI.

With the T5400, I could add another Quadro FX4800 card in the 2nd PCI 2.0 X16 slot and connect a second monitor but this would not be running in SLI- I'd just have two cards with the ordinary FX 4800 performance. If I had the T7400- which also has a 1000W PS instead of the 875W of the T5400- and added the riser card, that could run SLI. I've seen these riser cards on eBay in the past and they're rare and desirable enough that the price is painful- $80 or more. The Precision T7500 (which also has the advantage of DDR3 1333 memory) however does support SLI in the conventional way- pop in the two identical- well, identical within certain limits- cards, connect them with the bridge/connector, enable SLI in the Nvidia control panel and then zoom, zoom, pan, regen, and anti-alias 128 times all day long!

Oh well, a bit disappointing but at least now I know that wishful thinking does not SLI bridges build.


Cheers,

BambiBoom

 

[bigshootr8]

Normally a motherboard needs to be SLi or Crossfire compatible. Without knowing much about it I can't say for sure if it would or wouldn't.

 

[Anthony Hayes]

Excuse my ignorance, I'm new to all this but learning fast, I have heard that Crossfire is a software driven co-operation between your two GPU's, whereas SLI is a hardware connection that is possible with the Dell T5400, but you do need some extra hardware to achieve this. Unfortunatley I cannot recall the exact name of the harware componant. If this is all correct, then it should still be possible to run your two GPU's in Crossfire configuration in your Dell T5400 without additional hardware? Comments?