Trying to figure out how to sli my Asus GTX 970 and EVGA GTX 970

[Cody Vo]

The model is the ASUS Turbo and the 04G-P4-2978-KR EVGA. I'm thinking that these two cards aren't just compatible, no matter how much tinkering with the PCIE slots, bridges, etc. I'm thinking about just buying another turbo.

I know the EVGA model I have has problems with sli with other EVGA cards as well from the support page. (https://www.evga.com/support/faq/afmviewfaq.aspx?faqid=59534).

 

[bignastyid]

What motherboard and psu are you using?

 

[junkeymonkey]

best thig to do is decide what card you like the best - sell off the one you don't like so well and buy the matched card to sli with

go with another asus exact match card or the evga that matches from there list of 970 compatible sli cards '' as I tried to show the 970 is just a after thought card to use up old 700 card parts and 980 chips that did not make a 980 ?? [as stated from the anandtech review I posted here ] the 970 has its share of issues from day one [coile whine - 3.5 memory thing - ect....]

its best to buy matched cards the same day in the cart to insure you got fully matched cards - like say you buy today and the first card comes with a first release bios and Samsung memory , clocked at 1190 and what ever [a revision 1 card ]

then 4 months to a year later you buy the exact same card [brand model number and all] but this card now has a rev 3 bios and Hynix or elpeida memory and new improved vrms- clocked at 1215 , ect..... [a revision 3 card] so with that now will they sli ?? if they do sli will the old card bring down the new card to the lesser cards speeds ??

the thing about a reference card is there allways to meet NVidia sli requirements aftermarket not so much there custom desgins

 

[Mousemonkey]

best thig to do is decide what card you like the best - sell off the one you don't like so well and buy the matched card to sli with

go with another asus exact match card or the evga that matches from there list of 970 compatible sli cards '' as I tried to show the 970 is just a after thought card to use up old 700 card parts and 980 chips that did not make a 980 ?? [as stated from the anandtech review I posted here ] the 970 has its share of issues from day one [coile whine - 3.5 memory thing - ect....]

its best to buy matched cards the same day in the cart to insure you got fully matched cards - like say you buy today and the first card comes with a first release bios and Samsung memory , clocked at 1190 and what ever [a revision 1 card ]

then 4 months to a year later you buy the exact same card [brand model number and all] but this card now has a rev 3 bios and Hynix or elpeida memory and new improved vrms- clocked at 1215 , ect..... [a revision 3 card] so with that now will they sli ?? if they do sli will the old card bring down the new card to the lesser cards speeds ??

the thing about a reference card is there allways to meet NVidia sli requirements aftermarket not so much there custom desgins

What? 700 parts? Yes the 970 is a 980 that didn't make the grade but 700 parts?

 

[junkeymonkey]

all reported at anandtech as I posted here [I assume you removed]

you did not notice how the top 700 cards disappeared as soon as the 970 was released ???

what I was looking for was I thought I seen a deal at evga about they changed the sli bridge connection on the new cards [970]

cant find it but reading these you can see kinda what I mean from that

http://forums.evga.com/Will-the-EVGA-Pro-SLI-Bridge-work-on-the-980970-m2219073.aspx

http://forums.evga.com/EVGA-Pro-SLI-Bridge-LED-will-NOT-work-with-older-970s-does-work-with-new-SSC-and-FTW-m2252280.aspx#2288192


so something changed on the sli bridge connector so the older cards cant use the lighted bridge but the newer ones can ????

so with that how does it affect a sli connection over ll between the older evga cards that will and the newer cards that will not ??

even it looks like as I said mixing 970's still may not work reguardless of brands ??

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/781585/sli/can-t-enable-sli-with-2x-gtx-970-updated-/2/

 

[Vellinious]

all reported at anandtech as I posted here [I assume you removed]

you did not notice how the top 700 cards disappeared as soon as the 970 was released ???

what I was looking for was I thought I seen a deal at evga about they changed the sli bridge connection on the new cards [970]

cant find it but reading these you can see kinda what I mean from that

http://forums.evga.com/Will-the-EVGA-Pro-SLI-Bridge-work-on-the-980970-m2219073.aspx

http://forums.evga.com/EVGA-Pro-SLI-Bridge-LED-will-NOT-work-with-older-970s-does-work-with-new-SSC-and-FTW-m2252280.aspx#2288192


so something changed on the sli bridge connector so the older cards cant use the lighted bridge but the newer ones can ????

so with that how does it affect a sli connection over ll between the older evga cards that will and the newer cards that will not ??

even it looks like as I said mixing 970's still may not work reguardless of brands ??

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/781585/sli/can-t-enable-sli-with-2x-gtx-970-updated-/2/

That's because they moved on to the new architecture, and were no longer making the 700 series cards. That happens all the time. As soon as the stock from the old cards is gone, they won't sell them new any more. lol

Are some of the pieces used on the 9xx series the same as the 7xx series? I'm sure some of the caps, VRMs and such are the same...unless there was a reason to change them.

EVGA made two sets of 970 cards. The ACX 2.0 cards and the EVGA ACX 2.0+ cards. And no, they're not SLI compatible.

 

[junkeymonkey]

Furthermore, as we mentioned in our GTX 980 review, GTX 970 has been a pure virtual (no reference card) launch, which means all of NVIDIA’s partners are launching their custom cards right out of the gate. A lot of these have been recycled or otherwise only slightly modified GTX 700/600 series designs,

Meanwhile since NVIDIA did not produce reference cards, for GTX 970 reviewers are being sampled directly by NVIDIA’s partners.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8568/the-geforce-gtx-970-review-feat-evga

anything else ??

I followed these cards from day one and warn about you may not be getting what you think you paid for ..

 

[Vellinious]

Furthermore, as we mentioned in our GTX 980 review, GTX 970 has been a pure virtual (no reference card) launch, which means all of NVIDIA’s partners are launching their custom cards right out of the gate. A lot of these have been recycled or otherwise only slightly modified GTX 700/600 series designs,

Meanwhile since NVIDIA did not produce reference cards, for GTX 970 reviewers are being sampled directly by NVIDIA’s partners.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8568/the-geforce-gtx-970-review-feat-evga

anything else ??

I followed these cards from day one and warn about you may not be getting what you think you paid for ..

You mean except for the new architecture that's more energy efficient, and at last some DX12 compatibility?

Man....the custom pcb cards have shared layouts and components between generations for a LOOONG time. The EVGA 670 FTW shared the same pcb with the 680, which then became the 760. This isn't new, jr.....

 

[junkeymonkey]

as long as ''your'' happy with it that's all that matters - the the 970 should not have issues that it does like above, right ??

''GTX 970 has been a pure virtual (no reference card) launch'' not true NVidia card so not following NVidia specs like sli compatibility -

you don't see guys crying onlike the 980's there NVidia reference not a free for all made card . they work as expected and no where near all the 970 reported issues


any way good luck and enjoy [oop's sorry he's not ]

 

[Vellinious]

as long as ''your'' happy with it that's all that matters - the the 970 should not have issues that it does like above, right ??

''GTX 970 has been a pure virtual (no reference card) launch'' not true NVidia card so not following NVidia specs like sli compatibility -

you don't see guys crying onlike the 980's there NVidia reference not a free for all made card . they work as expected and no where near all the 970 reported issues


any way good luck and enjoy [oop's sorry he's not ]

I'm not exactly sure what you just said..... I have 970s in SLI, but...I bought the same cards, like you really should for SLI, and haven't had any issues at all.

There was 970 reference pcb cards, btw....just sayin. Not sure where you got your information, but....you should check again. EK makes a block for the reference design 970 by NVIDIA. lol EVGA, PNY and a few others also made reference pcb cards with blower style coolers, all compatible with the same block. /wink

 

[bignastyid]

Must be an Evga bios issue. I have a buddy running an Asus 970 strix and Msi 970 gaming 4g in sli without issue. I have never had issues mixing brands in SLI before. I use to run 3 way slid 580s from 3 different manufactures.

 

[Vellinious]

Must be an Evga bios issue. I have a buddy running an Asus 970 strix and Msi 970 gaming 4g in sli without issue. I have never had issues mixing brands in SLI before. I use to run 3 way slid 580s from 3 different manufactures.

EVGA released the ACX 2.0+ cards. When they did that, they announced that they weren't compatible with their other 970s. The reason they released the 2.0+ cards, is that they decided that the ACX 2.0 cards didn't have high enough power limits, TDP and power phase.

The Maxwells aren't nearly as energy efficient as NVIDIA wanted everyone to believe, and the first 970s released by EVGA were having a lot of issues related to hitting power limits that were set artificially low from the stock bios. Easily correctable with a custom bios, but....they went ahead and released a new revision card with better power phases and the increased power limits / TDP in the stock bios. The changes somehow made them incompatible.

It's funny....I was just having a conversation the other day about the 970 power usage issues on OCN with a guy that also did reviews for some site...was familiar to me, but I don't recall which one. After showing him why he was wrong, he started to rethink everything he THOUGHT he already knew about Maxwell. Why is it every reviewer I've run into lately is relatively clueless? Makes one wonder....how they even got their jobs. /smh

 

[Mousemonkey]

It is just the EVGA cards that are a bit odd all the other brands seem to be compatible with each other so I'm not sure what planet JM is on.

 

[junkeymonkey]

did you read the gforce link above ??

same issue but the difference is here
i have 2 gtx 970
a) zotac 970 ( smallest)
b) zotac 970 amp! omega core edition.

i cant sli it, same issue, i don´t understend why is happening this
so i sold my zotac 970, sorry but i will not use a MOD driver´s

Im having the same problem, but I have two 980gtx. A zotac 980GTX AMP Extreme and MSI 980GTX Gaming. I cant get them to sli unless I install that DifferentSLI workaround. I would rather not since I read that there is a performance


maybe use that work around 3ed party program ??


''so I'm not sure what planet JM is on. '' come on lets here some more you know you cant stand it

more satisfied customers

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/820753/geforce-900-series/gtx-970-sli-/1/

cant help you don't read up on these things

 

[Mousemonkey]

did you read the gforce link above ??

same issue but the difference is here
i have 2 gtx 970
a) zotac 970 ( smallest)
b) zotac 970 amp! omega core edition.

i cant sli it, same issue, i don´t understend why is happening this
so i sold my zotac 970, sorry but i will not use a MOD driver´s

Im having the same problem, but I have two 980gtx. A zotac 980GTX AMP Extreme and MSI 980GTX Gaming. I cant get them to sli unless I install that DifferentSLI workaround. I would rather not since I read that there is a performance


maybe use that work around 3ed party program ??


''so I'm not sure what planet JM is on. '' come on lets here some more you know you cant stand it

more satisfied customers

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/820753/geforce-900-series/gtx-970-sli-/1/

cant help you don't read up on these things

As your posts are largely unintelligible I tend to ignore them but if they hurt my eyes really badly I just delete them.

 

[Vellinious]

It is just the EVGA cards that are a bit odd all the other brands seem to be compatible with each other so I'm not sure what planet JM is on.

The easiest way to ensure that you don't have issues, is to use the same card for the 2nd card, as you do for the 1st. Or, check the manufacturer website, and send in a help desk ticket to ensure the card's you're wanting to SLI together, will work.

This is a much bigger issue with the Maxwell architecture than it's ever been in the past. Not sure exactly why, but......just the way it is. I'm sure it'll get cleaned up again for Pascal.

That other dood is just all over the place. I can't understand half of what he's saying.....