Silly but.. 6800GT SLI - how do I know it's doing it's job..

[BlueMagician]

Okay, so I got the new rig to install Windows - long story - which I'll update in the other thread...

Now, my question is, how do I _know_ that SLI is doing it's job...?

My 3DMark05 score is 4900-ish, which I think is poor, and to confirm my suspisions the score actually increased by 50 points when I UNTICKED the 'Enable SLI multi-GPU' box in Nvidia Display window!!
By this, I'm suspecting that SLI isn't doing as it should, but I can't figure out what I've missed - I could understand it if I were not being given the option to turn on SLI, but I am, and it says it's happy...


The GPU temps are also worrying - I haven't yet fitted the NV5 coolers (as I wanted to make sure everything worked before I battered the warranty on the XFX's), but the temp of GPU core 1 is around 73c, but core 2 is only 52c.
The core 1 temp is worrying, as this is effectively at idle!
My case temp isn't fantastic at the moment, as I'm running on stock case fans until the rest that I've ordered turn up..


Any thoughts on this, would be much appreciated..
On the upside, I've had no lockups in an evenings use, except when I played with the PEG setting in BIOS..


S.

[iMc]

Its deffo not working, unfortunately I know little about SLi so can't help you out with that.

the core 1 temp is a bit high but I wouldn't worry too much as they can handle 120C+ temps before throttling.

[BlueMagician]

8320 in 3Dmark05.. That's better

Both cores at 47 degrees at idle, and everything working... Hurrah! <happy bunny mode> Right.. now for some sleep, then o/c'ing tomorrow... mwahahahaaa...

S.

[iMc]

What was wrong?

[BlueMagician]

What was wrong?

I was using version 71.25 (?) of the Nvidia drivers which after a bit of digging, seems that although the config boxes indicate SLI is configured, it actually doesn't.

I dropped down to drivers 69.somethingsomething and all seems fine.

Also worth noting that with the 71.25 drivers installed, and PEG set to anything other than 'disabled' is BIOS, windows threw a hissy fit and hung - so I guess the 71.x are tuned for non-SLI?!

I've still got some possible issues with the mobo, but I'm hoping it's all driver related rather than RMA'able physical faults, so I'm a slightly happier bunny..


S.

[shiato storm]

good for you. i'm holding onto the 69.93 drivers at teh mo - even though I've only got a lowely 6600gt I knwo that the later versions (tho not released by nvidia themselves) are a touch slower...guru3D had a review recently on it, tested 71.xx and 60's types, worth a glance I guess.

[Butcher]

I'm using 66.93 with SLi - anything higher causes instability in WoW.