Annoying SLI issue

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
L

liquid51

Senior member
Oct 14, 2005
284
0
0
If there's a post regarding this issue, my apologies and I'd greatly appreciate a link.

The problem is not in enabling SLI mode. It's when I actually turn on any SLI feature (such as SLIx16 or AFR, etc.). I get a rythmic choppiness in any configuration other than "single gpu rendering" (yippee). It's not super noticable; I think if it had never been 100% smooth I MAY not have really noticed, but after playing with single gpu rendering and silky smooth frames, the chop is quite noticable. The games don't register a drop in frames, and frames stay high when rendering dust clouds and such (unlike single gpu rendering), so I know it's working properly (mostly :( ).

Take EVE online for example: the fps monitor shows a solid 60 fps average, but the graph shows a minute jitter happening consitantly every fraction of a second or so. The screen has a very small "stutter" in sync with the fps monitor jitter. The thing is, if a lot is happening on screen, frames may bobble between 57-63 with zero noticable stutter on screen, just like normal.

Sorry if i'm being overly wordy, but I don't know how else to explain it. Anyone experiencing this or have any idea what's going on?

I'm using 6.83 and 91.47, setup in sig. I haven't started driver swapping yet; I figured I'd start asking here first.
 
L

liquid51

Senior member
Oct 14, 2005
284
0
0
hm... no, I haven't. I did try the vid cards at stock, but not the cpu/mem. I'll give that a go. That would be a touch dissapointing though :p
 
C

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
5,660
762
126
This is the standard SLI vsync problem. Unfortunately, there isn't any real way to get around it completely. Try using DXTweaker to force triple buffering on, which may help in some cases.
 
C

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
5,660
762
126
It's actually an issue with SLI and will occur with any monitor. One other thing you can try is to use SFR mode, which tends to work with vsync more often than AFR does. Modern OpenGL games like Quake 4 also generally work with it.

This issue drove me nuts several months ago and was the reason I sold my SLI setup. :p I thought it would be fixed by now, but your description sounds exactly like what I was experiencing.

You have the latest drivers by the way, right?
 
DasFox

DasFox

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2003
4,668
46
91
HUH?

What's actually an issue with SLI and will occur with any monitor? ----> Choppiness?

I don't think so I'm running SLI and my games play smooth for me, I have never had any choppy game play ever.

liquid51 what are you saying? That game play is a bit choppy, it stutters from time to time, jerking?

ALOHA
 
L

liquid51

Senior member
Oct 14, 2005
284
0
0
yeah, latest drivers. Oh, except for the nforce drivers. I can't find the latest nforce4 x16 amd drivers at nvidia.com except an older version (6.83) in their archives. I had trouble with the latest driver, which is labeled "nforce4 amd". I'm not even sure if that was the proper driver.

I haven't done a ton of research into LCD yet, but I was under the impression that CRT refresh rates were what necessitated vsync, an issue which does not encumber LCD monitors. Am I wrong there?

Man, I might be with you on the SLI setup if thats the case. I can see why you sold it. A badass but unusable SLI setup because of such a tiny issue; I don't know if I can deal with that either :(.
 
L

liquid51

Senior member
Oct 14, 2005
284
0
0
ugh. onboard a8n32-sli. What has to be the most god-aweful onboard sound in existence. I'm saving my clams for an x-fi, or something from one of they're competitors if I can be convinced.
 
DasFox

DasFox

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2003
4,668
46
91
Well the thing is you need to start at the bottom and work your way up, this is the logical step.

First do you have the CPU, or memory overclocked if so put it stock. Run all the volts stock too. Turn off Quiet & Cool, and disable fan rpm contol if your bios has this for the CPU.

Then try gaming with one of the cores shut off for the CPU, then tell us how it's going.

I had a AMD X2 I sold it, dual core for gaming can bring on conditions like these.

ALOHA
 
C

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
5,660
762
126
I haven't done a ton of research into LCD yet, but I was under the impression that CRT refresh rates were what necessitated vsync, an issue which does not encumber LCD monitors. Am I wrong there?

Man, I might be with you on the SLI setup if thats the case. I can see why you sold it. A badass but unusable SLI setup because of such a tiny issue; I don't know if I can deal with that either :(.
Click to expand...

LCDs have refresh rates too (the rate at which the video card sends frames to it). Actually, the refresh rates are lower on LCDs (typically 60hz) and although I never used SLI with an LCD, I'm guessing the effect would be even worse there. A few others around here ran into these problems with LCDs.

This issue is generally less noticeable at lower framerates and gets worse as the framerate increases. It seems to be one of those things that only some people are bothered by. I think one reason for that may be that many people with SLI setups crank up all the graphical settings, which reduces the framerate and makes this tearing less noticeable. In a sense, SLI is great for getting decent framerates at very high graphical settings but often useless for getting smooth (like 60fps at all times) frames at moderately high settings, except in select games. :(

What's actually an issue with SLI and will occur with any monitor? ----> Choppiness?

I don't think so I'm running SLI and my games play smooth for me, I have never had any choppy game play ever.
Click to expand...

What games do you play and what kind of framerates do you get in them? I think about half of the games from the last two years or so have working vsync with SLI and the rest don't.
 
L

liquid51

Senior member
Oct 14, 2005
284
0
0
yeah, i had issues with a stutter (a completely different kind of stutter) in wow and doom3. wow is ok on my single core rig, but doom3 had the same exact stutter on the single core. But that stutter was way worse than this one. I tried every fix in existence for that, all in vain.

I'm at work atm, but I'll bring everything to stock speeds and test it out when I get home.
 
DasFox

DasFox

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2003
4,668
46
91
Originally posted by: liquid51
yeah, i had issues with a stutter (a completely different kind of stutter) in wow and doom3. wow is ok on my single core rig, but doom3 had the same exact stutter on the single core. But that stutter was way worse than this one. I tried every fix in existence for that, all in vain.

I'm at work atm, but I'll bring everything to stock speeds and test it out when I get home.
Click to expand...

Ok do what I suggested at first then we'll go from there. I get home from work in 30mins.

Remember shut one core off, OH also put the SLI on ----> AUTO

4:45 PM Maui Time :D

ALOHA
 
C

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
5,660
762
126
yeah, i had issues with a stutter (a completely different kind of stutter) in wow and doom3. wow is ok on my single core rig, but doom3 had the same exact stutter on the single core. But that stutter was way worse than this one. I tried every fix in existence for that, all in vain.

I'm at work atm, but I'll bring everything to stock speeds and test it out when I get home.
Click to expand...

The Doom 3 engine actually has its own stuttering problem that's unrelated to the SLI or dual core hitches (it's caused by some sync issue with the physics engine). You can stop it in that game by messing with some of the command line parameters and using settings that allow the framerate to stay above 60 at all times.
 
DasFox

DasFox

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2003
4,668
46
91
Yes many games have their own issues with stutter, but of course you have to eliminate the possibilites of the hardware first before looking at games.

Also CP5670 I've gamed on 7 different LCDs without a problem.

ALOHA
 
L

liquid51

Senior member
Oct 14, 2005
284
0
0
cool, thanks for that info cp5670. Where the heck were you when I was still playing that game? :p

I'm home from work in about 2 hours.

9:48pm Detroit time :( (Maui... Das, you jerk :p )

oh, and thanks both of you for helping me with this :)
 
DasFox

DasFox

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2003
4,668
46
91
LOL, ahh working on the OLE Car assembly line are ya?

WoOT building that Detroit Muscle, hehe. ;)

Well sheesh someone has to live here so there's something for YOU tourists to come to and visit. :)

ALOHA
 
L

liquid51

Senior member
Oct 14, 2005
284
0
0
HAHA. I actually do work in a ford plant. but I'm not a union worker. I'm a firefighter/paramedic in the in-plant fire department.
 
DasFox

DasFox

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2003
4,668
46
91
Originally posted by: liquid51
HAHA. I actually do work in a ford plant. but I'm not a union worker. I'm a firefighter/paramedic in the in-plant fire department.
Click to expand...

Sheesh hanging out on call using the ole lappy are ya? LOL :)

Ahh cool ;)

ALOHA
 
DasFox

DasFox

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2003
4,668
46
91
What at the Ford car plant they have in house firefighter/paramedics in case someone gets hurt there?

ALOHA
 
L

liquid51

Senior member
Oct 14, 2005
284
0
0
yeah, it's the biggest plant under one roof in MI I think. over 3 million sq ft. People get hurt pretty bad in here all the time. Fires, people getting caught in machines, it's rediculous. We even have our own hospital here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom