Asus A8N-SLI and dual MSI GeForce 6800 PCI-E cards

[PSU Fan]

I've set up my rig per the instructions,have all of the latest BIOS and drivers installed, XP recognizes that I have an SLI-capable system installed and asks if I want to enable dual-GPU mode, I check the box to enable dual-GPU, get a message which reminds me to plug my cable into the primary card (which I do), message warns that a reboot is on the way, I click "ok", checkbox clears and no re-boot...no dual-GPU SLI.

I've found at least one other guy who is having the exact same issue with MSI GeForce 6800's. Anyone else out there?

 

[PSU Fan]

Not getting any hits on this thread, but if anyone has a similar problem I was able to return both of my MSI 6800 cards to Newegg with no fuss and no re-stocking fee.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

According to nVidia, those cards are not certified to work in SLI.

Now, I don't know if this list is all-inclusive or not... especially since their list of games that support SLI seems rather limited.

 

[bkzshabbaz]

There is a user on this forum who bought this card and was getting wierd effects because that card is not really SLI certified. It worked in single mode though

 

[PSU Fan]

Originally posted by: bkzshabbaz
There is a user on this forum who bought this card and was getting wierd effects because that card is not really SLI certified. It worked in single mode though

Yeah, I followed that thread also, which is why I finally decided to "pass" on the MSI cards for now...I think MSI is being very shady about their "SLI capability". They did their SLI testing using an MSI SLI mobo, which also is not listed on the NVidia web site. I'm sure that list is probably not all-inclusive and is more about NVidia getting paid a certification royalty, but still...Each card did well on its own, but w/out SLI it's too slow for me.

It also didn't help matters that MSI had 3 untrue/misleading claims on the product description for these cards (1. HDTV capability w/out an included adaptor 2. Dynamic Overclocking Technology w/out any bundled or available software to utilize it 3. worst of all, the box talks about the wonderful MSI copper cooling system which isn't even included on the cards)...like I said, "shady".

 

[goezer]

I ahve to agree i'm not very happy with MSI or ASUS as their support/feedback is really poor. I have two certified SLI MSI 6600GT and it doesn't work I'm encountering the same issues as PSU Fan ( we have said this on another thread)..

It looks like a driver and/or bios issue. So i'm keeping my fingers crossed that they (ASUS and/or MSI) will remedy this soon....

 

[obeythefist]

Goezer's issue here is still ongoing, sadly. It would be nice if there were some kind of remedy. His cards *are* SLI certified but he gets the same error message that clears the checkbox.

 

[FastEddie]

The tweak to correct this was to enter Display Properties/Settings/Advanced/GeforceXX00, then select Performance & Quality Settings and place a check mark in "Show Advanced Settings.' Now scroll down to "Hardware Acceleration" and change it from Single Display Mode to Dual Display Mode.

GuitarDaddy discovered this. It now should allow the check box to enable dual-GPU mode to stay checked.

 

[obeythefist]

Actually we found the problem!

Here is the cause and solution:

Some displays will detect "unusually" by the video cards. This is why some people have the problem and others don't, with *identical* systems in all other respects. My friend plugged in a newish 17" Sony Trinitron display and his SLI just worked. On an older HP model, he got the "seondary display" warning and his SLI setting would uncheck itself.

So basically switching monitors will solve this problem and allow SLI to be set and used.

Thanks for all the comments. Hope this can help anyone with similar issues.