ASUS M4A79XTD EVO - CrossFireX ONLY...no SLI...wtf?

[Patrickz0rs]

I have the ASUS M4A79XTD EVO and apparently it only supports CrossFireX according to reviews and newegg.

I recently aquired (2) GTX 285's and I wanted to use those. So it would only recognize one card?

Is there a patch or something for this?

Newegg Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131402

Thanks

 

[Blazer7]

Use at your own risk.

http://xdevs.com/eplugins/content/content.php?content.30

 

[Patrickz0rs]

Use at your own risk.

http://xdevs.com/eplugins/content/content.php?content.30

Have you had any experience with using this?

 

[Rifter]

This is why intel has a better platform with both SLI and crossfire support, its actually one of the main reasons im going to the X58 platform from my 790GX board.

Seriously did you really expect a ATI/AMD chipset to support SLI which is from there only and direct competitor?

 

[Patrickz0rs]

This is why intel has a better platform with both SLI and crossfire support, its actually one of the main reasons im going to the X58 platform from my 790GX board.

Seriously did you really expect a ATI/AMD chipset to support SLI which is from there only and direct competitor?

Well I'm sure that the AMD/NVDA route is pretty common...same as INTEL/AMD right.

 

[Rifter]

Yeah but intel can support ATI cards in crossfire as they have no GPU's of their own so they are not losing anything by doing so and are actually gaining sale by doing so. Im sure if they did have a GPU division they would not support crossfire but their own GPU's instead, like AMD is doing.

 

[Blazer7]

Have you had any experience with using this?

Not personally. Twice in the past I had SLI setups but both times I had nV based mobos. However a couple of people I know had used this with good results.

Looking at your mobo you will be limited to x8x8 as this is the max your chipset allows with 2 VGAs but I don't think that this could pose a problem as there is at least one mobo listed in xDev's page (GA-MA790X-UD4P) that features the exact same chipset as yours.

The bottom line is that you have good chances for this to work but since this is an non official 3rd party patch no one can guarantee success. More to it, and despite what is mentioned in xDev's page "So, before we give all instructions, please note that these operations interact with the PC's hardware at low level, so in case your PC fails, data loss or any other damage occur responsibility rests solely on you. However, on all the systems we have tried, we have had no errors, all passed without any major mistakes", certain dangers may lurk in the details so it's all a matter of how bad you want SLI to work on this board.

 

[Patrickz0rs]

Not personally. Twice in the past I had SLI setups but both times I had nV based mobos. However a couple of people I know had used this with good results.

Looking at your mobo you will be limited to x8x8 as this is the max your chipset allows with 2 VGAs but I don't think that this could pose a problem as there is at least one mobo listed in xDev's page (GA-MA790X-UD4P) that features the exact same chipset as yours.

The bottom line is that you have good chances for this to work but since this is an non official 3rd party patch no one can guarantee success. More to it, and despite what is mentioned in xDev's page "So, before we give all instructions, please note that these operations interact with the PC's hardware at low level, so in case your PC fails, data loss or any other damage occur responsibility rests solely on you. However, on all the systems we have tried, we have had no errors, all passed without any major mistakes", certain dangers may lurk in the details so it's all a matter of how bad you want SLI to work on this board.

Thank you for being helpful. I know my motherboard has x8x8 but that only causes around a 2% decrease in performance over 2x16.

Still debating on giving this a try or not.

 

[Rifter]

i was in the same situation as you, as i ordered a 460 to replace my 4890 and intend to go SLI in the near future. I decided with all the driver issues already happening with offical drivers i didnt need to make it worse by using hacked drivers, i wanted official support for both crossfire and SLI.

If you do decide to give it a shot let me know how it works out for you.

 

[Patrickz0rs]

Update:

I finally got around to installing one of the 285's. It got a 7.3 on windows seven while my 4890 got a 7.6.

I had them both hooked up (remember my mobo only supports crossfire) and booted the PC on. The fan worked on the second graphics card but it was not detected.

I will try the software hack later tonight.

 

[Blazer7]

Good luck with this. Just make sure that you have the latest BIOS before you start as a BIOS update later will require that you apply the SLI patch all over again.

Tell us how this works out.

 

[MegaWorks]

The SLI hack works like a charm, just remember to use ForceWare 257.XX and not higher.
Nvidia implemented a block on the newer driver

 

[Blazer7]

Apparently there is a new beta of the patch (v.08) that is supposed to work with 257.xx

 

[MegaWorks]

Apparently there is a new beta of the patch (v.08) that is supposed to work with 257.xx

That what I said!

 

[Blazer7]

That what I said!

LOL missed your point completely. I stopped keeping track of nV drivers after I switched to ATi a couple of months ago. Anyways, it won't be long before these guys catch up with nV again.