Extremely low 3dmark03 benchmarks from A8N in Sli

[YuKKa]

Hello People,

I just built a new rig based around the A8N-Sli Deluxe and chucked in 2 XFX 6600 GT's. I am by no means an avid gamer but was intrigued by Sli so took the plunge. Today I ran 3DMark03 on my machine and in Sli mode I struggle to get past 5k marks - I would have never realised my graphics were under performing had I not read a couple of mags who bench marked the same 6600gts indivually and returned scores over 8000.

My machines spec is as follows:

A8N SLI DELUXE
AMD 3500 64
1GB DDR PC 400 (EMPAQ)
200GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 7200rpm SATA
2 * XFX 6600GT's
Cheapo PSU - http://www.microdirect.co.uk/P...oductID=7047&GroupID=9
(Was the psu a reall bad choice??)

I have checked the two cards individually and both benchmark below 3k indivually, again this sounds extremely poor to me.

PCMark04 produced some good results, around 8000 marks overall. Which lead me to believe that I have issues with either my MB or both cards. I have tried swapping the pair, etc and come to no avail.

The main issue I'm having from a pure visual perspective on some games are the low frame rates, here's what 3DMark03 told me on the last run:

GT1- Wings of fury 95.2 FPS
GT2 - Battle of proxycon 10 fps
GT3 - Troll's Lair 16.8 fps
GT4 - Mother nature 13.3 fps

Has anyone come across such poor activity and/or point me in the right direction to correct this problem. Any help is much appreciated as I'm not much of a graphics whizz...

I haven't OC'd anything and I have downloads the latest drivers from XFX and ran an ASUS bios update for the last stable bios version.

Thanks in advance,

Robby

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Your scores look normal for a stock 6600GT. I don't know where you saw someone got 8000 in 3dmark05? The best I've seen with overclocked SLI'd 6600gt's is like 6300.

I am currently running on XFX 6600GT at stock 300/1000 it scores 2800-2900, I have it overclocked using Coolbits to 575/1170 and I get 3600-3700

I have RMA two of these cards because each time I tried to add the second card (both at stock speeds) and enable SLI they run for about 15min. then the card in slot1 dies.

*edit*

excuse me! I see now that you were showing 3dmark scores. Those are low

 

[FastEddie]

That's low. I'm getting 12771 in 3DMark03 with a pair of 6600GT's. Did you do the build update for 3DMark03?

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Your scores look normal for a stock 6600GT. I don't know where you saw someone got 8000 in 3dmark05? The best I've seen with overclocked SLI'd 6600gt's is like 6300.

I am currently running on XFX 6600GT at stock 300/1000 it scores 2800-2900, I have it overclocked using Coolbits to 575/1170 and I get 3600-3700

I have RMA two of these cards because each time I tried to add the second card (both at stock speeds) and enable SLI they run for about 15min. then the card in slot1 dies.

You're thinking 3dmark05. He's talking about 3dmark03. He should be right around 9000 with a single 6600GT, somewhere in the neighborhood of 11500 - 12500 with a pair. The rig in my sig, with my single 6600GT, marks 9251 in 3dM03.



First thing I would do is ditch the XFX drivers. Get Nvidia's reference drivers. They're probably cleaner.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

If you continue to have scores that low. You might try testing the cards individually in slot 1 single mode.
You may find as in my case that the card in slot1 is toast.

I experienced similar behavior on my second attempt at SLI. The first time when the card in slot 1 died I got no signal and "system failed VGA test". On the second attempt when I added the second card for 15min I was getting great frame rates got 74,400 in aquamark, then bam the frame rates dropped of to nothing, I tried a few more benchs and the scores were pitiful and I was starting to get some artifacts, and eventually anything graphical was showing major artifacts and terrible frame rates. I tested both cards in single mode and confirmed that the card in slot 1 was fried.

 

[FastEddie]

Or he may need to do your tweak in Display Properties GuitarDaddy. When I set up my second card to dual mode, I still had to change that one entry manually before both cards were used.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Yeah thats worth a try!

In display properties on the same screen that shows multiple GPU (where you enable SLI) there is an entry for "Perfomance and Quality Setting" click on that then click the advanced button. Sroll all the way to the bottom and look for a setting called "SLI rendering mode" make sure this setting is set to "multiple GPU".

 

[YuKKa]

Thanks for all the responses, the 3d Mark scores I quoted were references from PCS mag and Computer Shopper. I have run both cards in slot 1 indivually and the scores returned are around the 3k mark - does this imply a toasted slot 1???

I just found the setting for multi GPU rendering, i'll give that a crack and report back.

 

[YuKKa]

After enabling multiple GPU rendering use, 3DMark03 reports back 2700!!!!!

If Slot 1 is toasted and slot 2 was fine then shouldn't I still receive I higher bench mark due to slot 2's processing power???

A second query regarding the sli mode selector card, in dual mode it is obvious to me that the edge inserted should be the "Dual Video cards" edge? I ask only as the ASUS documentation is placing me in doubt as it shows a pre-installation image of the dual card edge inserted, with a caption explaining that the MB comes set to single GPU mode.

Incidently, I downloaded the lastest 3DMark03 build today. the 03 version was downloaded to compare with mag reviews.

 

[FastEddie]

Point the Dual Mode arrow into the selector slot for dual card use.

 

[YuKKa]

Dual mode arrow is in the correct way, re-installed 66.93 Nvidia display drivers - No change to benchmarks.

 

[FastEddie]

You have both cards installed and are in SLI mode? Take a look in Display Properties again, where GuitarDaddy mentioned to make sure you are using both cards.

 

[YuKKa]

A couple of screen shots:

Rendering setting: http://www.yukka.co.uk/asus/rendering.jpg

Sli Mode setting: http://www.yukka.co.uk/asus/slimode.jpg

 

[FastEddie]

Everything is correct. You have SP2 installed? DX9.0c installed? Go into the folder where you have 3dMark03 installed and right click the exe to display properties. Version number is listed as 3.6.0.0?

 

[FastEddie]

Sure your video card bridge is installed tightly?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: YuKKa
Thanks for all the responses, the 3d Mark scores I quoted were references from PCS mag and Computer Shopper. I have run both cards in slot 1 indivually and the scores returned are around the 3k mark - does this imply a toasted slot 1???

I just found the setting for multi GPU rendering, i'll give that a crack and report back.

Each card scored 3000 individually on 3dmark03 ? Somethings wrong or both cards are fried. You should be getting at least 5000-6000 at stock settings with one card. With my 3200+ @ 2557mhz w/ 1 XFX6600GT @ 575/1170 I get 9405.

Have you tried clearing CMOS?

 

[YuKKa]

Originally posted by: FastEddie
Everything is correct. You have SP2 installed? DX9.0c installed? Go into the folder where you have 3dMark03 installed and right click the exe to display properties. Version number is listed as 3.6.0.0?

SP2 and DX9.0c are installed and the 3dmark03 version is 3.6.0.0.

The bridge is installed securely.

How would clearing the CMOS aid this issue? I have an inkling that slot 1 is the issue - anyone have any ideas how this can be tested without purchasing another pci-e?? Or will the best case be to return the MB back to ASUS for checks?

 

[FastEddie]

Clearing your cmos is worth a try, but I don't really think that will get these cards to their potential. I think your board is functioning properly and the problem is with the cards themselves.

 

[YuKKa]

Another thing worth mentioning is that although both cards are XFX GT's. they were purchased seperately and for some reason support different fan covers(Will check with XFX on this), this aside I really dont understand how both cards could be on the blink

 

[FastEddie]

Are you sure that both cards are identical?

 

[YuKKa]

Yes, both 6600GT's by XFX with SLI. The only non-identicle feature physically are the fan covers, one has a graphical image whereas the other is a chrome version.

Even if they were not identicle (which they are), a single GPU should still post a high benchmark - which is why I'm assuming it's the MB (unless you can decipher anything else?). I'll have to check with ASUS, but am not too sure who helpful they will be considering that the site doesn't list the XFX card as certified...

 

[FastEddie]

You are not the only one that's had trouble with the XFX cards. There's been instances of these cards toasting after a few hours of use. This isn't an across the board XFX problem, but I'm leaning toward your cards rather than your board, as thus far it appears to be working properly----works in both single and dual mode, recognizes the second card when inserted.

Another thing you can try is to use a nvidia driver cleaner tool, to remove all reference to nv video drivers in your system, then install the latest official nv driver (66.93). That's worth a try as some of the beta drivers are known to not fully uninstall.

 

[FastEddie]

You could also try these drivers---> 67.66 beta

 

[imported_slippy]

I don't think anyone has asked yet, but have you plugged in 4-pin molex to the ez-plug by your cards? Dual mode needs the extra power. I'm guessing you probably have but this is the sort of symptom I'd expect from that.

 

[YuKKa]

I'll give the beta drivers a crack, any idea why there is a different file size for U.S and International drivers? Localisation of languages??

I have checked the power supply connects and the EZ Plug next to slot 1 is definetely in.

I've posted some info up on XFX support, I'll see what they say. I hate computers! !