How do I use NiBiTor to flash 8800 in SLI ?

[Bat123Man]

Hi,

Have 2 8800 GTS 320 MB in SLI. Having some stability problems, so have decided to lower the clocks on both of these cards. One of them shipped with the following :

Core clock : 576
Memory clock : 850
Shader clock : 1350

The other otherwise identical card shipped with :

Core clock : 513
Memory clock : 792
Shader clock : 1188

I have tried various things to make them more stable, but they keep crashing in games with the NV error "Unknown error on CMDre". So I have decided to lower the higher clocked card to be the same as the slower one. Can I use NiBiTor to do this without physically removing each card?

Thanks,
BM.

 

[aka1nas]

Why would you do a BIOS flash as a first option? Wouldn't it make more sense to use Rivatuner to lower the cards first to see if it resolves the issue?

 

[Bat123Man]

Why would you do a BIOS flash as a first option? Wouldn't it make more sense to use Rivatuner to lower the cards first to see if it resolves the issue?

Well, that is a good question. What I have done is install Nvidia's nTune application to have the Performance tab added to the Nvidia control panel. Then I went into nTune's Device Settings, and created a new profile where the slower card was given the speed settings of the faster card (I set both to 576 core, 850 mem, 1350 shader). Finally, I went into Profile Policies, and created a GAME rule whereby the game I was testing (Pacific Assault) would automatically load my new profile.

That did not solve my problem, I was still getting NV errors. I didn't really know if the profile was taking effect either, how do you test for that? But I had just played through Max Payne 2 using the same method, and it was relatively stable. Some times I could play for 2 straight hours, other times I woudl get the error after 10 mins. With Pacific Assault, I get the error more frequently.

So finally I decided to try a SLOWER profile where both cards would be set to the slower cards settings. That is what I have going now. I haven't had time to test out the settings via an extended game playing session, but will do so when I can. I asked the question here about the BIOS because that was going to be my next step if the new profile also failed.

BM.

 

[Holler]

to answer your question. yes, you can use the latest nvflash to flash sli cards without removing them. there is a command line switch "-i0" for card one and "-i1" for card 2, etc.

 

[Bat123Man]

Thanks, I'll give it a try after I figure out what settings work best. Unfortunately, underclocking the main card seemed to work for a while, but I just got another NV error so I know that is not the solution. Good to know I can flash without pulling one card out.

Tks,
BM.

 

[railven]

Not to derail your experiments, but those are old games.

I'd figure 1x8800 would be more than enough power to run either of those games full blast.

Do you think its a compatability issue more than an clocks issue due to the age of the games themselves?

 

[Bat123Man]

Not to derail your experiments, but those are old games.

I'd figure 1x8800 would be more than enough power to run either of those games full blast.

Do you think its a compatability issue more than an clocks issue due to the age of the games themselves?

That's the reason I picked them, I figured any SLI bugs would have long ago been worked out. They are both listed here :

http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone2_game.html

NVIDIA® SLI™ technology can be enabled for every gaming application. In addition, to provide the optimal 'out-of-box' experience, NVIDIA has created an extensive set of over 500 custom application profiles which enable SLI technology automatically and optimize scaling performance. These optimized applications, shown below, are enabled automatically with no control panel changes required.

Thanks,
BM.

 

[aka1nas]

That's the reason I picked them, I figured any SLI bugs would have long ago been worked out. They are both listed here :

http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone2_game.html

NVIDIA® SLI™ technology can be enabled for every gaming application. In addition, to provide the optimal 'out-of-box' experience, NVIDIA has created an extensive set of over 500 custom application profiles which enable SLI technology automatically and optimize scaling performance. These optimized applications, shown below, are enabled automatically with no control panel changes required.

Thanks,
BM.

I would expect the opposite with newer cards/drivers and older games as I doubt anyone does regression testing on those games unless there are complaints. Realistically, probably sometimes not even then.