I think I got a bad card

[Pantlegz]

So yesterday best buy was so nice and gave me 2 GTX 260's to replace my 8800GT's that died on me. Actually one died, in the bottom slot, memory issue.

So I install both of the cards and have a little bit of a rough start I got boot code 5d on my mobo, which is a general I/O error typically when there isn't a video card in the top slot.

Simple enough I fiddle with the card a little and get it to boot, run a few benchmarks to see where it stacks up and.. 13k 3dmark06 I actually just got a better score of just under 14k with a single card.

The reason for only running with 1 card? I reset my computer and got the same error code again. So does 3dmark06 not scale well with SLI, like at all? it's been so long since I had one 8800GT that I don't remember how much the 2nd helped I know that it's fairly cpu limited tho.

What do you guys think? Did I get a bad card?

 

[Pantlegz]

Ok to test everything, I put the good card in the top slot and have had no issues with it booting. BUT I decided to see how it would work with the card that I think is bad in the 3rd slot and SLI'd them and I got some stranger results.

First benchmark everything @ stock I got 14.2k which seemed pretty low about 300 or so higher than a single card. So I decide to bump the cpu up to 3.6Ghz and run it again, I got 11.8k wtf?

Any other ideas before I return it?

 

[AzN]

You didn't get a bad card. 3dmark 2k6 is outdated that rely heavily on CPU and Shader. Once it has enough shader it rely on CPU only. read the individual tests like fillrate in 2k6 to see if the other card is working.

Try Vantage or actual games.

 

[Quiksilver]

Play some games... then let us know if you still think something is wrong.

 

[Schmide]

Is this a clean install? Did you clean your drivers? (driver sweeper?)

 

[Pantlegz]

Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Play some games... then let us know if you still think something is wrong.

I did the crysis island bench on Very High x2 AA and averaged 24fps with SLI on. I'll disable it and see what happens

In General Gaming I don't see much difference going from 1 card to 2

Just did a single pass with crysis island bench with SLI off and averaged 15 fps so apparently its working ok

 

[0roo0roo]

try each card alone.

especially on an overclocked machine you cannot jump to conclusions.

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: Pantlegz1

Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Play some games... then let us know if you still think something is wrong.

I did the crysis island bench on Very High x2 AA and averaged 24fps with SLI on. I'll disable it and see what happens

In General Gaming I don't see much difference going from 1 card to 2

Just did a single pass with crysis island bench with SLI off and averaged 15 fps so apparently its working ok

What resolution were you running? Should be higher even if it's 1920x1200.

 

[Pantlegz]

I"m running 1920x1200 I think the AA is whats killing it and my cpu isn't OC'd anymore it doesn't even boot 1/2 the time at 3.6 with 1.45 vcore

 

[Schmide]

EVGA LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i

I set up a system for my sister using that board. The MCP (southbridge) for that design was incredibly hot. (50c-70c) After doing some research others seem to have noticed this. Some went as far as to replace the thermal compound to try and solve the problem. I just put a 80mm fan zip-tied to my 6-pin power cords blowing right at it which kept it under 65c. With the heat coming out of the Voltage Regulators in the back of those 260s, it may be pushing the MCP over the edge.

 

[Pantlegz]

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: Pantlegz1

Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Play some games... then let us know if you still think something is wrong.

I did the crysis island bench on Very High x2 AA and averaged 24fps with SLI on. I'll disable it and see what happens

In General Gaming I don't see much difference going from 1 card to 2

Just did a single pass with crysis island bench with SLI off and averaged 15 fps so apparently its working ok

What resolution were you running? Should be higher even if it's 1920x1200.

actually I'm starting to think you're right, I ran the street fighter 4 benchmark a few times tonight with the same settings as before and I'm getting a lower score with the 260's than I did with the 8800gt's this doesn't make any sense...

It's not a big jump but I'm getting 7100 with the current cards and I got 7200+ with the 8800's

 

[OCGuy]

Your sig says 18K 3dmark06? That sounds about right.

 

[Pantlegz]

I should update that, that is/was my personal best with the 8800's OC'd and the cpu at 4ghz. my last run with the 260's was 14k. with the cpu OC to 3.6 I only got 11k I don't know what gives

 

[OCGuy]

So you have tested both cards alone to make sure they are functional, and also made sure they are both running @ 16X?

 

[Pantlegz]

both cards seem functional, I'm able to turn SLI on so I would assume they're both being recongized. I ran the street fighter bench one last time and got 7800 which is a little bit of an increase. Also ran 3dmark vantage and got P17742.