need help with sli titan black

[Keysplayr]

I bet when you put that third card in you are breaking sli compatibility due to NVidia's strict pci-e lane requirements. There should be a bios setting that will designate the number of pci-e lanes to lowest slots. Take a look and you'll find the problem. You should be able to run sli and the 750 after that.

Running Titan Black in SLI with a GTX 750Ti running PhysX.
This is on an ASUS P8-Z68V Gen3 board. No problems. not running 4k yet though.

 

[blackened23]

thank you everbody i think its confirmed this bord only supporte 2 way sli if 3rd card added sli will stop .

SLI doesn't matter. This is incorrect information. PLX doesn't matter. SLI doesn't matter.

Let's summarize the answers you received here: "nvidia won't allow it". (wrong, trolling) PLX matters (wrong). SLI matters (wrong, physx addon doesn't count towards SLI). PLX simply adds PCI express lanes to allow quad SLI on your board. Being that physx is not SLI, it doesn't matter. You do not need 8 or 16 lanes to run your physx card. I have tried this once on Z77. I didn't keep it, mind you, but it worked - SLI + a physx card. Use one of the suggested avenues to get a real answer. You will not get a real answer here.

 

[blackened23]

EDIT: Oops, I typed this and realized this is in reference to SLI. Maybe disregard, but I'll leave it here anyway.

Edit 2: I own a Z77 Sabertooth and I do find it weird that you are having this issue since on the Sabertooth, I can run a GTX560ti for Physx with SLI 780s @ PCI-E 3.0 x8 without a problem, lol...


I researched a bit and found that it's 2-way support only because, like coffeejunkie said, no PLX chip.

Youtube video @ 9:44:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iofn03Fgf4.

In the comments someone from Asus says, "Yes correction though only 2 way SLI is supported. The ASUS GTX 780 DirectCU II looks awesome you have to love the RED and BLACK combination!"

Physx does not count towards SLI. You are obviously not daisy chaining a non identical physx card with a SLI bridge therefore it is not considered SLI. You don't need 8 PCEI lanes for physx. You don't need 16. You can use whatever you want and it will work on any mainstream (z77, z87, z97) motherboard that has an available pcie slot.

You just posted what you did after it was stated that the Z77 sabertooth is able to run it. Guess what, that board doesn't have a PLX chip. The only Asus Z77 motherboards with the PLX chip are the ones which support Quad SLI - the P8Z77 premium and the P8Z77 WS. There's an ROG board that supports it, I forget the model #....(Maximus? I think). The Z77 sabertooth is a mainstream board that does not support quad SLI, it does NOT have the quad SLI PLX chip, and it works. The OP has a mainstream chipset board, and it is supposed to work. Hopefully he goes to a forum that will actually get him a proper answer - nvidia's forum or the asus' ROG forum.

 

[3DVagabond]

Nobody's claiming that pci-e x8 is required for PhysX. What people are saying is that when the 3rd card is added it makes the 2nd pci-e slot, with a card that is being used in SLI, pci-e x4 and that is what is breaking SLI. Whether this is the issue or not we aren't certain, but it makes sense. This "lockout", if it exists, might not have always been present. That might explain why you had no issues.

 

[blackened23]

nvm

 

[saeedkunna]

i think the nvidia cards wont sli unless they are in same speed 8x or 16x .
so maybe if i tried the 750ti (the physx) on the 1st slot (8x) and the titan on the 2nd and 3rd slot (both 4x) it will work

 

[blackened23]

nvm

 

[saeedkunna]

i am sorry i am not expert as you but thats no reason to laugh

 

[blackened23]

Your Titans on a Z77 / Z87 / Z97 board will run at x8 while in SLI no matter what. What you put in your other PCI-E slots has no effect on what speeds your Titans are at. They will always be x8 while in SLI on a non PLX Z77/Z87/Z97 motherboard.

You can put any crap you want in your other PCIE slots and it doesn't change your SLI Titans running at x8 speeds on a Z77 or Z87 motherboard.

You are getting wrong answers on this forum. I gave you links to get proper answers in page 1, those are the proper resources.

https://forums.geforce.com/

http://rog.asus.com/forum/

Ask in those two places.

 

[AntonioHG]

Physx does not count towards SLI. You are obviously not daisy chaining a non identical physx card with a SLI bridge therefore it is not considered SLI. You don't need 8 PCEI lanes for physx. You don't need 16. You can use whatever you want and it will work on any mainstream (z77, z87, z97) motherboard that has an available pcie slot.

You just posted what you did after it was stated that the Z77 sabertooth is able to run it. Guess what, that board doesn't have a PLX chip. The only Asus Z77 motherboards with the PLX chip are the ones which support Quad SLI - the P8Z77 premium and the P8Z77 WS. There's an ROG board that supports it, I forget the model #....(Maximus? I think). The Z77 sabertooth is a mainstream board that does not support quad SLI, it does NOT have the quad SLI PLX chip, and it works. The OP has a mainstream chipset board, and it is supposed to work. Hopefully he goes to a forum that will actually get him a proper answer - nvidia's forum or the asus' ROG forum.

My message was already edited -- you quoted the 2nd edit so you must've seen the first change. I'm tired and I misspoke.

 

[DominionSeraph]

My guess would be that adding the third card reduces you to PCIe x4 thus breaking SLI.

 

[3DVagabond]

i think the nvidia cards wont sli unless they are in same speed 8x or 16x .
so maybe if i tried the 750ti (the physx) on the 1st slot (8x) and the titan on the 2nd and 3rd slot (both 4x) it will work

No, that's not an issue. SLI requires a minimum of x8.

This is the way they list the pcie specs on your board.
3 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8 or x8/x4/x4)

When you put a 3rd card in, it doesn't even have to be a video card never mind in SLI, your board goes x8/x4/x4. So the slot the 2nd card that's running SLI is in is an x4 slot. That is what is likely breaking SLI for you. Trying to run a card in SLI at x4.

The Sabertooth does not have 3x pcie 3.0, it only has 2x pcie 3.0 slots that share lanes. The 3rd lane is pcie 2.0 x4. I don't think that adding a 3rd card takes pcie lanes from the two pcie 3.0 slots.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Your Titans on a Z77 / Z87 / Z97 board will run at x8 while in SLI no matter what. What you put in your other PCI-E slots has no effect on what speeds your Titans are at. They will always be x8 while in SLI on a non PLX Z77/Z87/Z97 motherboard.

They're not in SLI, now are they? Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation.

 

[saeedkunna]

if you mean the geforce forum i already asked there and this is the answer i got :

((I believe you may be running up the PCI-E lane limit of your CPU.
http://ark.intel.com/products/75123

See to function graphically (not Physx) an NVIDIA card has to be using at least 8 PCI-E lanes. So your two titans are using up the full 16X of the CPU, hence why SLI is working. But you added your 750TI, which will be taking I believe, 4X to be able to run Physx. But 8+8+4=20 which is 4 more than the 16 your CPU supports. X79 CPU's can support up to 40 so this is never a problem for them.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132038

Go further down on the page and you'll see the PCI-E port specs. Notice the part where it says (8x,4x,4x) That's what you're running into right now. ))

 

[blackened23]

WOW. Let's clear up some PCIE lane misconceptions here.

That is not correct. It is partially correct. The Ivy bridge CPU provides 16 PCI-EXPRESS GEN 3 lanes. You're right on that count. Z77 also adds 4 PCI express gen 2 lanes. You get 20 total lanes but they are on separate "paths". 16 via CPU and 4 via chipset. This is and was my point. This is not an SLI issue. This combination works, i've tried it. You get 16 pcie gen 3 lanes. You get 4 pcie gen 2 lanes. This is how mainstream motherboards have worked for years, so for this to be brought up as an issue kinda blows my mind. Because things have worked this way with physx cards, sound cards, and everything else for ages. Whatever though. You get 16 lanes from the CPU, and more lanes from the chipset. The chipset pcie lanes are limited to 4 lanes to provide your motherboard with access to soundcards, pcie ssd's, lan cards, or WHATEVER you want. That's what the 4 additional lanes are for.

 

[DominionSeraph]

So here's what happens. Your Titan Blacks must go in the upper 2 gen 3 slots. They will be x8. The other PCIE slots in your board? are separate. They are gen 2 chipset lanes. They are not part of the same CPU pcie lanes. So this brings me back to my original point. The PCIE lanes is not correct. This is not a SLI issue, this is not a PLX issue, this is not a PCIE lane issue.

So it's not a PCIe lanes issue, it's a PCIe lanes issue.

 

[blackened23]

So it's not a PCIe lanes issue, it's a PCIe lanes issue.

What?

As long as you read that all mainstream motherboards have, in fact, more than 16 lanes designed just for this type of scenario, maybe you will understand. You get 4 more lanes for physx, soundcards, lan cards, wifi cards, maybe you should re-read the above post. You suggested that 16 lanes is the limit. That is not correct. The CPU provides 16 lanes (in the case of Ivy Bridge). The chipset provides more lanes on top of that just for this type of situation. More addon cards. Physx cards have been used in this manner for the past 4 years. Longer than 4 years.

The chipset provides lanes on top of what the CPU provides.

I don't even know why i'm going over this again.

What you're saying is that as soon as you SLI, you lose access to more addon cards. That isn't correct. But SLI + physx on mainstream chipset boards has worked forever, and still works. That's what the chipset pcie lanes are for.

 

[3DVagabond]

Definitely check with Asus because according to them when you populate the 3rd pcie slot you get x8/x4/x4. Not x8/x8/x4. Unlike the Sabertooth (for example) which shows x8/x8/x4. (This is assuming Newegg gets their info from the manufacturers site, which is the typical way they do it.)

If you find out please report back. Contrary to what has been accused here, people are trying to give the best advice they can. So, knowing the outcome would be helpful.

 

[AntonioHG]

So, I went to the Asus ROG forum and found people with the same issue:


http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?35094-Maximus-VI-Formula-Discussion-Thread/page38

#379


http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?35094-Maximus-VI-Formula-Discussion-Thread/page63

#627

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?35094-Maximus-VI-Formula-Discussion-Thread/page89

#888

 

[3DVagabond]

So, I went to the Asus ROG forum and found people with the same issue:


http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?35094-Maximus-VI-Formula-Discussion-Thread/page38

#379


http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?35094-Maximus-VI-Formula-Discussion-Thread/page63

#627

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?35094-Maximus-VI-Formula-Discussion-Thread/page89

#888

Looking more and more like it's a conflict with the mobo and the video drivers not allowing x4 for SLI. According to those links the board doesn't do x8/x8/x4 using the pcie 3.0 slots.

 

[lavaheadache]

This thread is so frustrating. If I only I could sit down in front of this rig for 10 minutes

 

[Ryan Smith]

Since I had the 780 Tis out today, I quickly dropped in the 750 Ti to see what would happen. SLI worked here, however the current GPU testbed doesn't allow us to set a lane smaller than x8.

None of the documentation I have from NVIDIA specifically calls out x8 as a requirement for SLI, but I wouldn't doubt it for a second.

Your board has:

16 pcie gen 3 lanes courtesy of the CPU. That is obviously taken by Titan Black SLI

4 pcie gen 2 lanes courtesy of the Z77 chipset.

I quickly checked the manual for his board, the Maximus VI Formula: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/MAXIMUS_VI_FORMULA/specifications/

3 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8 or x8/x4/x4)

The board's PCIe x16 slots are all routed to the CPU. The PCIe lanes coming off of the PCH are routed to the extra SATA controller, the PCIe x1 slots, and importantly the M.2 SSD slot. Which is why adding the GTX 750 Ti to his 3rd PCIe x16 slot is dropping x16_2 and x16_3 to x4 each.

I'll check with NVIDIA on whether x8 slots are required, but I expect the OP is out of luck here. In which case I have no idea why the board is Tri-SLI certified.

 

[saeedkunna]

This thread is so frustrating. If I only I could sit down in front of this rig for 10 minutes

i 've tried man nothing worked so far if you have any ideas tell me and i will try it

 

[railven]

i 've tried man nothing worked so far if you have any ideas tell me and i will try it

Seems Ryan got you your answer for the most part regardless how loud Blackened tells you otherwise.

Would love to hear what response Ryan gets, though. Good old Forum Sleuthing yo!

Looking at the spec page:

Multi-GPU Support
Supports NVIDIA® Quad-GPU SLI™ Technology
Supports AMD 3-Way CrossFireX™ Technology

Odd it states Quad GPU SLI yet only has 3 physical slots, unless it is referring SLI Dual GPU cards (IE quad GPU), but then it stats 3-way CFX.

ASUS got some 'splainin' to do.

 

[Ryan Smith]

I'll check with NVIDIA on whether x8 slots are required, but I expect the OP is out of luck here. In which case I have no idea why the board is Tri-SLI certified.

Just to respond to myself here, I checked the manual again for SLI in particular.

With the Intel® Z87 platform to optimize the PCIe allocation of multiple GPUs, it supports up to 2-WAY SLI® or 3-WAY CrossFireX™ configuration

In fact none of Asus's S1150 boards top out at tri-SLI. They're either "quad GPU" (2 dual-GPU cards), or quad-SLI; the latter boards all having PCIe bridge chips to drive 4 PCIe x16 slots.

So the Maximus VI Formula is not tri-SLI certified after all. Which leads me to believe that it's an NVIDIA lane requirement. I don't expect to hear back from them tonight, but I should tomorrow.