SLI Drivers

[geoffry]

How well does NVDA support previous generation SLI setups in their driver releases?

For example, say I have a G80 GTS SLI setup, would there be decent scaling in future games such as STALKER:clear sky, far cry 2, the next crysis and whatever else is coming down the pipe?

Would they focus on the latest and greatest tech and only work on scaling for the GT-200 based cards and completely forget about the 8-series?

I've never had a 6 or 7 series SLI setup so I have no experience as to whether they continue support, perhaps some people here do?

Thanks in advance.

 

[TC91]

I will have to say that good future support with G80 SLI will likely be pretty bad. Remember when the 9 series came out, the 8 series' drivers were abandoned while the 9 series had a couple new sets of new drivers, until the latest 175.16WHQL came out recently which included the 8 series. Also the 7950gx2 issue with vista, when the 8 series was out then, that 7950gx2 card didnt have working SLI for quite a while (and its a dual card too so the SLI was needed to make full use of that card). If you really need extra performance, you might be able to sell off your current card, and buy a gtx 260 or something similar. Or if you can find a G80 GTS for cheap (~100 or less) then it might be worth a try.

 

[quattro1]

Any new SLI profiles that get added to drivers for new games and cards will also apply to previous SLI setups, including G80.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: TC91
I will have to say that good future support with G80 SLI will likely be pretty bad. Remember when the 9 series came out, the 8 series' drivers were abandoned while the 9 series had a couple new sets of new drivers, until the latest 175.16WHQL came out recently which included the 8 series. Also the 7950gx2 issue with vista, when the 8 series was out then, that 7950gx2 card didnt have working SLI for quite a while (and its a dual card too so the SLI was needed to make full use of that card). If you really need extra performance, you might be able to sell off your current card, and buy a gtx 260 or something similar. Or if you can find a G80 GTS for cheap (~100 or less) then it might be worth a try.

1. We can't predict the future. NVIDIA has told me they are committed to all multi-card set driver support.

2. While there was a period that a few driver releases for the 9 series came out and not the 8 series, the 8 series was by no means abandoned. It's not like 100s of new games came out and G80 people were left waiting for profiles, it's more like G80 drivers were pretty mature and not updated while they focused on G90.

3. As Quattro notes, any new profiles they add are for G80s as well. Not to mention you can just create your own or force any render method.

4. What you mean is the 7950GX2 didn't have quad SLi in Vista for about 7 months. The GX2s themselves worked pretty much from the start. Quad SLi had to be re-done for Vista, and I don't think you can expect NVIDIA to make <1% or their customer base 1st priority when they had to re-write the drivers from the ground up for unified arch.

 

[geoffry]

Thanks for the replies guys. I was thinking of PMing you Rollo to get input from you as you got lots of experience with NVDA stuff.

Both my brother and I have the same GTS, we are debating who sells theirs to who and goes the GT-200 or 4870 route.

 

[geoffry]

Originally posted by: quattro1
Any new SLI profiles that get added to drivers for new games and cards will also apply to previous SLI setups, including G80.

So as long as there is an SLI profile they will scale the same between 2 cards no matter if its a 6800 or a GTX 280?

And now that these cards are out and we know the performance one of us will probably go the 4870 or crossfire 4850s route.

Does crossfire work the same, as long as there is a profile it will scale?

Also, I did a google on the topic and found this site, http://www.slizone.com/page/slizone_appprofile.html would creating a profile that way offer atleast some scaling instead of zero?

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies.

 

[geoffry]

Originally posted by: nRollo

Originally posted by: TC91
I will have to say that good future support with G80 SLI will likely be pretty bad. Remember when the 9 series came out, the 8 series' drivers were abandoned while the 9 series had a couple new sets of new drivers, until the latest 175.16WHQL came out recently which included the 8 series. Also the 7950gx2 issue with vista, when the 8 series was out then, that 7950gx2 card didnt have working SLI for quite a while (and its a dual card too so the SLI was needed to make full use of that card). If you really need extra performance, you might be able to sell off your current card, and buy a gtx 260 or something similar. Or if you can find a G80 GTS for cheap (~100 or less) then it might be worth a try.

1. We can't predict the future. NVIDIA has told me they are committed to all multi-card set driver support.

2. While there was a period that a few driver releases for the 9 series came out and not the 8 series, the 8 series was by no means abandoned. It's not like 100s of new games came out and G80 people were left waiting for profiles, it's more like G80 drivers were pretty mature and not updated while they focused on G90.

3. As Quattro notes, any new profiles they add are for G80s as well. Not to mention you can just create your own or force any render method.

4. What you mean is the 7950GX2 didn't have quad SLi in Vista for about 7 months. The GX2s themselves worked pretty much from the start. Quad SLi had to be re-done for Vista, and I don't think you can expect NVIDIA to make <1% or their customer base 1st priority when they had to re-write the drivers from the ground up for unified arch.

I missed that part when I read this a month ago, I guess you are backing up that link in the post I just put in.

But the question now is, if you can create your own profile to allow scaling, why is it that some review sites still show games not scaling? Do they just not bother to create a profile and simply rely on the NVDA made ones? Or do the home made profiles kinda stink?

 

[geoffry]

Anyone know whether review sites are making profiles when they benchmark?

 

[hemmy]

I haven't used any multi card solution, but there is a difference between a game scaling poorly, and it not having a profile

 

[geoffry]

Originally posted by: hemmy
I haven't used any multi card solution, but there is a difference between a game scaling poorly, and it not having a profile

I think so too.

There must be something driver or game based that affects scaling. I think review sites would take the few minutes to make a profile.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: geoffry

Originally posted by: hemmy
I haven't used any multi card solution, but there is a difference between a game scaling poorly, and it not having a profile

I think so too.

There must be something driver or game based that affects scaling. I think review sites would take the few minutes to make a profile.

I don't think they do... That really would defeat the purpose of a review IMO. I could be wrong, but I would think that any tweaking they did to get a product working properly should be mentioned in the review. I don't recall seeing any sites mention that they make SLI profiles for any cards recently.

As a follow up to the other comment. Yes, there is quite a difference in the lack of a profile and poor scaling. With the lack of a profile you will only get single card performance, but you might be able to get a performance boost by making your own profile. With poor scaling, that's what you get. There is already a profile, but for some reason the specific game doesn't scale well. The only way you will get improved performance is if either the driver or game is updated to help the scaling issue.