Geforce GTX SLI under Linux

[Spyke]

Latest 256.44 drivers fix the stuttering issue on Fermi completely. Thanks, now I can use SLI mode.

Ungine Heaven with extreme tess is still slow, but I guess thats just a performance issue that needs to be improved. At least now games are perfectly playable in SLI.

[Ulukai]

Originally Posted by Spyke

Latest 256.44 drivers fix the stuttering issue on Fermi completely. Thanks, now I can use SLI mode.

Ungine Heaven with extreme tess is still slow, but I guess thats just a performance issue that needs to be improved. At least now games are perfectly playable in SLI.

That's good to hear. One problem off the table! Nvidia ftw!

But I would still like to hear about the Doom 3 hack, just a quick word from a dev would be sufficient and I also would like to hear about the SLI plans for Linux: will profiles ever be updated and will we get more GUI control to enable and configure SLI? I mean, how hard can it be? The GUI tools are there already, it's just adding a few options... I understand that when SLI was just introduced to the Linux platform it's all just too new and should be experimental, but it's claimed as stable a very long time already. If Nvidia says Linux is a supported platform just as Windows, we shouldn't be treated as 2nd class citizens and benefit of the same tools as Windows users.

[Spyke]

Doom3 works fine here without needing to use any variables, if thats what you wanted to hear.

I too would like to see more SLI profile support, or at least a way to configure the SLI variables on the fly so we can apply them to the game startup scripts.

Right now there is no way to change the SLI mode even, except an xorg.conf option, which requires restarting X.

[Ulukai]

Originally Posted by Spyke

Doom3 works fine here without needing to use any variables, if thats what you wanted to hear.

I too would like to see more SLI profile support, or at least a way to configure the SLI variables on the fly so we can apply them to the game startup scripts.

Right now there is no way to change the SLI mode even, except an xorg.conf option, which requires restarting X.

Thanks for getting back about Doom 3.

Which mode do you use for SLI? Auto? I saw on Phoronix that AFR always scored the best...

[Ulukai]

I'm sorry for persisting, but I would really like to hear from a dev what the future brings for Linux SLI. Any plans for pimping it?

[Spyke]

I had to disable SLI after, because StarCraft II ended up being much faster framerates using just a single card.

I really hope the devs do improve SLI on Linux in the future. I feel with newer cards they really let it lag behind in the performance area.

[Ulukai]

I would like to use this thread again to repeat that even with the latest 256.53 drivers, the performance of OpenGL performance with dual Fermi GTX 4xx cards is very poor.

Please take a look at these benchmarks:

---Windows 7---

OpenGL

SLI Off:
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...nglslioff.html

SLI Auto:
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...glsliauto.html

DX11

SLI Off:
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...x11slioff.html

SLI Auto:
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...11sliauto.html

---OpenSuSe 11.3 2.6.35---

-OpenGL-

SLI Off
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/linuxtessextemeslioff.html

SLI SFR
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/linuxtessextemeslisfr.html

SLI AFR
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/linuxtessextemesliafr.html

These results come from user Phoronix member jmcharron (tested with 2 x GTX 465), you can find the thread with the same results here: http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showt...t=25843&page=2

Furthermore, I saw the announcement of the new 260.xx beta driver which seems to improve SLI and SLI options in the GUI for Fermi Tesla cards (mosaic mode), but no mentions of improvements for Geforce cards.

Can we hear about the (not so distant) future for Fermi SLI? This line has been released for 6 months now and performance is either the same or even worse than with only 1 card. Will there come better support and what about SLI profiles? I would like to emphasize that this is important to me. I wish to buy a second GTX 470 soon and want to ensure that it won't be a bad buy.

Thank you for your time,

Ulukai.

[netarchy]

Originally Posted by Ulukai

I would like to use this thread again to repeat that even with the latest 256.53 drivers, the performance of OpenGL performance with dual Fermi GTX 4xx cards is very poor.

Please take a look at these benchmarks:

---Windows 7---

-OpenGL-

SLI Off
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...nglslioff.html

SLI Auto
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...glsliauto.html

-DX11-

SLI Off
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...x11slioff.html

SLI Auto
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...11sliauto.html

---OpenSuSe 11.3 2.6.35---

-OpenGL-

SLI Off
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/linuxtessextemeslioff.html

SLI SFR
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/linuxtessextemeslisfr.html

SLI AFR
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/linuxtessextemesliafr.html

These results come from user Phoronix member jmcharron (tested with 2 x GTX 465), you can find the thread with the same results here: http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showt...t=25843&page=2

Furthermore, I saw the announcement of the new 260.xx beta driver which seems to improve SLI and SLI options in the GUI for Fermi Tesla cards (mosaic mode), but no mentions of improvements for Geforce cards.

Can we hear about the (not so distant) future for Fermi SLI? This line has been released for 6 months now and performance is either the same or even worse than with only 1 card. Will there come better support and what about SLI profiles? I would like to emphasize that this is important to me. I wish to buy a second GTX 470 soon and want to ensure that it won't be a bad buy.

Thank you for your time,

Ulukai.

Your windows links are bad, here are the correct links:

OpenGL
SLI Off:
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...nglslioff.html

SLI Auto:
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...glsliauto.html

DX11
SLI Off:
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...x11slioff.html

SLI Auto:
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...11sliauto.html

[Ulukai]

Originally Posted by netarchy

Your windows links are bad, here are the correct links:

OpenGL
SLI Off:
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...nglslioff.html

SLI Auto:
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...glsliauto.html

DX11
SLI Off:
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...x11slioff.html

SLI Auto:
http://k5blazerfl.webs.com/win7tesse...11sliauto.html

I stand corrected... Edited my original post. Thanks!

[Spyke]

Starcraft II under wine isn't even playable in SLI mode, it just jitters like crazy like a slideshow in most cases. I know the second card is being used also since the system runs much hotter in SLI mode, yet puts out piss poor framerates.

I get smooth framerates running a single card, and half the heat.
My system is in my sig.

NVIDIA: Please fix SLI mode so its usable, thanks.

[Ulukai]

Originally Posted by Spyke

Starcraft II under wine isn't even playable in SLI mode, it just jitters like crazy like a slideshow in most cases. I know the second card is being used also since the system runs much hotter in SLI mode, yet puts out piss poor framerates.

I get smooth framerates running a single card, and half the heat.
My system is in my sig.

NVIDIA: Please fix SLI mode so its usable, thanks.

Have you tried with the new beta already? 260.19.06 is out due yesterday. They don't mention it is fixed, but hey you never know...

[Spyke]

I was bored so I enabled SLI....

As expected, the latest driver behaves the same.

The second card when running Linux is only useful for running CUDA apps.