ASUS P6T7 SLI not working

mohrens · 04-21-11, 03:58 PM

Hi,

I got an ASUS P6T7 WS SuperComputer Motherboard and it it listed as SLI approved
(even on the Nvidia site), but no luck with SLI (we even tried Windows ..)

(EE) Apr 19 15:41:36 NVIDIA(0): Failed to find a valid SLI configuration.
(EE) Apr 19 15:41:36 NVIDIA(0): Invalid SLI configuration 1 of 1:
(EE) Apr 19 15:41:36 NVIDIA(0): GPUs:
(EE) Apr 19 15:41:36 NVIDIA(0): 1) NVIDIA GPU at PCI:4:0:0
(EE) Apr 19 15:41:36 NVIDIA(0): 2) NVIDIA GPU at PCI:8:0:0
(EE) Apr 19 15:41:36 NVIDIA(0): Errors:
(EE) Apr 19 15:41:36 NVIDIA(0): - Chipset not approved for SLI

How can this be, we got these boards specially since they would support SLI.

Does anyone have SLI working in the ASUS P6T7? (and which which OS, BIOS and card?)

artem · 04-21-11, 04:44 PM

I guess if SLI doesn't even work under Windows you should address Asus support.

Try updating BIOS though - nowadays newer motherboards in order to support SLI must contain a special SLI BIOS record - it's quite possible this record is faulty/doesn't exist in your BIOS.

cheechr1 · 04-21-11, 05:03 PM

I hope you're not trying to run Fermi cards in SLI on linux, I seriously doubt that will work out well for you. I've tried.... and given up a while ago. When using CUDA apps, there is no need to have your cards in SLI configuration anyway, although the cards not attached to the X server will not allow you to manually change the fan speed. I was bugging the devs about these issues for a while as well, but it fell on deaf ears.

mohrens · 04-21-11, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by artem

I guess if SLI doesn't even work under Windows you should address Asus support.

Try updating BIOS though - nowadays newer motherboards in order to support SLI must contain a special SLI BIOS record - it's quite possible this record is faulty/doesn't exist in your BIOS.

Thanks for your response,
yes this is a good idea, especially since I did buy this board (3 of them) since it is supposed
to work.
But I am still wondering if I am the only one, or if there are others with the same problem.

mohrens · 04-23-11, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by artem

I guess if SLI doesn't even work under Windows you should address Asus support.

Try updating BIOS though - nowadays newer motherboards in order to support SLI must contain a special SLI BIOS record - it's quite possible this record is faulty/doesn't exist in your BIOS.

I checked this BIOS, and it has the SLI certificat I an see it dumping the BIO memory, so it should be fine from this end.

There has to be something else. I found some people reporting similar things (SLI not working on certified mobo's with cards which should do SLI, but no answer to them.

**zander** · 04-29-11, 06:16 PM

FWIW, I fixed a bug today that's likely related to the SLI approval failure you're seeing.

mohrens · 04-29-11, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zander

FWIW, I fixed a bug today that's likely related to the SLI approval failure you're seeing.

This sounds great !!
Will this be released soon?

Thanks

mdanial6 · 11-03-11, 11:04 AM

08-05-2011, 10:31 AM
I spot checked the first few on the list... they work with one of my two requirements, but not both. The key here is breathing room -- I want an extra slot between the cards with at least three cards, if not four. The SR2 you mention would fit the bill for 3 or 4 cards, but I'm too cheap to buy the xeons, and from what I read previously when the board was first released, I don't believe you can run a non-xeon processor even if you just use one chip.

Going cheap doesn't make sense for a build like this. Though I do understand your desire to stick with consumer grade Core i7's or uni-processor Xeons. You have to spend a fortune to get a decent pair of Xeons. At a bare minimum though, you will need an expensive motherboard and an expensive (relatively speaking) case to handle the real estate needed by that many cards. Also I must have misunderstood as I didn't know you needed room for three cards. Really there aren't many choices for that and meeting your criteria for "breathing room" between all three cards. Pretty much everything you'll want aside from maybe the P6T7 WS Supercomputer is going to be XL-ATX. You'll need a case which will accept those boards and either have more slots than the boards expansion area or will allow the card to hang off the last slot. The Super Computer won't require as big a case necessarily but the last video card may need to hang off the edge of the PCB. Then you run into the problem of making sure your SLI bridges fit the setup. Otherwise you've got to get three long flexible bridges and go that way. The only boards I know of that will work for you are listed below:

ASUS P6T7 WS Super Computer
EVGA X58 4X SLI Classified
EVGA SR-2
Gigabyte X58A-UD9

Now I've run 3-Way SLI more times than most. I can tell you that you do not need that space for "breathing room" provided you've got two things happening.

1.) Ambient room temperature which does not exceed about 78F degrees. (Hard to do in the actual room where the monster machine resides.)
2.) Use fan speed controls from MSI Afterburner, NVIDIA control panel or other to keep fan speeds high enough to cope with higher temperatures.

And even then, you may still need to increase fan speeds anyway depending on the case you've chosen and a few other factors. Honestly this is all a pain in the ass but it's cheaper than the alternative. And believe me there is an alternative. With 3 8800GTX's I found it was simply easiest (although expensive) to just water cool the damn things. That was it problem solved. If you really want three cards you have to choose where you shell out your cash. Either you shell it out for water cooling gear, or you shell out for a case and a more expensive motherboard. You water cool and you can use virtually any case and any of the motherboards I listed above and more.

04-21-11, 03:58 PM	#1
mohrens Registered User Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 4	ASUS P6T7 SLI not working Hi, I got an ASUS P6T7 WS SuperComputer Motherboard and it it listed as SLI approved (even on the Nvidia site), but no luck with SLI (we even tried Windows ..) (EE) Apr 19 15:41:36 NVIDIA(0): Failed to find a valid SLI configuration. (EE) Apr 19 15:41:36 NVIDIA(0): Invalid SLI configuration 1 of 1: (EE) Apr 19 15:41:36 NVIDIA(0): GPUs: (EE) Apr 19 15:41:36 NVIDIA(0): 1) NVIDIA GPU at PCI:4:0:0 (EE) Apr 19 15:41:36 NVIDIA(0): 2) NVIDIA GPU at PCI:8:0:0 (EE) Apr 19 15:41:36 NVIDIA(0): Errors: (EE) Apr 19 15:41:36 NVIDIA(0): - Chipset not approved for SLI How can this be, we got these boards specially since they would support SLI. Does anyone have SLI working in the ASUS P6T7? (and which which OS, BIOS and card?)

04-21-11, 04:44 PM	#2
artem Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 681	Re: ASUS P6T7 SLI not working I guess if SLI doesn't even work under Windows you should address Asus support. Try updating BIOS though - nowadays newer motherboards in order to support SLI must contain a special SLI BIOS record - it's quite possible this record is faulty/doesn't exist in your BIOS.

04-21-11, 05:03 PM	#3
cheechr1 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 94	Re: ASUS P6T7 SLI not working I hope you're not trying to run Fermi cards in SLI on linux, I seriously doubt that will work out well for you. I've tried.... and given up a while ago. When using CUDA apps, there is no need to have your cards in SLI configuration anyway, although the cards not attached to the X server will not allow you to manually change the fan speed. I was bugging the devs about these issues for a while as well, but it fell on deaf ears.

04-29-11, 06:16 PM	#6
zander NVIDIA Corporation Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 3,740	Re: ASUS P6T7 SLI not working FWIW, I fixed a bug today that's likely related to the SLI approval failure you're seeing.

11-03-11, 11:04 AM	#8
mdanial6 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 3	Re: ASUS P6T7 SLI not working 08-05-2011, 10:31 AM I spot checked the first few on the list... they work with one of my two requirements, but not both. The key here is breathing room -- I want an extra slot between the cards with at least three cards, if not four. The SR2 you mention would fit the bill for 3 or 4 cards, but I'm too cheap to buy the xeons, and from what I read previously when the board was first released, I don't believe you can run a non-xeon processor even if you just use one chip. Going cheap doesn't make sense for a build like this. Though I do understand your desire to stick with consumer grade Core i7's or uni-processor Xeons. You have to spend a fortune to get a decent pair of Xeons. At a bare minimum though, you will need an expensive motherboard and an expensive (relatively speaking) case to handle the real estate needed by that many cards. Also I must have misunderstood as I didn't know you needed room for three cards. Really there aren't many choices for that and meeting your criteria for "breathing room" between all three cards. Pretty much everything you'll want aside from maybe the P6T7 WS Supercomputer is going to be XL-ATX. You'll need a case which will accept those boards and either have more slots than the boards expansion area or will allow the card to hang off the last slot. The Super Computer won't require as big a case necessarily but the last video card may need to hang off the edge of the PCB. Then you run into the problem of making sure your SLI bridges fit the setup. Otherwise you've got to get three long flexible bridges and go that way. The only boards I know of that will work for you are listed below: ASUS P6T7 WS Super Computer EVGA X58 4X SLI Classified EVGA SR-2 Gigabyte X58A-UD9 Now I've run 3-Way SLI more times than most. I can tell you that you do not need that space for "breathing room" provided you've got two things happening. 1.) Ambient room temperature which does not exceed about 78F degrees. (Hard to do in the actual room where the monster machine resides.) 2.) Use fan speed controls from MSI Afterburner, NVIDIA control panel or other to keep fan speeds high enough to cope with higher temperatures. And even then, you may still need to increase fan speeds anyway depending on the case you've chosen and a few other factors. Honestly this is all a pain in the ass but it's cheaper than the alternative. And believe me there is an alternative. With 3 8800GTX's I found it was simply easiest (although expensive) to just water cool the damn things. That was it problem solved. If you really want three cards you have to choose where you shell out your cash. Either you shell it out for water cooling gear, or you shell out for a case and a more expensive motherboard. You water cool and you can use virtually any case and any of the motherboards I listed above and more.