8800GT in SLi perform the same as one card

[Deanjo]

OK according to my nvidia control panel it says I do have SLi enabled, but when trying to run games such as UT2004/Nexuiz/ET:QW etc SLi is not being used. I also check off the box in the control panel to show the SLi bar but nothing ever shows. What am I doing wrong? I've tried it with all sli settings and still no joy.

System Specs:
opensuse 11.0 x64
AMD Phenom 9850
Asus M3N-HT Deluxe with latest BIOS
PNY 8800GT 512
Palit 8800GT 512
4 GB ram


Here are the relevant info:

xorg.conf

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout[all]"
    Screen      0  "Screen[0]"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard[0]" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse[1]" "CorePointer"
    Option         "Clone" "off"
    Option         "Xinerama" "off"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    InputDevices      "/dev/gpmdata"
    InputDevices      "/dev/input/mice"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/local"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/URW"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/Speedo"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/PEX"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/latin2/misc:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/latin2/75dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/latin2/100dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/latin2/Type1"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/latin7/75dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/baekmuk:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/japanese:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/kwintv"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/truetype"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/uni:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/CID"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/ucs/misc:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/ucs/75dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/ucs/100dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/hellas/misc:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/hellas/75dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/hellas/100dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/hellas/Type1"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/misc/sgi:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/xtest"
    FontPath        "/opt/kde3/share/fonts"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "glx"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "freetype"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "AllowMouseOpenFail" "on"
    Option         "ZapWarning" "on"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Keyboard[0]"
    Driver         "kbd"
    Option         "Protocol" "Standard"
    Option         "XkbLayout" "us"
    Option         "XkbModel" "microsoftpro"
    Option         "XkbRules" "xfree86"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Mouse[1]"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Buttons" "7"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option         "Name" "ExplorerPS/2 on USB"
    Option         "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
    Option         "Vendor" "USB-Mouse"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Modes"
    Identifier         "Modes[0]"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor[0]"
    VendorName     "--> VESA"
    ModelName      "1600X1200@60HZ"
    UseModes       "Modes[0]"
    DisplaySize     380    290
    HorizSync       31.0 - 75.0
    VertRefresh     50.0 - 60.0
    Option         "CalcAlgorithm" "XServerPool"
    Option         "DPMS"
    Option         "PreferredMode" "1600x1200"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device[0]"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA"
    BoardName      "GeForce 8800 GT"
    Screen          0
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen[0]"
    Device         "Device[0]"
    Monitor        "Monitor[0]"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "XvMCUsesTextures"
    Option         "RenderAccel"
    Option         "HWcursor"
    Option         "NoLogo" "False"
    Option         "TwinView" "False"
    Option         "SLI" "auto"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       15
        Modes      "1600x1200" "1600x1024" "1600x1000" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1440x900" "1280x960" "1366x768" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1280x720" "1024x768" "1280x600" "1024x600" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       16
        Modes      "1600x1200" "1600x1024" "1600x1000" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1440x900" "1280x960" "1366x768" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1280x720" "1024x768" "1280x600" "1024x600" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes      "1600x1200" "1600x1024" "1600x1000" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1440x900" "1280x960" "1366x768" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1280x720" "1024x768" "1280x600" "1024x600" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       8
        Modes      "1600x1200" "1600x1024" "1600x1000" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1440x900" "1280x960" "1366x768" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1280x720" "1024x768" "1280x600" "1024x600" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

/sbin/lspci | grep -i nvidia

00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation Device 0754 (rev a2)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation Device 075d (rev a2)
00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation Device 0752 (rev a1)
00:01.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation Device 0751 (rev a1)
00:01.3 Co-processor: nVidia Corporation Device 0753 (rev a2)
00:01.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation Device 0568 (rev a1)
00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation Device 077b (rev a1)
00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation Device 077c (rev a1)
00:04.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation Device 077d (rev a1)
00:04.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation Device 077e (rev a1)
00:06.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation Device 0759 (rev a1)
00:08.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation Device 075a (rev a1)
00:09.0 RAID bus controller: nVidia Corporation Device 0ad8 (rev a2)
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation Device 0760 (rev a2)
00:10.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation Device 0778 (rev a1)
00:13.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation Device 077a (rev a1)
00:14.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation Device 077a (rev a1)
02:00.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation Device 05b1 (rev a2)
03:00.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation Device 05b1 (rev a2)
03:02.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation Device 05b1 (rev a2)
04:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8800 GT (rev a2)
05:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8800 GT (rev a2)

/sbin/lspci -t

-[0000:00]-+-00.0
           +-01.0
           +-01.1
           +-01.2
           +-01.3
           +-01.4
           +-02.0
           +-02.1
           +-04.0
           +-04.1
           +-06.0
           +-08.0-[0000:01]----09.0
           +-09.0
           +-0a.0
           +-10.0-[0000:02-05]----00.0-[0000:03-05]--+-00.0-[0000:04]----00.0
           |                                         \-02.0-[0000:05]----00.0
           +-13.0-[0000:06]--
           +-14.0-[0000:07]----00.0
           +-18.0
           +-18.1
           +-18.2
           +-18.3
           \-18.4

[gbil]

Bug report ?

[JaXXoN]

Can you please check if high FSAA settings make a difference?

About a year ago, i compared several 7-Series and a 8800GTX:
at moderate FSAA settings, all cards had pretty much the same
frame rates at UT2004 - a difference only surfaced at high FSAA
settings. My theory is that UT2004 is pretty CPU intensive, so the
video card is always waiting for the CPU to finish at moderate FSAA
settings (UT2K4 is four years old, so it's actually not a challenge for
recent cards). But once the FSAA settings are very high, the video card
has more to do than the CPU. In the first case (moderate settings), only
a faster CPU could increase the FPS. I once tried out two 7800GTX
with SLI and also didn't recognized any performance increase at
moderate FSAA settings, but i didn't tried out high FSAA settings, so
i'm now curious if it would make a difference :-)

regards

Bernhard

[Deanjo]

JaXXon, with all settings set to max in any game, there is absolutely no performance change. Like I mentioned before, even the sli hud doesn't work.
Anyhow here is the bug report.

[gbil]

Crazy things are happening with SLI.

In your configuration you don't explicitly set a primary device but the driver chooses one and it continues. In my configuration and another's guy in the forum if we didn't set explicitly which is the primary device Xserver didn't start....

Other than that your configuration seems ok and I don't understand why you don't see any performance gain. Of course in a post some weeks ago I mentioned that under wine I could only see a performance boost (actually not loss) only when using SLI for AntiAliasing because any other SLI setting didn't improve the performance - NVidia still has to comment on this.

Can you check the 3 SLI settings by hand - instead of SLI "auto" put the corresponding setting for AA or horizontal or vertical (check the readme) - and report any findings. But again I find it curious that you can't even see the HUD.

[Deanjo]

Originally Posted by gbil

Crazy things are happening with SLI.

In your configuration you don't explicitly set a primary device but the driver chooses one and it continues. In my configuration and another's guy in the forum if we didn't set explicitly which is the primary device Xserver didn't start....

Other than that your configuration seems ok and I don't understand why you don't see any performance gain. Of course in a post some weeks ago I mentioned that under wine I could only see a performance boost (actually not loss) only when using SLI for AntiAliasing because any other SLI setting didn't improve the performance - NVidia still has to comment on this.

Can you check the 3 SLI settings by hand - instead of SLI "auto" put the corresponding setting for AA or horizontal or vertical (check the readme) - and report any findings. But again I find it curious that you can't even see the HUD.

AFR = no performance increase
SFR = actually decreases performance about 30% over a single card
AA = no performance increase

[gbil]

I'll download UT2004 demo, try it and report my findings.

[gbil]

Originally Posted by gbil

I'll download UT2004 demo, try it and report my findings.

Results, using UT2004 demo v 3334 enabled SLI HUD

AFR: I see the vertical bars bar nothing moves -> SLI not working
SFR: I see the horizontal line but it stays all the time at the bottom -> SLI not working
AA: HUD says AA x8, visual difference is there, seems to work since I don't see any fps drop.

Probably the same as I reported for SLI under wine but got no answer.

Maybe now NVidia responds.

[Deanjo]

Originally Posted by gbil

Results, using UT2004 demo v 3334 enabled SLI HUD

AFR: I see the vertical bars bar nothing moves -> SLI not working
SFR: I see the horizontal line but it stays all the time at the bottom -> SLI not working
AA: HUD says AA x8, visual difference is there, seems to work since I don't see any fps drop.

Probably the same as I reported for SLI under wine but got no answer.

Maybe now NVidia responds.

Can you try another game that is a bit more demanding such as the Enemy Territory : Quake Wars demo?

[gbil]

Originally Posted by Deanjo

Can you try another game that is a bit more demanding such as the Enemy Territory : Quake Wars demo?

Sure when I get back from work.

Do you see the SLI HUD bars at least?

[Deanjo]

Originally Posted by gbil

Sure when I get back from work.

Do you see the SLI HUD bars at least?

No, I still have no HUD, which is why I believe that even though the system reports sli enabled, it actually isn't.

[m3the01]

Yeah im basically having the same problem, using 2 * 9800 GX2's (quad sli). I have no heads up sli display and im getting worse performance than my previous quadro fx 5600.

There is close to 2 teraflops of performance possible with these 4 cards so i would like to use it, i need the 512 stream processors for an intensive gpgpu simulation/visualization.


The custom app is very gpu intensive, im not sure if i need to enable the hud in opengl. I would assume the nvidia driver would simply switch it on when ever it sees opengl calls.

Im going to try to refactor my texturing for simulation and manually breaking up my large gpgpu textures into 4 seperate textures and this may be easier for sli to detect the huge possibility for a performance gain by sending the textures to separate gpus for processing.

I should have results by the end of the day,