SLI & Lockon1.1

[JACN]

Anybody using dual graphic cards?. Does it improve the LO1.1 performance?. I´d like to know how many fps are gained over the same single card configuration.

 

Thanks,

[Bigfoot209th]

I'd like to know as well...my next rig will be a dual cpu with SLI 6800's.

 

Isn't SLI just transparent to any game, though? Stuff like LOMAC shouldn't need anything special, I wouldn't think...

 

I want to see this bad boy with everything maxed and still smooth...whatever it takes.

[firesoldier845]

My next rig is going to be SLI, should have it in a few weeks and I'll let you know.

[Nate Dogg]

Ill be borowing my brothers XFX6800GT tonight to test it becuase i too want to know if having SLI in lock on will help.

Ill let you all know how it goes. What are some good tracks to test it on. Obviously every campaign mission is done differently so it doesn't make for a good comparioson??

Cheers

[JACN]

Ill be borowing my brothers XFX6800GT tonight to test it becuase i too want to know if having SLI in lock on will help.

Ill let you all know how it goes. What are some good tracks to test it on. Obviously every campaign mission is done differently so it doesn't make for a good comparioson??

Cheers

 

Waiting anxiously your test results. I´ve just build a new rig: FX-55@ 2900+ Mhz, 2Gb DDR400 OCZ 2-2-2-5 , XFX GEFORCE 6800 ULTRA...and my fps never drop below 30 (50-60 average) with graphics options nearly maxed. I´m considering the SLI config in order to get the maximum potential capabilities of my system but before need to know if worthwhile to spend another 575 €...

 

Regards,

[Bigfoot209th]

Some interesting tidbits with references:

 

Call of Duty is one of our tests that is not originally enabled for SLI by default. I had to coax it and edit out the single GPU rendering profile within the nvapps.xml. Then I enabled AFR through the control panel. This game is strongly CPU limited on an SLI setup. Even CPU limited @ 4xAA/16xAF at 1600x1200 resolution.. However turning up 8xAA/16xAF really allowed the SLI setup to stretch its legs. Call of Duty played at 8xAA/16xAF @ 1600x1200 resolution with smooth frame rates really is a site to behold.

 

What else can be said? Two Geforce 6800GTS operating in SLI mode provide ample performance with some to spare. I am happily going to be gaming on this rig for sometime to come. There are a few odd circumstances where SLI can fail such as games utilizing render to texture effects such as motion blur or bandwith limited games which are not limited by the GPUS graphic engine. However those issues aside. SLI has scaled exceedingly well and IMO there is no current better Dream Machine than a high end Nvidia SLI rig.

 

 

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=47710

 

 

 

So...even if LOMAC isn't sli-optimized(or whatever they call it), looks like you can still make sli work for it, and at least crank up your rez and AA settings for free.

I still can't find info about sli for simheads like me, just doom and quake stats, guess we are a small, small minority...

[firesoldier845]

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/msi_nx6800/page5.asp

 

Lock On SLI review with dual 6800GTs using Athlon 4000+, 36% improvement in fps @ 1280X1024 over a sinlge GPU - check the benchmarks for other resolutions.

 

One thing to note though, ITS NOT THE MAX FPS that is what really matters it's the MIN FPS that matters. The min fps is 31 for a single GT or dual GTs - so even with the two cards or one your still going to have fps bog down exactly the same. Notice how the Ultra 6800 stayed at 34fps min which is better then the 2 GTs in SLI. The thing is IMHO that 31 fps is definitley playable and 34 is even better. So maybe a single Ultra is the way to go cause it's cheaper then 2 GTs by about $200.

 

I was going to go SLI but got talked out of it. Naturally, if you have the money though it's the way to go. I'm still wavering whether or not to go SLI with 2 GTs or get a single Ultra or Radeon X850XT. I found a good deal on 6800 Ultra so I may get one. I've been posting like a madman about SLI for weeks trying to get opinions and apologize in advance if I seem like a pain in the butt. An Ultra though is the way to go IMHO from what I have been reading for weeks. Don't forget, it's the MIN fps that we really need to be concerned about - cause no body wants those stutters and choppy frame rates. my 2 cents

[Nate Dogg]

Well then, after several restarts i finally had SLI going, but it apeared very unstable! I tryed lock on 1.1 and i could run it for about 1 min before my computer shut down. It was the same with far cry also. So i figured it must be my psu, so i had a look at that and realised i hadn't powered the second card properly, so i did that reset looking forward to testing it but, my stupid harddrive did its trick where it formats itself and obviously i loose everything! Now i can't even format my drive. Taking it back today.

Its done this once before but seemed to work after a big format, now i can't do squat.

 

JACN is your FX-55 watercooled, i can't get over 2.75 with mine what about the preformance increase, i hardly see any going from 2.6-2.75??

My fps are not too far off yours with my specs (see below) I run on max settings-water med vis dis on med. Generally 25+fps at ultra speeds with my GT.

I will try again soon to test SLI, but i have no idea when i will get my hard drive back!

2 ultra's would be overkill in my opinion when you consider the extra power requiered. As many reviews say even the FX-55 limits the GT in SLI. Will get back to you all soon.

Cheers

 

My PSU is a thermaltake silent 480w (peak 550W)

[JACN]

JACN is your FX-55 watercooled, i can't get over 2.75 with mine what about the preformance increase, i hardly see any going from 2.6-2.75??

My fps are not too far off yours with my specs (see below) I run on max settings-water med vis dis on med. Generally 25+fps at ultra speeds with my GT.

I will try again soon to test SLI, but i have no idea when i will get my hard drive back!

2 ultra's would be overkill in my opinion when you consider the extra power requiered. As many reviews say even the FX-55 limits the GT in SLI. Will get back to you all soon.

Cheers

 

My PSU is a thermaltake silent 480w (peak 550W)

 

No, it´s aircooled. Though I´m able to reach 2.9 stable I find strange image flickerings while flying. I don´t know if they´re caused due to a PSU´s problem...(I´ve noticed dangerous minimums values of 12v current falling to 10+ values). My PSU is an "unknown" 500w, but considering its very low price makes me think it can be the origin of my problem. Also I don´t think it can handle dual 6800 ultras plus an overclocked FX55 :icon_roll

 

Now my FX55 is perfectly stable at 2.8+. BTW my Mboard is an ASUS SLI DELUXE.

 

Please, keep us informed with your SLI test.

 

Regards,

[Slammin]

Wow, you guys running SLI Ultra's with puny PSU's! A noname 500watt PSU is probably putting out less than 18amps on the 12v line. I would be worried about my system frying running on that.

 

A good PSU with minimum 28amps on the 12v rail and preferably 34+ would be better, safer, and a lot more stable, especially if you do any overclocking at all.

 

Worse case? A cheapo PSU blows up from being overtaxed and takes out your mobo, cpu, vid cards, or all! P00F!!

 

That Thermaltake is a good brand, but too weak for SLI Ultra's, especially when oc'ing. You are prolly running it close to max all the time, and remember, as they heat up, their rated max is much lower than actual capacity, so this is probably what killed your HD.

[Pilotasso]

No, it´s aircooled. Though I´m able to reach 2.9 stable I find strange image flickerings while flying. I don´t know if they´re caused due to a PSU´s problem...(I´ve noticed dangerous minimums values of 12v current falling to 10+ values). My PSU is an "unknown" 500w, but considering its very low price makes me think it can be the origin of my problem. Also I don´t think it can handle dual 6800 ultras plus an overclocked FX55 :icon_roll

 

Now my FX55 is perfectly stable at 2.8+. BTW my Mboard is an ASUS SLI DELUXE.

 

Please, keep us informed with your SLI test.

 

Regards,

 

better get a branded PSW from thermatake or something like that. I have a 9800 pro on my AMD 64 and with my 400W nameless PSU I would never dare even get a single 6800 much less 2.

[JACN]

Yes mates, you´re right. I´found my PSU is a potato and my real problem. I made a test just to be sure. I overclocked my XFX6800U to its known safe values (461Mhz/1.2Ghz). After flying my SU-25 during 10 minutes I noticed something was going wrong. Aside of graphic corruption I started smelling a stench of burned plastic coming from the PSU. Also PC´s buzzer warning beep sounds started (first I thought they were SAMs or avionics warnings :rolleyes: ). As soon as possible exited to windows and the ASUS PC PROBE confirmed that +12v rail had dropped to unsafe minimum values while flying (10,4v-10,6v). Of course the PSU was hot as hell!.

 

Now I´m going to buy a Thermaltake 600W PSU (+12v--38A ;) ).

[Guest Dath]

I almost went with SLI but after visiting the nvidia forums and watching my friend struggle with problems I decided to wait another year or two. My system I just built runs Lockon smooth as silk everything is maxed out at 1280x1024 4xAA 16xAF and I love the new hard drives they load lockon missions in a couple of seconds.

 

AMD 64 3500ghz, 1gig mushkin black cas lvl2, 6800gt, sb audigy and 2 10,000rpm SATA raid 0.

[Nate Dogg]

Thats a decent OC on the FX-55, i too started to get some texture flickering, mainly on the hud and the mfd in the mig 29. It was because when i oc the ram and cpu i was streesing the GPU a bit too much.

I should get my HD back today but i think my brother is a bit soft and probably wont let me take his GT again.

As for PSU requirements in SLI im quiet sure my 480W will be oc for two GT and a FX-55, im only running 1 dvd rom and 1 harddrive so not much extra load other than the three main components. I have seen many tests running 450W psu and dual GT's.

if i can get the card again i will but its not looking too good.

Cheers

[JACN]

I almost went with SLI but after visiting the nvidia forums and watching my friend struggle with problems I decided to wait another year or two. My system I just built runs Lockon smooth as silk everything is maxed out at 1280x1024 4xAA 16xAF and I love the new hard drives they load lockon missions in a couple of seconds.

 

AMD 64 3500ghz, 1gig mushkin black cas lvl2, 6800gt, sb audigy and 2 10,000rpm SATA raid 0.

 

Lockon runs also smooth like a movie in my machine (incredible how this enhances the immersion factor!) but one of the main reasons make me considering the SLI is... :icon_roll ...Pacific Fighters. I know that only one card is just not enough to run this sim and enjoy that (perfect :D ) "perfect water" (=3)...pure GPU´s job. And even less after future 4.0 patch with AFM, enhanced AI, clouds and graphics. Only thing I need to know is how reliable SLI is, just in this moment or in a very near future...cause it´s a huge inversion. If in addition to this my Lockon´s fps are increased in 10-20 units surely it worthwhiles!. :)

[firesoldier845]

Was there any more update on this with any users running SLI setup with LOCK-ON? Did the guy with the bad PSU get a new one and try out SLI? I'm still trying to decide what to do a 4000+ SLI with 2 6800GTs will cost me about the same as an FX55 with an Ultra or X850XT...

 

I know there are new CPUs and GPUs coming out real soon, but I'm stuck on a P4 with a GF4 and can't even play LOMAC or IL2 and getting anxious. I've been in flight sim depression since selling my old computer parts. I can only play so many fps shooters until I order my new rig - lol

[Nate Dogg]

well i got my harddrive back and it suposidly worked ok but my brother wont let me have his gt. But thats cool coz next week ill have my own. Just waiting for a cheque to clear then were good to go. Hopefully next monday, takes 3 days for the cheques to clear which sucks.

Anyway will do some testing with the one gt at stock and when i get the second ill do the same tests again and show the results to you all.

cheers

[Bigfoot209th]

Cool, I'll also dive into the SLI R&D pool when the new Tyan K8WE dual cpu plus SLI boards hit the market...at around 460 bucks each...ouch...

[eric963]

I might be able to help here. I have a new SLI setup with 2 6800GT's on an AMD 64 4000+. I do not have Lock-On 1.1 yet but I can run some 1.02's for you. Is there a particular demo you want me to run? I'll benchmark with the most recent version of fraps and whatever resoloutions, AA/AF setting you want.

 

Eric

[Guest Cali]

I might be able to help here. I have a new SLI setup with 2 6800GT's on an AMD 64 4000+. I do not have Lock-On 1.1 yet but I can run some 1.02's for you. Is there a particular demo you want me to run? I'll benchmark with the most recent version of fraps and whatever resoloutions, AA/AF setting you want.

 

Eric

 

Just run the A-10 quick fly and tell us what you get with 1 card and then with SLI if that's not to much trouble. And of course tell us what settings you were running at. thank you...

[Nate Dogg]

The mig 29 intecept demo was a clasic for me. I ran that all the time when i was getting my system up to speed. Its a shame its not in 1.1, i have no idea how to import it with compatibility issues.

Anyway run that demo with sli until the first mig (in the cockpit) falls through the clouds after being shot down.

Run it at 1600*1200 with out aa or af in sli and then with 4aa n 8af in sli. And also let us know how it went with just one card too for comparison. That would be most helpfull, as i plan to buy my second card next week.

Have you had any issues with the setup of sli? Please post ur system specs and all detail levels. I know this will be helping out a whole lot of people. Many have been asking for sli comparisons in lock on for about 2 months!

Cheers

[eric963]

Ok, I just finished running some test runs and here is what I have to share.

 

First thing I noticed was that on Nvidia's SliZone web site is that Lock On is not listed any more. I know it was last week but it is not up there as of this posting.

 

I ran tests at 1024x768,1280x1024,1600x1200, windowed and full screen with no AA/AF and 4AA/8AF. I used coolbits to allow me to set the profile for Lock-on to use SLI Mode (Nvidia sets the profile to single GPU). I was only able to use the AFR SLI mode (The SFR mode casued graphic errrors, lower half of the screen had a white look to it). There was no FPS increase, SLI mode ran just as fast as Single GPU mode, maybe at most 1 frame slower on the min FPS.

 

As for the Mig intercept Demo, it had the same results, no FPS improvement when in SLI mode. Here are the results from the demo

 

1600x1200 4AA/8AF Single GPU Avg: 15.344 - Min: 8 - Max: 22

1600x1200 4AA/8AF SLI Mode Avg: 14.952- Min: 7 - Max: 22

 

1600x1200 no AA/AF Single GPU Avg: 26.397 - Min: 9 - Max: 63

1600x1200 no AA/AF SLI Mode Avg: 26.162 - Min: 9 - Max: 64

 

If I am able to find out anything usefull about SLI mode with Lock On I will post it here. All tests where with a clean install of 1.02 with no mods.

 

Eric

[Nate Dogg]

What drivers are you using at the moment? The latest one is the 76.50 from guru3d, they are beta but the rule! Everyone who has used them has loved them. This driver set does have a profile for lock on but im unsure what mode it uses. Give these drivers a go with the tests i promise you wont look back. If your already using them well im a bit upset honestly. the review i saw indicated a 30% increase from sli in lock on, but then again it had the 6600gt beating the X800XT??

Thanks for the test buddy.

cheers

[eric963]

I will download them and give them a try tommorow and let ya know how it goes. Currently using the 71.89

 

Eric

[eric963]

Installed the 76.50 drivers and the Lock On profile in that one is set to Single GPU also. Forced it to AFR SLI mode and same results as before.

 

Eric

 

Here are the Single GPU Intercpet FPS

 

1600x1200 no AA/AF Avg: 40.540 - Min: 11 - Max: 84

1600x1200 4AA/8AF Avg: 23.697 - Min: 8 - Max: 77