Nvidia 280gtx tri-sli working stable

[noel]

Finally after much experimentation got the thing to work stable!!. EVGA mainboard and graphics. Crysis runs at playable rates no crashes. Mass Effect still runs like a dog in the citadel. Much deliberation as to its stability and whether or not it does work. For those who are considering it does, not the easiest of builds. Im not really one that posts, usually just a reader/researcher but this was a challenge!

 

[Azza]

Noel as in Christmas?


You have to be Father Christmas to spend over £1200 on graphics cards.

 

[gurusan]

i hope it was worth it

 

[willhub]

Just a guess but I could almost 6 4870's for that price no?

 

[Hxc]

You must have more money than sense!

 

[mmj_uk]

Wasn't two enough?!?

 

[Rroff]

Mass Effect still runs like a dog in the citadel.

Unless your running at some insane resolution something must be wrong - I get around 30fps in citadel running 1920x1200 with everything maxed - 4x FSAA 16x AF with a single overclocked 8800GT - so if your not getting 60fps with 3x280GTX I'd want my money back.

 

[noel]

Have always tried to stay with the new stuff ever since 3dfx sli and tnt2 ultra. Its more of a challenge than anything else. The reason for the post is to help those considering as its not an easy thing to get working. As to the money side if you keep selling your old stuff upon Press Release of release dates you dont get too bad a return. i got £590 for two 8800 gtx. These will last me good 6 months hopefully. thats £25 PER WEEK xtra which most people can easily spend on going out. May be I should try it.! Its a hobby and any help I can offer will be given. The tinternet says it doesnt work on the whole, but i now know it does

 

[gurusan]

come again.

you sold 2 8800GTX cards for 590 quid?

 

[Strife212]

Are you using an nForce 790?

You should be able to put the cards in, press the bridge on top and click "Enable 3 way SLI"

Thats all there is to it? And a decent PSU of course.

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

Well, I'd like to echo the "insanity" comments. However, if you can get it working and driver support improves then fair play to you. Like you say, people spend more money going out drinking and, this being the graphics section, there are people interested in graphics cards.
At the moment I'd have to go 1 or 2 4850's in a new build as I'm strapped for large scale pennies, I'd happily have 3 280's though.
Would like to see some pics.

 

[Strife212]

I would honestly only have 2 in an infinite cash build for one reason;

You can't have an X-Fi Prelude (or any PCI soundcard) with Tri SLI GTX 280

And I would rather have dual card and high quality sound than triple card and low quality sound.

 

[willhub]

I would honestly only have 2 in an infinite cash build for one reason;

You can't have an X-Fi Prelude (or any PCI soundcard) with Tri SLI GTX 280

And I would rather have dual card and high quality sound than triple card and low quality sound.

What sound system do you have?

 

[Metalface Mark]

For the record, i can get a solid 60fps in mass effect at 1920x1200 on my lowly 8800gts.

Be interested to see some benchies Noel, that must be a beast of a power supply you have.

 

[Strife212]

Logitech Z-5500

It's not an audiophile setup by any means but you can still tell the difference between sound card and integrated.

 

[willhub]

Logitech Z-5500

It's not an audiophile setup by any means but you can still tell the difference between sound card and integrated.

Your ears must be better than mine , I used to use X-Fi Fatal1ty, now I use intergrated audio, my Z5500's sound hardly diffo.

 

[gurusan]

You can always get an external DAC

 

[Baka^Ni]

Unless your running at some insane resolution something must be wrong - I get around 30fps in citadel running 1920x1200 with everything maxed - 4x FSAA 16x AF with a single overclocked 8800GT - so if your not getting 60fps with 3x280GTX I'd want my money back.

Bug in Mass Effect, you have to turn off sli whilst in the citadel tower. Apparently it's something to do with a certain dynamic texture.

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

For the record, i can get a solid 60fps in mass effect at 1920x1200 on my lowly 8800gts.

Ive seen it run solidly on an m1730 until the end where it ran like a shoddy dog.

 

[noel]

Ive often watched the comments with fascination as ive always used forums for info retrieval and to gain knowledge, this is a new one to me. Ive never posted before. Interesting the comments you get on offering help!. System specs just in case:
3@280 gtx trisli
evga 790 motherboard
2@300gb raptors
quad 9770
Asus xonar sound card(not yet running correctly, using on board )
ddr3 reaper 4gb
vista 64 sp1 dual boot xp sp3
themaltake case
1200 ocz power plus supply
air cooled(not overclocked)