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Different brand 970's SLI not working (Only working with Different SLI Auto Workaround

xruiner89

xruiner89

xruiner89

Associate
Joined
10 May 2012
Posts
108
Hi Guys,
Recently purchased a second 970 for SLI, plugged it all in and connected the SLI bridge. Booted up and both cards are recognised, afterburner showing readings for both cards, however when I go into Nvidia control panel the SLI options are greyed out and it says SLI is disabled.

The only workaround I have found for this is to use Different SLI Auto, this made the cards work in SLI great with multiple games I tried and allowed me to turn SLI on the control panel.

The problem being Windows needs to run in test mode for Different SLI Auto to work due to being an unsigned driver and unfortunately some games won't work on test mode due to their anti-cheat requiring test mode to be off.
So please could someone tell me how to fix this in any way.

Specs -

Z97X-Gaming 3
Intel i7 4790k
Zotac Omega 970
MSI Twin Frozr Gaming 4 970
16 GB 1866
Windows 8.1
 
I'm not an expert in all this but I'll take a picture of inside of PC tomorrow and upload and you guys can see. I know for a fact the cards are in slots 1 & 2 which are a 16 and an 8. I don't have a sound card installed in there and not sure what else could be causing the issue you mentioned as I didn't build the PC myself.

Edit - On second thoughts they are only listed as slots 1 & 2 in the device manager, maybe not on the board numbered slots. But I'm fairly sure the cards are in the only 2 slots that will fit them :/
 
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Rroff said:
There are 3 full sized PCI-e slots on that board IIRC only 2 of them support SLI "officially".
Click to expand...

How do I know which of the 2 slots to use? Would you mind pointing the slots out on a photo of the mobo? Would be much appreciated.

Edit - opened PC up again and the first GPU was in the only slot labelled PCIEX16 and the second card is in the only slot labelled PCIEX8. There are other slots, one listed as just PCI and another as PCIX4.
 
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mmj_uk said:
With everything else having been tested I would guess bios issue? could be that one of the vendors has modified something slightly so they aren't playing well together? if they're both reference cards with aftermarket coolers it might be worth flashing them both with the same bios (backup your old ones first!).
Click to expand...

I wish I had the slightest idea how to go about doing this safely, I've never flashed a GPU bios before.

editr - Also just checked in GPU-Z and both GPU's have the latest BIOS version. I've backed both up, any chance someone could guide me through whcih GPU I should be flashing? Flash 2nd GPU with main GPU's bios?
 
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MeatLoaf said:
Put the dot where it says maximise 3D performance.

I don't know if this is still the case but you never used to be able to enable SLI if you had 2 monitors which it appears you have.

Do you need to to have both sets of SLI connectors connected?
Click to expand...

It's greyed out, can't click it.
Also, I've tried all this with just the one monitor plugged in. Even though the second monitor is not currently in use anyway.
 
MeatLoaf said:
Only other thing I can think of then is trying another bridge or swapping the cards round the the other ones on top. Didn't you get a bridge with your board?
Click to expand...

Yeah I've swapped them them round but no dice. As far as the bridge goes I only have the one, as mentioned above that I bought, does the brand matter? I purchased my PC custom built from an ebay seller and he sent all the boxes with the PC but there was no bridge in the box unfortunately so he must have 'forgotten' to put it back. I have emailed him but no reply yet.
 
Rroff said:
SLI should work fine these days with multiple monitors attached.

The control panel screenshot seems to be complaining about the bridge but that could be a generic error - if you haven't already done so check the cards and bridge are seated properly.
Click to expand...

Reseated them about 10 times in the last 24 hours, everything is connected as it should be.
 
Fanatic said:
Though it seems you have hit the jackpot for trying to get incompatibilities :).

A Gigabyte motherboard, with a Zotac 970, and an MSI 970, connected by an Asus SLI bridge.

Though it really shouldn't make a difference.
Click to expand...

Yeah haha it does seem that way. I take it having one card in PCIE x16 and another in PCIE x8 is correct and I don't need to go into bios to make them them same or something do I?
 
ALXAndy said:
Try HyperSLI instead of DifferentSLI.
Click to expand...

Already tried, didn't work for me. Heard it's not supported anymore and doesn't work on newer drivers. After I installed it when booting into HyperSLI Windows there was no Nvidia control panel, and regualr windows boot still had SLI options greyed out.
 
area512003 said:
AFAIK SLI Bridges only come with purchased Nvidia Graphics cards/SLI Compatible Motherboards. You may be able to get one on its own from that famous online auction :)
Click to expand...

Yeah that's where I got this one that's apparently not working. Would be handy if the seller I purchased the PC from replied and sent me the bridge that came with my mobo.
 
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