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How to install 2 new 780s in SLI?

ish1

ish1

ish1

Associate
Joined
23 Mar 2012
Posts
121
Hey guys.

I just bought 2 new gigabyte 780 windforce cards and i need a comprehensive step by step guide on how to install them.

My system spec is in my signature. I am selling my 690 to make way for these two.

I have never installed new graphics cards before so your help will be appreciated.

Cheers

Ish
 
Stick them in the designated slots, you should be able to make this out by looking at the pin layout of your sli bridge, but non-rog Asus x79 board I'm guessing either slots 1-4 or 1-5. Plug in the cables and pop the sli bridge on, fire up your system and enable sli in nvcp :)
 
What about installing drivers? Should i delete them first before i put the new cards in and then reinstall them?
 
No need. Once you have the cards installed and the bridge connected with all the PSU cables connected, fire up the PC, open up the nvidia control panel and click "Configure SLI/Surround/PhysX and tick the "Maximize 3D performance" option

Done.
 
No need to delete drivers, once you've fitted the cards and booted into windows, there will be a pop up indicating an sli setup detected, click on this and it will take you to the menu to enable sli.
 
OK thats good to know.
Just one more question...Should i stick both cards right next to each other on the 16x 3.0 pci lane or should i leave a gap and install one of the cards on the 8x 3.0 lane?

I hear putting 2 cards right next to each other makes one card run hotter than the other?
 
Use a gap where possible especially on wind force coolers, though I'd imagine your bridge will dictate where the second card sits.
 
ish1 said:
OK thats good to know.
Just one more question...Should i stick both cards right next to each other on the 16x 3.0 pci lane or should i leave a gap and install one of the cards on the 8x 3.0 lane?

I hear putting 2 cards right next to each other makes one card run hotter than the other?
Click to expand...

As you can see my 2 cards have a little gap. The top card will sit a little hotter then the bottom, but it's not that much of a issue tbh. Only 3c hotter.

 
You might find that board only has SLI supported on the white PCI-e lanes not sure. (As mentioned above the bridge will probably dictate which ports to use anyhow).

If you don't already have the latest nVidia drivers I would download them and stick the install file somewhere handy and install that after putting the cards in - no need usually to mess about uninstalling old nVidia drivers with a straight swap but if you want to be sure reinstall with the clean option ticked.
 
Going by pics of the X79 sabretooth board, theres a pretty decent gap between the gpu slots. I ran wf 670's in the board in sig which has a much tighter space, temps were 72c for the top card, 55c for the bottom one. Use a custom fan profile on a 1-1 ratio, ie 50% fan speed at 50c, the coolers on theese cards are exceptionally quiet anyway even at high speed.

Shot of my old setup.
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys! makes me feel better about my cards hopefully not running too hot...I have 4 side intake and exhaust fans ready just in case they do :)

Still waiting to receive my sli bridge so i've only installed one card so far. Its very impressive...can't wait to see what 2 of them will do :)
 
Oh and i had to install the drivers again upon reboot with the new card but it was such a breeze...gotta admit nvidia drivers software is so easy to use compared to the amd ones lol
 
I bought the pc of someone about a year ago and it wasn't in the motherboard box. Oh well it should be here hopefully tomorrow fingers crossed.
 
Secondhand purchase explains that then. Ive owned quite a few sli boards over the years and the bridge has always came with the board. Actually got quite a collection of sli bridges gathering up here now.
 
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