SLi GTX460's

[pc_monkey]

I own an EVGA gtx460 and managed to get a 2nd hand Gigabite GTX 460 which has slower clocks. I kept reading that when Sli'd, the higher speed clock will downclock to match the slower card.

I found out that the clocks will be set to the speed of the top card, this is what GPUZ is reporting. So when I put the higher clocked Evga card in the first slot, both cards run at the Evga's clock speed which is faster. When I swap cards and put the Gigabite in the first slot, both cards run slower at the default Gigabyte speed.

One thing that does not change are the voltages, EVGA runs at .975, while Gigabyte is @ 1.0v

Am I doing something wrong?

==========

My framerate is at least doubled when playing bf3 at Ultra/high, 4x msaa and hbao.

Problem is theres lag/stuttering sometimes.

How do I solve this problem? I have already "disabled desktop composition"

 

[setter]

Create a user.cfg file using notepad and add the following two lines.

Renderdevice.forcerenderaheadlimit 1
renderdevice.triplebufferingenable 0

Then place the cfg file in your main bf3 folder. This cured stuttering i was getting with sli'd gtx 470's.

 

[no_1_dave]

Create a user.cfg file using notepad and add the following two lines.

Renderdevice.forcerenderaheadlimit 1
renderdevice.triplebufferingenable 0

Then place the cfg file in your main bf3 folder. This cured stuttering i was getting with sli'd gtx 470's.

Why not just change the pre-rendered frames from 3 to 1 in the Nvidia control panel?

 

[setter]

Ill give that a try and disable the user config and see how it go's. Though im down to a single gtx 470 now.

 

[no_1_dave]

==========

My framerate is at least doubled when playing bf3 at Ultra/high, 4x msaa and hbao.

Problem is theres lag/stuttering sometimes.

How do I solve this problem? I have already "disabled desktop composition"

You are running out of v-ram.
Your graphics cards can handle ultra/high but your V-ram can't.

I've had to lower a couple of settings myself for this very reason. Turn off 4x MSAA and just use the post AA, doubt you'll notice much difference unless you're sniping a lot (things far away will have more jaggies). Also turn texture and terrain details down from ultra to high. This is what I've done and now I never see any stuttering at all @ 1440p

 

[setter]

4x msaa and hbao will be sore on vram, i can run ultra settings with ssao, and high post aa (1920x1200), windows aero disabled in game. Vram usage maxes at 1200mb, with 4x msaa and hbao the game becomes very jerky.

 

[pc_monkey]

thanks guys, will try your suggestions later.

 

[chipachap]

You are running out of v-ram.
Your graphics cards can handle ultra/high but your V-ram can't.

I've had to lower a couple of settings myself for this very reason. Turn off 4x MSAA and just use the post AA, doubt you'll notice much difference unless you're sniping a lot (things far away will have more jaggies). Also turn texture and terrain details down from ultra to high. This is what I've done and now I never see any stuttering at all @ 1440p

+1. This may be half of your problems though. I have 7970's in Xfire and i need the user.cfg to have the 2 commands given in the posts above. Makes it a lot smoother for me anyway. Also I believe the new beta Nvidia drivers give stuttering in SLI so you may want to try an older signed set.

 

[pc_monkey]

^ I'm currently using a 296.10 which is a non beta

 

[no_1_dave]

I have no stuttering in SLI using latest beta.
I think it's 100% down to v-ram.

 

[setter]

Tried your suggestion dave, set pre rendered frames to 1 in the nv cp and disabled the user config. Game ran smoothly, will unbox my other card and see how it go's with sli.

 

[no_1_dave]

Tried your suggestion dave, set pre rendered frames to 1 in the nv cp and disabled the user config. Game ran smoothly, will unbox my other card and see how it go's with sli.

I'm glad it works thus far
I havent changed my pre-rendered frames at all and get no stuttering. Not sure why you get stuttering in SLI to be honest unless you are running too high settings for the v-ram. If the 470 had more ram then SLI would play ultra at above 1080p no probs at all.

 

[setter]

Tried with my second card installed again, smooth as melted butter, high preset with no msaa, high post. Never drops below 70fps, as high as 120fps. Gonna retest with settings on ultra. Shame the 470's didnt have more vram, as theyre overclocking monsters. Mine are 630mhz core factory oc gigabytes, 750mhz on stock volts of 0.987, 800mhz game/bench stable at 800mhz. Highest i ever tried was 820mhz on 1.087 the highest standard afterburner voltage. That was for a heaven bench run.

 

[no_1_dave]

Tried with my second card installed again, smooth as melted butter, high preset with no msaa, high post. Never drops below 70fps, as high as 120fps. Gonna retest with settings on ultra. Shame the 470's didnt have more vram, as theyre overclocking monsters. Mine are 630mhz core factory oc gigabytes, 750mhz on stock volts of 0.987, 800mhz game/bench stable at 800mhz. Highest i ever tried was 820mhz on 1.087 the highest standard afterburner voltage. That was for a heaven bench run.

Settings on Ultra should work fine, they do here.
It's only once the map starts to get destroyed, something about the destruction really hurts the v-ram. I just keep MSAA off, then turn terrain and texture down to high and it's smooth at 1440p so at 1080p you may not even need to turn terrain and texture down. That is if you play at 1080p?

 

[pc_monkey]

Create a user.cfg file using notepad and add the following two lines.

Renderdevice.forcerenderaheadlimit 1
renderdevice.triplebufferingenable 0

Then place the cfg file in your main bf3 folder. This cured stuttering i was getting with sli'd gtx 470's.

tried this but didn't work, maybe I put it in the wrong folder.

Why not just change the pre-rendered frames from 3 to 1 in the Nvidia control panel?

this one worked

 

[pc_monkey]

Been testing with the pre-rendered frames from 3 to 1 in the Nvidia control panel since yesterday and it has solved the problem.
My settings are
Texture - Ultra
Shadow - High
Effects - High
Mesh - Ultra
Terrain - Ultra
AntiAliasing Deferred - 2X MSAA
AntiAliasing post - High
Blur - Off
Anisotropic filtering - 16X
Ambient occlusion - HBAO

so far gameplay has been smooth since yesterday, I get minimum 65 fluctuating to 100+ . I just get the odd dip to 52 at the start when I spawn then goes back up.

I have overclocked the the gpus to 830mhz core clock, 2000mhz memory, the voltage is default .975. Max temp goes up to 72*C.

I'm a happy camper now!!!

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

 

[setter]

Good to hear. Even with everything on high the game still looks pretty good.