SLI Not performing as expected.

Mackey18 · 11 Dec 2011 at 19:33

Hi guys,

Managed to get my second card installed after a fairly traumatic couple of days. Anyway with 2 GTX570's inside, I tried running BF3 on max... Still only 20fps which is what I was getting before I SLIed my PC. Here's my 3DMark scores... What's wrong? http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2332970?resultType=3dm11&resultId=2332970

As you can see SLI is enabled but I'm not getting the performance I hoped for.

Specs are on this topic: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18349795

Regrads,
Mike

Nelly · 11 Dec 2011 at 19:52

2500K @ 3.6GHz??? maybe overclock it to 4.5GHz and see what the results are?

Mackey18 · 11 Dec 2011 at 20:26

Not really up for OCing as I only have the stock cooler. I would expect better performance than what I got, without OCing. I mean, I have 2x GTX570s, that's gotta count for something.

Mike

Sasahara · 11 Dec 2011 at 20:28

2 GTX570 and you haven spent £20-30 on a decent cpu heatsink? ;_;

Mackey18 · 11 Dec 2011 at 20:29

Well I didn't expect my CPU to bottleneck me to such a massive extent.

Regards,
Mike

MeatLoaf · 11 Dec 2011 at 20:30

I think either your CPU @ stock is bottlenecking a pair of cards or your 650w PSU isnt up to the job ( although i ran my 470s off a corsair 650w just fine before i upgraded )

Try running afterburner and seeing wehat the GPU usage is

Pc.robb · 11 Dec 2011 at 20:32

Great thing with the 2500k's, you can overclock them like crazy, bump up the GHZ abit and you will see a difference

Mackey18 · 11 Dec 2011 at 20:34

Thanks MeatLoaf,

I'll just retry the Benchmark as my PC has been off for a while now, and I realised it hadn't been restarted since I installed the 2nd card. I'll then download afterburner and post the result here.

Looks like I may have to overclock!

Regards,
Mike

Mackey18 · 11 Dec 2011 at 20:41

So, based on my specs, what do you think I could OC my CPU to without purchasing a cooler?

Mike
P.S. Currently DLing afterburner.

koooowweeee · 11 Dec 2011 at 20:46

4-4.2

tommybhoy · 11 Dec 2011 at 20:47

Press the OC genie button, that will take you to 4.2GHz, the stock cooler should take the strain(that's what MSI would have probably tested with), then try again!

Use afterburner to monitor gpu usage on screen, I should imagine the gpu usage should be in the high 90's for each gpu in BF3.

Mackey18 · 11 Dec 2011 at 21:06

Hi Tommy. Which software is this OC genie on?

Here's the GPU usage during the benchmark: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-.../AAAAAAAAAHI/MpB6DjDQpu4/s800/Afterburner.png

Regards,
Mike

EDIT: Apologies for my noobism, after a google search I have discovered OC Genie is a button on the actual mobo. If I can find it, I'll pluck up the courage and push it.

Mackey18 · 11 Dec 2011 at 22:05

Ok, OCed to 4.2 (4190.37MHz (99.77*42.0)) and funnily enough my 3DMark score dropped even further. What is going on?

According to Core Temp, all 4 cores were at about 80-84 degrees C. Don't know if this is too high.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, I hate bottlenecking my system.

Kind regards,
Mike

Sasahara · 11 Dec 2011 at 22:07

That's a bit high.

Can you tell us you're complete spec including case?

Mackey18 · 11 Dec 2011 at 22:13

Yup Sure:

- Intel Core i5 2500k 3.3GHz (Sandy Bridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor
- MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION **
- Gainward GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
- MSI GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
- Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit
- Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache
- Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
- Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
- LG CH10LS20 10x BluRay-ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black
- Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black

Regards,
Mike

EDIT: 3DMark score dropped again to 7788!! CPU must be getting tired.

Nelly · 11 Dec 2011 at 22:16

Is SLI enabled in Nvidia Control Panel?

Mackey18 · 11 Dec 2011 at 22:17

Yup. On the 3DMark results it also says that SLI is enabled. That means it definitely is right?

Mike

Braka · 11 Dec 2011 at 22:42

never used sli before myself but have u tryed each card separate ? mabe something is wrong with one of them

xsistor · 11 Dec 2011 at 22:49

You shouldn't have to overclock your CPU to get better performance than that. Something more serious is wrong to be getting 20 fps.

Try comparing your performance at specific settings to benchmarks in this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-3-graphics-performance,3063-6.html

And yeah, try each 570 individually. Also driver clean installs etc are worth a shot.

Mackey18 · 11 Dec 2011 at 22:55

Ok will do at a later date, however, afterburner image (see above) showed that both GPUs were working at nearly 100% during the test. Doesn't that mean they're working fine? Also during the benchmark it was only the CPU tests that were horrendous.

Anyway, BF3 should still be at 40-50 FPS on max (inc 4x msaa) with this build and not 20.

Mike.