Windows 7: can i sli two nvidia gtx 295 on a ASUS P5E3 Deluxe Wi-Fi motherboard.

hi guys i have a gaming tower with the following spec: Windows 7 Ultimate (x64) 3.20 gigahertz Intel Core2 Extreme motherboard ASUS P5E3 Deluxe Wi-Fi 64 kilobyte primary memory cache 6144 kilobyte secondary memory cache 64-bit ready Multi-core (4 total) Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5E3 Deluxe Rev 1.xx Bus Clock: 400 megahertz BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 750W thermaltake pcu Thermaltake case V3 with side window, 2x120mm blue LED fans+ 2x120mm fans CPU Cooler Thermalright 120 Ultra+120mm fan RAM Patriot 2x2GB 1333MHz 1500.06 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio two Nvidia graphic cards GTX 295 Dual GPU card microsoft office Multi memory card reader there was only one gtx 295 graphics card in the tower when i bought it but i bought another and sli them together. but its not happening when in opertion. can my mother board sli them and if not, is there anything i can do to get them to work together???? thanks tom

Your motherboard would work fine for sli, I think your motherboard is chip X38 so it is SLI PCI-E 2.0 x16 x2, So i don't think thats the problem, i do believe your psu is not powerful enough for two gtx295's. I would suggest a 800-1000 watt psu, but you will easilly get away with a 800watt psu.

Hope I helped in some small way

hi

thanks for the reply and steer. when i go into the nvidia graphics control and into the 3d settings which i have in advanced and config. theres nothing showing sli for me to choose.
im new to all this and learning every day lol. was told that my psu might need upgrading to 800 alright. have tested both cards on they re own and working perfect on battlefield 3 and other games.
thanks again for your reply

tom

Your welcome, but i am also a learner, so hope some of the pro's answer you better, but the psu upgrade is definitely a must. And i would suggest the ax850 from corsair, it's modular, great performance and reviews, but a little pricy,i have its bigger brother and love it and that xtra 50wats over the normal 800 is a great boost.

just to add on my last reply......

yeah the mother board is X38 with graphics interface pci express link width x16 and max supported x16. the bios american megatrends version 1415. processors intel core 2 extreme qx9770.

im in nvidia manage 3d settings and i need an understanding on the following in the global settings. on muilti gpu rendering mode, its set to nvidia recommended but theres 3 more options single gpu, force alternate frame rendering 1 and force alternate frame rendering 2. is it set right on that??? maximum pe-rendering frames is set to 3 with an option 1 to 8. is it set right at that??? on muilti-display/mixed-gpu acceleration its set to muiltiuple display performance mode with 2 more options of single display performance mode and compatibility performance mode. is that also right at that????

on set muilti-gpu and physX configuration. its set to maximize 3d performancew with physX settings on auto select (recommended) but below those. theres a diagram of two cards stating geforce gtx. geforce gtx 295 (1) with 1A (is hd) & 1B. geforce gtx 295 (2) 2A (is hd) & 2B. on the geforce gtx 295 (1) im using the analog display on 1B but the physX is on 2B. under the geforce gtx 295 (1) it says muilti gpu in green but nothing under geforce gtx 295 (2).

sorry about frying your brain as i typed in what im seing on my gaming tower. thanks

No worries, the basics of sli i remember was:

- Both cards have to have the same chip, so both 2gig 295's
- Roll back or remove all gfx drivers and reinstall the driver you got with the card on both
- Then update to latest driver on both.
- Sli usually works best after a clean format and both cards are inserted at startup and begin with clean driver installs
- And have enough juice for both.

And i know that driver are most likely the top issue.

I'm sorry to say that you will not be able to SLI two of those 295's on that board. The P35, X38, and X48 only supported AMD Crossfire; for SLI you will need an X58 or newer chipset. You can still run a single 295 in multi gpu mode without issue

Edit- To run sli with your current cpu and ddr3 ram you would need an nvidia 790i sli motherboard. There were also nvidia 680/750/780 boards that can run your cpu and sli but only the 790 supported ddr3

Wow, thanx 4 correcting me, i never knew that, sorry shanks69,i tottally was way of track glad one of the pro's replied.Nice one Zahl

nah, no worries bud. i only knew because I was trying to do the same with an x38.
but its not like the boards are not capable of sli but rather that they were never licensed to use it


Edit- I did find this info if anyone is brave enough. Just note that I've never tried it so don't curse me if you end up having to reinstall windows or something
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...&postcount=923

morning guys

just read the thread. so ill need to get a new mother board X58 or newer to get my cards sli??? or what other motherboard would you suggest??
would the x58 have the same lay out as my X38??? i ve got a midi tower as you can see in the pictures i ve attached. just thinking would i have to replace anything else ie the processor, ram and case???

or am i just better off selling the two cards and buying two amd crossfire?? what ones would suit my X38?

thanks a lot lads for your help.