Vista + 2x8800GTS

[Ben G]

Hi there, i brought a system from aria just over a week ago, it runs fine, apart from ocasionally the screen goes blank and then comes back, and Vista tells me that my graphics display driver stopped responding, but recoverd. Google tells me that this is a fairly common problem people seem to have. I have tried the soloutions i have found online, most of which seemt o point to a driver problem, but others have suggessted it could be faulty hardware, just looking for your views on this.

I have the latest forceware nvidia drivers installed, and the problem only seems to occur when running in SLi mode.

System spec:
Intel core 2 quad 2.5ghz
Asus striker extreme motherboard
2x 8800GTS 640mb
4 gig OCZ DDR2 800
OCZ evoStream 720w PSU

Cheers for any help. Im very close to installing XP.

[mac124]

You could prove whether or not it is drivers, presumably for sli, by removing one of the gfx cards, if the problem goes away try runing the card you removed on its own for a while if thats ok then it maywell be drivers or maybe the mobo. I would have thought it wouldn't be psu though \"only\" 720 watt might be nearing the limit for sli on 2 8800's.

Personally i would ditch the 2 gts and get a gtx / ultra. Sli just isn't worth it when there is an upgrade path.

[Ben G]

The problems with that are as follows:

If i open my case, ill void my warrenty, i think thats how it works anyway. I really cant see it being hardware, for a start its all brand new, secondly it never happens when im actually using the graphics cards intensly, ie. while gaming. It occurs occasionly in vista when i right click or try and open a window, its pretty random.

I like the SLi setup, i get very high end performance from the two cards, and apart from this issue they run brilliantly. If i was to change to a 8800GTX / Ultra, i would get two of them. Unfortunately i cant afford things like that atm.

(interestingly you live in the same county as me, random )

[Sl4x0r]

It's possible it's something random like chipset drivers or some bios setting that's causing things to go mental - try disabling things like Spread Spectrum in the bios - that gave me problems with my TV Tuner and 7950GX2.

SLI in vista is pretty terrible at the minute - it may be worth you trying any beta drivers nVidia have - or like you said - install XP.

If you still get problems in XP then I guess it's hardware and you need to give tech support a call...

[Ben G]

SLi in vista seems to be a joke atm, so many users experiencing this problem or worse, touchwood it isnt happening too often for me, and im not getting any BSOD. Have just downloaded the latest beta drivers but im sceptical to say the least. It may be XP time to find out if it is hardware.

[Himesh]

[quote:e28a0feae2=\"Ben G\"]The problems with that are as follows:

If i open my case, ill void my warrenty, i think thats how it works anyway.[/quote:e28a0feae2]

Why don't you just take it to the company you bought it from if it's under warranty?

[mac124]

Ahh sorry i assumed from : -

[quote:af294ac93d=\"Ben G\"] the problem only seems to occur when running in SLi mode. [/quote:af294ac93d]

You only had the problem whilst gaming, so do you run SLi in windows?? If so why??

Himesh he bought the system from Aria so its not as easy as taking it back, would need to go through the RMA thing.

Where abouts in northants you live im about 15 miles from northampton

[Sl4x0r]

Vista uses your GFX card(s) for the GUI - the whole Aero Glass thing - so if you've got SLi enabled, it will actually use both cards to render your desktop...

It's either really good at utilising the available resources or it's bloat - you tell me.

[mac124]

[quote:ba750cb6ad=\"Sl4x0r\"] Vista uses your GFX card(s) for the GUI - the whole Aero Glass thing - so if you've got SLi enabled, it will actually use both cards to render your desktop....[/quote:ba750cb6ad]

I totally understand that but a 7300gs can cope with aero so is there any real need to run SLi for windows, unless you want to play the bundled games at 1000fps :shock:

[quote:ba750cb6ad=\"Sl4x0r\"]It's either really good at utilising the available resources or it's bloat - you tell me.[/quote:ba750cb6ad]

Hehe subtle but important difference :wink:

[Ben G]

I run the cards in SLi in windows purley out of lazyness. The only way im aware of turning SLi on or off is though the nvidia CP, and i dont want to have to go through the process evytime i start/end a game.

Im reluctant to type it, but nvidias new beta vista drivers (163.44) seem to have stopped the problem (touches wood), at least i have been running for 2 days now without seeing it since the driver update, wereas it was happening at least daily before. Only time will tell.

From what i could gather from the various points of reference i have used so far, the main one being the user to user forum over at nvidia, the problem may well be/have been caused by vista not allowing enough time for the cards to respond before assuming that the driver had stalled. Something to do with the large amount of video memory over the two cards. Perhaps someone a bit more hardware literate could shed some possible light on that scenario.

I live in Daventry mate, if youve heard off it, about 12 or so miles from the west of nhampton.

[mac124]

lazyness fair enough 8)

Can't really shed any light on anything SLi as i have never, probably never will, use it.

Daventry, yep i know it im out the other side of Northmpton, Rushden to be precise.

[coiler]

My 7950GX2 SLi doesnt work very well at all in Vista, unless I turn off the SLi I get all kinds of crashes!

Install a second harddrive and consider running XP off that for your games

[Sl4x0r]

My GX2 is garbage in games in Vista too - enabling SLI stopped it booting at all with the first drivers and then when the drivers improved to a level where I could play games it promptly stopped supporting hardware video decoding...

Running MCE2005 ATM and everything's superb - I guess the GX2 just needs some nVidia loving to make it good... But will it end up like the ATI Rage Maxx that only worked is 98 or Me and would never work in XP???

If so I've got a very expensive paperweight for sale - offers accepted...

[Lynx]

Why not try the performance and reliability pack for vista? Its supposed to reduce video errors or something i believe.

[coiler]

As much as I love Vista performance and reliability are two words which I don't associate with it! lol

I use Vista for general use and dual boot XP for games