Back online, but kind of outa the FSX circle for the moment.

[Cazzie]

Had to replace the motherboard and took the tower to Tiger Direct. Knew I should have bought the part and done it myself.

Oh, they did fine work, everything works just grand, except the tech, who installed the new motherboard, installed an MSI unit for ATI Crossfire cards and I have SLI nVidia cards! Errr! Ergo, nothing I do will enable the SLI. I fly, but only one card is recognized and I get horrible stutters in FSX, FS9 does just fine with the one card, as does all other programs.

But I want my FSX, so I went online and found the MSI card they should have used! I called Tiger Direct this morning and the tech on duty apoligized and was very friendly, said he'd swap the boards for only the added expense in the board I wanted, no labor charges. We're under a flood watch here and getting rain on and off, so I'm not taking the tower down today. The family and I are going to the beach next Monday and returning Wednesday, so I plan to take it down tomorrow or Wednesday and I'll just pick it up on my way back from the beach.

Good to have a fast reliable computer again though, SLI or naught.

Caz

[harleyman]

Hmmm..


FSX does not even use SLI at all....While it can give high frames.They tend to be very hard to tame for smoothness IMO...

What cards are you using Cassie?

good to see you back..hope the floods are all down river from you ans all are safe from its destruction...

[Rezabrya]

You do realize SLI doesnt do a thing for FSX right? FSX doesnt recognize SLI even if it is installed correctly. It will only use one of your video cards so if you are getting stutters, it is not from not having SLI.

[Bone]

Having SLI enabled will actually lower your FPS...FSX no likey.

[Lionheart]

LOLOLOL......

And I have been looking for a used Alienware laptop only for its SLI dual nVidia cards to run FSX...

lolololol.....

crazy world..

:isadizzy:

Bill

[Warrant]

That's all odd......

I've got SLI and FSX is running fine with it.

Needed some Nvidia driver updates and some Vista Ultimate updates but now its running like sunshine. The problems i had were over a year ago.

Harleyman, what do you mean by FSX is not using SLI? It is either engaged or not. It does not switch off when starting FSX, to my experience.

I noticed a big difference between SLI engaged and not-engaged (card temperatures for one, less stutter and better performance for another).

I have 2 8800GT's in SLI config (1gb each), hooked to a triplehead2go digital. 3x 22' tft's lurking from it, with desirable result.

[Bone]

Of course, you have to go into the NVIDIA control panel to either enable or disable SLI...if only FSX were that good. I take about a 30% hit on FPS when running FSX with SLI enabled.

[FAC257]

Here's an old post from Phil about FSX and SLI.
http://blogs.msdn.com/ptaylor/archiv...ulti-core.aspx

FAC

[Cazzie]

Well all I know is that I did not get the stutters and all was smooth with the SLI-ready ASUS motherboard that I had! And I always had my SLI enabled and even nHancer had prescribed settings for FSX that included SLI!

Mason, I'm running two 8800 GTX cards.

Caz

[harleyman]

Here in lies the deal as I see it...


Many use SLI and boast success..

many say no go..

FSX the way its coded does not really use SLI.. But as per the article of P.Taylor, on very high resolutions of 1920 X 1200 and higher then the experience of FSX and SLI get better due to better fill rate...What ever that means..Sounds to me like some hokey comment to act as if SLI and FSX are really friends..From what I've always heard, its not in the FSX coding to use 2 GPU's..

I know from my end.....I had a very expensive custom computer a while back with SLI 8800 Ultras on board.....It was totally a piece of junk...I sent it back...

While I hade great frames, always at or over 100, and into the 150's , it never really got steady and sweet..Always seemed to just run one day well and not the next...I pulled the bridge and a card and it was much easier to tame FSX and its stutters and acting up..


Now then... I built a nw mahine, and used a new ATI 4870X2 card...Over time I realised I was having the same sort of problems with FSX..It was just so on and off, and hard again to tame...



Now I run FSX on a tiny little single 3850 flawless..never a problem at all...LOL


Just disabeling SLI, or removing the bridge does not actually disable SLI..its connected and runs thru the motherboard from the PCI E slots, and is still active, but now not sharing its memory as well through the bridge.


So...Thats my take on SLI ? Crossfire.....


I never recomend it to anyone.....

But I never tell them they are stupid to use it ....


Some DO HAVE SUCESS with SLI..Or so they say..i have not seen it though on two different SLI / Crossfire set ups personally....




Here is a pic from my SLI 8800 Ultras...Notice the frames...But FSX was flakey and never constant.... Frames are 105......

[Warrant]

FSX the way its coded does not really use SLI.. But as per the article of P.Taylor, on very high resolutions of 1920 X 1200 and higher then the experience of FSX and SLI get better due to better fill rate..

Makes sense. Running FSX (and the rest of the programs) at 3840 x 1024.

[kilo delta]

LOLOLOL......

And I have been looking for a used Alienware laptop only for its SLI dual nVidia cards to run FSX...

lolololol.....

crazy world..

:isadizzy:

Bill

As has been mentioned,when running very high resolutions with high AA/AF, then SLi/Crossfire really is of benefit.

PS. I'm a fussy old fart,so I've never installed FSX on my sli'd alienware laptops .........cos I know that I wouldn't be content with it's performance vs my desktops I reckon they'd run fs9 pretty good though




PPS...Welcome back Cazzie!:ernae:

[harleyman]

Man....

I meant to say in my frist post Cazzie that that bites they gave you a crossfire board by mistake..


I'm sure they will get you all sorted out though....



In the mean time..get a nice 4870 and see what FSX really looks like..... HeHe.....


I'm kidding..... Or am I ?

[Bone]

Here in lies the deal as I see it...


Many use SLI and boast success..

many say no go..

FSX the way its coded does not really use SLI.. But as per the article of P.Taylor, on very high resolutions of 1920 X 1200 and higher then the experience of FSX and SLI get better due to better fill rate........

Hmm. I run at 2560x1600...looks like I'm getting screwed in the drive through again.

[harleyman]

Hmm. I run at 2560x1600...looks like I'm getting screwed in the drive through again.

If you are SLI at that resolution according to P Taylor you are getting some use out of SLI ...