SLi Support (Or lack thereof!)

[FraG_AU 10]

EDIT: Ok, seems that another user found a solution..

try using crysis64.exe and -winxp in command line.

It didn't work for me until I did a fresh install of vista however it did boost my fps on old install from 35 avg to 40avg. Now I am pretty much on 60fps avg.

EDIT2: I give up, game went back to dogshit.. Was fine playing SP campaign so I went online to see what kind of FPS i will get now, and wooshka, back to shit 30fps in multi and 35-40 sp. Its like I have kicked in FADE on my german digital download version.. what gives. Oh well if they dont fix it soon I'll wait till next year to play :P

Once again your milage may vary, but worked on a clean install of x64 as I said. I have tried Win 7 7201 (had stutter problem), x64 sp2 works perfect from clean install, i was going to try xp 64 but wont need to now. So yeah try this and report back..

Ok, I know there are a few threads with regards to diff adapters, but I can definately confirm that SLi does not work.

I thought I actually had my SLi working, but realised somehow it was just my shadow/object detail settings that changed the speed (Very high -> Normal) -> During a crash Arma somehow locked out my "advanced" menu and I had to manually set back.

Now I have tried EVERY trick listed in the forums.

Using Crysis.exe to "enable" sli settings

Using -winxp

Also tried using -cpucount=4 / -cpucount=8 (I have a i7)

I tried using nhancer and loading Arma Profiles, Crysis profiles and modding the two.

Now you can activate sli by doing AFR, but all you manage to do is split the same workload into 2, not double the horsepower so to speak.

To be honest the game runs better when I am in single GPU mode.. 4900 vs 4700 in armamark.

Now I challenge all the people that think they have SLi working to run Armamark 3 times with MultiGPU and SingleGPU mode and tell me the difference? I am yet to see a system in the ArmaMark thread that has SLi get past my score on my settings.

I have tried 4 different drivers (182->168), with 186.08 providing best performance, (unistalling and driver sweeper to ensure nothing got left behind).

Basically SLi is broken, I would like to know if BIS intends to support SLi for a game engine that clearly needs it.

And if you do have SLi working, please use ArmaMarkII and run it with SLi on and SLi off and post your results, perhaps run everything @ normal settings, with PP LOW and whatever res you like (please post your settings).

I don't know if this is a problem with my particular setup

i7 @ 4.2

6Gb @ 1600Mhz

GTX295 @ 650/1400/1100

X-fi XtremeGamer Fatality

Vista X64 Ultimate (all patches)

Please don't just post it worked for me, unless you have some concrete proof.

PS> the -winxp did give me a few fps, but thats in both SLi/Single GPU mode.

EDIT: I am hoping this can become a constructive thread for SLi users (I don't think xfire works either, not for people I know anyway).

Edited June 17, 2009 by FraG_AU

[BlueWave 10]

Okay then, you want proof?

No SLI

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/704227/Screenshots/arma2/arma2nosli.png

SLI

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/704227/Screenshots/arma2/arma2sli.png

My specs are;

Core i7 - 4.2Ghz

6Gb - 1600Mhz

Dual GTX295

Windows 7 x64 7201

Both images have exact same settings (Everything on High, Fillrate @ 100%, view distance 3000, 2560x1600). All I did was rename the arma2.exe to crysis.exe. Currently using 186.08

Just because it doesn't work for you doesn't mean everyone else is lying

Edited June 11, 2009 by BlueWave

[Curious 0]

I also confirm crossfire works...but seems buggy on XP.

[BigSlongsDaddy 10]

The game is not realised yet in Europe or the us ,so why would nvidia bring out a supporting driver for it so soon ??

[scottw 0]

Another one here to say SLI works ;)

[LEEROY_UK 10]

I get worse performance in Crossfire mode , runs better with one card , deosnt make sense !?

Q6600 @3GHZ

2X HD4870's 512MB

4GB CORSAIR RAM

VISTA 64

[shadowze 1]

I get worse performance in Crossfire mode , runs better with one card , deosnt make sense !?

Q6600 @3GHZ

2X HD4870's 512MB

4GB CORSAIR RAM

VISTA 64

Makes perfect sense

WHen I had a 4870x2 arma 1 ran better on one gpu

Its the problem with multi gpu systems , the driver writer has to

optimise his driver for games , if your lucky he will do it for your game

if not

then too bad

[LEEROY_UK 10]

Makes perfect sense

WHen I had a 4870x2 arma 1 ran better on one gpu

Its the problem with multi gpu systems , the driver writer has to

optimise his driver for games , if your lucky he will do it for your game

if not

then too bad

Yeh sucks deosnt it :mad::(

[kklownboy 43]

Makes perfect sense

WHen I had a 4870x2 arma 1 ran better on one gpu

Its the problem with multi gpu systems , the driver writer has to

optimise his driver for games , if your lucky he will do it for your game

if not

then too bad

Well thats to bad, i always get near double my frame rate between single card or dual cards. CF and CFX has given me performance everytime in ARMA1, some people with x58 chipsets should be on dec08 or newer Bios, otherwise CF is a no go.

And yeah SLI and CF works in ARMA2

[DrBobcat 0]

Currently using nForce 182.50 and two GTX 260s

I too have been experimenting with SLI in ArmA and have found that "max pre-rendered frames" must be set to three or more in order for it to work properly. When I had it set to one, my performance was not any better in SLI than single-card mode. However, once I pumped the number of pre-rendered frames, my performance soared a good 60-70%.

Give it a try?

- dRb

Edited June 12, 2009 by DrBobcat
Typo

[FraG_AU 10]

Okay then, you want proof?

No SLI

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/704227/Screenshots/arma2/arma2nosli.png

SLI

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/704227/Screenshots/arma2/arma2sli.png

My specs are;

Core i7 - 4.2Ghz

6Gb - 1600Mhz

Dual GTX295

Windows 7 x64 7201

Both images have exact same settings (Everything on High, Fillrate @ 100%, view distance 3000, 2560x1600). All I did was rename the arma2.exe to crysis.exe. Currently using 186.08

Just because it doesn't work for you doesn't mean everyone else is lying

You're the first that i have seen in the forum that has shown this. Hrmm perhaps its time to go to Windows 7 and test.

Don't get me wrong, I am not meaning to call people liars its just that people say their game has increased fps, but often that has been because of using -winxp flag etc. I went through the entire armamark II thread and coudln't see any results that showed SLi working.

---------- Post added at 03:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:36 AM ----------

The game is not realised yet in Europe or the us ,so why would nvidia bring out a supporting driver for it so soon ??

Last time i checked, Germany is part of Europe :D

Seriously tho, game has been in development for awhile, surley the Devs give Nvidia a heads up to try and have something that will run the game in all its glory. Anyway I'll try Win 7 201 and see how that goes, hopefully I can install the same key on 2 partitions.

[bangtail 0]

You're the first that i have seen in the forum that has shown this. Hrmm perhaps its time to go to Windows 7 and test.

Don't get me wrong, I am not meaning to call people liars its just that people say their game has increased fps, but often that has been because of using -winxp flag etc. I went through the entire armamark II thread and coudln't see any results that showed SLi working.

---------- Post added at 03:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:36 AM ----------

Last time i checked, Germany is part of Europe :D

Seriously tho, game has been in development for awhile, surley the Devs give Nvidia a heads up to try and have something that will run the game in all its glory. Anyway I'll try Win 7 201 and see how that goes, hopefully I can install the same key on 2 partitions.

I can confirm, it works fine.

Eth

PS : It has nothing to do with Win 7. It works fine in Vista as well.

[scottw 0]

Don't get me wrong, I am not meaning to call people liars its just that people say their game has increased fps, but often that has been because of using -winxp flag etc. I went through the entire armamark II thread and coudln't see any results that showed SLi working.

Im getting 6000 points in ArmaMark, thats with most things set to high/very high, I dont think thats been done by anyone with a single card solution? It definitley is working, with one card I cant even have shadows above normal, set it to high and I was getting around 25fps, when both cards are working though I sit around 60 most of the time, with lowest drops to around 45, MP the other night was absolutely glorious, SP some of the campaign missions everyone has issues looks more like CPU limitation but thats all in another thread! I completely agree with you though, it should not be this hard to get it running, SLI and CF and becoming more and more common, and someone who's just picked up the game will probably never get the most out of it, without scouring through pages on forums looking for switches/tweaks to eek that little extra. Before the release I was keeping an eye on how things were coming along, and Im sure it was stated that SLI and CF were going to be supported, but I can never find anything in wiriting? Also id love to know what setups they had when demoing to people and there settings as all the reports were that framerates looked good, and it just seems like so many people are running into problems getting it to run well.

[FraG_AU 10]

Ok, I can cofirm that I have SLi working under win7 7201 64bit. However there is another problem, although avg fps is now 48, i have this "stutter".. if you run or drive it stutters after 1.5 - 2 secs.. so it actually feels slower then running one gpu in vista!

Argh damn ripping my hair out here lol.

I used same drivers etc as I did in Vista 64Bit, and used all same detail settings too.

Weird, I can't work this shit out. Oh well patch 1.02 will be the challice!

[scottw 0]

Do you have a copy of XP you can try, I know it sounds odd but I experienced stuttering as well in 7, ArmAMark scores were pretty much the same but......actual gameplay I had next to no stuttering in XP while 7 felt horrible, glad your getting somewhere now though ;) you have to try any of the tweaks?

[FraG_AU 10]

Tried all the tweaks, cpucount, crysis, maxmem, winxp, etrc..

The stuttering is REALLY bad, I prefer to play on vista as that was just consistent 30fps.

Scott, do you have XP 64? or 32? 32bit would be bad as with a 1796mb card won't leave much for the os.

---------- Post added at 12:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:41 PM ----------

I'll grab a copy of 64bit xp and play with it next week, certainly feel like a beta tester thats for sure. Can

t enjoy SP as I get CTD too often in later missions, multi too high a ping so i get kicked (AU version not out yet), and gfx are annoying me no end LOL.. BUt I so want this game.. its like smoking, i know its bad for me but you just want one :)

[scottw 0]

Sorry in tweaks I meant did you have to rename the exe to get SLI working? Just interested to see if people all end up with similar settings and tweaks to get the results were after, at least that way we might be able to help others better.

Im running 32bit, I didnt like 64 for some reason cant remember for the life of me why now?! Im running two cards so I think in effect only 1024mb is being used, but its different with the 295 is it not, as the memory is all on the one PCB, so it does use the full amount? I dont have any stuttering in XP so i cant imagine Ram being an issue, I also have created a Ramdisk to use the remaining memory that XP cant see, and I use this as my paging file, so if anything has to be swapped out of the memory to the paging file speed shouldnt really be any different. I think you can get images of XP either 32 or 64 and use them for 30 days without the key, so might be worth trying both.

Tell me about it I think ive done more tinkering that actually playing at the moment, finally settled on what I have now and have sat down the last few nights, and the nights have been getting later and later LOL, I have the "one more go" syndrome at the moment :)

Just a thought on the stuttering, what do you have memory and texture set to, this seems to be a big reason for causing it.

[FraG_AU 10]

I tried going to low -> very high no diff. I ran it in single gpu mode and still had teh stutter but not so bad (perhaps 1 for each gpu in sli??)

But yeah, vista will be the go if i can get the damn thing in sli. I may just install another x64 vista clean and see how it goes.. I already have 3 os's over my partitions, i really dont want xp as that means i have to muck about with the MBR to get things all setup again, and with 2 os'es that i use I am afraid something can go horribly wrong (happened once before :()

Anyway I haven't see reports of this stutter yet, so will read and see if it is something silly, but its not game settings as it does it on low.. ARGH man i have six hairs on my head as it is..

[scottw 0]

LOL think you may have even last after the weekend :)

[kklownboy 43]

... I went through the entire armamark II thread and couldn't see any results that showed SLi working...

ARMAmark needs a profile for multigpu?

[FraG_AU 10]

ARMAmark needs a profile for multigpu?

I am not sure what you mean? Armamark is just a user created benchmark that gives you an idea of performance, its 5 tests that it avg's fps for and gives a rating based on that.. To give you an idea I score 4700 with my non sli profile in vista and only get avg 30 odd fps in the game. So I was expecting sli to score well into the 5000's, however not many machines score anywhere near that with sli.

Armamark is really good to fine tune settings, and since driver support is poor at the moment its helped a few people identify problems etc.

[Killg0re 0]

I am able to get another 8800GTS-640 GPU. (arround 90,-)

So putting my PC in SLI, will it be noticable, with same CPU?

and for future CPU upgrade.

See signature for complete system specs.

[FraG_AU 10]

I am able to get another 8800GTS-640 GPU. (arround 90,-)

So putting my PC in SLI, will it be noticable, with same CPU?

and for future CPU upgrade.

See signature for complete system specs.

Assuming you get SLi working (may well do, or you may have problems until things mature in drivers and engine), I think your CPU may be holding the game back, how does it perform now?

From things I have been reading a lot of the game esp in SP, is CPU bound due to the AI etc, but I would suggest going through the ArmamarkII thread to compare like systems.

Only thing I would suggest is to run the test on you pc now, then run the test with the GPU overclocked and see the difference. Then do the same and run the test with the GPU @ stock but overclock the CPU a little to see where your gains are and then spend the money accordingly :)

[Killg0re 0]

OCíng CPU helped from 2400 to 2600MHz

OCíng GPU did not help noticable

So CPU power is the key..

[scottw 0]

OCíng CPU helped from 2400 to 2600MHz

OCíng GPU did not help noticable

So CPU power is the key..

Not nescessarily, I think your machine as a whole is important with ArmA2 much more so than other games, if there is one component that is lacking slighly it will bring your machine down a lot, whereas other games you might be able to get away with a slower CPU as its more GPU dependant. I think with the amount of AI and calculations are done, and the graphics engine that is being displayed you need a good all rounder.