SLI Set up

[Arinoth]

I have finally (whenever i can get/find the support staff to get my package) my other GTX 260 and i was wondering the following.

1. Do i need the SLI bridge to use/have SLI enable
2. Can i put the card into my third SLI slot (slot 2 and 3 split the bandwidth so it should still be x16 for slot 2 or 3 or x8 x8 if slot 2 and 3 are used).
4. How do i fold on both cards. Do i just need to run/install a second application and just put a different 'tag' at the end.
5. Do i need a dummy plug while folding/sli-ing/etc

[Jake_HT]

Originally Posted by Arinoth

I have finally (whenever i can get/find the support staff to get my package) my other GTX 260 and i was wondering the following.

1. Do i need the SLI bridge to use/have SLI enable
2. Can i put the card into my third SLI slot (slot 2 and 3 split the bandwidth so it should still be x16 for slot 2 or 3 or x8 x8 if slot 2 and 3 are used).
4. How do i fold on both cards. Do i just need to run/install a second application and just put a different 'tag' at the end.
5. Do i need a dummy plug while folding/sli-ing/etc

1. I don't know, put one on there if you have one..
2. Shouldn't matter which 2nd slot you use
4 (you missed 3). Just copy and paste the folder where your current GPU client is, name it something else to avoid confusion, make a shortcut to the new executable in that folder, and then make your tags the following (while folding with SLI ON)

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu0\F@HGPU0.exe" -gpu 0 -advmethods -forcegpu nvidia_g80

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu1\F@HGPU1.exe" -gpu 1 -advmethods -forcegpu nvidia_g80

and of course, be sure to be using seperate machine ID's for each GPU client (I use 2 and 3)

5. No you do not, just be sure to be running 190+ drivers (the latest) enables you to fold with SLI turned on.

[Zero82z]

Originally Posted by Arinoth

1. Do i need the SLI bridge to use/have SLI enable
2. Can i put the card into my third SLI slot (slot 2 and 3 split the bandwidth so it should still be x16 for slot 2 or 3 or x8 x8 if slot 2 and 3 are used).
4. How do i fold on both cards. Do i just need to run/install a second application and just put a different 'tag' at the end.
5. Do i need a dummy plug while folding/sli-ing/etc

1. I think you do need the bridge with higher-end cards.
2. Using the third slot will always drop bandwidth down to 8x.
3. You forgot 3.
4, 5. Jake has you covered.

[Arinoth]

Windows error pops up first: "the application was unable to start correctly (0xc00007b) Click OK to close application"
Then F@H error pops up and closes F@H: "Folding@Home has run into a serious error running the core and will shutdown"

[SugarJ]

Follow the guide here: Folding@home - WinGPUGuide

You don't need 2 copies of the program, but you do need 2 work folders. I did this last night. I also needed to manually download Fahcore11 V1.31, but that's because I have 2 different GPU's running.

[chrisk]

You don't need the bridge anymore to do SLI. I had it with and without the bridge on my 285s. There was a slight difference in speed (improvement) with the bridge as it removes some traffic from the PCI-E bus.

I have always used Xilikon's guides here for multi-gpu setup:
[H]ard|Forum - View Single Post - [H]orde Guides

Make sure you use the tags that Jake bolded for you though.

[SugarJ]

Who do you think wrote that guide for Pande group? lol. It's Xilikon's, cut and pasted by his consent.

[LCB001]

Did you remember to delete the work folder, unitinfo.txt and queue.dat files when you copied the folder from your current gpu.

It sometimes helps to use the -local flag in a multi gpu setup to force it to use it's own local directory.

Make sure SLI is enabled in the nVidia control panel...

[chrisk]

Originally Posted by SugarJ

Who do you think wrote that guide for Pande group? lol. It's Xilikon's, cut and pasted by his consent.

Righto Sugar! Sorry!

FYI Arinoth I got an 8% difference with and without the bridge in Vantage as I reported here:
to run sli do the cards have to be the same?

[Arinoth]

I installed the bridge in the slot closes to the case, since i didn't know which of the two i should put it into.