SLI not working all the time

So, I want to check out FFXIV, so I got the benchmark app... I wanted to see how it (the game) would run on my system. I played the app, liked the speed, "but" wanted to tweek it to go even faster... I started looking online for info on SLI cards, and well... I then saw that the app was not using both cards... bummer... I cant figure out how to get the game app to use both cards. since I saw that the FFXIV benchmark did not take advantage of my SLI graphics I tested other games... none of them do 0_o ??? even the SLI visual indicator dose not show up (yes I know how to turn it on).

my settings are as such -

Nvidia control panel - (set SLI - Enabled) - (select an SLI configuration - enable SLI) - (3D settings - show SLI Indicator)

so in the software all settings are on, but I can not see the indicator, and it just "feels" like I am running one card

any help here would be hot

 

update "kind'a" -

so, furmark is one of the programs that dose show the bar, and as I thought I am not using both cards, the bar dose not move. just stays empty.

In my Nvidia control panel under manage 3d settings in the middle of the list there is "SLI Preformance mode" in the drop down I can see use single GPU - Force Split Frame Rendering - Force Alt Frame Rendering 1 - and last Force Alt Frame Rendering 2. I think I am missing a menu choice. am I?

 

Depending on the drivers and SLi profiles for games that is supported by SLi games will or won't run in SLi mode. FF14 is not out yet officially and I don't think drivers support it properly yet.
There was a work around where you rename the FF14 benchmark name in the benchmark data folder to Crysis for Nvidia cards to support and run SLi and changing FF14 exe name in the data folder to 3dMark06 for ATi cards to run in crossfire. ATi has since apparently fixed some issues for the FF14 game however I'm not to sure about Nvidia yet.

You could try out changing the benchmark ff14 exe name in the data folder to Crysis and then try running the benchmark from that particular exe.
I tried this last time and saw a slight improvement.

eg. in the ff14 benchmark data folder change "FFXivWinBenchmark" to Crysis or 3dMark06

Unfortunately not all games or applications support the use of SLi or Crossfire gpu card setups. Most will just run on the one GPU.
FF14 is just really new still so SLi and dual GPU setup should be supported properly in the new future hopefully.

Cheers.

 

aww, I did not know that (not all games offer the use of SLI). Makes sense I guess, thanx reborn

Edit -

wait... I have seen youtube videos of people running the benchmark with the SLI bar running... so it must offer use of SLI right? So dose this make it a software problem for me?

 

They were probably using the trick I mentioned above. Try that out or try updating to the latest Nvidia drivers and SLi game profiles. It should work though if you try the tips above.

Also I'm not 100% sure but I think you also have to be in Fullscreen for the SLi bar or SLi to work.

You can also try this;
Copy this: http://bygzam.up.seesaa.net/zip/ff14bfull-100618.zip
install it in your ffxiv benchmark folder and rename the benchmark's .exe to 3Dmark06

If you use the above you will have to run the benchmark from the new exe that you just renamed.

Cheers.

 

wow much better, bar is there, and bar is showing activity!! cheer-z =^_^= thanxxx reborn ^^