***M18x - NVIDIA SLI (Driver Questions, Performance, Problems) Discussion Thread***

That's the impression I got Mr. Fox. Worse case scenario, could I just have the 7970m's exchanged for the 680m's for the difference in price?

 

Probably not, Johnny. You would need to speak with someone in Tech Support about that, but they do not normally do this. It would be better to just avoid them in the first place if you have not already purchased a system yet. Or, if you are feeling adventurous and want to take the risk, you might end up being one of those lucky satisfied group. The famous Forrest Gump quote, "Life is like a box of chocolates..." applies here.

 

ok so i recently ordered my M18x, but dell is telling me my 680 SLI is not compatible with the HDD and SSD drives...is anyone else having this problem with their purchase? they said they are in the works of fixing this and ill get a answer by friday....im just kinda in awe cause it looks like a lot of people on this forums has a similar or same setup and everyone one of you got your systems.

 

Don't order it with an SSD, save yourself some $$ and buy one yourself and drop it in.

 

This same question was covered in the order configuration thread just a day or two ago. Here is the relevant dialogue. Don't purchase the system online.

 

Thanks fox

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Hey guys, really need some help. So after my M18x arrived 2 weeks ago, I was impressed with Call of Duty Black ops 2. I have the 680M SLI and according to benchmark on afterburner, I am running 99% on 1 card and barely use the other to get max setting.

So I put on BF3 and turn ultra on. Now I got a very nasty 20 FPS...... 1 card is 99% utilize while the other card is around 40%. I thought I am suppose to be able to max out BF3 with no problem... What went wrong? My cpu is 3820QM and I got 16G Ram, running on SSD. Is this a driver issue? I have the latest on as well.. Please Help!!! This is disappointing after I spend so much time/$ to get this system up and running.

Thanks in advance!

 

I ran into this twice with a driver update recently. Are you running Windows 7 or 8? This has only happened to me under Windows 8 with a beta driver.

Anyhow, to fix it, here is what I did.

• Uninstalled all NVIDIA products in Control Panel>Programs and Features
• Reboot, run DriverSweeper or Driver Fusion, reboot, run CCleaner
• Uninstall MSI Afterburner, reboot with Driver Signature Enforcement disabled
• Reinstall GeForce driver package while Driver Signature Enforcement is disabled
• If prompted, choose the option to ignore the warning and install the unsigned driver and check to box to always trust if it is available
• Reboot, reinstall MSI Afterburner, turn on SLI, and reboot one last time

Both times doing this made it work right for me. Just reinstalling the drivers did not fix it. If you don't have MSI Afterburner, you can skip that part. I don't know if this is just something with beta drivers and Driver Signature Enforcement going too far or what. I'm looking for a way to permanently disable that in Windows 8, but haven't found it yet. I hate it when technology tries to keep me secure and protect me from myself, LOL. All this "certificate" crap we are seeing with software and firmware tech is really irksome.

 

Yes, Win8. I actually fixed the problem with a short cut... I turn off the SLI. Single 680M max out BF3 and I get 40-60 fps which is good enough to play. I didn't use beta drivers so I am still on the official 306.97.. When SLI is on, I realize the core clock and memory clock on GPU 2 is always cap at 324Mhz. The GPU1 also get force down. That seemed like a driver problem.

Are you using Beta drivers?

 

You did not really fix it then. Disabling SLI is not a good workaround. You're going to need to turn SLI back on and fix it the right way if you want your system to function correctly. I don't have issues with capped frame rates or throttling. Since this happened to your with 306.97 WHQL my thought about it being a beta with unsigned drivers being a root cause is no longer valid. That reinforces the problem is not really a driver problem as much as it is a Windows DSE problem.

One of the additional symptoms I have seen when this particular driver installation issue surfaces is that the entire browser page flashes like crazy when a YouTube/Flash video is displayed in the web page being viewed. If you see that happening after installing a new display driver, you might also expect to see other symptoms like low FPS in games or horrible benchmark results with SLI enabled. (I mention this so that anyone encountering it will recognize the need to get the driver installed properly before they start trying to play games and wonder what is happening.

Yes, I am using 310.70b.

 

Hey Fox, thanks again. You are right. Got to get to the root of the problem. I pay for the SLI and I should have it running. I download and install the 310.7b driver and now I am running the proper FPS in 3DMark11 as well as BF3.. It is so good!!! Thanks so much. I am enjoying the system finally!

 

I have been pondering whether or not I should upgrade my 6990m Xfire to 7970m Xfire or 680m SLI..
Would my CPU (i7-2670QM) bottleneck a 680m SLI during gaming? (I don't do video editing, AutoCAD, or any of that stuff)
Thanks

 

what games do you play? And do you see low frame rates in the games you do play?

 

Crysis 2, Metro 2033, FarCry 3, L.A. Noire, F1 2012...

Crysis 2 is mostly at 60fps but it does dip down a bit sometimes, nothing too major. But I have to turn OFF DirectX11 otherwise it taxes my GPUs too much (with everything else on Ultra + High res packs)
Metro 2033 I have to put the settings down
L.A. Noire runs maxed out fine on one card, but in CrossFire it runs terrible (bad drivers/coding)
F1 2012 runs fine maxed out, even with MSAA 8x. FPS dips a bit on split screen multiplayer but still more than playable.
FarCry3.. well... just runs terrible, graphical glitches, random slowdowns, ugh.

But the reason for my wanting to upgrade is for the games coming out in 2013 (Crysis 3, Metro Last Light, Sim City 5, Grid 2, Command & Conquer Generals 2). I want to max those out without having to faff about with drivers and such. I had an nVidia GTX260m in my M15xR2. That was fantastic, not a single problem. AMD are just annoying as hell, a lot of the time my cards don't run at full clocks for no apparent reason, can't play new games as soon as they come out because you have to wait for some AMD driver update + CAP to fix issues, etc..


On another note I was told by someone selling GTX 680m's that 680m SLi in the m18xR1 may not be compatible? Has anyone else heard this?

 

Nope. A few are running 680m's in the R1 - something I intend on doing at some point. Mr. Fox is running 'em just fine.....

If you are considering 680m's, have a look at this little belter of a deal on Ebay UK - Dell 2gb DDR5 680m for around £350 or less per card......cant' be bad..... Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M 2GB DDR5 for clevo Alienware upgrademonkey-in stock | eBay

 

Those were the exact ones I was looking at
It was them whom I emailed and was told it may not be compatible and that a single 680m is 'a lot faster' than CF 6990m..
Either way I will be buying those soon, just trying to see if I can get ahold of the heatsinks, support plates, thermal pads and SLi cable.. if they cost too much then I may bite my lip go with the 7970m Xfire since it is much cheaper + compatible with my current heatsinks

 

I can get 'the heatsinks etc. direct from my Dell rep. They are dirt cheap - well, maybe £20 per heatsink and a few quid for the Sli ribbon cable. Shoot me a message if you need his help.

 

That would be great thanks, I am going to buy the cards in the first week of 2013 so I may PM you nearer to the time

 

No problem. Anytime....

 

I've got a question for you Nvidia SLI owners: Are you guys also having problems with Far Cry 3? Does the game run smoothly all the time, or does the framerate stutter and swing from 50-60 to 20-30?

 

Nope, smooth as butter even before the new drivers. With the new drivers, there was a small bug which was fixed as well aka the flickering light bug. Running it at max settings

 

Hello! I have an M18x R1 and when I open any game the screen flickers rapidly with a red tint. It stops when I remove my power plug or run the game in windowed mode. I swapped both of my videocards (GTX 675m's) around and checked my sli cable connection but alas, it still flickers. I also tried my friend's power supply and it flickered on that as well. Are the signs pointing to a bad videocard or motherboard?

 

Probably a bad SLI cable. When you unplug the AC adapter, the discrete GPUs basically enter a low powered slumber state.

 

It looks like this right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k87HWVZTT9c&feature=youtu.be


Its likely that your SLI cable is toasted up thanks to a design flaw that's finally getting some attention here (I knew I wasn't crazy, check my post history LOL). It happened on both my R1 and R2 multiple times.

I'm going to have a guide up towards the end of this week on how to correct the flaw, but you'll need a brand new cable first so get that shipped to you in the meantime.

 

I can give that a try. Hopefully I'll be able to get an r2 mobo and just upgrade and nip it in the bud either way. BTW this is that "stolen" m18x I posted about awhile back. The dell reps I pm'ed on this forum all got to about the same place then dropped communication with me and stopped returning emails. Really frustrated with them as a company right now. I've had plenty of issues with this rig and have paid out of pocked for all the parts and repaired it myself. I just don't think my next computer will be an Alienware. I

 

You can probably buy one cheaper from Dell/Alienware than anywhere else. The part number is GDMRG.

Here are some other sources:

GDMRG | Alienware M18x Nvidia SLI for Dual Graphics Cables

Dell Alienware M18x R1/R2 NVIDIA SLI CABLE GDMRG for $35.00

GDMRG - MXM, Nvidia, SLI Cable For Dell Alienware M18X

 

I have been trying to order a daughter board ribbon cable from them for 3 months. every time I give my service tag they drop communication with me D:

 

It's not nearly that bad but yes. Similar to that.

 

I wonder if the connectors and wiring is the same on older SLI cables. Something like this might be more durable.

Alienware Area-51 M9750 SLI Cable - ALIENWARE Aurora M9700 Series - Alienware - Parts by Brand

 

If that cable fits that would be amazing, especially if it has enough slack to go AROUND the heatsinks instead of on top of them.

 

It might be worth experimenting with for only $12. Maybe our legacy Alienware expert, Katalin_2003, knows something about whether the SLI wiring and connections for the GPU have changed or remained the same. It would be very cool if that would work.

 

I'm 99.999% sure it hasn't changed. But that cable isn't flat so my concern would be keyboard buldge

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

My sli cable is wired on top of the palm rest and only the tip of the connector even goes close to the card for connection. Where's the design flaw?

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Hello again everyone.

I thought to myself that having a new system replacement would be the answer to my GPU glitches. Well, there back again, but different. when I say different, I mean, thick heavy red bars running horizontal while gaming for 5 minutes.
I have re-installed the graphic drivers and even tried the new ones on the Nvidia site. Still red flickering after the first 5 minutes of gaming. It would seem during gaming, any intensity of fighting or quick movement, the red bars come on the screen, but if I stay idle, the flickering bars don't show.

I have attached a HW monitor SS of my voltage and CPU temps. Something doesn't seem right after 5 mins of play on the CPU. I am currently have BIOS V9.

Any help will do as to what direction I should take.

Thanks.

 

On another note, I have disabled the SLi and the games are playing fine without any red line artifacts. Does this mean the SLi cable is damaged or the GPU?

 

either that, or one of the card/port is broken

 

Here is a YouTube video from my IPhone showing my problem. As you can see on the video, the whole screen goes solid red, than back to flickering.

M18xR2 - YouTube

 

Probably only the SLI cable.

 

Is anyone else getting some flicking textures in some games with sli? In bf3 some of my tesutrures. Particularly far background textures flicker. It's mostly distant ones and up close it stops. Sli off it doesn't seem to do it. Strike St ksrksnd map is particularly bad with the backgrounds. I saw a few in crisis 2. 310.90 drivers. Swaped the video cards master and slave, back and forth, same deal so it isn't the cards. Any ideas or is this a normal side effect in some games with sli?
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I would go for SLI cable replacement 1st. Does it happen on any game or just a single one?

 

If the SLI cable replacement works, take an extra preventative measure and try this fix

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-red-flickering-caused-toasted-sli-cable.html

 

How did you manage that?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

Hmm no I haven't had this problem but I have a different kind of flicker with SLI cables in the past.

 

Yes, it happens in all games, but when SLi is disable, I don't see the saturated red flickering

 

Where would I get this heat sink material?

 

I feel like its either the game or the drivers. I think sli flicker is like the whole screen looking all messed up, not only select textures in certain places, but then again, I cant be sure, an interesting note is my slave card sometimes is used more and 2 c hotter then the master. Weird.

 

Does it happen only on that game or several ones?

 

Skyrim is perhaps of the worst, and it does that with both AMD and NVIDIA, but it is a whole lot worse with AMD based on my experience. The original Crysis did it really bad with AMD cards and to a lesser extent with NVIDIA.

I moved your thread into the one dedicated to NVIDIA SLI questions, performance problems and general discussion.

 

I am moving this thread into the one dedicated to NVIDIA SLI questions, problems and discussion.

You can get thermal pads from FrozenCPU. That is where I buy them. If you have a Radio Shack or computer repair shop in your town, they can probably sell them to you. A computer repair shop may even have some old used pads they would give to you.

 

I dunno it came like that from the factory

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