8800 GTX support

I apologize if this is a repost thread (if so, please link to it, as I couldn't find it), but I wanted to centralize drivers/concerns about the card(s) here.

I exclusively play CS: Source and DoD: Source on Steam. I'm using the 8800 GTX sli on a Dell XPS 1730 laptop. I'm using 32 bit XP Professional.

I wonder - do people have better results/FPS with SLI enabled for source/tf2 engine games? I am currently using Forceware version 175.32 to run my 8800's. Is there a commonly accepted driver that runs the 8800 with the best temps/results that I'm not using?


Also, I should point I just upped my card to the 8800 today, after removing the single 8700. I noticed the palm rest to be hot, but I can't determine whether it was hotter than before (I have yet to download any temp/benchmarking programs). Is running in SLI risky temps-wise unless I'm gaming? This is a massive (heavy) dual-GPU card and 4X capacity the memory of the card I used to have in there, which is why I'm worried.

 

Temps under 80C for the GPU are good.
Use HWMonitor to see, start it, play for an hour, and check the max temp.
Remember, the higher the resolution, the higher the temp.

 

raise the back of your comp a bit and you will see a huge temp decrease. my cousin's card was running at like 85, raised back and it ran at 65. so pretty good.

SLI can be a hindrance on some games that don't use it well. i suggest just trying both and see which looks better. Palm rest can be hot, that is how it is built, no suggestions there.

try the 177 series of drivers. a new one came out a few days ago and it boosted 3d mark scores by like 400.

all i got for ya.

 

It's running on a zalman nc1000 currently. The back is silhouette with the back of the cooler.

@ eleron - are you gaming at all? What version you using?

@ sushi - good call, and thanks for reminding me. That's an nVidia forceware, not the laptopvideo2go one, right?

 

ALSO - if I have SLI disabled, can I disable one of the cards in Device Manager? Or is this not advisable?

 

Found out the answer to this myself. Can disable the second GPU with no problems, and played DoD: Source just fine. Disbaled the first one and left the second running, and the system ran as if no video drivers were installed. Would have been nice to be able to switch between GPU's to prolong the longevity.

 

Why are you so worried, prolong the longevity of the GPU´s?? Dell built this machine to be able to run at pretty high temps. Of course two GPU´s working provides more heat. Temps also depends on what resoution you run at. If you game at 1920x1200 it puts more strain on the GPU´s than running in a lower res.

But I mean who doesn´t run at WUXGA when you have 8800m GTX SLI. You can start to worry when your GPU´s start to throttle, which don´t even happen at 86 degrees load temp.

Running games at 1920x1200 then you will have temps lingering in the 80 degrees area and especially Crysis which stresses the GPU´s the most. UT3 engine games like Gears of War, UT3, don´t stress the GPU´s much thereby they run at much lower temps than running Crysis for instance. Different games puts different strains on the GPU´s.

Also different drivers differ in temp too, not much though.

 

Hi guys im new here and i need some help
i have a m1730 core2duo 2.5 ghz, dual sli 8800 with 177.83 drivers and i have over clocked it to core 625 mem 950 and temp is about 82c when idle but im thinking about changing the clock speed back to 550/870 as it run at 80c i think
anyway i was wondering what program do i use to overclock the shaders?
im useing ntune but theres no option for shaders.
also im going to play crysis so i think the cpu needs over clocking as well
crysis plays fine on std settings which i cant remember wot they are now (500/800) i think all settings on high and res at 1920x1200 no aa but i would like to ether have 2aa or high settings
could any one pm me there setting/drivers/oc based on the same hardware as me please?
thanks alex

 

Ntune 6 i.e SystemTools allows you to clock shaders separately. 82 idle that is way to high, you must have load temps over 100 degrees celsius. I assume you mean a load temp of 82 degrees c?

 

nope i mean 82c idle but i did run crysis and it went upto 89 then back down to 82 i think, i there anyway i can run crysis and also c wot temp the gpu is?
when i had the latest drivers ForceWare Release 175 BETA Version 175.32 link http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x86_notebook_175.32_whql.html
i was getting better results than 177.83 but crysis looked the same not sure how to check frame rate.
also i have the latest NVIDIA PhysX System Software and in the menu i cant select physx on the card only the agia physx. my system is about 4-5 months old.
thanks

 

I personally use 177.79 (vista x64). Anything earlier and COD4 multiplayer causes that **** 'display driver has stopped responding' message followed by horrendous stuttering after about 5 seconds of joining a game.

Anything newer than that version just seems to be bug-ridden at the moment (to be fair, they are beta releases)

 

You need 177.83 at least to enable PhysX on the GPU.

 

thats wot i have 177.83 but i cant select the option for the physx on the gpu.
i will get a picture later

 

and you have PhysX 8.06.12 installed?

 

yep.
i have installed ntune 6.1 and i cant find no oc settings now.
this is doing my head in now. is there any other software out there that will do it?
i have tryed atitool but thats only for core and mem
thanks

 

Well it is called Pulse Generator, yeah crazy name. Though that is where you overclock.