Vista and SLI

[canucklehead]

So I've got a 9260 with the 7950gtx in SLI running on 64bit Vista. So far, any time I try to run a game in SLI (using the beta drivers provided by Sager/Xotic) my framerates plummet and the games become totally unplayable.

I'm thinking about swapping my 7950s for an 8700GT and I have a couple questions. First, what makes a card SLI capable? Right now I can't order 2 of the 8700's and run them in SLI. Why is this? Is it the card that is not setup for it? The motherboard? The bios? Vista?

In the case that I *can* upgrade later and install a second 8700 what do you think the chances are that there will be a set of drivers for Vista SLI that actually work?

Also, I've heard of this MXM stuff which makes laptops that have it more capable of upgrading cards, does the 9260 support MXM? If you had to guess, what would be the most powerful family of cards we'd be able to plug into the 9260?

I think that's enough to chew on for now! I've been trying desperately to figure out about Vista, nVidia, and SLI, but there's not a whole lot out there other than "it doesn't really work right now".

Thoughts, answers, theories??

Thanks!

[Justin_W@XoticPC]

1. Here is a link for a lot of information on SLI and what it means http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Link_Interface The availability of SLI on certain laptops depends on the layout of the laptop, the motherboard specifications whether it will support a faster or dual GPUs.

2. To answer your MXM Question, The np9260 does support MXM. The fastest GPUs for the 9260 would be the SLI 7950GTX. The newest card would be the 8700GT

[WoodyWeaver]

Am having trouble executing this.

Video currently is fine, but was thinking about getting into Bioshock. Have a NP9260 with dual 7950s. (Both show up in the device manager.) System Information under the NVIDIA control panel shows ForceWare version 156.07 under Microsoft Windows Vista x64.

Caveat: the system I was sent had an infant mortality on one hard drive in the raid array. It was sent back to Sager Midern, and they rebuilt the laptop. Have been running very happily since it came back.

Running the downloaded file unpacks, and launches a cab. Error message pops up: "You are running a 32 bit version of Nvidia uninstaller on a 64 bit system (Binary type I386).\nWrong version of uninstaller. Uninstaller exits now." The application continues, now with the error message "Setup detected that the operating system in use is not Windows VIsta [64-bit]. This setup program and its associated drivers are designed to run only on Windows Vista [64-bit]. The installation will be terminated." The installer *continues* to run, and pops up the previous error box. Then, it exits.

Did Sager Midern hose things, or am I confused? What would you suggest?

[Justin_W@XoticPC]

You can try uninstalling your current nvidia drivers.

If all else fails contact support at 800-741-2219

[canucklehead]

Wait a minute... so we can use the Forceware drivers that nVidia released for the desktop 7000 series GPUs?

I'm a little confused as to what drivers to get. If you visit the Clevo website, they released drivers August 31st for the 7950gtx cards, updating the firmware to 156.15. Sager's latest drivers from July are 156.07 (if I remember correctly). Is it okay to be using the Clevo drivers?

Can I use nVidia's Forceware 163 on my 7950s?

[canucklehead]

Justin, any ideas on this?

[Justin_W@XoticPC]

Use the clevo drivers released August 31st. If you experience problems with the new Clevo drivers, downgrade to the older drivers released by Sager. The nVidia drivers for the desktop GPUs are not compatible yet. nVidia is still working on this.

[canucklehead]

Thanks =)

Are there any useful links you follow to keep up to date on nVidia tech releases? I haven't been able to find any developer blogs to find out what's going to be happening, the official site only ever tells you what's happening now.

[Quisler]

Where do you get those drivers? I went to their site and looked up the Sager 5790 and they have a driver that's dated for June. Is there something I am missing?

[Justin_W@XoticPC]

The driver for the Sager np5790 can be found on the Clevo website by searching for M570RU/M575RU Series here (http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/e-services/Download.asp).

The laptop that we are talking about on this forum topic is the Sager np9260

Canucklehead, you can always view the forums on nVidia website