Nvidia Control Panel Doesn't show SLI options

[inevit4ble]

Hi Everyone,

I have been struggling with getting my SLI to work.

System:
| i7-2770k 3.5gHz | ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 2x4gb Kingston Hyper X | PoV Nvidia GTX 550 Ti 1gb | Gigabyte Nvidia GTX 550 Ti 1gb | Cougar 750watt PSU | Windows 7 Enterprise |

The VGA cards are:
Connected via SLI link.
Connected to power.
Connected correctly on the Mother Board.

My Mother Board is SLI compatible.
My PSU is SLI compatible.
My drivers are installed and up to date.
I have re-installed my drivers as well.
I have updated my Bios as well. (During which my Primary drive got corrupted and I had to start all over)

Nvidia Control Panel is STILL not giving me any SLI configuration options. It detects that both VGA cards are connected and I can select which core to use, but nothing about SLI.

I'm stuck and need to be pointed in the right direction.

Can anyone offer some advice?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Slapshot136]

just to clarify, you are on this screen:

and only have 1 monitor connected to your computer?

edit: and are using the 2 pcie slots closest to the CPU (as in not the black one that is far away)

 

[tom_mai78101]

edit: and are using the 2 pcie slots closest to the CPU (as in not the black one that is far away)

Questions for future possibility of asking:

1. Are the PCI-E slots colored? i.e., Black and Black PCI-E slots go together, White and White PCI-E together, Blue-Blue, etc.

2. PCI-E slots closer to CPU are marked the same, differing by the number sign (#) in "PCI-E_#". How can you tell the slots closer to the CPU is for SLi capable graphics cards?

Thanks.

 

[Slapshot136]

1. Are the PCI-E slots colored? i.e., Black and Black PCI-E slots go together, White and White PCI-E together, Blue-Blue, etc.

not really.. there are 3 PCIe slots and 3 different colors on this particular motherboard

the cards should be in the marked slots, the black one is unable to support SLI

PCI-E slots closer to CPU are marked the same, differing by the number sign (#) in "PCI-E_#". How can you tell the slots closer to the CPU is for SLi capable graphics cards?
Thanks.

it's convention - there is a lot of high-frequency communication between the CPU and the graphics, therefore those paths should be kept as short as possible to keep any possible interference to a minimum

the blue PCIe slot supports x16 bandwidth (when used alone), the white one x8 (stealing x8 away from the blue when used), and then black one x4 - x4 isn't suitable for SLI

 

[tom_mai78101]

Ah, thanks for the clarification.

 

[inevit4ble]

Hi Guys, I posted over 5 different forums so here's some more info regarding this issue.

When I said I can select the core to use, that is for the physX engine in the "Set PhysX Configuration" tab which I believe is meant to change to "Set SLI and PhsyX Configuration"

I was ensured on purchasing my PSU that it was 100% suitable for 2x 550TI, endorsed by a friend who runs a 700Watt for his 2x 550Ti's. What sort of drain do hard drives incur? 6 in the system too many?
[This was a major debate on reddit.com]

My cards are definately in the Blue and White slots. I will switch them and report back. This might be a factor as I do believe the Gigabyte card is a tad better but is sitting in the secondary white slot?

One thing I'm not 100% sure of is the bus size on the PoV card. 192 on the Gigabyte and from what I can see online the PoV is the same but not sure. Is there a software way to check this?

Getting my hands on a new SLI bridge will be difficult. They mostly only come with the Mother boards, but this was also suggested as a possibililty

64bit system of course. Correct drivers are installed v314.22. Mobo drivers are installed. I have been told to roll back the Realtek Ethernet driver as sometimes there is a weird issue with my particular mobo.

I will report back after some more testing.

Thanks so far!

 

[inevit4ble]

Oh and I have 2x Screens connected. Is that I factor?

 

[Slapshot136]

Oh and I have 2x Screens connected. Is that I factor?

yes - SLI can only work with 1 screen.. unplug 1 of your screens and see if the option appears (may need a reboot/etc.), although normally there is an option to disable a screen and enable SLI via software