SLI and World of Warcraft

Vega

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 12, 2004
Messages
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I have a question. Is anyone running a dual graphics card SLI system and running World of Warcraft in SLI mode? I put together this system mainly for WoW and come to find out it won't even run in SLI mode!?

Specs: ASUS A8N-SLI
Dual XFX 6800 GT
Forceware 71.20 drivers (tried official release too).

WoW does not have a SLI "profile" under the advanced driver tab. There is a list of about fifety games currently there. I tried everything, alternate frame rendering, split frame rendering and they all just revert back to running just one video card. In game FPS and the SLI HUD load balancer show this.

Thanks.
 
If I remember correctly, you're not limited to just those 50 games for profiles. There should be an option to add a new profile, and you can then set it up the way you want and name it whatever you want.
 
I might be wrong, but if I remember correctly SLI users will not recieve a performance benefit with World of Warcraft.
 
It sucks that you can't use SLI for this game, but I can't imagine it would benefit you very much anyways. I run all settings at maximum at a 1900*1200 resolution (I forget the exact numbers) and still get really high framerates with a single GT. It would likely be CPU limited far before the GPU is struggling with it.

Which kinda sucks, because as we all know if you're really into WoW (or any MMO for that matter) you won't be playing any other games until it gets boring. That kinda wastes the potential of your SLI setup. Maybe you'd be interested in trying EQII? I'd think the gains in that game using SLI would be significant.
 
I've tried that too. Here is a quote from Tom's that has me pretty worried:

After several benchmark tests we noticed some relatively slow performance in two of our games. After turning on SLI HUD in the driver we saw that SLI was not active during these games. Even our efforts to force SLI operation through the expanded driver settings had no effect. After talking with NVIDIA we learned the cause: SLI is not available with some games. NVIDIA has so-called SLI Profiles for games that are defined in the driver. The driver recognizes the game via application detection and executes the SLI mode (split or balancing) designated for that profile. If no SLI profile exists for a game, there is no SLI rendering. It is not possible to force SLI mode or generate your own profile. According to NVIDIA however the driver already contains over 50 profiles for games running with SLI. For newer titles this therefore means that SLI system owners have to wait for a new driver. But even then there is no guarantee that SLI will be possible with a particular game.

According to NVIDIA there are games that are simply not compatible with SLI. Microsoft's Flight Simulator 9 and Novalogic's Joint Operations for example both cause problems. As of the test date we were unable to find out the precise reasons why. NVIDIA only talks about frame buffering techniques used in games of this sort that are problematic for SLI. Of the 10 games we included in this test, two of them were non-SLI-compatible.

NVIDIA has said it intends to set up a dedicated SLI homepage listing all games that are SLI-compatible. There is also supposed to be a list to be found there of games not compatible with SLI. We'll be glad when we see that.


I have found this web page of nVidia's listing here: http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_hardware_sliapps.html

It is quite a short list and there is many more games listed under the driver. Just no World of Warcraft which is my main problem.
 
Elias said:
It sucks that you can't use SLI for this game, but I can't imagine it would benefit you very much anyways. I run all settings at maximum at a 1900*1200 resolution (I forget the exact numbers) and still get really high framerates with a single GT. It would likely be CPU limited far before the GPU is struggling with it.

Which kinda sucks, because as we all know if you're really into WoW (or any MMO for that matter) you won't be playing any other games until it gets boring. That kinda wastes the potential of your SLI setup. Maybe you'd be interested in trying EQII? I'd think the gains in that game using SLI would be significant.

I thought this might be the case as well but would like to see it before I dismiss SLI as viable for WoW. I also run 1920*1200 resolution with settings maxed and WoW running on one 6800 GT I get about 80ish FPS in some areas outside but notice significant slowdown in places with 50+ players like in Orgrimaar near the bank/auction house and in large PvP battles with ton's of people. I am sure that SLI would help in these situations. It's also not my RAM, I have 2GB running 2-2-2-5 timings. I also run some CS: Source so I guess SLI isn't a total waste for me but I'd definitely like to get WoW working.

I did notice that they put driver profiles for games that don't benefit at all from SLI like MS: flight Sim 2004 so maybe they will add WoW support in the future. I was just hoping that someone might have got WoW to work SLI and could say what they did or what driver etc etc..
 
Slowdowns in places with 50+ players like ogrimmar isn't GPU, it's CPU ,Bus ,and RAM. Wow has very low GPU requirements. Sucks that you're SLI is disabled with the game, but your 1 GT will run that game at max rez no problem.

Think about what WOW is doing during this situation. It's loading 50 different characters. All with 10x different texture lookups and loads, names, etc... It's more about how fast WOW's database can upload that info to you and how fast your cpu can load it.
 
gibkeeg said:
Slowdowns in places with 50+ players like ogrimmar isn't GPU, it's CPU ,Bus ,and RAM. Wow has very low GPU requirements. Sucks that you're SLI is disabled with the game, but your 1 GT will run that game at max rez no problem.

Think about what WOW is doing during this situation. It's loading 50 different characters. All with 10x different texture lookups and loads, names, etc... It's more about how fast WOW's database can upload that info to you and how fast your cpu can load it.

This is all true. I don't think adding another video card will make a lick of difference.

But more importantly, is anyone a bit let down that such a limited number of games are SLI-ready? I was initially under the impression that every game could be used with this technology. I wonder if ATIs AFR will be the same way. Was this also the case several years ago when 3dFX had a similar feature?
 
no 3Dfx's SLi was game indepndet there "T-buffer" needed ingame codeing for every thing other then AA

and can some one with SLi tell me if Final Fantasy XI is on the Sli game list in the drivers?
 
ok, expensive SLI capable mobo, check...
two 6800GT's, check
$800 and it doesn't support all games?

bullshit.

If they get it working 100%, fine, otherwise I'll never even recommend it as an option to a customer.
 
I have a 9800 pro and run WoW 16x12 all settings to max without a hitch in game, save the high pop areas, but that isn't gfx related, it is RAM/CPU
 
You don't even need SLI in WoW or FFXI, that's rediculous. I ran WoW @ 2048, 2xAA / 16xAF with no lag, as well as FFXI at 2048 with 2048 texture res and no slowdown. SLI is entirely unnecessary for WoW and/or FFXI.
 
When ya'll talk about maxed out, are you referring to the IQ settings or IQ settings and the Clip Plane? Clip Plane bogs the crap out of my computer. I made a post about it and this post got me thinking it's definitlely a memory bandwidth problem somewhere.
 
First of all to answer one guys question, no Final Fantasy is not in the list.

Second of all, for those that say you don't need SLI in WoW, that's crap. I don't know what people call "no lag" in a game, but 60 fps or higher preferably and a minimum of 30 fps in the most demanding renderings is what I feel is a minimum. There is no way that anyone, running 1920*1200 resolution with graphics settings maxed with 50+ charachters on screen using one graphics card is getting over 60 fps in WoW or even 30 fps for a 9800.

As an example, using an FX-55, 2 Gigs of fast memory and a OC'd 6800 GT at the above settings I can get WoW down to 25 FPS in say Orgrimaar city with 100 charachters on screen. That is unacceptable to me hence why I bought a SLI system. There should be no reason why a game, any game, should not support SLI because "It doesn't need it". This is with getting over 5000 on 3dMark 05 with a single gfxs card. I get 9500 with dual gfxs cards. Whoever would say that that wouldn't help, even slightly doesn't know what they are talking about.

Now my real question is, what in the hell do they do in these "game profiles" that makes SLI work all of a sudden. nVidia should get their entire staff to get this crap to work, their flagship product working on a handfull of games is ludicrous.
 
First of all, I never said it wouldn't help. Second of all, SLI has to be specifically coded for a game in order for it to work, from what I understand. If it currently doesn't work with WoW, you're going to have to wait.
 
Have you ever looked at your hard drive light while in areas where there are a lot of different characters? the hard drive goes crazy. This is in addition to latency involved from getting information from the server. It's mostly the hard drive on systems that cause the slowdown though, because it has to load so many different textures, where the textures are not neccessarily contiguous. Because the hard drive has to do a lot of random hard drive accessing, it slows down the loading of the characters on screen, thus lowering your fps as well. [EDIT] Especially with WoW, whereas the only thing that is pre-loaded are the world textures when first entering the game. [/EDIT]
 
What about getting poor FPS while staying in one spot in a small town whith few people in it? And then it jumps up to double that once you step out of town. Same FPS no matter what res,etc. I'll have to look at my hardrive.

Is there anyway to make a "benchmark" with WOW to see how much SLI improves it?
 
If you really wanna test it, go into 1st person view and stare at the ground. You'll get a constant fps that way. If you get any hard drive activity with nothing new coming onto the screen, then you may have a program accessing your hard drive.
 
sohcugy said:
Is there anyway to make a "benchmark" with WOW to see how much SLI improves it?
Considering WOW isn't supported by Nvidia SLI mode, how can one benchmark?
 
Excuse Mr. Vega.

If you ever run 3DMark05 on your SLI system can you either post the score here or send it in a private message to me.

These SLI scores are really huge and right now I only have 3 scores. I crave more...what can I say, I'm a junkie.

If you can beat 10,311 you will be the HardOCP champ.
 
Vega said:
I've tried that too. Here is a quote from Tom's that has me pretty worried:




I have found this web page of nVidia's listing here: http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_hardware_sliapps.html

It is quite a short list and there is many more games listed under the driver. Just no World of Warcraft which is my main problem.

It's a pity Tom's doesn't know what they are doing. You can set the <Global> profile to force multi-GPU and you can create new profiles for specific games if you want to leave the <Global> default at Single-GPU (in case you get graphical errors in some games).
I've already done this with Colin Mcrae Rally 2005 (and the "Show SLI" thingy shows it running split-screen), Richard Burns Rally (which unfortunatly is crashing with my SB Audigy 2) and Pirates (which doesn't need it, but I have set the <global> to multi-GPU). These all work just fine, and do not have a pre-set profile.
 
Who cares? WoW is not very demanding, anyway. It's just like a huge Quake III level. You shouldnt' need SLI to play it at "acceptable settings" ;). By acceptable, I mean 1024x768 highest possible quality, with AA and AF enabled :D
 
joecuddles said:
You don't even need SLI in WoW or FFXI, that's rediculous. I ran WoW @ 2048, 2xAA / 16xAF with no lag, as well as FFXI at 2048 with 2048 texture res and no slowdown. SLI is entirely unnecessary for WoW and/or FFXI.

Yeah but when you're conned into 800-1000 bucks worth of video cardness, you expect BOTH video cards to work. Otherwise there goes 400 dollars down the drain with Nvidia laughing all the way to the bank.
 
Damn you built that just for WoW!?!? Thats dedication =)

Its kickass BTW
 
Have you ever looked at your hard drive light while in areas where there are a lot of different characters? the hard drive goes crazy. This is in addition to latency involved from getting information from the server. It's mostly the hard drive on systems that cause the slowdown though, because it has to load so many different textures, where the textures are not neccessarily contiguous. Because the hard drive has to do a lot of random hard drive accessing, it slows down the loading of the characters on screen, thus lowering your fps as well. [EDIT] Especially with WoW, whereas the only thing that is pre-loaded are the world textures when first entering the game.

It's not hard drive lag. Once all of the charachters are loaded and the FPS are still low with no HD access, thats video card, bus and CPU lag. I think SLI would help with this.

It's a pity Tom's doesn't know what they are doing. You can set the <Global> profile to force multi-GPU and you can create new profiles for specific games if you want to leave the <Global> default at Single-GPU (in case you get graphical errors in some games).

Re-read Tom's quote. Using either the global profile or one set up specifically for the game it still won't run in SLI. I've tried every possible config and can't get it to work with WoW. That's exactly the point Tom made in his article.

Who cares? WoW is not very demanding, anyway. It's just like a huge Quake III level. You shouldnt' need SLI to play it at "acceptable settings" . By acceptable, I mean 1024x768 highest possible quality, with AA and AF enabled.

Please enough with the "WoW doesn't need SLI posts". That is not what this thread is about. You mention 1024x768 as being acceptable, ya maybe if your playing on a gameboy..
 
19" CRT. Anything smaller than 1024x768 (i.e. 1600x1200), and I can't see very well. Well, at 1600x1200 it makes my eyes hurt.;

Anyway, I played at 1024x768 high 2xAA 8xAF on my 5950U. a 6800GT is about twice as good, you got all kinds of area for improvement there.
 
you havent played FFXI >.> FFXI pushs my GT more then DOOM 3 does
FFXI is very Poly heavy and you can have MANY players on screen at same time
 
WOW can benefit greatly from SLI. With system in sig at 1280*1024 4xaa 16xaf i can get frames ~28fps in areas like the wetlands for example. If i turn The control panel to Quality instead of High Quality ill get ~40fps (VERY texture heavy game) but then you can tell its doing Brilinear .....as its a very texture heavy game. I hope they include support, it could be used.
 
iddqd said:
Who cares? WoW is not very demanding, anyway. It's just like a huge Quake III level. You shouldnt' need SLI to play it at "acceptable settings" ;). By acceptable, I mean 1024x768 highest possible quality, with AA and AF enabled :D

You sir, are not [H]ard at all. You are saying he should just settle for 1024x768. Go back to the MaximumPC forums.

After dropping that kind of dough on 2 high-end nVidia products, I would expect SLI to work on any game I wanted, or at least have the option of being able to configure my own SLI profile for any game I wanted. This isn't far fetched. Who gives a shit if people think the game doesn't need it, he paid for it, and it sucks SLI isn't working.
 
Vega said:
Re-read Tom's quote. Using either the global profile or one set up specifically for the game it still won't run in SLI. I've tried every possible config and can't get it to work with WoW. That's exactly the point Tom made in his article.
..

Tom's says that multi-GPU ONLY works with the few pre-profiled games, which I have already proven to be completely false. WOW evidently causes a problem for SLI that the <Global> just can't handle, but don't worry, it's a really big, new, popular game, and the next Nvidia driver release will support it.
 
CZ100B said:
Tom's says that multi-GPU ONLY works with the few pre-profiled games, which I have already proven to be completely false. WOW evidently causes a problem for SLI that the <Global> just can't handle, but don't worry, it's a really big, new, popular game, and the next Nvidia driver release will support it.

Unless its impossible, which is the case for some games. Also, so nice to wait to enjoy his cards for Nvidia to release new drivers...(heh, see that was a joke - Nvidia release new drivers).
 
To those individuals that spent big money to be one of the few to have SLI, and who think it should perform perfectly with everything, you need to chill and learn some patience. You have the bragging rights of owning the latest hot technology. However, you also have to deal with the development of that new, immature technology. It's a double-edged sword.
 
That bit about it only working with the profiles is bull crap. Tom's is full of it. Chronicles of Riddick wasn't in there and I added a profile and enabled SLI on 2 6600GT's. BIG performance increase.
 
i thought the whole point of SLI was that it was application indepenent? if it indeed only supports certain games, what the hell good is it? Seems like a giant waste to me.

oOOOOO I got 30230232 FPS in Quake 3

edit:
spend all that extra money, for a 20%-90% improvement, MAYBE? LOL
 
Garage81 said:
You sir, are not [H]ard at all. You are saying he should just settle for 1024x768. Go back to the MaximumPC forums.
Me not [H]? I'm as [H] as nipples on a blind lesbian. In a fish market. I want performance for the sake of performance, not for playing your silly games. And TBC, my point was that higher than 1024x768, I can't see jack shit?

That's besides the point that SLI works for WoW.
 
You want performance for the sake of performance you say? Ya, using two graphics cards to get up to 80% more performance doesn't help with this.
 
I think the worst part is you demanding mainstream support out of a bleeding edge piece of technology. You are NOT, and never will be their main source of income. I mean with the attitude streaming out of you, you've demonstrated that enough.

If theyre gonna fix it, theyll fix it, and listen to the people telling you what the problem with your "slowdowns" is in the first place.

Christ, its fine to be a enthusiast with performance, but you obviously must be quite new to the industry if you expected this to work perfectly the first day.
 
The problem I have with it is the profile deal. bleeding edge or not, for an investment of around $800, the damn thing better play all my games right. It doesn't, so I won't pay for it.

this means they have a lot of R&D costs for a niche market item that a good portion of their niche won't touch because it isn't a finished, solid product.
 
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