Asus GTX280 Tri-Sli setup arrived

J

Justifire

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Messages
106
Yesterday the mailman delivered my new green toys :D
3x Asus GTX280
Pics are clickable.

Package:


2nd Package, stylish black


3rd Package


Accesoires


Cables


GTX280 cards


GTX280 cards side to side with 8800GTX cards that din't pay the rent, sorry boys....


Intake


Dustfree packed connectors


Setup working, In The Army :p
 
Is it me or does the pic on the cards look like vomit from a distance?

Why can't they just keep it clear plastic so we can monitor the dust build up?
 
you don't live in southern california, do you? it's bee like low 90s to mid 100s here for the last couple days, and i'm wondering if that tri-SLI setup is the reason :eek: :D ;) :cool:
 
Hypernova said:
But practical:)

The look argument doesn't hold any way as they face down in a case. So even if you have windows you won't see it.
Click to expand...

So then how are you going to check for dust? :p If you gotta take the card out anyway, just hit it with some passes of compressed air and its all good.
 
Wow now that is a BEAST!!!

benchmarks? b/c we know that's what tri-sli is really good for ;)

congrats, also from your pictures, the 280 looks a bit longer than the 8800 gtx, I thought they were shorter? or is it the camera angle?
 
Congrats! I'll be joining you soon. One of the pair of XFX GTX 280's I ordered from MWave's eBay store was bad so I'm RMA'ing and I ordered another XFX GTX 280. I now need to take the 30" monitor plunge I guess,

Actually they pretty much are the same length. Here's a shot of an 8800 Ultra, 9800 GX2 and GTX 280 from top to bottom:
lastthreenvidiatoplinegqy6.jpg
 
Damned !
1 card is DOA :(
So benchmarks and test should wait a week :(
Hope more luck next weekend.
 
damn, sorry to hear...there have been a lot of reports of DOA 280's...

hope mine doesn't :(
 
yang88she said:
damn, sorry to hear...there have been a lot of reports of DOA 280's...

hope mine doesn't :(
Click to expand...

I thought my first one was DOA. I threw it in the system and it didn't work. So I popped it out and threw it in the test system on my workbench. No dice. I said well let me try one other box. I threw it into my girlfriends' PC and it fired right up. I pulled the card and slapped it back into my machine and it was good to go. It's stood up to stress testing so I can't complain. Not sure what the deal is. Before I pulled it and slapped it into other boxes I did all the customary reseating and power cable checks and everything else with no luck.

Oh well such is life with this stuff.
 
Both of mine fired up, but on of then produces this pulsating effect where the game speeds up and slows down then repeats the process. Very damned odd. What's even odder is that FRAPS and in game benchmarks like Lost Planet show no variation in frame rate. The counters are smooth but the images are not. Anyone ever see anything like that before?

Sucks when stuff is broken and you have to wait.:mad:
 
heatlesssun said:
Both of mine fired up, but on of then produces this pulsating effect where the game speeds up and slows down then repeats the process. Very damned odd. What's even odder is that FRAPS and in game benchmarks like Lost Planet show no variation in frame rate. The counters are smooth but the images are not. Anyone ever see anything like that before?

Sucks when stuff is broken and you have to wait.:mad:
Click to expand...

sli sucks, sry buddy.
 
heatlesssun said:
Both of mine fired up, but on of then produces this pulsating effect where the game speeds up and slows down then repeats the process. Very damned odd. What's even odder is that FRAPS and in game benchmarks like Lost Planet show no variation in frame rate. The counters are smooth but the images are not. Anyone ever see anything like that before?

Sucks when stuff is broken and you have to wait.:mad:
Click to expand...

My 8800GT used to get some lag but fraps said it was getting the same fps as before when it overheated with the stock cooler.(Fan never changed from 29% unless forced to.)
 
I didn't really delve into the problem once I discovered it as the card was brand new. But the fan was spinning up but heat does seem like a natural culrpit.
 
awesome system! Do you have FSX (Flight Simulator X) by any chance? Would love to know how it performs on a system like yours.
 
Seems like Crysis doesnt support Tri-Sli at the moment.
SLI indicators barely reach halfway the screen, so only 2 cards sli is supported at the moment.
Nvida please bring on some working drivers !!!
THE game where tri-sli is needed fails big time :confused:

As promised Futuremark Vantage scores:
Setup in sig,
Xtreme X13428 gpu 12944 cpu 46382
Performance P27119 gpu 23796 cpu 46666

System pulls 700Watt @ full load

temps under load: gpu0 85`c gpu1 85`c gpu2 76`c, very clear wich card gets the most air ;)

Time for some overclocking :D
 
heatlesssun said:
This says completely the opposite about Crysis scaling: http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-280-sli-triple-review-test/13

Getting my third GTX 280 back from RMA today. I'll let you know what I find. What OS are you on?
Click to expand...

Yes, i've seen the guru3d review, that's the one that made me decide to go GTX280 tri-sli before waiting on Ati solutions :D
I use Vista 64 Ultimate
Let me know what the SLI indicators show you.
I'm using 177.41
Crysis 1.2

Another strange thing i noticed is that when i load a save game in Crysis , the clocks of the card jump back to 2d settings (core 400mhz shaders 100mhz memory 100mhz)
After 3 times ALT+TAB it jumps back to normal 3d settings.
So Crysis and 177.41 seems very buggy at the moment.
 
Might I ask what your plans for the old cards are? I know of a few people in the distributed computing section that might like to take those off your hands. There is a FS/FT section over there you could post in.

That's an impressive new setup you have there too. Sorry about your luck on one of the new cards. I guess the luck of the draw turns against you when you buy 3 instead of one. Thats a problem many on this board would love to have. Have you thought about folding on those cards?

 
yeah, heatlessun and i both had the pulsating on a single card. :( i'm certain it's heat related. fan went to work right away. also, if i left the side of the case open, it took longer before it started happening. mine comes back from RMA on tuesday.
 
Justifire said:
Yes, i've seen the guru3d review, that's the one that made me decide to go GTX280 tri-sli before waiting on Ati solutions :D
I use Vista 64 Ultimate
Let me know what the SLI indicators show you.
I'm using 177.41
Crysis 1.2

Another strange thing i noticed is that when i load a save game in Crysis , the clocks of the card jump back to 2d settings (core 400mhz shaders 100mhz memory 100mhz)
After 3 times ALT+TAB it jumps back to normal 3d settings.
So Crysis and 177.41 seems very buggy at the moment.
Click to expand...

Crysis is definitely scaling for me in 3x SLI. The SLI indicator stays maxed and all three cards are running hot and the game is definitely faster. I’m trying to get the Crysis benchmarking tool running but it’s not picking up my settings correctly. I’m running the Ultra High custom configuration which is pretty much on par with Very High in terms of demands and the game is very smooth. In fact the only problem now is the variable frame rates. I can hit 90 and the next second it’ll drop to like 35, but vsynch pretty much takes care of that issue, it’s not all that bad as sudden frame rate changes don’t happen often.

I’ll start a thread with some benchmarks when I get home so that you can compare. All I can say overall is WOW! Played some Crysis, Call of Jaurez, Call of Duty 4, HL 2 & E1 & E2, GRID Demo and Lost Planet, all of which are pretty demanding except the HL2 games and it’s just a whole new level of performance. HL2 frame rates are averaging 200+, CoD4 120+ all maxed out. Crysis I need to FRAPS, but it seems to be hitting over 50 FPS but I need to test more formally.

The only problems with the setup are that its a little loud, no big deal to me, but the heat is up there. The top and bottom cards are hitting about 86, the middle about 80 under load, which isn’t a big deal, but three cards at those temps do produce a lot of heat.

One thought, did you uninstall and reinstall your drivers when you added your cards back?
 
heatlesssun said:
One thought, did you uninstall and reinstall your drivers when you added your cards back?
Click to expand...

Yes Sir :D

Maybe it has something to do with the clocks change after a savegame.
Maybe the 3rd card stops responding after that.
In all other games (UT3,Grid,Assassins Creed etc etc) the bars are full from top to bottom of the screen.
Do you use 177.41?
My temps are 85 85 76, are your cards running cooler or warmer than this?
Do you use rivatuner?
Do you use fraps?
Wich OS?
Crysis patch 1.2?

:D Lots of questions, but I got to sort this out !! :D
 
Wheresatom said:
Might I ask what your plans for the old cards are? I know of a few people in the distributed computing section that might like to take those off your hands. There is a FS/FT section over there you could post in.

That's an impressive new setup you have there too. Sorry about your luck on one of the new cards. I guess the luck of the draw turns against you when you buy 3 instead of one. Thats a problem many on this board would love to have. Have you thought about folding on those cards?

Click to expand...

Got only one 8800gtx left, other two where gone already ;)
 
Justifire said:
Yes Sir :D

Maybe it has something to do with the clocks change after a savegame.
Maybe the 3rd card stops responding after that.
In all other games (UT3,Grid,Assassins Creed etc etc) the bars are full from top to bottom of the screen.
Do you use 177.41?
My temps are 85 85 76, are your cards running cooler or warmer than this?
Do you use rivatuner?
Do you use fraps?
Wich OS?
Crysis patch 1.2?

:D Lots of questions, but I got to sort this out !! :D
Click to expand...

Crysis: 1.2.1
Forceware: 177.41
GPU Temps from top to bottom: 86 80 86
Vista x64 Ultimate SP1 fully patched
 
Can anyone benchmarked Crysis with 2560x1600 noAA / All VeryHigh with 3xGTX280? Thanks. :)
 
Yes.I know this Guru Review. ;) 38fps with 2560x1600 is a nice Score for this Resolution.

@Justifire have a 30" Dell can you test this 2560x1600 all VeryHigh? Is the guru3d.com Score real? :)
 
jimbobb said:
Yes.I know this Guru Review. ;) 38fps with 2560x1600 is a nice Score for this Resolution.

@Justifire have a 30" Dell can you test this 2560x1600 all VeryHigh? Is the guru3d.com Score real? :)
Click to expand...

I've got a 30" Dell monitor a copy of Crysis, but I've only got two Geforce GTX 280 cards. If I had three I'd have posted results already as I would no doubt have tried Crysis on that setup by this point.
 
jimbobb said:
Yes.I know this Guru Review. ;) 38fps with 2560x1600 is a nice Score for this Resolution.

@Justifire have a 30" Dell can you test this 2560x1600 all VeryHigh? Is the guru3d.com Score real? :)
Click to expand...

Will try this weekend, first got to sort out what's wrong with my SLI setup in Crysis.
I got an idea, system peaks @ 940W, than drops back to 760W
Seems like the powersupply cant handle my system.
It can draw 900W peak at the 12v lines.
This weekend i'm gonna try to run my 2 Liang D5 pumps from another PSU and see if that fix the problem.
And maybe it's just a driver issue, i dont know.
Will check this weekend.
 
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