Asus P5Nd2 mobo SLI Headache

[Rayss523]

I have a Asus P5Nd2 Mobo with a Evga 7600GT 256MB in SLI mode with a Sparkle 7600GT 512MB video card.
Hardware Specs
450W power supply (generic and gonna be replaced)
2GB Corsair ValueRam
EIDE Harddrive (yea I know SATA is better)
Windows XP Home SP2

Heres my what Happened I had the Sparkle working by itself and puchased "Supreme Commander", I decided that I wanted a little more performance and got the EVGA for SLI awesome graphics. When supreme commander was first installed I was having sound driver issues with the game the latest nforce4 DRIVER UPDATE fixed that.

I then installed the EVGA by first swithing the mobo thingy over to Dual mode, connecting the extra power supply on the mobo then inserted EVGA into slot and attached mobo supplied SLI Bridge.

With the sparkle drivers installed it would recognize that I had 2 vid cards and could go SLI, but it would NOT let me enable SLI. WIth the NEWER Evga drivers the computer(nview control panel) would not recognize that I had 2 cards and could go SLI.

What do I do now? BTW the Nvidia site is not helpfull.

 

[MetalX]

Well, that shouldn't work at all. SLI cards really should be from the same manufacturer. They won't be guaranteed to work unless they came from the same company. Return the EVGA and get a second Sparkle, or get a second EVGA and ditch the sparkle.

 

[Rayss523]

Damn really?
The Nvidia Site said as long as the GPU's are the same it should work, or at least I thought that's what they meant.....

 

[MetalX]

Yea, what that means is that they have to be EXACTLY the same. Not just the same model, they must be from the same company ESPECIALLY if one of the companies factory overclocks their model.

 

[Rayss523]

This is DIRECTLY from Nvidia FAQ
Can I mix and match graphics cards?
In order to provide optimal symmetric scaling, SLI technology requires the NVIDIA GPUs to match. For example, a GeForce 7800 GTX must be paired with another GeForce 7800 GTX. Likewise, a GeForce 6600 GT must be paired with another GeForce 6600 GT. However, using the latest Release 80 or later graphics drivers, NVIDIA GPUs sold by different manufacturers can be used together in an SLI configuration. For example, a GeForce 7800 GT from vendor ABC can be matched with a GeForce 7800 GT from vendor XYZ.

Can I mix and match graphics cards is one of them is overclocked by the manufacturer?
Yes. A GeForce 7800 GTX that is overclocked (for example BFG GeForce 7800 GTX OC) can be mixed with a standard clocked GeForce 7800 GTX.

Can I mix and match graphics cards with different sizes of memory?
While it is not recommended, NVIDIA does offer this flexibility using Coolbits. When purchasing a second graphics card, you should try to match the memory size so that you are ensured full value and performance from your purchase. For example, if your first card is a GeForce 6600 GT with 128MB of memory, you should purchase a second GeForce 6600 GT with 128MB of memory. However, using Coolbits (value set to 18), you can force both of the cards to use the lower of the two memory sizes and operate together in SLI mode. When dissimilar memory sizes are enabled to work together using Coolbits, the effective memory size for each card becomes the smaller of the two memory sizes. Instructions to enable this feature can be found here.

I haven't tried Coolbits yet hence that is probably my problem which sucks but at least now I have I place to start.

 

[Rayss523]

Okay so I got it working, Here is what I did

I reinstalled the Older Sparkle nvidia drivers and they worked perfectly with the newer Nforce drivers. It autorecognized that I could do SLI and even let me go into SLI mode.

So apparently the OLD Nvidia Graphics Drivers work well with the New Nforce4 Drivers.
Where as the New Nvidia Graphics Drivers work poorly with the Old Nforce4 Drivers.
And the New Nvidia Graphics Drivers didn't work with New Nforce4 Drivers either.

BTW don't you guys hate it when the person that starts the thread never posts thier ultimate solution?