The online racing simulator
SoftTH - getting two graphiccards working
Hello,

pls can someone give me an advice how I get work following system in order to be able to use SoftTH:

- asus A8N-Sli deluxe
- 8800gts
- 7800gtx

On my mobo, i have two pci-e slots (blue and black) and an "asus ez selector" to change between "single" and "dual" graphic mode. Usually I had always the "old" 7800gtx running in the blue slot and selector was on "single", because I think that "dual" mode is only for SLI necessary. (correct me, if i am wrong)

Now I got the 8800gts, installed it also on the blue slot and changed the old 7800gtx to black slot. the "asus selector" i kept on single mode.

But now i have follwoing problem. After re-start, I have to install driver for the one card...which is okay....but than he wants me to install the driver for the 2nd card.... and while installing the 2nd driver the computer is crashing.

Also the cards became VERY hot, during that operation.

I ve now installed only the 8800gts, and everything runs well and smooth.


Does anyone has an idea, how i get work the 2nd card properly (changes in bios, on mobo or something else?)




thanks,
I had a lot of trouble getting 2 nVidia cards working together. The drivers I finally got to work with both were 57.?? as anything later caused blue screens.

What I did was only have my desktop on the 8800 one output. I then booted and installed drivers for the 8800. When it asked to install the other drivers I cancelled it. I then stretched the screen onto the other card which was running at 640x480 4 bit colour. I then made this the primary screen and stopped the 8800 being used. I then rebooted and installed the drivers for the other card. I got lots of blue screens which I believe is probably becasue the two cards share some of the files and not all drivers support both cards but that is just a theory.

You will need to read your motherboard book to find out about the single dual option. You need both slots runnign at x8 rather than one at x16 and the other at x1. I don't know which way around this is though on your motherboard.

If someone else knows a better way I would like to try later drivers if it is possible.

Maxim
the board supplies 16x to the main card in Single mode, and seeing as it doesn't do 16x dual lanes i would expect you would need to use "dual" mode
thank you both....will check the dual mode and also maxim's hint.

@maxim....how did you "stopped the 8800 being used"?
Quote from PudelHH :thank you both....will check the dual mode and also maxim's hint.

@maxim....how did you "stopped the 8800 being used"?

When to are in the screen settings (after right clicking your desktop) you can ask for certain screens to form part of the desktop. You can also chose which card is the primary card. I just made the desktop use both cards then chose to make the primary card tthe other graphics card, then asked it not to stretch the desktop onto the screens driven by the 8800, leaving me with one screen driven by the 2nd graphics card. At that point my desktop is 640x480 in 4 bit colour but only lasts that long while you reboot.

Maxim
thanks again, have managed now to get them both working properly. It took me also 3 hours "try and error" and lots bluescreens. Unfortunately i cannot really say, how i did it exactly at the end, because I tried it many small different ways.

first, it was of course necessary to put the board/selector and bios on "dual" mode. after doing that, the cards stopped overheating like during my first try.

I put the middle display on 8800gts and the right/left ones on the 7800gtx, like in yr setup. But when I installed now first the 8800gts drivers, i was never been able to stretch something at this point, because I could set only "one display". The other two monitors were not reckognized, not even at 640x480.

When I installed now 7800gtx drivers, system crashed.

Than I tried installing first 8800gts driver again, but afterwards deactivating same, in order to install proper 7800gtx driver.
This worked....I had now left/right monitor working properly in dual mode, and the middle one was working as well, but without driver (640x480).
Tried to activate now the middle one, in order to get him working properly as well....system crashed. (became a little frustrated)

So, I did otherway around. First 7800gtx driver, which worked well again. Put them on dual mode and "primary use". Now the 8880gts driver for the middle one who was running without driver. I cant remember here, but think system crashed again, and magically after re-boot he reckognized the 8800gts as well and he showed me all three monitors in "display-menu.

But one more question....are you running all three monitors via DVI or VGA signal? (When I had them on DVI...the left/right display didnt get any signal at all. So I changed everyone to VGA.)
It might be I remembered the order wrong but I think the important part was not trying to install both cards at the same time. I remember the frustration of endless blue screens though.

All 3 of my monitors are running using DVI.

Maxim
Quote from MaximUK :
All 3 of my monitors are running using DVI.

mmmh, okay will try it. I changed them right in the beginning of this "operation", so maybe it works now when everything is running fine.
Hmmm I am interested in doing this. What mobos will work for an nvidia config?
Also Maxim & Pudel could you post a pic of your setups running LFS, I want to see them .
Thanks
my one did not run yet with LFS. will test it today. also i've currently too small desk and the three displays looking crap when formed like an "U". the monitor stand arrives only today or tomorrow. than i can make a nice pic.

@moatherboard....theoretically you should be able to use nearly every SLI-motherboard.
Quote from anttt69 :Hmmm I am interested in doing this. What mobos will work for an nvidia config?
Also Maxim & Pudel could you post a pic of your setups running LFS, I want to see them .
Thanks

Not quite what I have now as I have replaced the top of the "table" with one capable of taking all 3 monitors and repalced the middle monitor. I now have 3x 19" screens. In the picture the left screen is a 17" screen although I didn't really notice when racing. Using SoftTHG I can now more my original 22" widescreen back into the mix but I haven't gotten around to it yet. The desk is also has a bit more mess on it

My motherboard is actually an AMD crossfire board running nVidia cards. You should be able to use any SLI or crossfire board ok. I never managed to get an ATI and nVidia card running together though but not sure if that is because it isn't possible or it was too much for my knowledge.

Maxim
Attached images
desk.jpg
Just for info, the "digital" version of triplehead2go is now available.
Wow, that looks cool. Reminds me of a guy that used like 16 screens for playing Flight Simulator. :P

You're using such a setup, but why don't you have a G25?
Quote from MaximUK :Not quite what I have now as I have replaced the top of the "table" with one capable of taking all 3 monitors and repalced the middle monitor. I now have 3x 19" screens. In the picture the left screen is a 17" screen although I didn't really notice when racing. Using SoftTHG I can now more my original 22" widescreen back into the mix but I haven't gotten around to it yet. The desk is also has a bit more mess on it

My motherboard is actually an AMD crossfire board running nVidia cards. You should be able to use any SLI or crossfire board ok. I never managed to get an ATI and nVidia card running together though but not sure if that is because it isn't possible or it was too much for my knowledge.

Maxim

OMG... your LWFF still works ?! :jawdrop::wow:
Quote from drinklime :OMG... your LWFF still works ?! :jawdrop::wow:

And still as smooth as the day it received the ball bearing upgrade I prefer subtle force feedback so that may contribute to its longevity. I fear the day it calls it quits. I don't use the peddals though hence they are propped up at the side.

Quote from BullHorn :Wow, that looks cool. Reminds me of a guy that used like 16 screens for playing Flight Simulator. :P

You're using such a setup, but why don't you have a G25?

I will forgive the "why don't you have a G25?" question down to you being too young to remember the legend that is the LWFF

Maxim
3 x 22" 16:10 LCDs

Feels like posting is showing off a little, really hope it doesn't come across that way. Just really is pretty cool. Running off 8600GT with softTH.
Attached images
DSC00185.JPG
Quote from Crazy Horse :3 x 22" 16:10 LCDs

Feels like posting is showing off a little, really hope it doesn't come across that way. Just really is pretty cool. Running off 8600GT with softTH.

Nice!

I take it your running no AA...? What sort of FPS do you get? What's your second card? What res is that in total?

I really wouldn't have though the 8600GT would've liked that setup at all, but it seems i was wrong - maybe their not as lame as i though.
in all honesty i'm not sure on the anti aliasing, where is the setting for it? I don't see it. Attachment is the inagme graphics settings screen.

Each screen is 1680x1050, total res of 5040x1050. Second card is a 7600GT. Both are passively cooled and not clocked. FPS is in the 30-40 region, around 36-40 most of the time. CPU is c2d E6600, 2 gig of RAM.

main card 8600GT : http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=334401
secondary 7600GT :http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=329670
Attached images
lfs settings.jpg
AA is set in drivers, theres no way to do it in game.

I'm REALLY impressed with that setup, and that the card handles it
Yeah I have to say I'm a bit surprised myself how well it's running .

I know i've seen AA settings around but for the life of me I can't find them, I've searched through all the NVIDIA Control Panel settings but don't see it. I don't really want to turn this into a noobs guide to altering your AA settings lol, but I guess they are on the default settings, whatever that is likely to be. Graphics ingame are looking good to me, wheels aren't blocky or anything.
with x16, at race start with 12 or so players getting low 30s, going around lap getting 35-42 ish.

I am having some issues with gfx drivers at the moment though, think the 7 series and 8 series ones are conflicting and so its possible the x16 isn't running correctly even though I've set it to x16. I'm not sure tbh, might be able to tell from attached screen shot?
Attached images
lfs1.jpg
that screenie looks fine, theres no AA, but at such a crazy res it probably looks good without it - what does look naff is the lo-res car skins. If you pay £1 you can download 2,000 hi res skins (instead of the standard 512*512 skins, you get the 4x bigger 1024*1024 skins which imo looks a lot better).
Im thinking of going triple screen, should I be looking at 4:3 or 16:9 screens?
Even with 4:3 screens, you'll end up with an image four times wider than it is tall. It can get a bit restricting at times, the width is great but I often want more height. With 16:10 screens, the image would be nearly 5 times wider than tall. That's getting a bit much IMO.

LFS on three Monitors is awesome
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