Core i7, P6T Del, 3GB XMS3 and a pair of 8800GTS 640MB cards in SLI

Yesterday morning, the system was in hibernation and the screen was blank and covered in vertical red marks like this

...I
..I
.I
I

(I've got to to put the dots in, or it appears vertical)

After putting both PC and monitor off at the mains for a bit, the PC started fine and no marks, but then they came back. I thought that it was probably a monitor problem, but Windows wouldn't do anything- no programs would open, no clicking worked although the mouse pointer moved, followed around by a small square of similar marks.

I took one card out and I tried Safe Mode- no problem. Then full operation- no problem. Then I put the second card back in but DIDN'T enable SLI in the control panel.

The PC has been hibernating overnight and today I did some work on a Word document, but when I tried to play Freelancer which had been minimised to the desktop, the system rebooted.

The POST screen was fine, but then I had vertical red lines- NOT offset and then vertical green lines in the centre third of the screen. The PC restarted, but now is goosed- Nada on the screen and the system doesn't sound like it's booting normally.

Obviously I know what I'm going to do next- try both cards separately again- but to save time, does anyone have a really good idea as to what is [LIFTED]?

Thanks.

Whats the make, model & power of your PSU?

Dodgy/failing graphics card?

You say nothing now works - is that with BOTH cards in or just the 1?

Sorry about the quick post before, I just wanted to get the ball rolling. Having it read it though, I have to say that it makes sense to me.

Its a Corsair 850W 6 mths old, so no problem there.

Having come back from the school run, I have first removed the SLI link- Nothing. Then I have tried connecting the monitor to the second card- Nothing. Then I took the BFG one out- the one I left in yesterday and left the Leadtek one in instead and it has booted.

According to Windows, it has "Recovered from an unexpected problem" which would be fine except that Windows problems should not prevent the boot screen appearing, leading me to think that it is hardware related.

I was thinking that with my new system, and COD Modern Warfare 2 coming out at the end of the year, I was going to think about a new card- it's about time, so I don't really mind getting a new card if one of mine is goosed, or they simply don't like SLI any more, but for now, I want my system running properly of course.

I have Googled yesterday, but the most reliable answers suggested Monitor, which doesn't appear to be the case here.

As I have got the system to work in both cases with one card in, I think I'll update my drivers and run something like 3D Mark with each card in separately and see what happens.

The vertical lines generally indicate either an overheating or faulty graphics card, not a monitor problem...

It sounds like one of the cards is on the way out.

Thanks, Dave. I agree it seems the most likely explanation. I am downloading 3DMark Vantage now to stress test the cards and I'll see what happens.

The case is well vented and although the mobo/CPU/PSU/RAM are all only six months old, the cards in this case are over two years old and I've never had trouble before. The Case is the P180B and I have fitted the optional fan in the lower part of the upper chamber so ventilation shouldn't be a problem but things do wear out.

If both cards pass the stress testing on their own, I'll have to consider the PSU I suppose as it should be powerful enough, but might be a bit dodgy. I've got the kit to monitor that in any case.

I'll keep you posted.

Treat yourself!

(Look on the review. Some tool - probably lying - says he sold his car to buy two of them. Bit-tech review shows having two SLi is no better or worse than having one. Big. Face. Palm.)

Mmmm. Nice, but I (still) only have a 1280x1024 screen, although a newer wide-screen is probably on the shopping list for next year in order to display my pictures better. I'm not sure that I will be getting one of those, though. Maybe I can afford one on ebay in a few years, when they are the technical equivalent of the GF4 series compared to today's cards.

The Mars is basically two GTX 285's in SLI. I've just read a review on Guru3d of the 5870 in Crossfire, up against the GTX 285 in SLI. Curiously, both the 285 and the 5870 reach a CPU limit in some games on a 24" with an i7 965 at 3.7ghz. Put 4 of them into the equation and you are into serious overkill territory.

As for the 8800GTS, Cex will buy them for £35, so you could part-ex it against a GTX 260 or 275...

If you do go into the market for a card I can recommend the cheapest GTX275 you can lay your hands on. Its got the full fat core of the 285 and the mem of the 260 Then simply overclock it to the same core/shader/mem as the more expensive (XFX, e.g.) models. It wont break a sweat. You could go further and push it into GTX285 territory too.

Well if I can source an ATi 5870 in the next week or so and it gets good write-ups for folding/boinc then I might be selling my GTX 285 if interested?

I've tested the Leadtek card with 3DMark and put the system into standby without any problems. I'll stick the BFG back in later and try that. Then I guess I'll have to try them in each other's slots to rule out something with the mobo.

If they both work fine after that, then I'll have to pop them both back in and test the PSU as well as trying both with a fan pointing at them, perhaps.

It looks as though the BFG card is knackered. The system now won't work with it in and there is no display.

It gets some way into the Windows boot process, though; because when I pop the other card back in I get the- Normal/Safe Mode menu.

I had a worrying moment when the system wouldn't boot with the Leadtek card in either. I still don't know what went wrong then, but it's OK now.

Time to see if I can get BFG to cough up on their Lifetime warranty.

As for other cards, I haven't been paying that much attention lately- apart from nVidia's appalling name/number system so I'm not totally up to speed. Didn't CPC do a full run down of cards not long ago (last 3/4 months)? I'll have to dig out my back issues.

Ah yes the G80/G92 range of cards got a little messy. G80 8800GTS 320or640MB / G92 8800GT 512MB / G92 8800GTS 512MB was fun for some. Then the 9x series of GT, GS, GSO, etc etc cards.

Its a little simpler now thankfully. GTS250>GTX260>GTX275>GTX280>GTX285>GTX295

Corrected

Thanks. Let me know what you're doing and I'll think about it.

The one thing I'll need to know is how long it is. These larger cards will be tight in a P180. I'll look it up, but you could tell me if you don't mind.