how do i get two 7800 gtx's to run in sli mode on fc4
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how do i get two 7800 gtx's to run in sli mode on fc4
very new to linux but ill learn
the problem is i cant get both gfx cards to run one monitor the nvidia drivers installed fine but the motherboard drivers didn't so I wondering if the sli mode function is with the motherboard drivers, something you have to download somewhere, cant be done with linux yet, or just a setting i wasn't able to find
i do know they run in sli because winxp can run both
also fc4 sees both as card 0 and card 1
the computer hardware is listed below anything on this would be great because I can't have glx gears sitting at a mere 20,012 fps on a 800X600 window
2 gigs of kingston hyper x ram
a 4800+ amd dual core 64 bit processor
the asus a8n sli deluxe motherboard
2 nvidia 7800 gtx cards
Last edited by cmorelinux; 08-21-2005 at 02:35 PM.
if u are new to linux, i'm no expert, but i'm not new and i've tried several versions of most major distributions on several pieces of hardware,
and i'd not recommend redhat or fedora to first users. not because it's not easy enough, but because i have found that while it may work more times straight off the shelf (or out of the burner) than other distros, if u do have problems, they are not as easily fixed as if u were using suse, or even, in my
opinion, gentoo. i wish i had started out on gentoo, because i'd know a lot more these past 7 years of messing with linux. of course i don't think gentoo was around back then. but it is definately my choice now, followed by suse, and if they don't work, i fall back to fedora. if i were going to spend a couple hundred on a distro, i'd probly buy redhat enterprise ws but i've only ever used suse for a production system, and that was only for a file server. i just assume that more workstation programs like maya might work better on redhat than suse. but anyway, i digress.
i have dual bfg 7800gtx oc cards in a dfi lanparty with the 4800. my 4800 is clocked at 2.75 since it's running on a vapochill ls (and i'm being very conservative at that), but otherwise we have the same system aproximately. of course, i use gentoo. fedora core 4 wouldn't install. (at least the 64 bit version). problems with suse, and actually every distro and version i tried except gentoo 2005.1 (not gentoo 2005.0 because of what i believe i read was an smp issue). the hardware is stable, since i tested on winxp x64 edition running two processes of the 64 bit prime95 with no errors. (the bfg is at the default shipped oc speed i assume, and since playing rome total war and hl2 worked in sli mode, i believe i've got stable hardware).
anyway, i am really asking a question more than offering opinion; how do i know if linux is running in sli mode. i only have one monitor, and im not particularly inclined to chance fate and plug the one into a different port to see if i have signal... anyway i'd have to enable it in the xorg.conf file i guess.
in other words, i don't know, but i might be operating in sli mode with my system. of course, that's no help to u since, A) i'm running gentoo
and B) currently, although kde seems stable, i'm posting from this machine, even though i switched to nvidia opengl according to gentoo suggestions, and have glx loaded as module in xorg.conf, such that
$ glxinfo | grep direct
direct rendering: Yes
glxgears loads a black window and the mouse immediately begins slowing down.... down... down.. an
wait, now it works... i should have said that's what happened when i first tried it under the plain jane xorg server without kde. now that i set up kde, it works. i also subsequently saw somewhere that perhaps sli won't work until december if that.
who could need it before then? if u do, check out monarch computers... i just saw where they build linux systems, and just now they might have a linux based dual opteron sli config... holy whatever.
cool thanks for the info but i have a friend who does everything linux so im set with any tech support i need but thanks for the concern
the way i could tell if its in dual or not the back plate on the heat sink for the second gfx card will be cold vs the other one after you run them for a while
wow, haven't been here in a while, and i forgot about posting here.
the idea of testing the heat up of the gpus is great, hadn't thought
of that. of course, now that nvidia did release sli mode i know i
wasn't using sli mode, for sure.
anyway, just thought i'd post an interesting tidbit, which, given the
info being in the wrong place, probly won't help anyone... although
some of it's relevant...
the system i called stable is now dead. it was completely stable for
about a month. then i did something i regret to the tune of $1000s
(as is probly obvious, the 4800 was at the time around $800 alone.
actually, monarch, who sold me the cpu mainboard combo, and now
another machine, said they will replace it one time even though i
overclocked it, but they won't in the future. i have to send
it back and wait a month or two to get it back, but in the mean
time i just bought a complete system from monarch to replace it.
what i did was fairly ironic. they say overclocking breaks your
system. most people know the dangers there, but isn't it funny
how it's the little almost unrelated detail that gets you in
the end. like i said, the system was 100% stable. i think
hardcore overclockers will tell u it was extremely conservative
for the lightspeed.
well, one day (uptime maybe 20 or 30 days including some playing
hl2 with transgaming, and this is a 64 bit os mind u) i decided
i needed to boot back up into windows to try out some windows only
3d software or something. when i reboot linux, i almost
always use "shutdown -r now"
maybe cause i like to test my knowledge and make sure i remember
common options, i almost unconsiously typed "shutdown -h now" instead.
the problems began when the lightspeed cooler didn't turn off with
the computer. the fatal blow came only moments later when i ignored
the directions i had read a few months back that said never to unplug
the lightspeed or computer when power was on.
i don't remember if i pulled the passthru connector completely out or
just the power cord. but whatever i did, must have send a deadly back-emf
or some kind of voltage spike back thru my power supply and into my
cpu/mainboard. lesson: if using a lighspeed refrigerator cooler,
particularly with the passthru style power cord, NEVER, NEVER,
NEVER, pull out the power cord while EITHER the cpu OR the
lightspeed are on (although i'm still unclear why the lightspeed
failed to shutdown in the first place). in fact, never unplug it at all.
if u absolutely have to, and what i should have done, power down the
apc smartups 1500 (pure sine wave ups ~1000watts) that u better be using
with it (to avoid power problems beyond your control in the first place).
then, i guess, you ought to wait those 30 seconds at least that they used
to tell u to wait, when u powered down your apple IIe, or in my case,
the franklin-got-sued-by-apple-for-making-the-clone computer that i had.
i think it was called the ACE2000 or something like that. this was also
a computer whose typewriter like keyboard was apparently susceptible to
static discharge, leading to failure of the electronics behind it after
a while (symptoms were it wouldn't accept any input at all). after that,
we used some silly static discharge mat that sat under the franklin and
said "touch me first" on it. it was supposedly using some kind of
static conductive plastic or something, but it was plastic with some
black etching (maybe that's what was conuctive... don't know) and it
had a ground wire that went to your power outlet center screw for ground.
anyway, i digress, although that's the last time i have had such a weird
hardware problem as this, and it's funny to think back.
the system never booted windows or linux again. there are lights on
a front panel that indicate phases of bios loading, and it never got
beyond the first one as i recall. cpu, monarch agreed was probably
dead, although i still haven't told them im using a lightspeed.
at least i was smart enough not to tell them that. when they asked
me if i had overclocked, the pride and stupidity and anger at the time
caused me to blurt out, yes, but only very conservatively.... blah
blah blah. they were nice enough to let me go on the issue.
but man oh man. the next two months sucked big time without a computer.
now, to get to the part that's semi relavant here...
i bought an empro custom sli machine from monarch and just kept the
video cards from the dead system (which still work 100% fine; thanks,
bfg). it's using a supermicro H8DCE (which may have been customized by
monarch?) motherboard, and two opteron 280 cpus, for a total of 4
2.4 GHz cpus. and i had them throw in 4gigs of ECC ram (man memory
_is_ getting cheap). a couple of hard drives and a dvd burner later,
and the config came up to around $4000, which i will be paying off
until im finished school probly. but considering the number of
virtual machines i can run simultaneously on this monster, i figure
i've consolidated 4 machines into one. i was literally playing
half life 2 on one screen and playing a dvd on another.
_begin relevant info_ :-)
which didn't affect performance too much. but i soon found that
half life 2 was somewhat slow compared to my friend's windows
system which wasn't as powerfull as mine. many potential reasons
for this aside, i decided to figure out this sli stuff. luckily
this was, by now, after nvidia released sli capable drivers.
note that, if im not mistaken, there was a time when the linux
driver supported using the two video cards with 4 monitors while
the windows driver didn't allow the two cards to be used like that,
and the linux driver didn't, of course, allow sli while windows did.
regardless, while i like my two monitors, i don't even want 4. but
some people might, and i'm just glad nvidia helps makes linux possible.
if it were just ati, and there approach of semi open source, right now
i wouldn't be as much into linux i think. although i haven't tried
really recent ati cards, i'm still skepticle.
anyway, here's my xconfig for dual monitors connected one to each
card (btw, i don't think 2 monitors connected to the same
card would allow separate 3d games on each monitor, or dvd on one
and 3d full screen on another, but i really don't know, im
guessing) hope it helps someone out...
# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display
Section "Files"
# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database. Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db"). There is normally
# no need to change the default.
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.
Section "InputDevice"
# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"
# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
# Option "XkbDisable"
# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"
#
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection
Next, here's my config for sli mode with the same hookup. (one monitor
is unused.)...
# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (root@mirkwood) Fri Jan 13 21:40:43 EST 2006
# File generated by xorgconfig.
#
#
# Section "InputDevice"
# Identifier "Mouse2"
# Driver "mouse"
# Option "Protocol" "MouseMan"
# Option "Device" "/dev/mouse2"
# EndSection
#
# Section "InputDevice"
# Identifier "spaceball"
# Driver "magellan"
# Option "Device" "/dev/cua0"
# EndSection
#
# Section "InputDevice"
# Identifier "spaceball2"
# Driver "spaceorb"
# Option "Device" "/dev/cua0"
# EndSection
#
# Section "InputDevice"
# Identifier "touchscreen0"
# Driver "microtouch"
# Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"
# Option "MinX" "1412"
# Option "MaxX" "15184"
# Option "MinY" "15372"
# Option "MaxY" "1230"
# Option "ScreenNumber" "0"
# Option "ReportingMode" "Scaled"
# Option "ButtonNumber" "1"
# Option "SendCoreEvents"
# EndSection
#
# Section "InputDevice"
# Identifier "touchscreen1"
# Driver "elo2300"
# Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"
# Option "MinX" "231"
# Option "MaxX" "3868"
# Option "MinY" "3858"
# Option "MaxY" "272"
# Option "ScreenNumber" "0"
# Option "ReportingMode" "Scaled"
# Option "ButtonThreshold" "17"
# Option "ButtonNumber" "1"
# Option "SendCoreEvents"
# EndSection
# **********************************************************************
# Monitor section
# **********************************************************************
# Any number of monitor sections may be present
# **********************************************************************
# Graphics device section
# **********************************************************************
# Any number of graphics device sections may be present
# Standard VGA Device:
# Device configured by xorgconfig:
# **********************************************************************
# Screen sections
# **********************************************************************
# Any number of screen sections may be present. Each describes
# the configuration of a single screen. A single specific screen section
# may be specified from the X server command line with the "-screen"
# option.
# **********************************************************************
# ServerLayout sections.
# **********************************************************************
# Any number of ServerLayout sections may be present. Each describes
# the way multiple screens are organised. A specific ServerLayout
# section may be specified from the X server command line with the
# "-layout" option. In the absence of this, the first section is used.
# When now ServerLayout section is present, the first Screen section
# is used alone.
Section "ServerLayout"
# The Identifier line must be present
# Each Screen line specifies a Screen section name, and optionally
# the relative position of other screens. The four names after
# primary screen name are the screens to the top, bottom, left and right
# of the primary screen. In this example, screen 2 is located to the
# right of screen 1.
# Each InputDevice line specifies an InputDevice section name and
# optionally some options to specify the way the device is to be
# used. Those options include "CorePointer", "CoreKeyboard" and
# "SendCoreEvents".
Identifier "Simple Layout"
Screen "Screen 1" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection
Section "Files"
# The location of the RGB database. Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db"). There is normally
# no need to change the default.
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (which are concatenated together),
# as well as specifying multiple comma-separated entries in one FontPath
# command (or a combination of both methods)
#
#
# FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/CID/"
# FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/Speedo/"
# The module search path. The default path is shown here.
# ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/local/"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/freefont/"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/unifont/"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/sharefonts"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/ttf-bitstream-vera"
EndSection
Section "Module"
# This loads the DBE extension module.
# This loads the miscellaneous extensions module, and disables
# initialisation of the XFree86-DGA extension within that module.
# This loads the font modules
# This loads the GLX module
# Load "dri"
Load "dbe" # Double buffer extension
SubSection "extmod"
Option "omit xfree86-dga" # don't initialise the DGA extension
EndSubSection
Load "type1"
# Load "speedo"
Load "freetype"
# Load "xtt"
Load "glx"
# This loads the DRI module
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
# For most OSs the protocol can be omitted (it defaults to "Standard").
# When using XQUEUE (only for SVR3 and SVR4, but not Solaris),
# uncomment the following line.
# Option "Protocol" "Xqueue"
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"
# Option "LeftAlt" "Meta"
# Option "RightAlt" "ModeShift"
# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
# These are the default XKB settings for Xorg
# Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
# Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
# Option "XkbLayout" "us"
# Option "XkbVariant" ""
# Option "XkbOptions" ""
# Option "XkbDisable"
Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "kbd"
Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
# Identifier and driver
# Option "Resolution" "256"
# When using XQUEUE, comment out the above two lines, and uncomment
# the following line.
# Option "Protocol" "Xqueue"
# Baudrate and SampleRate are only for some Logitech mice. In
# almost every case these lines should be omitted.
# Option "BaudRate" "9600"
# Option "SampleRate" "150"
# Emulate3Buttons is an option for 2-button Microsoft mice
# Emulate3Timeout is the timeout in milliseconds (default is 50ms)
# Option "Emulate3Buttons"
# Option "Emulate3Timeout" "50"
# ChordMiddle is an option for some 3-button Logitech mice
# Option "ChordMiddle"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
# Mouse-speed setting for PS/2 mouse.
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
# HorizSync is in kHz unless units are specified.
# HorizSync may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY. REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.
# HorizSync 30-64 # multisync
# HorizSync 31.5, 35.2 # multiple fixed sync frequencies
# HorizSync 15-25, 30-50 # multiple ranges of sync frequencies
# VertRefresh is in Hz unless units are specified.
# VertRefresh may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY. REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.
Identifier "My Monitor"
HorizSync 31.5 - 64.3
VertRefresh 50.0 - 100.0
EndSection
Section "Device"
# The chipset line is optional in most cases. It can be used to override
# the driver's chipset detection, and should not normally be specified.
# Chipset "generic"
# The Driver line must be present. When using run-time loadable driver
# modules, this line instructs the server to load the specified driver
# module. Even when not using loadable driver modules, this line
# indicates which driver should interpret the information in this section.
# The BusID line is used to specify which of possibly multiple devices
# this section is intended for. When this line isn't present, a device
# section can only match up with the primary video device. For PCI
# devices a line like the following could be used. This line should not
# normally be included unless there is more than one video device
# intalled.
# BusID "PCI:0:10:0"
# VideoRam 256
# Clocks 25.2 28.3
Identifier "Standard VGA"
Driver "vga"
VendorName "Unknown"
BoardName "Unknown"
EndSection
note that the bus id is the critical and difficult thing, combined
with figuring out which video card connectors to use. the busIDs
changed from my old dead system based on the dfi lanparty. also
the serverlayout changed, i think... hopefully this kind of info
helps someone solve their own problems.
here is the config from my old system, that, with the old nvidia
driver, allowed two monitors on separate cards, comparable to the
config i'm using now with the new driver & new motherboard.
finally, note that, with the dfi lanparty, i didn't have to
unjumper the mainboard sli mode jumpers back to non sli mode
in order for it to work. that old system dual booted with windows
which worked in sli mode fine, for what it's worth.
the monarch empro im using now doesn't even have sli jumpers.
OH... i almost forgot... to switch between sli mode and dual
display mode i just swap the config files above, and reboot.
(and no, i haven't had a problem rebooting on this new machine.
i even dared to try shutdown -h now again!!!!) yes, i do have
to reboot. i know nvidia under windows now might not need to
reboot. oh well.
as usual, my messages are too long. this time it offended the server...heh.
here's the dual monitor config i mentioned from my old system.
in the previous post, i also had to take out some comments from
the second config file... hopefully i didn't mangle it. sorry
to whover had the legal stuff on it...
again, im posting these because the busIDs might help some people
along in setting up their systems. i don't understand them, but
by trial and error i got them to work. that's all.
# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display
Section "Files"
# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database. Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db"). There is normally
# no need to change the default.
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.
Section "InputDevice"
# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"
# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
# Option "XkbDisable"
# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"
#
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection
Wow, such an uber longpost. I was reading old posts about SLi problems and waded through that.
BTW, any PSU that allows a collapsing field EMF spike to pass on power-fail is a worthless PoC. Frankly I'd sue the supplier for fitting it in the first place but I guess it's kinda water under the bridge now.
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