Help on a SLI setup

[Nelchior]

Hi Guys!

Just got my vive today, I'm pumped. Or at least I was pumped three hours ago.
I can't get it to work!

I've got two 980Ti's and I'm not sure what goes where. I don't have a monitor, my computer is plugged to my HDTV through an HDMI cable. I tried to plug the TV to the motherboard's HDMI and the Vive to my first GPU, doesn't work. I tried the TV on GPU1 while the Vive is plugged on GPU2, doesn't work either.

I can't find anything online, and I do not have any other cables than HDMI one. No DVI no VGA

Does anyone know what I'm supposed to do?

[Omikron81]

When using SLI all screens have to be plugged in on GPU1. I would suggest you use the HDMI out for your tv and get a "mini-displayport to displayport"-cable for connecting the vive.

[Nelchior]

My TV doesn't support dispayport. What are my other options ?

[Omikron81]

the vive breakout box has a mini-displayport right next to the hdmi socket on the pc side (looks almost like a square mini usb port).
you use hdmi with your tv and displayport/mini-displayport for the vive

[QuackingPlums]

Originally posted by Omikron81:

When using SLI all screens have to be plugged in on GPU1. I would suggest you use the HDMI out for your tv and get a "mini-displayport to displayport"-cable for connecting the vive.

I've read this elsewhere too but I've got my screens on GPU1 and my Vive on GPU2 - what is the reasoning behind this? I have two 980s (non-Ti) which have 3 DPs and 1 HDMI on each.

[Omikron81]

Google "Nvidia SLI multi monitor". On the Nvidia FAQ it is stated that only two monitors on GPU1 will work.
Support for more monitors is up to your graphics card manufacturer.
I use two Gigabyte GTX970 in SLI and Gigabyte officially supports up to 4 monitors using ports from both cards. But not every manufacturer and/or card can do that.
Just check your graphics cards manual.

[QuackingPlums]

Originally posted by Omikron81:

Google "Nvidia SLI multi monitor". On the Nvidia FAQ it is stated that only two monitors on GPU1 will work.
Support for more monitors is up to your graphics card manufacturer.
I use two Gigabyte GTX970 in SLI and Gigabyte officially supports up to 4 monitors using ports from both cards. But not every manufacturer and/or card can do that.
Just check your graphics cards manual.

Weird - that's gotta be outdated information, right? The first search result I found refers to the GTX295 and the FAQ refers to R180 drivers, which are from 2008/9 era? Those cards worked in master/slave mode, quite unlike the current generation of SLI.

I've been using triple-wide in 2D surround since my GTX580 SLI setup and I've never noticed there being a problem with having more than two monitors on one card. I guess I've been lucky with all the cards I've bought since then as I've never thought to check.

As for the OP, I was convinced mine wasn't working at first because the Vive wasn't showing up as an additional screen in the NVidia control panel. It turned out that the error I was getting was because my lighthouses weren't working properly and Vive setup wouldn't recognise the HMD without them. I almost ripped out my second card in frustration to eliminate the possibility of an SLI issue but it suddenly started working. Do you have a spare monitor that can take a different input to test it? In my setup now the HMD will work in either HDMI port, but it is my only HDMI device.

[Omikron81]

I don't have another HDMI device. Just using DVI or DP for my screens.

But have fun then I guess :D