GTX 970 SLI bridge question

[Dag_Darnit]

I see there are two connectors for SLI. I want to run dual cards. Do I need two bridges or just one? If only one is needed, does it matter which SLI connector I use? I've been googling the hell outta this and cannot find anything helpful and images shows that people have either used one or both SLI connections. I only have one bridge on hand, and no matter how I connect it, left, right, bridge flipped 180, my rig says my bridge isn't connected. I just upgraded from an SLI GTX 660, so I know the bridge itself isn't the problem. All drivers are installed successfully. Corsair AX 850watt. Power connectors all in place. Please advise

[CursedPanther]

Just one.

If in doubt, you can always check the link status in the NVIDIA Control Panel.

[Air]

The card having two SLI fingers is for three- to four-way SLI, so you don't have to worry about filling those.

Perhaps you have a faulty SLI bridge?

[Dag_Darnit]

just upgraded from two GTX 660s in SLI. Bridge isn't the problem. NVIDIA Control Panel is what's telling me that the bridge is missing

[CursedPanther]

Originally posted by Dag_Darnit:

just upgraded from two GTX 660s in SLI. Bridge isn't the problem. NVIDIA Control Panel is what's telling me that the bridge is missing

The NCP doesn't exactly tell you if a physical link is present, or that the bridge is physically damaged in some way. You'll be given the option for turning on SLI once everything is connected properly.

[[☥] - CJ -]

You can try bridging either set of connectors, but only 1 set needs to be bridged not both.

Use a program like HWMonitor and check the clock speeds. if the SLI is working and enabled then the clock speeds of both cards will change at the same time and use the same clocks..

If its not working correctly they wont be using the same clock speeds.

[The Rock God]

Are your two 970s identical? They don't need to be, but I figure they probably are if you just got them. If not, exactly which two versions of the 970 are they?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

GTX 970 have two physical pin-outs for SLI because such a GPU as that supports more than 2-way SLI

NVIDIA GPUs with only a single SLI pin-out only support 2-way SLI maximum.

Your system will have no SLI connection until u launch NVIDIA Control Panel and Enable it manually. It will be Auto-Disabled when removal of a Bridge or GPU, but not Auto-Enabled. The reason SLI is not "forced On" is because u will find some Apps/Games will not play well with SLI on, so u may need to toggle SLI as needed.


Above all, U must have a Motherboard that has "NVIDIA SLI Support" as many cheaper motherboards may only support AMD CrossFire unless the specs state otherwise.


Here is good examples of SLI:

http://www.overclock3d.net/gfx/articles/2014/09/24041012928l.png

http://forums.evga.com/download.axd?file=0;2319961

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/sli

https://forums.geforce.com/default/board/50/sli

Sometimes SLI has "glitches". Even though u changed GTX 960 to 970; do a full uninstall of your NVIDIA Drivers and only install a single GPU whenever u mess with the Driver install process. Once the single GPU is there and NVIDIA Drivers clean-installed (via Custom > Clean Install method) and you've rebooting and verify single GPU is working fine. Then shutdown and install 2nd GPU + PCIE connections and SLI Bridge. Then go into NVIDIA CP and enable SLI.

For now, DO NOT use version 358.xx Drivers; there are well known faults with them. Stick to 355.xx for now til newer Driver releases.

[˜lokkandload˜™]

To SLI the two 970s no they don't need to be the same brand, but should be same clock speeds, or they will scale clock speed down to the slowest card in the pair.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by ~Dirt Na$ty~™:

To SLI the two 970s no they don't need to be the same brand, but should be same clock speeds, or they will scale clock speed down to the slowest card in the pair.

Not true anymore. They need to be "very" close. And this is hard to do if they are different brands.

EVGA for one has a scaling list of all their GPUs that can/can't SLI together; due to some of the various differences between their various model# / revisions of just a single line-up of GPUs; such as their "GTX 970"

[˜lokkandload˜™]

Most different brand/speed of the same cards will work, there is forum discussion about differing brands of 970 not playing nice together yes. There is software called DifferentSLIauto that can possibly address this as well, never tried it don't know, but many claim it works..

[Bad 💀 Motha]

And I've also hearing many claims from people who had their 1st GPU and Drivers all setup and then adding a 2nd GPU and such were problems (like the OP is having) so yea anything is possible.

If u already have your multiple GPUs ready to SLI; first remove the 1st GPU u know works, and run some tests on the now 2nd purchased GPU, running that GPU by itself until it checks out, before attempting SLI setup.