Hey,
 
Not really sure where to turn for this issue. Gunna post on Geforce Forums as well, but I cannot get SLi 3D Vision to work with my setup below. I am at my wits end with it. I contact EVGA support an wasn't able to assist other than it'll take a few weeks an someone will contact me back...
 
 
 The Issue I am experiencing is that 3D Surround 2 Way SLi shows no performance increase over 1 card. While both cards with show 99%-100% useage on the core, the 2nd card is not doing ANYTHING other than making heat and wasting energy.

I have tested with 347.90,337.88,345.20,347.52,347.25, and 344.11. The issue persists through all driver versions. I have ran 3 in game benchmarks with fraps running and all measurements were done with not only my system, but wife's system as well. 


Now while I have 4 of the GTX 980 Classified's , all testing was done in 2Way SLi with only 2 cards in the system. This is confirmed by testing 2 GTX 980 in SLi an single GTX 980 in both rigs, the results are identical in 3D Surround. Some of these games are 3D Vision Ready, some are marked Excellent. 

I tested with 2D Surround 2Way SLi and Single Card 2D to show that SLi is scaling works great in 2D but never,nada,zilch in 3D.

I have tested 9 games.The games tested are , Tomb Raider,Batman Arkham Origins, Batman Arkham City,Mafia II,Metro Last Light Redux, Metro 2033 Redux, Grid Autosport, Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4.

These results are from 3 tests back to back with same amount of processes running in the background. 
The test are laid out as Test, 1,2,3 from left to right. 

Here is my results:
 
Batman Arkham Origins
 
3D Surround 2 Way SLI
 
Min. 40    40   40
Max.58    58   59 
Avg.46    46   46
 
Single Card 3D Surround
 
Min.   41     39    41
Max.  83   124  103
Avg.  48      48   48
 
2D Surround 2 Way SLi
 
Min.    78      97      97
Max. 219     230    226
Avg.  159    161    160
 
2D Single Card Surround
 
Min.   73      73     73
Max.271     245   177
Avg.  98       98     97
 
 Grid Autosport
 
3D Surround 2 Way SLi
 
Min.  44.07       43.30    42.80
Max. 67.35       64.35    65.29
Avg.  54.04       53.21    53.47
 
Single Card 3D Surround
 
Min.  49.96      50.80      50.32
Max. 79.10      79.99      78.63
Avg.  64.25      62.81     63.24
 
2D Surround 2 Way SLi
 
Min. 136      136       131.18
Max. 216     210       215.34
Avg. 187     179.22   181.53
 
Single Card 2D Surround
 
Min. 117.53       115.35      117.44
Max.164.72       162.48      165.27
Avg. 140.24      137.57      138.48
 
Tomb Raider
 
3D Surround 2 Way SLi
 
Min. 62.0     60.0     60.0
Max.94.0     94.0     94.0
Avg.76.1     76.5     76.8
 
3D Surround Single Card
 
Min. 64.0     64.0     60.0
Max.96.0     94.0     96.0
Avg. 77.9     78.8     78.1
 
2D Surround 2Way SLi
 
Min. 236.0     240.0     234.0 
Max.346.0     346.0     350.0
Avg. 289.3     291.3     288.8
 
2D Surround Single Card
 
Min. 134.0    136.0   134.0
Max.204.0    188.0   198.0
Avg. 162.6    163.2   163.0
 
Batman Arkham City
 
3D Surround 2 Way SLi
 
Min. 35     35     35
Max.65     66     66
Avg.50     50     50
 
3D Surround Single Card
 
Min. 41     41     41
Max.64     65     66
Avg. 52     52     52

 
2D Surround 2 Way SLi
 
Min.   50      49       49
Max.160     158     151
Avg.  95       96       95
 
2D Surround Single Card
 
Min.   41     41      41
Max.104    102    101
Avg.  76      76     75
 
Metro Last Light Redux
 
3D Surround 2Way SLi
 
Min.    3.89        8.64        8.13
Max.141.50    133.16     141.36
Avg.  18.08      18.02      17.89
 
3D Surround Single Card
 
Min.     8.71        8.99        8.35
Max. 123.21    142.37     143.91
Avg.   18.65      18.57       18.56
 
2D Surround 2 Way SLi
 
Min.    14.82      19.13       18.09
Max. 204.08     196.50     214.08
Avg.   68.21       68.84       68.56
 
2D Surround Single Card
 
Min.   13.64       14.06      14.12
Max.194.86     205.76     188.47
Avg.  38.15       38.28       38.06
 
Metro 2033 Redux

3D Surround 2Way SLi
min.   11.12     7.98     9.91
Max. 153.63   91.68  126.58
Avg.   20.57   20.54    20.44

3D Surround Single Card

Min.   9.87    12.49    11.13
Max. 69.46    77.93    49.74
Avg. 21.51    21.40    21.27

2D Surround 2Way SLi

Min. 9.24 20.08 22.08
Max. 245.16 219.97 249.94
Avg. 70.46 71.36 71.04

2D Surround Single Card

Min. 15.04 15.18 16.04
Max. 190.29 187.62 200.44
Avg. 41.52 41.38 41.56

The One exception I found was Mafia II. 3D Surround 2Way SLi did scale for more performance as expected.This in game benchmark only shows Avg fps so i will enter that.

Mafia II

3D Surround 2Way SLi

Avg. 99.2 99.9 99.5

3D Surround Single Card
Avg. 45.9 46.1 46.1

2D Surround 2Way SLi

Avg. 147.1 150.2 149.7

2D Surround Single Card

Avg. 99.3 99.7 99.6
 
This was 13hours of testing last night into 6am this morning. I spoken to a Nvidia Rep on the phone earlier an email him all this same info. Hopefully they contact me back soon. If you compare 3D 2 Way SLi to 3D Single card, you can see the only performance increase is while using one card vs 2? Even the Nvidia rep told me something isn't right obviously. Maybe EVGA can use these results for testing in their rig as the EVGA spoke of doing.

 
What is the framerate (how many frames per second) with 3D vision enabled?  Please note that the framerate with 3D vision enabled is capped.  With a 120Hz monitor, you will only see 60 FPS per eye (120 FPS total alternating eye to eye) and no more than that.

khatru311
I think that you are limited to 120 FPS when 3D vision is enabled. I'll bet you are hovering around 119-120 FPS right?
 
Also, There was a long thread a while back on the nvidia forums talking about how 3-way SLI and 3D version will not work together. With SLI (2 cards) 3D vision makes sense. 2 frames being rendered = 1 frame per videocard. However, if you use 3-way SLI what does the 3rd card do with only 2 frames to render? 



Card 1 + Frame 1



Card 2 + Frame 2



Card 3 = ? / PHYSX



I'm sure someone can provide a better explanation than I can. Basically, only 2 cards are used for 3D Vision with the 3rd being used for other tasks like PHYSX in 3-way SLI.

Yeah, I've test this with 2 an 3 way with only 2 cards in system an only 1 an I yield Identical results. Until I buy my waterblocks I have only been using 2 way sli for most part. I did test both Battlefields and Grid Autosport with 3Way sli and again 3way vs only 2 way vs only 1 card. FPS is still identical. :(

khatru311
3D Vision is essentially V-sync. Not is the Max you get with it on is 63 FPS. 3D Vision forces V-Sync I believe. The best you can hope for is a more stable 60 FPS. Check this thread out.
 
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/470253/gtx-480-scaling-in-sli/?offset=15#3344461
 
 

I know with 120hz 3D it is capped with the glasses, but the fps in game is not limited with vsync off. I have seen 76fps in Tomb Raider with 3D Vision Surround on one card. But I get what you are saying. And when flying a jet in BF4 or 3, in the sky flying around it goes up to 100 fps or so as long as I do not look at the ground. And even within that post the claims are you almost receive 100% scaling from SLi with 3D Vision, so I should see something of an increase you would think....

khatru311
I wish I could be of more help. 3D vision support sucks these days so I have fallen off it quite a bit. I used to have better answers for everything. I hope you figure it out!

Thanks man, I appreciate the assistance and hope I do to. It is odd, I mean the way this is looking, one 980 for 3D Vision is the max you can hope for in fps/performance wise. And I thought SLi was created for the most part for running 3D back in the day as the scaling is supposively better, but as you said the support for it has decreased. :(
 
I just tried the 344.11 driver and the issue is the same. :( So I'm not sure what to do, EVGA sent me an email stating that they want to RMA the cards, but if it does the same for 4 cards, how much of a coincidence would it be for 2 cards #12 an 15 an the other 2 are like #726 and 727 for Serial, have identical issue an they will send me 4 cards that do not? I'm gunna swap 2 of the 980's over the my wife's 4690k setup and see if the issue is the same on her rig. While I did not buy all 4 980's specifically for 3D Vision, I would have expected a better experience for 2 cards let alone 3. With knowing 3 is useless for scaling other than physx with 3D Vision, I think I'll list 2 of these for sale on amazon, if they cannot do better fps wise with 3D Vision, I do not think I'll ever go SLi again tbh..... 

Are you getting any lagging or tearing? Also do you have a view of the amount of VRAM utilized usually on based on the first card? Have you decreased the graphics texture to low to compare to other settings?
 
The first one is more the problem if you are. 
 
Having used 3D Vision in Surround I typically get similar FPS as you have but at lower settings I suspect, I've got a 2GB 690 (soon to be replaced) and the texture I need to run for the latest games is now a lot lower medium/high at best rather than ultra. The high settings and above usually produce lagging. Also depending on the game of course. The older games run at 60FPS which is best I've seen (when the 690 was it).
 
Given you have 980 4 way SLI did you follow the recommended set up or tried the various options
http://www.geforce.com//hardware/technology/surround/system-requirements
 
Side note: 3D Vision is demanding and I think that cards are not truly tested until that are tested on 3D Vision (Nvidia). 

And I'm not really sure what to do cause EVGA tech told me they would test and see if they had same results but it could be a couple weeks before I know something. About 20 mins after I got off the phone I received an email that they wanted to RMA all my cards, which imo is silly unless it resolves the issue, but before RMA'ing 4 cards, wouldn't it be more wise to test 2 way sli in house with 3D Vision Surround?

AVictorD

SparkyShaft
And I'm not really sure what to do cause EVGA tech told me they would test and see if they had same results but it could be a couple weeks before I know something. About 20 mins after I got off the phone I received an email that they wanted to RMA all my cards, which imo is silly unless it resolves the issue, but before RMA'ing 4 cards, wouldn't it be more wise to test 2 way sli in house with 3D Vision Surround?

I would have thought they would. Did they say they tested it at all? Worth asking. Did they ask for any logs?
Someone on this thread might verify the VRAM usage on their 980 cards of the games you mentioned to see if the cards are behaving "normally".  The lagging you are getting sounds odd given your config.

I tested all of the games again and here is the vram useage, I will also show 2D Surround vs 3D Surround Scaling. 3D is NON-EXISTANT. Sorry for caps. ;)
 
VRAM Highest Recorded amount via gpu-z
Tomb Raider: 1.666MB (Benchmark)
Batman Arkham Origins: 2.314MB (Benchmark)
Battlefield 3: 2.665MB (Full 64p Bandar Desert Map)
Battlefield 4: 3.172MB (Empty Paracel Storm Map)
I also tried 2XMSAA with 3D Surround on BF3 an BF4 to see if we could hit the vram limit.
Battlefield 3: 2.896MB
Battlefield 4: 3.577MB
 
I didn't bother with Tomb Raider with AA or Batman AO as they both have pretty low useage an with BF3 an 4 already not making it quite to the max, I do not believe they would have either. 

AVictorD
Any overclocking? CPU, RAM & Cards. System RAM tests prove good? Precision X or MSI Burner running in background/startup? Stop them.

My cpu is overclocked, I've just updated the bios earlier to the 1301 an I ran it all at system defaults and the issue persisted. My ram is one step lower xmp profile than the stock speed of 2800, so running 2666@1.2v. 2800 needs 1.35 so i leave it at 1.2. While I did overclock my gpu's for my 3D Mark testing(http://forums.evga.com/GTX-980-Classified-Single2Way3Way4Way-SLI-FireStrike-Fun-m2305581.aspx) when I got my last 2 cards, I did not bother with it at all.
 
I do run Precision in the background and killing it does not render any form of a performance increase with SLi.
 
I am currently working on 2D Surround vs 3D Surround Sli scaling testing, when I finish all these benches(Insert alot of games here)it is pretty obvious that they have either botched the drivers, or my system is having an issue beyond my control. :*(
 
 

So no one on these forums uses 3D Vision Surround with SLi?

Erkose

SparkyShaft
So no one on these forums uses 3D Vision Surround with SLi?

I have the same issue as well with my EVGA 980 sc in sli with 3d vision. Single monitor, the new Asus Rog Swift. Is that the monitor you are using? There are some large threads over on Nvidia's forums. It seems 3d vision with sli is not using the 2nd card right now (probably with the new monitors), hopefully its an nvidia driver issue and they will fix it. I did one Heaven benchmark test on my several year old asus 1080p 3d vision monitor and both cards were working on it, but not my new rog swift.
I think the reason people (myself included) are upgrading GPU's and monitors now are for 1440p 3d vision. Otherwise your better off just stepping up to 4k and using 2d like most people who do not appreciate (or just have never seen how great 3d is).
If you haven't RMAD's your cards tell EVGA to talk to nvidia. Maybe with enough pressure someone will figure this out. New cards won't help this.

I'm sorry I haven't updated this yet, I spoke with Nvidia and did alot of testing for them at their request and forwarded all the info, Ray from Nvidia stated they were sending all that information to their research/lab to be replicated, once they have replicated it would be onto dev team to fix the driver. Once I hear back from Ray I will post it all here. Hopefully they get it fixed soon. :)

Any updates from NVidia? I'd love to play the new star wars in 3d surround when it hits.