Johnny_Utah

kbnj123

Hi Johnny,
I am running the Asus Sabertooth X79 board with 2 GTX 680's and can't seem to get the cards to run at PCIe 3.0. I downloaded the NVidia patch and applied it but GPU-Z is still reporting PCIe 2.0. I tried disabling SLI and rerunning the patch but still doesn't work.  I'm running Windows 8 and not sure if that may be the issue?  The motherboard is advertised as PCIe 3.0 ready.  Thanks 

After some more reading, it looks like the Sabertooth X79 is another board that has trouble running Gen 3.  Read this thread over at [H]:

http://hardforum.com/show...1039724837   There is a post around the middle that references your board.

I have an update on my Asus Sabertooth X79.  I couldn't seem to get the Nvidia Gen 3 patch to work after lots of troubleshooting and assumed it was my board.  I did a little more researching on the Asus forum and found one post where somebody was having trouble applying the patch as well and someone replied you have to run the patch as Administrator.  That was all it took!   I ran the patch and am now running PCIe- 3.0 with my SLI 680 gtx according to GPU-Z and the NVCP.  Ran some benches and played Far Cry 3 for a few hours with no crashes or instability.  Can't believe it was something so simple.  I wonder how many others who couldn't get their boards working were making this same mistake. 

Johnny_utah: Quick question. What is a sure-fire way to test actual bandwidth between video cards and Gen 3? So far I've only used benchmark programs; is there a program out there that actually reports bandwidth speeds and latency? I'm using the Evga x79 SLI K2, with the 3820, and have two 660Tis running in SLI that are both "reporting" Gen 3, and have seen significant improvements from Gen 2 and Gen 3 running Heaven benchmark, maxxing everything out, but haven't found a program that reports hard numbers. I've also used GPU-Z's render testing program and they both report Gen 3 @ x16.
 
If I can get a program that reports hard numbers, and it's successful, I will write down my bios settings for the PCI slots and upload them here.
[Note: 2x MSI Power Edition 660TI, 2GB version. Will change these out in the future, I'm already aware of the restricted memory bus that the 660TI has, but these were on sale.]

Kalanium
Johnny_utah: Quick question. What is a sure-fire way to test actual bandwidth between video cards and Gen 3? So far I've only used benchmark programs; is there a program out there that actually reports bandwidth speeds and latency? I'm using the Evga x79 SLI K2, with the 3820, and have two 660Tis running in SLI that are both "reporting" Gen 3, and have seen significant improvements from Gen 2 and Gen 3 running Heaven benchmark, maxxing everything out, but haven't found a program that reports hard numbers. I've also used GPU-Z's render testing program and they both report Gen 3 @ x16.

If I can get a program that reports hard numbers, and it's successful, I will write down my bios settings for the PCI slots and upload them here.
[Note: 2x MSI Power Edition 660TI, 2GB version. Will change these out in the future, I'm already aware of the restricted memory bus that the 660TI has, but these were on sale.]

 
Yes, you can do this. Take a look at my thread here:
 
http://forums.evga.com/tm.aspx?m=1802693

The fact that this thread is even necessary is a testament to the hassle of the EVGA boards.  Many of us have shelled out hundreds on crapware and find that competitor boards get the job done far better and with no issues for what was a comparable price originally.  Your better value now is to melt and resell the 300% more gold off the socket pins (FTW and Classy only) and then go buy a competitors.

I will perform tests at 8x 3.0, and 16x 2.0 to see how they compare, however I think I did have some stability issues running 8x 3.0 but will attempt again to be certain. I will post results here.
TLDR; Linuxrouter is correct. The bandwidth is nearly double that between GEN2 and GEN3 x16

Update:
I was able to get them to revert back to 2.0 x16 without any issues, but it appears that only one card would go to x8 3.0, while the other one went x8 2.0. This could be a big issue for someone who is planning on adding a discrete sound card or  RevoDrive. As expected, there was a significant difference in bandwidth between 2.0 and 3.0 x16, of nearly a 100% increase between 2.0 and 3.0 on the x79 SLI K2.


Over the next few days I will attempt to get these cards running at x8/x8 3.0, but it may require me actually opening up my computer and moving a video card back to the top slot, which is an x8 slot. If I cannot get them to work at x8 3.0, I will post the result here as well.

So I updated my drivers to these new certified drivers expecting to have to regedit again, but they are still at 3.0.  Strange.  So a driver update doesn't undo the reg hack eh?

dustingg

gutcheck

So I updated my drivers to these new certified drivers expecting to have to regedit again, but they are still at 3.0.  Strange.  So a driver update doesn't undo the reg hack eh?

That's weird man,

Every time I update the driver I have to run the reg key again to enable gen3.

Did you check with CPUZ or in the Nvidia control panel?

 
I will install later today and report my results.  That is certainly a anomaly.

dustingg

Johnny_Utah

dustingg

gutcheck

So I updated my drivers to these new certified drivers expecting to have to regedit again, but they are still at 3.0.  Strange.  So a driver update doesn't undo the reg hack eh?

That's weird man,

Every time I update the driver I have to run the reg key again to enable gen3.

Did you check with CPUZ or in the Nvidia control panel?

I will install later today and report my results.  That is certainly a anomaly.

Hi there Johnny,

Do you mean that having to re-run the reg key every time the driver is installed is a weird anomaly?

I thought that's normal behavior since the driver reg is wiped everytime the driver is installed?

 
Hey bro,
 
Sorry my statement was a bit vague.  I meant that Gut's findings were anomalous.  From everything we know, the Nvidia patch must be run every time that one installs new drivers. 

Johnny_Utah

Just installed the new drivers and I can report that the link speed reverted back to 2.0.  I disabled SLI, ran patch and now running at 3.0 once again.

 
 
Does Nvidia recommend disabling SLI for driver install and the Gen3 reg key?
 
I've never done it that way before. I do however disable SLI when I go to enable KBOOST in precisionX but that's the only time.
Thanks
 

Johnny_Utah

dustingg

Johnny_Utah

Just installed the new drivers and I can report that the link speed reverted back to 2.0.  I disabled SLI, ran patch and now running at 3.0 once again.

Does Nvidia recommend disabling SLI for driver install and the Gen3 reg key?

I've never done it that way before. I do however disable SLI when I go to enable KBOOST in precisionX but that's the only time.
Thanks

To be honest, I am not sure what Nvidia recommends.  The only way I could even get 1/3 of my 680's or Titan's recognized on the EVGA Classified X79 is by disabling SLI and then running the patch......so I have continued that same practice on my RIVF:)

Yeah you need to disable SLI before applying.  There's a key that gets updated for each card but when SLI is enabled there's only one active so it only gets applied to that one instead of all of them.

when using nvida Pci e force-enable-gen3 patch... as administrator..
 
does it confirms the patching process?
For me its simply flashes and nothing shows of confirmation that operation is complited or failed..
 
and so in GPUZ it shows PCie 2

mwparrish

Johnny_Utah

dustingg

Johnny_Utah

Just installed the new drivers and I can report that the link speed reverted back to 2.0.  I disabled SLI, ran patch and now running at 3.0 once again.

Thanks for this info, I'll be doing driver installs this way from now.

Does Nvidia recommend disabling SLI for driver install and the Gen3 reg key?

I've never done it that way before. I do however disable SLI when I go to enable KBOOST in precisionX but that's the only time.
Thanks

To be honest, I am not sure what Nvidia recommends.  The only way I could even get 1/3 of my 680's or Titan's recognized on the EVGA Classified X79 is by disabling SLI and then running the patch......so I have continued that same practice on my RIVF:)

Yeah you need to disable SLI before applying.  There's a key that gets updated for each card but when SLI is enabled there's only one active so it only gets applied to that one instead of all of them.

frankythecat

hi guys.
I tested on my X79 Classified K2 the bandwidth. I have two GTX 680 in SLI mode, one in slot 1 and one in slot 3.

Gen2



Gen3



The bandwidth is greater, but it will not with two gpu faster, 3Dmark 11 extreme have tested with the same result.

You aren't going to see a difference in benchmarks. It is more for people gaming in surround 

I think yes, I have a 151-SE-E779-K2, but I have also problems with usb3.