SLI for NVIDIA Quadro: Installation Guide
This document provides the information necessary to successfully install and configure your SLI-
capable graphics boards and system. You may also review the full Installation Guide for
additional information. Topics covered in this document include:
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NVIDIA SLI technology
Motherboard and power supply requirements
SLI hardware setup and configuration
Display driver installation and enabling SLI
SLI questions and answers
NVIDIA SLI Technology
NVIDIA SLI (Scalable Link Interface) technology allows users to install and benefit from two PCI
Express (PCIe) graphics boards in a single PC. Just as dual processors or dual core CPUs
improve compute performance, SLI allows dual GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) to significantly
accelerate graphics performance. Professional users benefit by using SLI technology on dual
NVIDIA Quadro GPUs to span an OpenGL window across multiple displays, or to run a single
application per GPU. Additionally, the SLI connector offers dual GPU performance on a single
display by leveraging the capabilities of two NVIDIA Quadro GPUs.
SLI for NVIDIA Quadro – Definitions
SLI Frame Rendering: Combines two PCI Express graphics boards with an SLI connector to
transparently scale application performance on a single display by presenting them as a single
graphics card to the operating system.
Benefits:
- Visual simulation, broadcast, and video applications that are fill rate-limited will benefit from
using the split frame rendering (SFR) mode.
- SPECviewperf® and other applications that are geometry-limited will benefit from using the
alternate frame rendering (AFR) mode.
Requirements:
- Two identical NVIDIA Quadro FX boards (4400, 3400, 1400)
- SLI connector
SLI Multi View: Combines the power of two NVIDIA Quadro PCI Express graphics boards to span
a single hardware-accelerated OpenGL application window across multiple displays, run a single
application per GPU with multiple display outputs, or enable other flexible usage of two PCI
Express graphics boards.
Benefits:
- View professional applications over multiple displays to increase visual real estate.
- Run a single application per GPU to offload geometry processing to a second GPU.
Figure 2. shows two SLI-capable graphics boards installed in PCI Express expansion slots with
the SLI bridge connector and auxiliary power connector cables installed. From a hardware
perspective this system is ready for SLI driver installation and configuration.
Figure 2.
Now that we have reviewed SLI system requirements let’s proceed with the hardware installation
by performing the following steps in the order given. Obtain the SLI-capable display driver (on the
Quadro Utilities CD included with your NVIDIA Quadro graphics board or on the FTP site). You
* Before removing current graphics boards and installing two NVIDIA Quadro FX boards, please
uninstall any current drivers and save the SLI drivers provided on your Windows desktop. When
removing current NVIDIA drivers (using Start/Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs) please
make sure to ONLY REMOVE NVIDIA DISPLAY DRIVER (In the “Remove NVIDIA Components”
window, select “Remove only the following” and then select “NVIDIA Display Driver”). You can
erase all saved nView profiles as well when asked in the next window that appears.
1. Power off the system and remove the power cord from the power supply.
2. Gently remove or open the systems enclosure (refer to owners manual that came with your
computer if necessary).
3. Perform the installation in a static safe environment and utilize a properly grounded anti-static
wristband. Place any static sensitive components in anti-static bags.
4. If a non-SLI capable graphics board occupies the x16 expansion slot, carefully remove it and
replace it with your SLI-capable graphics board.
5. Install the second SLI-capable graphics board in the adjacent slot, you may also need to
relocate a card and the chosen slot must be x16, x8 or x4 capable.
6. Connect the two graphics boards with the SLI bridge connector (used for SLI Frame Rendering
only).
7. If your graphics boards have an auxiliary power connector, connect them to the power supply
using the supplied power connector cables.
8. Replace the system’s cover and reconnect your display(s) to the SLI-capable graphics board
installed in the x16 expansion slot.
9. Plug the power cable back into the system
If you removed an existing graphics board, or any other PCI Express expansion boards during
this installation place them into antistatic bags/packaging for storage and safekeeping.
Display Driver Installation and Enabling SLI
Follow the steps listed below to install your driver software:
1. Power on the system and log into Windows.
2. Cancel the Windows “Found New Hardware Wizard” (you should see this window twice – one
for each graphics board) and run “setup.exe” in the SLI driver you saved to your desktop
previously to start the software installation process (if you open the zip file, you should see the
setup.exe file).
3. Follow the “Next” prompt to proceed with driver installation. You should see the message
“NVIDIA Quadro FX xxxx has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its compatibility with
Windows XP.” This is because the SLI driver was not included on the Microsoft Windows XP CD.
Click “Continue Anyway” to proceed with driver installation. You should see this message a
second time because the SLI installer will detect the presence of the second graphics board and
install driver software for it as well. If this happens, click “Continue Anyway” a second time.
4. Once the software has been installed, choose “Yes, I want to restart my computer now” and
select “Finish” to reboot the system.
5. After logging back into Windows, you should see the message “SLI capable system” in the
bottom right corner of the screen as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3.
6. Click anywhere on the message above (if the message disappears, right click on the desktop
and select Properties/Settings/Advanced/Quadro FX xxxx/SLI multi-GPU). Check the “Enable SLI
multi-GPU” as shown in the screen capture below and select OK.
Select “Restart”.
Setting Up For Testing
The system is now setup and configured for SLI. When you log back into Windows, you will
default into “SLI Frame Rendering” (single screen) mode. SPECviewperf benchmarks are run in
“SLI Frame Rendering” mode.
SPECviewperf is the benchmark that NVIDIA currently uses to analyze SLI performance for
NVIDIA Quadro graphics. An example of the benchmark results we have recorded can be found
at the bottom of this document.
Before running the SPECviewperf benchmarks, please ensure the display resolution is set to
1280 x 1024 (right click on the desktop and select Properties/Settings).
You will then need to select the appropriate profile in the control panel. You can do this by
selecting: Properties/Settings/Advanced/Quadro FX xxxx/Performance & Quality Settings. In the
“Active profile” drop-down menu, select “3D App – Modeling AFR”.
Finally, you need to turn “Vertical sync” off. While still in the “Performance & Quality Settings”
window, check the “Vertical sync” box under the “Settings for 3D App – Modeling AFR”. Then un-
check the box at the bottom of the window that reads “Application-controlled”.
Select “Apply” and “OK”. You are now ready to run the SPECviewperf benchmarks.
You can download the SPECviewperf benchmarks at: www.spec.org/benchmarks.html#gpc
Comparison Benchmark Results (SLI Frame Rendering for Windows)
Test platform:
HP xw9300 workstation
NVIDIA nForce Professional MCP
Two AMD Opteron 250 processors (2.39 GHz)
1 or 2 NVIDIA Quadro FX 4400 graphics boards
2 GB RAM ECC Registered DRAM
Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2
NVIDIA graphics driver version 77.13
SPECviewperf 8.1 results
Benchmarks
SLI: Two GPUs
Single GPU
Two NVIDIA Quadro FX 4400 boards
One NVIDIA Quadro FX 4400 board
3dsmax-03
catia-01
ensight-01
light-07
maya-01
proe-03
sw-01
36.02
27.97
30.02
21.87
54.19
61.11
34.04
54.59
34.38
26.63
21.83
21.78
53.97
54.96
25.33
37.02
ugs-04
Important Benchmark Reminders
NVIDIA has encountered a number of installation and configuration issues that you need to be
aware of while benchmarking. Here is a checklist of things to look for when your numbers don’t
match some of the numbers provided, or when applications will not run:
1. The NVIDIA Quadro FX 4400 and 3400 graphics solutions require the PCI Express power
dongle.
2. Make sure you test at high resolutions. NVIDIA recommends testing at a minimum resolution of
1280x1024 x 32-bit with a refresh rate of 75Hz. NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics solutions are
designed to push the state of the art for performance and features. They are designed to drive
ultra high resolutions like 1280x1024 and higher.
3. Always disable V-SYNC. V-sync is controlled separately for different APIs. Disabling V-sync is
recommended because all professional workstation applications use double buffering to deliver
high-quality images during dynamic graphics. When running benchmarks built on top of these
applications, synchronization of the swapping display buffers to the monitor vertical retrace can
prevent the GPU from delivering its true performance. This is likely to be the case as GPUs
become increasingly powerful.
a. To disable V-sync in OpenGL go to the Display Properties->Settings->Advanced->
Quadro FX ->Additional Properties->OpenGL Settings->Vertical sync panel. Make sure to
set this to either “Always off” or “Off by default.”
b. To disable V-sync in D3D the “cool bits” feature must be enabled to give you access to
V-sync control in the D3D control panel of the NVIDIA display drivers. Enable this by
using regedit (Start -> Run -> regedit) to add the following registry DWORD:
\\HKLM\Software\NVIDIACorporation\Global\NVTweak\coolbits . Modify the value of this
DWORD to be 3. Once this is enabled you can disable V-sync by entering your Display
Properties->Settings->Advanced-> Quadro FX ->Additional Properties->D3D Settings-
>More D3D->Vertical Sync Mode.
4. Uniformly set the monitor refresh rate. Refresh rate WILL effect performance regardless of
whether V-sync is turned on or off.
5. Install the latest chipset drivers and IDE/SCSI drivers. It’s crucial for you to load the latest AMD
and Intel updates for optimal compatibility/performance. To check for current versions go to:
After installing the chipset drivers, check that the graphics board can correctly use the
AGP by downloading and running the AGP memory utility from here:
Note: If zero AGP memory is available, double-check that the chipset drivers are installed. For
example, when using some Intel P4 chipsets the intelinfinst_enu and the intelata610_enu drivers
may need to be loaded to ensure optimal performance.
6. Run testing from a clean disk. Remains of older or competitor drivers may alter performance.
For best results, you’ll want to reload the OS on a freshly formatted disk.
7. Remove unnecessary startup programs. Unload memory resident software such as anti-virus
or task scheduler software.
8. Restart the application before each test. Optimal scores may not be achieved if applications
aren’t restarted before each test.
9. When benchmarking 3ds max use the MAXtreme Quadro Application utility. This can be
downloaded from NVIDIA’s web site at: http://www.nvidia.com/object/maxtreme_6.00.07.html
10. Use the correct application specific setting within the OpenGL driver. To set the application
setting within the driver go to the Display Properties->Settings->Advanced-> Quadro FX-
>Additional Properties->OpenGL Settings panel and select the appropriate application in the
Custom OpenGL Application Setting pane. Application specific settings exist for many
applications including: 3ds max; AutoCAD; CATIA; Maya / Studio Tools; Pro/ENGINEER; Solid
Edge; SolidWorks; and Unigraphics, among others.
11. Turn off hyperthreading. To achieve maximum performance, particularly in SolidWorks, turn
off hyperthreading.
12. Pay close attention to system memory size. Many benchmarks are sensitive to how much
system memory is in the computer. For example, the 3ds max benchmarks run significantly faster
with 1GB of memory than with 512 MB. This is true regardless of which video card is in the
machine.
13. Always use the latest version of DirectX for testing. To check on the current version, go to:
Note: After selecting the correct application setting REMEMBER TO DISABLE V-SYNC
Configure SLI Multi-View for Linux
To configure SLI Multi-View mode for Linux, please follow these steps:
If you want 2 displays, one per GPU, then use copy the config file XF86Config.sample-2 to
/etc/X11/XF86Config by running these commands.
cp /etc/X11/XF86Config /etc/X11/XF86Config.bak
cp XF86Config.sample-2 /etc/X11/XF86Config
If you want 4 displays, two per GPU, then use copy the config file XF86Config.sample-4 to
/etc/X11/XF86Config by running these commands.
cp /etc/X11/XF86Config /etc/X11/XF86Config.bak
cp XF86Config.sample-4 /etc/X11/XF86Config
You'll need to modify the config file to specify the correct GPUs. To do this, first determine the
BUSID of both of your GPUs. You can do this by running the command
/sbin/lspci | grep -i NVIDIA | grep VGA
You should see output that looks something like this:
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 00f8 (rev a2)
06:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 00f8 (rev a2)
The numbers are the start of two lines (01:00.0 and 05:00.0) are the BUSIDs of your GPUs.
Write these numbers down.
Now edit the file /etc/X11/XF86Config using your favorite text editor.
Find the lines in the XF86Config file that say "BusID". There should be two. Replace each of the
numeric ids with one of the BUSIDs you found in the previous step. For example, you would
replace
BusID
with
"PCI:01:00:0"'
BusID
"PCI:02:00:0"'.
The order doesn't matter but be sure to use both BUSIDs.
That's it. Now you should be able to restart your X server and the changes will take effect.
Please refer to the sample configuration files for additional details (please open using word pad)
XF86Config.sample-XF86Config.sample-
4 (7 KB) 2 (7 KB)
SLI Questions and Answers
Here are answers to some common SLI questions:
Q:
A:
Can I take advantage of SLI and run four displays at the same time?
Yes, you can drive four displays simultaneously by using the SLI Multi View mode – two
NVIDIA Quadro FX PCI Express boards, each driving two displays. The two boards do not
require the SLI bridge connector.
Q:
can’t I see the Windows display?
A: Make sure that both SLI graphics boards are inserted properly and firmly, and make sure
Why didn’t the POST (Power On Self Test) screen come up during the reboot and why
that neither board is twisted or partially lifted out of its bus slot when screwing the board bracket
down.
Q:
A:
Why isn’t the SLI Multi-GPU option available under the NVIDIA Quadro pop-up menu?
Check My Computer / Properties / Hardware / Display Adapter; if there is only one SLI
driver shown, then you need to install the driver for the second SLI board, as noted in the section
Display Driver Installation and Enabling SLI.
Q:
A:
How can I get answers to other SLI support questions I might have?
Contact the Professional Solutions Group PR Manager: David Higham,
[email protected] or 408-486-8287.
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