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Asus Strix X299-E very low SLI scaling after going from X99 to X299

xarot
Level 11
I posted this question on NVIDIA forums too but perhaps there's a chance someone else might have the same issue. I cannot tell if this a UEFI or driver problem?

I have a strange problem with Strix X299-E motherboard and SLI with the latest NVIDIA driver 384.76 (actually, with any driver but the X299 platform is brand new and hit retail around week ago so I guess this is the correct to use).

The thing is, SLI scaling is only around 45 % to 75 %, usually sits around 60 to 66 % per card only. The 1080TI cards and PSU have been working perfectly fine on old X99 before I swapped the motherboard and CPU. Everything else is the same. I have tried Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 to no avail, changed all UEFI settings, checked PCIe lane speeds, tried HB and single SLI bridges, disabled G-Sync, disabled V-sync, changed game settings, disabled antialiasing, updated UEFI, changed motherboard voltages and what else. Nothing else to try I guess.

Only some titles like Metro 2033 seem to work somewhat normal, the rest don't. Even Fire Strike 1.1 doesn't but then again Fire Strike Ultra does? In Fire Strike 1.1 combined test the scaling is around 35 % per card and the scores are way off. 😞

Setup:
i9-7900X
Asus Strix X299-E motherboard
64 GB DDR4-3200 MHz (yeah, a single kit, CMD64GX4M8B3200C16)
Asus Strix 1080 TI OC SLI
Asus motherboard bundled HB bridge
Corsair AX1500i
Asus PG279Q G-Sync
Main: i9-10980XE - Rampage VI Extreme Encore - 64 GB G.Skill Trident Z Royal 3600 CL16 - Strix RTX 3090 - Phanteks Enthoo Primo - Corsair AX1500i - Samsung 960 PRO 1 TB + Intel 600P 1TB - Water cooling
HTPC: i7-6950X - X99-M WS - 32 GB G.Skill RipjawsV DDR4-2400 - GTX1050TI - Bitfenix Pandora - Corsair AX860 - Intel 750 400 GB + Samsung 1 TB 850 EVO
All around: i9-7980XE - Rampage VI Extreme - 64 GB G.Skill 4000 CL18-19-19-39 - Strix RTX3090 - Phanteks P500A - Samsung 960 EVO 512 GB - Water cooling
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Korth
Level 14
The (X299) chipset is still very new. And it was rushed to market, months ahead of Intel's initially "leaked" roadmap/schedule. There are always teething pains and unforeseen bugs on every first-gen platform release. (Low-power/sleep/shutdown faults, RAM compatibility issues, broken RAID, USB bugs galore, PCIe/SLI problems, M.2/NVMe worries ... all the usual sorts of stuff which eventually become evident and get fixed up, lol, and only made worse every time Microsoft pushes out a new WinOS version.)

And - as with any other OEM mobo which implements nonstandard (non-Intel) features/extensions/functionality - your X299 may require firmware fixes from the OEM (ASUS) before "proper" functionality is realized. Blanketed within the usual "Increased stability / Increased compatibility / Increased performance" BIOS notes, lol.

X99 and Z170 required a bunch of BIOS revisions, some NVIDIA driver releases, and countless Win10 driver updates before "everything just worked". X299 is just starting the cycle, lol, even AM4 stuff is slightly ahead. Just hope that ASUS can keep up with supporting all their existing i100/i200 mobos, upcoming i300 mobos, X99/X299 mobos, existing AMD mobos, upcoming AMD mobos, enterprise and consumer and gamer markets alike ... lol they'll be very busy debugging and supporting this glut of new chipsets/firmwares, and they're not making it easier for themselves by offering one or two dozen mobo variants for each generation.
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

Menthol
Level 14
I don't know why you have poor sli scaling for sure, but if you read X299 reviews there are issues related to poor gaming performance due at least partially to Intel's specs, not owning this platform yet I can't do any testing myself but if you read some reviews you may get some tips to help, run Windows high performance power plan while gaming may help, bios settings to keep your CPU from downclocking may help at least in gaming in general, please come back and share your experience if you get this resolved

Menthol wrote:
I don't know why you have poor sli scaling for sure, but if you read X299 reviews there are issues related to poor gaming performance due at least partially to Intel's specs, not owning this platform yet I can't do any testing myself but if you read some reviews you may get some tips to help, run Windows high performance power plan while gaming may help, bios settings to keep your CPU from downclocking may help at least in gaming in general, please come back and share your experience if you get this resolved


That's what I've read and seen from performance perspective on single card too, that the performance is not very good in games in comparison to BW-E. I tried high power plan already but it didn't help. I think I tried those UEFI settings for power already but I don't recall exactly what settings I tried, most likely LLC and Cpu Current Capability. Temps are not really an issue in games.

Are you going to try X299 out?
Main: i9-10980XE - Rampage VI Extreme Encore - 64 GB G.Skill Trident Z Royal 3600 CL16 - Strix RTX 3090 - Phanteks Enthoo Primo - Corsair AX1500i - Samsung 960 PRO 1 TB + Intel 600P 1TB - Water cooling
HTPC: i7-6950X - X99-M WS - 32 GB G.Skill RipjawsV DDR4-2400 - GTX1050TI - Bitfenix Pandora - Corsair AX860 - Intel 750 400 GB + Samsung 1 TB 850 EVO
All around: i9-7980XE - Rampage VI Extreme - 64 GB G.Skill 4000 CL18-19-19-39 - Strix RTX3090 - Phanteks P500A - Samsung 960 EVO 512 GB - Water cooling

Silent_Scone
Super Moderator
SLI performance will take a hit until NVIDIA release a fully supported driver. No different to any other launch thus far.
13900KS / 8000 CAS36 / ROG APEX Z790 / ROG TUF RTX 4090

LiveOrDie
Level 11
SLI on pascal is a waste of time and X299 is a waste of money for hardly no gain.

Silent Scone wrote:
SLI performance will take a hit until NVIDIA release a fully supported driver. No different to any other launch thus far.


I really hope this is something NVIDIA can and will fix.

LiveOrDie wrote:
SLI on pascal is a waste of time and X299 is a waste of money for hardly no gain.


Yeah, after Pascal release I saw SLI taking a nosedive into the ground but now it is not working well anywhere. Titan X Maxwells were pretty good in SLI.

I still have my 6950X/RVE10 and I can always go back. Maybe I will. 😄 It's just that I live in a small country and selling these things is very frustrating.
Main: i9-10980XE - Rampage VI Extreme Encore - 64 GB G.Skill Trident Z Royal 3600 CL16 - Strix RTX 3090 - Phanteks Enthoo Primo - Corsair AX1500i - Samsung 960 PRO 1 TB + Intel 600P 1TB - Water cooling
HTPC: i7-6950X - X99-M WS - 32 GB G.Skill RipjawsV DDR4-2400 - GTX1050TI - Bitfenix Pandora - Corsair AX860 - Intel 750 400 GB + Samsung 1 TB 850 EVO
All around: i9-7980XE - Rampage VI Extreme - 64 GB G.Skill 4000 CL18-19-19-39 - Strix RTX3090 - Phanteks P500A - Samsung 960 EVO 512 GB - Water cooling

xarot wrote:
I really hope this is something NVIDIA can and will fix.



Yeah, after Pascal release I saw SLI taking a nosedive into the ground but now it is not working well anywhere. Titan X Maxwells were pretty good in SLI.

I still have my 6950X/RVE10 and I can always go back. Maybe I will. 😄 It's just that I live in a small country and selling these things is very frustrating.


Yeah i really wanted to move to a i9 but after seeing they don't clock well without delidding and most of them cant push past 4.8Ghz it puts me off upgrading as i wanted to for the overclocking a nice 5.2ghz overclock would of been nice lol.

LiveOrDie wrote:
Yeah i really wanted to move to a i9 but after seeing they don't clock well without delidding and most of them cant push past 4.8Ghz it puts me off upgrading as i wanted to for the overclocking a nice 5.2ghz overclock would of been nice lol.


I think you'll need around 4.8 GHz 7900X to match 6950X at 4.2 GHz in games. In work-related things the 7900X is faster.

But let's say 4.8 GHz? My chip (non-delidded) does 4.6 at 1.26 V and 4.7 is around 1.32 V so the chip is poop. I can barely run old Prime95 at 4.5 GHz on all cores...lol. Temps rocketing to around 92c on hottest cores with custom water cooling...720mm rad space, D5 pump and EK Supremacy EVO.

One GOOD thing I can only see with my i9-7900X setup is, that with a SINGLE graphics card, games run very smoothly even if the performance is not so good...might be a placebo effect though when comparing to my 6950X setup.

In case I can't get my 7900X sold locally I might end up trying the tuning plan, last time my 5960X was the worst chip I've seen on any forums and I ended up getting an average chip (still much better) from Intel.
Main: i9-10980XE - Rampage VI Extreme Encore - 64 GB G.Skill Trident Z Royal 3600 CL16 - Strix RTX 3090 - Phanteks Enthoo Primo - Corsair AX1500i - Samsung 960 PRO 1 TB + Intel 600P 1TB - Water cooling
HTPC: i7-6950X - X99-M WS - 32 GB G.Skill RipjawsV DDR4-2400 - GTX1050TI - Bitfenix Pandora - Corsair AX860 - Intel 750 400 GB + Samsung 1 TB 850 EVO
All around: i9-7980XE - Rampage VI Extreme - 64 GB G.Skill 4000 CL18-19-19-39 - Strix RTX3090 - Phanteks P500A - Samsung 960 EVO 512 GB - Water cooling

For those that have been playing 4k for the past 3 years SLI is the only way to go. I just got used to playing 4k at ultra settings thanks to 1080ti sli. However my SLI performance on my Strix x299 is awful. Even with my 4.8GHz cpu.

Is everyone sure this is software related?