SLI Problems on the Notebook

[Wakeboy1337]

Alrighty guys, My Dell XPS m1730 machine has been giving me a major headache lately.
Whenever I run a game with SLI enabled Such as Mirror's edge or Fallout 3 I get Horizontal lines flickering across my screen like crazy. It happens mostly with Blue and white like the sky and building in Mirror's edge or when I open live in any live enabled game. It can happen in any game at any time though. The only game I have not yet experienced this in yet is Guitar Hero 3. Right now I have SLI off but When I reboot and SLI is Reactivated I'll see about grabbing a few sceenshots of.

Specs are Core 2 Duo @ 2.1 Ghz, 2 gigs of ram at 667 mhz, Nvida 8700m gt (2x), Windows XP Pro SP3(It did it in Vista and Windows 7)

Then fans are not blasting full speed at all times so I am pretty sure its not an overheating issue with the computer. They speed up when they need to and then go back to near silent in a minute.


Also, Running Driver version 185.85

[Warsaw]

It's either

1.) Early notebook-based SLI tech problems. These are all over the place, most notably frame stuttering.

2.) Heat, just because the fans don't spin up doesn't mean it isn't getting too hot.

Did it give you an issue with older driver versions?

[legionaire45]

Could be the monitor cable as well, although that shouldn't really correlate with 3D games only and nothing else.

I'd put my money on it being heat causing it. Keep an eye on it.

Do try updating drivers though.

[Warsaw]

I'm willing to put my money on heat as well; the m1730 isn't exactly the best with heat management.

[343guiltymc]

Buy a notebook cooler or something.

[Wakeboy1337]

Well I've been running the latest driver, and always had the problem. I downgraded to driver 179.something (January 09) turned sli back on, rebooted, started mirror's edge and problem is gone. Fans turn on more, but games are slower like the clock speed was turned back. I've been looking for fan programs for overriding fan protocols in this thing so can keep them running but i havnt found anything compatible with this machine. Not even for the proscesser fan.

[Warsaw]

Sounds like we were right, it is heat. Card is running slower and fans are on more, problem solved. That's evidence enough right there.

[Wakeboy1337]

Hmm, but why do the new drivers Make my fan turn off more?

[Mr Buckshot]

This is why desktop replacement type laptops aren't that good, yes they have excellent specs but cooling will always be problematic (and there are the issues of portability, and battery life...). I prefer smaller laptops with midrange video cards for that reason, sure it may not have the same graphical prowess but there are practical benefits.

Yeah I'm quite sure it's a heat problem and I think laptop BIOS are locked so you can't adjust the fan speed (let alone overclock) manually in a laptop. You could try getting a notebook cooler, basically you plug it into a USB port and your laptop sits on top of the cooler which constantly blows cold air into it.

[343guiltymc]

This is nothing, check IBUYPOWERs ridiculous core i7 desktop replacement laptops........

[Warsaw]

Nub, Sager had it first, the Clevo D900F. :v:

Also Buckshot, not all desktop replacement PCs are bad. The HDX series (including the monstrous 20.1" HDX Dragon), the Sager NP9850, NP9280 (D900F), and Alienware M17x are all mighty fine examples of the form factor. They don't need extra cooling. It's good to have, but not entirely necessary.

[343guiltymc]

Nub, Sager had it first, the Clevo D900F. :v:

Also Buckshot, not all desktop replacement PCs are bad. The HDX series (including the monstrous 20.1" HDX Dragon), the Sager NP9850, NP9280 (D900F), and Alienware M17x are all mighty fine examples of the form factor. They don't need extra cooling. It's good to have, but not entirely necessary.
I thought Eurocom had it first? :confused2:

[Warsaw]

Thought we were talking in the USA and Canada? Besides, the European models have quirks that the American ones don't.