Skulltrail - XFX GTX 280 XXX 3-Way SLi /4870X2 CFx

sammorris

That's interesting. I'm going to assume that the 4870X2 crossfire X performs similarly to a 4870X2 single card? So these are with AA? Shows promise then if you're not using AA, Crysis' AA isn't that good anyway IMO.

Zardon

no AA. the ati boards dont scale well at all in crysis, a few fps extra basically.

kris23

just thought id point out that the Zotac GTX 280 AMP! is much more powerful than the XFX XXX GTX 280 being at 700mhz vs 670mhz on the XXX model

Zardon

Yes that is a fast card, with 15mhz faster clocks on the core than the XFX (The XXX editions in this review actually run at 685mhz not the usual 670mhz). bear in mind however that the memory runs 200mhz slower on the Zotac at 2300mhz. This lowers the texture fill rate from 54.8 to 49.2 Billion/sec. (with reference GTX beiing 48.2)

brutusmaximus

the 4870 X2 almost tempted me last week but im really not a fan at all of ATI drivers. I still have nightmares after the last card I owned im sure they are better now but damn its hard to touch the forcewares ....

Obviously SLix3 was once out of reach of everyone, however with the recent price drops I don't see a problem with getting 3x 280s. maybe 2 at the start then work up to 3 later..... skulltrail however is just insane.

sammorris

To be honest, since 8.4 Catalyst has been excellent. I still have nightmares about the horrid SLI motherboards I used to own, I'm glad I've left those behind. nVidia are all well and good for graphics cards (except laptop ones of late...gulp) but they've been sub-par for chipsets for at least the nforce 6&7.

brutusmaximus

Yeah I agree, Nvidia chipsets are far from the best. I think thats what is so appealing about the skulltrail board. its intel. Ok sure its tied into fully buffered DDR2 but i bet its rock solid, right Zardon?

I used to love ATI in the days of the first radeons but I seriously had a ton of problems, especially Vista and 7.3 Display driver atikmdag stopped responding error this one. which was basically the last straw for me, that and the awful load times for Catalyst Control Center which would frequently not load, crash, or stall.

As I said, its been a long time, but you know yourself, if you run into issues you are less likely to come back next time. same with everything in life.

Judas

i'm waiting for nvidia to finally back off and just support every intel chipset for sli support.

shyang

Great review. It is nice to see that the Skulltrail platform has not been abandoned like the AMD Quadfather. In fact, it has only gotten better over time.

I would like to know how you connected the triple SLI since the Skulltrail only comes with a standard SLI bridge. Will a fixed triple SLI bridge from Nvidia fit or did you have to use a flexible triple SLI bridge?

Lastly, if you used a flexible triple SLI bridge, where can I get one?

Thanks in advance.

Zardon

Hi its just a standard fixed (hard) 3 way SLI bridge. XFX sent it and it fits skulltrail. I am actually not sure who stocks them as they normally come with motherboards. If you are having problems finding one in your area let me know and ill do a bit of research.

shyang

Thanks for the information. It should not be too hard to hunt down the normal triple SLI bridge. I was worried the PCI-E slot spacing on the SkullTrail will require the flexible bridge.

Once again, excellent review. I know it was not meant to be AMD vs Nvidia but it is still nice to see the best from each company going head to head on a top of the line platform.

Zardon

Thanks, its great to actually hear from someone who owns the system. I know there are complaints about it being on fully buffered DDR2 but it really is one of the finest systems ive had the pleasure to play with throughout my tech career. Its rock solid which is always a fine trademark of the Intel motherboards. (even up to 4.7ghz which I managed to wring out of it once - although id need to go to phase for that to be safe long term).

With regards to the article im glad you got the point of it. I know comparisons will always be made with the "ATI v Nvidia" angle but its not really something I think should be focused on. It was actually really as part "showpiece" article for the public to see how far this system has actually progressed (instead of fading into the background like some elusive high end systems have done), and also for the user base (like you) who are lucky enough to own it.

sammorris

Ahh, I remember that, Catalyst used to be a real son of a gun for not opening etc. - I haven't seen that for what must be nearly a year, if not more.

shyang

I am really happy to see a great platform continue to be supported and improved. I was really worried when the GTX280 was launched with no SLI support for the Skulltrail and now it even has triple SLI support.

Now I have a problem, do I get a third GTX280 and sacrifice my soundcard? It is a good problem to have.

sammorris

LOL!
Yeah do it, and buy a USB sound card.

Zardon

yes. the onboard sound is pretty good anyway (IMO). well worth investing to get another 280 GTX. especially as you can use the other two for gaming and the third to handle future physX calculations. GRAW 2 for example sees large improvements with three cards so it is clearly a good indication of the future with regards to PhysX.

I am sure you have a good power supply but just make sure it can handle the third. It does put quite a strain on the PSU (I know, two failed during my testing).

If you do opt for a third card I do recommend you install NTUNE and monitor the temps. I had to crank the fans (Ntune gives controls for 1/2/3 - rivatuner doesn't and only increases fan speeds for one of the three card fans so be careful there), but im not sure if part of the issue was the highly overclocked XXX boards XFX sent me, im sure a standard GTX would be cooler.

sammorris

Which two, out of interest?

Zardon

an akasa and an enermax.

Zardon

I have had a few people contact me by various methods asking about a step by step to upgrade from 1 or 2 cards to 3 in a skulltrail system (seems more people have it than I thought).

__________________________________________________

Setting up the cards is extremely straightforward. I will try and break it down in steps if you don’t understand or follow any of it let me know and ill get back to you.

Get the latest Skulltrail bios for the motherboard. I will assume you are using Vista 64 bit.

Intel® Desktop Board D5400XS BIOS Update [XS54010J.86A]

Get the file marked : Express BIOS Update [XS54010J.86A.1140.EB.EXE] – “1140” is the key thing here thats the bios number

Download, and run from your desktop. Be patient as the program flashes the bios in windows. It will ask to reboot, do not turn the computer off at this stage as the bios will flash automatically on the next DOS bootup.

Windows will restart and the system wil inform you flashing has been successful.

Go to Nvidia.com and download the newest drivers. Or get them from driverheavenloads here http://www.driverheavendownloads.net/nvidia.htm

Also be sure to check out the PhysX files to enjoy later ! Force Within: Download

Version 177.83 is the driver you need. download to the desktop and install.

Reboot to complete the new driver installation.

Turn off the machine. Install the third card with the SLI connector (this is a standard HARD 3-way sli connector). Use the top 3 (of 4) slots.

Someone on our forums recently asked me this and if you are unsure what I mean you can see it clearly in this picture Skulltrail - XFX GTX 280 XXX 3-Way SLi /4870X2 CFx

Boot up. When in windows, Vista will detect a new video card. You will probably have to reinstall the 177.83 set again. This is normal. Reboot.

The Nvidia icon in the taskbar might say you have an SLI capable system, if it doesn’t check in the nvidia driver. Enable SLIx3.

Install Ntune. NVIDIA nTune (accept the agreement within the Nvidia driver onscreen options). ADJUST GPU.

Ntune lets you monitor temps for all three cards, and increase the fan speeds from automatic. Depending on the cards you use you may have to do so, as they can get very hot. I would crank all three to 100% to keep the temps down. A little experimentation here will be needed (also be aware if you use rivatuner increasing fan speed will ONLY affect the first card not 2 and 3, Ntune lets you adjust each individually). If you have ordinary GTXs the cores might be lower and cooler. But it’s always good to use this as a stability check. Also worth getting yourself everest ultimate and using the onscreen readouts, which will give you CPU temperatures, ram temperatures, GFX temperatures etc.

I also advise you get a hold of a nice 220mm fan if you find the ambient temperatures of your chassis are increasing (sit it vertically beside the three cards facing inwards so cold air is sucked from outside across the length of the cards. 3 280 GTXs can put out some serious heat and with them in such close proximity they don’t get much room to cool but tend to heat up from adjacent PCB.

If you run into stability issues, check your power supply has enough in the way of 12v for the rails. If not, I strongly recommend (and have tested the Corsair HX1000W PSU. http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=592

shyang

Doh, I am using a 1KW Enermax.

Thanks for the instructions with nTune and how to setup triple SLI. Very useful.

Alexander Morou

Just a silly question,

I'm doing research before I buy a ultra high end system, since I have to save up for about four months to afford what I'm interested in, it gives me proper time to decide the best hardware solution (impulse buys suck).

Is it possible to water cool a 3way SLI Skulltrail system (as in physical space needed between the PCIe 2.0 slots for the water cooling fan replacement)?

I haven't done water cooling before, but it should (in theory) be better than air-cooled systems due to the thermal transfer rate of a liquid vs a gas.

Zardon