wrote:
I am a hobbyist and I'm trying to get 3-Way SLI to work. The short
summary is -- I had it post to BIOS once and boot into Windows Vista
for one second, and then blank screen. I then got into BIOS one more
time and changed boot priority to CD, because I want to re-install
Windows. Then, BIOS seemed to freeze after I pressed F10 to save and I
have not been able to get VGA again -- no post. I have tried a lot of
troubleshooting-- disconnecting various cables, etc. I have now tried
a different ATI VGA card and it does get to post either.

Here's what I have for equipment:

Enermax Revolution 85+ PSU
Asus P5N-T Deluxe Motherboard
2GB RAM DDR2 1066
Intel 6800 CPU
STA disk
SATA CD
Asus 285 boards (three)
The PSU has six PCI-E cables
Everything is firmly seated
Thermaltake Big Typhoon
Thermaltake Spedo case

Any idea son what to try next?

- JB


There is an Nvidia newsgroup.

alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia

Nvidia has the slizone.com web site, and one thing they list,
is certified power supplies for various hardware configurations.
Three 285 boards lists two possible power supplies. A
Channelwell CWT1200VC, and a Thermaltake Toughpower W0133
(which could be about 1200 watts as well, not sure).

http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html

Now, if I use an Xbitlabs power number, the card weighs in
at 160.8W (depends on clock rate). Three of them would be
480W, or 12V @ 40A. The non-3D mode power would be much
lower, so it shouldn't be a power issue at startup.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...c_5.html#sect0

There are at least three Enermax products with your product
name. I would have expected the 12V @ 70A total for the
"small one", would be enough.

Have you tried one card, then two cards, then three ?
What happens then ? Have you tried two-way SLI with
the two cards ? Then rotate out one of the cards, and
test with the third card, to see whether that works ?

The P5N-T doesn't have anything other than the 24 pin
"EATXPower" connector as a source of 12V slot power
for the three video cards. But fortunately, if you look
at the Xbitlabs detailed GIF for power, the slot only
draws 16.8W/12V = 1.4A. And 3 x 1.4A is only 4.2A, which
the two 12V wires on the main 24 pin power connector can
handle with ease. The majority of power flows via
the connectors on the end of the card. So the motherboard
distribution of power for your 285's, is minimal. In
fact, it is lower than running a couple 6600 cards.

Have you tried looking for any articles on tri-SLI ?
This is the first one I found. There might be some
more out there.

(Picture of hardware)
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/6605/3waysliug9.png

(Article)
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33910748

Paul