How to SLI with unequal amounts of V-ram!

[Matt_Park]

Hey guys not too long ago I posted for help with trying to get my sli to work with my gpu's and I have finally found a way to do it. Its by using coolbits. You have probably heard of it but if not today I am going to show how to use it!

*Note: you don't need cool the coolbit software in order to sli with different ram!

Lets get started!

1. First of all make sure all your hardware is compatible for sli. I'm obviously talking about your motherboard, PSU, etc. also make sure that you have the same gpu (ex. 760 with 760, 770 with 770 etc.)

2. Next, go ahead and plug in your gpu and your sli bridge.

3. Once that is done jump over to NVIDIA's website where you can the latest drivers. http://www.geforce.com/drivers I used the scan method because I found it to be the best way to find the drivers I need without accidentally installing wrong ones. Also be sure to do a clean install, this can be performed by clicking the custom method and checking the box.

4. Once the drivers are installed go ahead and give your pc a good restart.

This is where things get a bit tricky.

5. First start "run" by pressing the windows key+r or simply look it up in the search bar.

6. Once that is performed type in "regedit" without quotes. Then press "yes".

7. If you see tons of folders, that means you're at the right place.

Find HKEY_LOCALMACHINE\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\NVTweak\ By using the drop down arrows. Left click on the "NVTweak" folder. http://puu.sh/l1upB/5b9f7e0b66.png

8. Next, right click in any of the blank space, hover over new then click "DWORD (32-bit) Value"

9. For the name, name it "Coolbits" then press enter.

10. Next, right click on it and then click on modify. For the value type in "18" with no quotes.

11. Press "OK" and restart your computer. When your computer boots go ahead and jump into the nvidia control panel.

12. If you see the option under "3D Settings" that says "Configure SLI, Surround, PhysX" then you're in a good position! If you don't leave a reply and me as well as the Linus community will try to help.

13. Go ahead and jump into the "Configure SLI..." tab and tick the circle that says "Maximize 3D performance"

14. Next go into the "Manage 3D settings" tab. Under the "Global Settings" tab scroll down and find "SLI rendering mode" press the arrow down, and click on "Force alternate frame rendering 2" This step is optional!

15. Next restart your computer again and you should have sli working!

Guys please don't go out and purchase 2 separate cards intentionally. This is probably not the most reliable thing to do but it worked for my current situation and I have no idea how with will work for other cards. I have 2 gtx 760's by gigabyte. One a 2gb model and one 4gb model.

I hope this really helped!

Edited March 4, 2018 by Matt_Park

[CommandMan7]

Does this make your 4GB card only use 2GB, or what happens to your VRAM usage? I don't need it, but great post also, this will help many.

[NeatSquidYT]

Does this make your 4GB card only use 2GB, or what happens to your VRAM usage? I don't need it, but great post also, this will help many.

I'd think that it limits the card to 2GB

[trag1c]

Does this make your 4GB card only use 2GB, or what happens to your VRAM usage? I don't need it, but great post also, this will help many.

 

I'd think that it limits the card to 2GB

 

It would have to go with the lower amount otherwise the card will run out of memory and go into a page file on the HDD and be slow as hell or just crash completely.

[Matt_Park]

Does this make your 4GB card only use 2GB, or what happens to your VRAM usage? I don't need it, but great post also, this will help many.

Even though I believe that it downgrades to 2. My gta 5 settings said that I had a max of 4gb.

[Midnitewarrior4]

are you the person that had a 2gb and a 4gb 760 ? 

edit: oh you are ok cool, glad u got it working

[Matt_Park]

are you the person that had a 2gb and a 4gb 760 ?

edit: oh you are ok cool, glad u got it working

Yes lol

[NumLock21]

Nice tutorial but the title needs to be changed. I thought your talking about different ram as in Kingston and Corsair.

[Matt_Park]

This post should probably be called: How to sli two GPU's with unequal amounts of V-ram.

On it!

[Matt_Park]

Nice tutorial but the title needs to be changed. I thought your talking about different ram as in Kingston and Corsair.

Sorry for the misunderstanding