Ok I need to decide to send the B grade P7N Diamond I got as an 'in-between' upgrade. If I dont want it I need to post 2mrw or tuesday.
I'm panicking cos the HH pm is broke and I cant call in the pro opinion of Sir PiLsY.

Thing is- I'm just run out of things to test. The AMI BIOS is also unfamiliar to me- I cant yet get at voltages without running the In-windows clocking program, and then they dont stick.
In the bios it says something needs to be turned off first but I can't seem to find the section again.
I have flashed the current BIOS.

Helpfully my cries for help litter 2 posts (I guess 3 now )
http://www.thehh.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2633&sid=8141867cb21e318885e6526d86b63976
http://www.thehh.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2623&sid=8141867cb21e318885e6526d86b63976

Sorry for bashing on about this but can't sit down to any games until I sort it- plus it determines my Xmas gift.
Could it be my old board is just better for sli? Some games on this setup are unplayable on my old settings.
Or at 90 quid (p&p incl) is it worth hanging onto with a broken slot?

My advice is never trust B-Grade stuff (especially if you bought from the shop I think you did).. chances are some poor bugger (or idiot) has had the board, RMA'd it back as faulty, then said shop have "tested" it for a fee then sent it back to the customer saying it passed their tests. The customer then returns it again because it is still not functioning correctly and ends up paying a "restocking" fee in order to get some money back.

They then list it as B-Grade, someone else buys it and runs into the same set of problems.. all because they are trying to keep their returns to manufacturer down to a bare minimum.

(edited to remove shops name due to no mention of where you bought parts from)

What shop are you talking about? (so I know which shop does those bad things so I know not to buy from there in future, though I think I might know which shop you're talking about)

Been out of action this weekend setting up the Sarge's new pc, sorry Khola. You do have my mobile for these occaisions tho!

Anyway, I don't quite understand the problem youre having? You have SLI working but its not very fast?

Also whats all this crazy talk about using the 8x slot?

You have the P7N Diamond right? Ill go dl the manual now.

Have a pm on hold due to full inbox - presume thats you mate . Have made some inbox room but its not arrived yet...

You should be using the 2 blue slots mate, only use the others for a 3rd or 4th card.

Read through this thread. Sounds like they've identified and solved a lot of the issues you have here.

Ok mate will get reading (wipes brow as Pilsy returns)... Didnt want to call u on ur weekend when you work with the bloody things all week.

Could well be the top-slot is duff then.
Like I said, the card more 'fell' into the slot than slotted as usual. Also a few, minor scratches on some of the cooling blocks... signs of a struggle? I could prob fit 2 match-sticks between my cards and the drive bays!

I guess I could live with 1 PCI-e 2.o slot if I had the right card... It's just at 90 quid with postage I could almost get a new board... oh decisions, decisions (I am bad at them!)

Have pics... will shrink em down to post up today.

Could poss hold off till early post 2mrw morn...

(I used OCuk)

***EDIT*** also a TR underworld test has made things even more confusing! While on my last setup it was strangely running much better in Vista and struggling a little in XP (crazy i know, but Im sure I noticed some D3D10 files flicking up during the install).

Now, although not perfect, it runs faster in XP that it did previously. As does Fallout 3 now I believe. I'll be testing TF2 in XP later today and throwing Crysis at Vista as hard as I can.

Ok hopefully some pics.... these are just for illustration- alot of wire tidying etc is still outstanding!

It also might look like my CPU cooler intake is scarily close to the hooped heat exchange- luckily my side case fan sits bang ontop and just serves to cool the loop further.

The bottom end of the system, however, is like the pits of hell. The innacurate MSI program I tried to check it with had the GPU at 50.C in Vista.... but it sure feels hot down there, even with an intake at the front, and I cant seem to get a temp for the 2nd card atm.

**EDIT** closing down my IE windows then I got a 'memory could not be read' box. Not had one of them for a while (and never on the P5N32)... :s

I think I need a nice big bowl to contemplate this one... domestics + pc building + redesigning a certain 'space' = a very stressed Khola!!!!

Whether it feels loose or not you should use the two blue slots mate. If it doesnt work with the gfx card in then ofcourse send it back dude. If it is working ok I don't understand the problem .

Will be home for 6ish if you want to phone me later mate.

Just in passing... That case looks to be a size too small for all the stuff in there...

Still, I'd advise agianst keeping B-grade stock, there's a reason that they're not trying to pass it off as the good stuff usually. And as PiLsY says, if its not working with the second blue one send it back.

You're using 2 SLI bridges?