What the hell is going on???

[Rub-UFS-]

Re: What the hell is going on???

As an example, my last system was an FX-60 dual core with dual evga 7900 GTX's and at 1600x1200...

Good lord, I don't think I even want to know what your new computer specs are.

Going back to OP, even 1 7800GTX can run all settings on high. I mean, if worst comes to worst just turn off SLI and run 1 while playing BF2. Wish I had the money to drop on a nice system (not to say mine is pathetic). But it's time for upgrades shortly.

BTW, Alienware is a ripoff. Build it yourself next time.

[PHPT]

Re: What the hell is going on???

This isn't the first game I've heard of where SLI runs slower than single, it usually just has to do with the way the game engine is designed. It's caused by too much render-to-texture. Basically render-to-texture (used for ALL of the shadows) screws with the load balancing, one or both cards wind up stalling while waiting for the finished shadow renders from the other.

[imported_jsr]

Re: What the hell is going on???

This isn't the first game I've heard of where SLI runs slower than single, it usually just has to do with the way the game engine is designed. It's caused by too much render-to-texture. Basically render-to-texture (used for ALL of the shadows) screws with the load balancing, one or both cards wind up stalling while waiting for the finished shadow renders from the other.

I've used 6800 gt's, 7800 gt's, 7900 gtx's, and (when my step-up arrives in a few weeks, I'll be on two 7950's) I have yet to see a situation, on my end at least, where SLI ran slower than single card rendering in this game.

He said he had vsync on, that raises a red flag on why he's dropping so severely at times.

However like most people said, a single 7800 can run this game fine, so it's pretty obvious something is not configured right in his SLI settings.

It's tough to eliminate variables when we simply don't know how his drivers are configured (by either himself or Alienware), however...

This is a very cool tool I've had people use when trying to troubleshoot issues like this:

http://www.camstudio.org/

It lets a person record their desktop in real time (you can full screen it), and if he were to do a clean install of his drivers and record how he configures things, it would be very helpful.

Another thing, it sounds dumb but have you tried swapping the cards (slots)?