bought a 9800GX2 and I'm Mad as Hell

[XF_Golden]

So I started pc gaming again(after about 12 years) on an 8600 GT and I was content playing Halo, Halo2, Starcraft, CNCIII, Even GoW, Then I got Crysis and it was playable but I was sure it could look better. I upgraded to an SLi MOBO and Stacked the RAM got a Dual Core and an additional 8600GT and at 1024x768(as much as I could do on my outdated HDTV) in SLi it looked pretty good. Then I upgraded my drivers and it all went to hell. I got pissed wiped the system and reinstalled Vista got it back running and to my surprise I had all kinds of issues with Crysis. I got pissed and booted a linux disk used a utility to zero out the HDD's. Reinstalled Vista. Now Crysis seems fine. for a week or so .. Then Frames with .4 - 7 FPS. I got Pissed pulled the 8600's out and stomped on one, and broke my mouse. I drank half a bottle of Jack daniels and passed out I woke up around noon the next day(I think it was actually the day after the next being that this all took place around 4am). I dumped the remaining alcohol down the drain and put my pc in the closet(after taking half a dozen aspirin). I didn't look at it for another 2 or three months. Then I got the itch to play again. vaugly remembering that I had destroyed one video card I knew I would have to look for a new one. I went to the newly reopened+relocated CompUsa. I did not buy anything because there were so many new video cards on the shelves. I did some research and found that I could offload physx to a lesser GPU while having a better one do my Graphics and 3D. I found a guide for doing that. So armed with stats and all I went back to Compusa and bought a 9800Gx2 and a new 22" monitor. I have since uninstalled and reinstalled drivers from the 175.16 -> 177.92(or .98 can't remember how high) versions. I have manually installed the PhysX. I have gone through the format and reformat and reformat and reformat deal about 7 or 8 times. I format when iterations of driver removal and reinstallation don't seem to chang anything because I won't lose anything as this is strictly a gaming machine. I have called XFX, Nvidia and Crytek(EA) for support and each subsequently passes the buck. Here is what I am not understanding:

1. only the gx2 is installed and I can set it to SLi or MultiMonitor mode in the CP. add the 8600 for offloading Physx and the Gx2 goes into multimonitor mode with no option to put it into SLi mode.

2. I ignore the fact that I'm now only getting 1/2 the performance I should be getting from the Gx2 and go to the Physx CP and WTF? I can use Gforce Physx or none but I am given no option to choose which GPU physx is run on.

Were those instructions on how to do that a hoax? I followed the instructions exactly. I am still within time to return the Gx2 I am considering doing that and getting another 8600GT and waiting until DX11 or 12 comes out and upgrading then.

Is it just that Nvidia doesn't have their S---- together enough and hasn't released suitable drivers for the 9 series cards?
it seems that 200 series cards are newer. I can only imagine what people that bought those are going through.

I am an AMD fanboy for CPU Nvidia for Chipset and GfX but I am about ready to dump Nivida and go AMDChipset+ATIvidcard+Intel and say F-u to nShidia all around.



Thanks for reading, I partially needed to blow some steam/express an experience/ask those questions. BTW my case is more then adequately cooled7xfans 6x120 1x80(behind the CPU block) I have airconditioning and I keep it cranked here is south florida. My temps at idle are around 37/39CPU's and 42/48/38GPU's loads at 68/71CPU's 69/50/38GPU's... Just proof that you cannot currently use a Gx2 and a different card in a vistaX64 machine contrary to what Nvidia and others say... but hey thats my experience maybe someone out there can open my eyes and explain how to do this.