How to Check if a SLI Bridge is Working

By Gabriel Dockery

i Ciaran Griffin/Stockbyte/Getty Images

SLI is a relatively new graphics card technology introduced by the NVIDIA Corporation. Because the technology is still largely in its infancy, many computer users are unaware of how to properly use and troubleshoot an SLI configuration. Luckily, NVIDIA has provided an intuitive and easily managed control system that may be used to ascertain the status and operability of a user's SLI installation. This is done within the Windows operating system and does not require reopening the user's computer case.

Step 1

Right click anywhere on the Windows desktop. This will produce a standard context menu.

Step 2

Left click the "NVIDIA Control Panel" heading within this context menu. This will load the NVIDIA device manager.

Step 3

Locate the left-most pane within the NVIDIA device manager window.

Step 4

Locate the "3D Settings" heading and left click the "Set SLI configuration" heading directly beneath it. This will change the right-most pane to display your current SLI configuration.

Step 5

Review the information in the right-hand pane. The phrase "SLI enabled" will appear if your SLI bridge is in fact working properly. If your SLI bridge is faulty, SLI will be unable to initialize and there'll be no SLI information within the right-most pane. This is because the secondary video card will not be properly identified by the NVIDIA control panel in the event of an SLI bridge failure.

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