I *FINALLY* get CROSSFIRE today!! [Archive]

rob[GL]

07-10-2006, 05:58 AM

I am picking up Sapphire RADEON X1900XT 512MB today for sale $469CAD
($417USD) (327EURO) (226GBP)

I think is great price for local store!

My current X1900 512MB Crossfire master card is running 24/7 @ 729/828 with default volts and default cooling! :)

I hope new Sapphire X1900XT 512MB clocks as good. Even if I have to overvoltage new card up to 1.475v, I should reach same clocks of 729/828...

Only bad thing, I have not been able to sleep all night, I am so excited, and I have to go to work all day first before picking up new card.

eva2000

07-10-2006, 06:07 AM

congrats sounds better than my HIS Crossfire card 729mhz at 1.45v http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=105771 heh

rob[GL]

07-10-2006, 06:11 AM

I hope you online tonight, I will probably have lots of questions... hehehe

I read your other thread,

"disable write combining and setting LargeSystemCache to 0"

Will I have to do for AMD system?

eva2000

07-10-2006, 06:14 AM

yeah i think you will have to do for AMD too..

best to ghost/trueimage backup your os partition before doing crossfire installation, so if you foobar os you can ghost image restore a back up :)

ahmad

07-10-2006, 08:43 AM

Thats great. Waiting for your results :)

jrw

07-10-2006, 09:16 AM

Sweet. Must be a rush... I'm happy for you.

Post back to us ASAP! :D

ZX7891

07-10-2006, 09:18 AM

If you are still using the 3700, then CF will be limited by single core cpu.

Celcius

07-10-2006, 09:20 AM

Congrats, we should see some nice scores...:cool:

rob[GL]

07-12-2006, 10:23 AM

After working an 18-hour shift at work, I finally have time to play with Crossfire for about 1 hour before heading right back to work... :(

I promise I will post TONS of screenies tonight.

My only question before I get started, how do I:
disable write combining and setting LargeSystemCache to 0

Is that something in the drivers? Or BIOS? Or registry???

rob[GL]

07-12-2006, 10:53 AM

So, I've been testing the slave card with some very disappointing results... The core SUCKS... At 1.4v I can't even reach 650MHz (XTX speeds) I tried ramping the voltage all the way up to 1.575v, and I reached 690MHz, however the core temperature reached 95c and crashed... If I want to do any serious overclocking on this slave card, I will have to get a waterblock for it...

The memory however, reaches 855MHz on stock volts, which is better than my master card, which only reaches 828MHz...

I will enable crossfire right now and run some benchies with default clocks.

rob[GL]

07-12-2006, 06:01 PM

Okay, just got home, plugged in both cards, re-installed CAT 6.6 and enabled crossfire...

Then I ran 3DMARK 2005 and only got 10,000 points? What teh fock... I get damn near 13,000 points with a single card, what did I do wrong?

ZX7891

07-12-2006, 06:08 PM

If you are still using the 3700, then CF will be limited by single core cpu.

like i said

rob[GL]

07-12-2006, 06:39 PM

Okay, I hooked each card up to an independant power supply, and gained 3000 points... I guess this 500W Antec just isn't enough... So now I'm running 500W + 300W with the 300W dedicated to the master card...

Now I'll try overclocking the video cards with ATI TOOL... =)

13,000 bone stock isn't bad, right?

[XC]Atomicpineapple

07-13-2006, 02:46 AM

eva2000

07-13-2006, 02:57 AM

Sorry to jump in on your thread Rob[GL], but I'm having the same problem. I've enabled xfire on my setup with X1900CFE and X1900GT Slave and still only get single card scores (6k in 3D Mark 2006). Is it time for a PSU upgrade? I'm using a Tagan 580Watt modular PSU.
i got single card scores in CF mode only when i killed the 2x CLI instances via msconfig startup.. if i leave them running in windows i get proper CF scores

HTH

[XC]Atomicpineapple

07-13-2006, 03:29 AM

Eva, I've not touched anything to do with CCC, or disabled any services. Any more ideas?

afireinside

07-13-2006, 10:49 AM

']Okay, I hooked each card up to an independant power supply, and gained 3000 points... I guess this 500W Antec just isn't enough... So now I'm running 500W + 300W with the 300W dedicated to the master card...

Now I'll try overclocking the video cards with ATI TOOL... =)

13,000 bone stock isn't bad, right?

Make sure the 5v is loaded on the second PSU. I used an OCZ 420 watt to power my 7800GT SLI, and hooked up a hard drive and a few deltas @ 5V to load the rail.

Blacklash

07-14-2006, 12:44 AM

General comments on installing and enabling Crossfire:

I have never had problems installing or enabling Crossfire even in my current platform. (I still own my X1900 cards)

Here's what I do. Uninstall current drivers and clear your prefetch folder. Run something like drivercleaner. Turn off the comp and your PSU. Install the master card and connect your monitor to the dongle. Boot to install the ATi drivers, and the monitor driver. Shut down your computer and turn off your psu. Install the slave card. Hook the dongle up to it. Turn the power back on your PSU. Boot your computer. Your system will detect and install the X1900 slave and the Crossfire option will not yet be available in the CCC. Boot again and the Crossfire option will be there. Use the "advanced" view in the CCC. I'd turn off VPU recover, it has only caused me trouble in the past with some games.

[XC]Atomicpineapple

07-14-2006, 01:26 AM

Its not enabling crossfire thats the problem, its the fact that it still gives low scores once its been enabled. However the way I enabled it (on a fresh windows install) was to have both cards installed, install ATI drivers, reboot, enable xfire, reboot, bench.

rob[GL]

07-14-2006, 09:01 AM

Sorry I didn't post earlier, I could not get on the forums...

I upgraded my PSU to an ANTEC NEO High-Efficiency 550-watt continuous power supply with triple 18amp 12v rails.

I also upgraded my processor to a Dual-Core 4400+ overclocked to 2.75GHz on both cores...

My score is now 14,750...

=)
=)

Too bad my video cards can only clock to 650/825

I will try more when I get home, and will post some screenshots...

If anyone has clues on how to improve score, let me know???

I have the two ATI services disabled, and am using ATI TOOL to overclock...

Is 14,750 about right score for crossfire?

nicepun

07-14-2006, 09:16 AM

I get my Master Card! I hop you don't me posting results on here, if you do just let me know and I'll start a new thread.

-Pun

rob[GL]

07-14-2006, 08:00 PM

Go For It!! :)

rob[GL]

07-16-2006, 09:42 AM

Here are my screenshots of my results with everything stock, stock voltages, stock clocks, stock cooling...

nicepun

07-16-2006, 11:18 AM

OK, when I enable Crossfire and go into 3d mode, the screen goes blank....any ideas?

[XC]Atomicpineapple

07-16-2006, 11:20 AM

This might sound daft, but u do have your monitor connected to the spare connector of the crossfire dongle?

nicepun

07-16-2006, 11:24 AM

This might sound daft, but u do have your monitor connected to the spare connector of the crossfire dongle?

Crossfire dongle my friend. If the Crossfire is not enabled and go 3D mode it works fine. Maybe PSU? I'm even doing this with my CPU at stock speeds.

[XC]Atomicpineapple

07-16-2006, 11:27 AM

Maybe PSU, I'm wonderign if my low scores are PSU related, I'll find outtomorrow when I get my GFs PSU to play with to power just my vid cards.

nicepun

07-16-2006, 11:59 AM

Quik update, I hear the game going through the speakers, but screen remains blank. Any ideas?

rob[GL]

07-16-2006, 12:07 PM

No... Even if your PSU was insufficient, you would still get display... But it would score low...

Happened to me...

What amperage you have onyour 12v rails?

With my old power supply, I have 12v1 @ 19amp and 12v2 @ 17amp, when added together, subtract 2, equals about 34amp total...

My new power supply is 18amp x3... ATi says for crossfire you must have at least 38amp available for the two cards to use...

nicepun

07-16-2006, 12:11 PM

']No... Even if your PSU was insufficient, you would still get display... But it would score low...

Happened to me...

What amperage you have onyour 12v rails?

With my old power supply, I have 12v1 @ 19amp and 12v2 @ 17amp, when added together, subtract 2, equals about 34amp total...

My new power supply is 18amp x3... ATi says for crossfire you must have at least 38amp available for the two cards to use...

I'm trying to figure out how to disable the writecombined, and set large system cache to 0.

Edit1: Also, my PSU has a regular 34a with a 38a peak and has a single 12+v rail. Also, do I need to do anything in the BIOS???

Edit2: So I was able to run 3DMark06 SCORE (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=389273) but the entire time it was running in 3D Mode the screen was blank as I mentioned before. What am I missing? Anyone?

rob[GL]

07-16-2006, 03:54 PM

That's really weird bro... I have a problem too, though not quite as severe...

When I enable crossfire, my LCD monitor goes a little... CRAZY!!!

It starts getting these nasty wavy lines that run up and down the screen... It's almost like staring at an old CRT with a 60Hz refresh rate, that has been video-taped... Then watching the scan-lines on the video tape...

It drives me nuts...

nicepun

07-16-2006, 04:11 PM

']That's really weird bro... I have a problem too, though not quite as severe...

When I enable crossfire, my LCD monitor goes a little... CRAZY!!!

It starts getting these nasty wavy lines that run up and down the screen... It's almost like staring at an old CRT with a 60Hz refresh rate, that has been video-taped... Then watching the scan-lines on the video tape...

It drives me nuts...

Went back to 6.5 drivers and problem is now fixed.

Went back to 6.6 and problem is there, I hope 6.7 fixes this problem.

TuKo

07-17-2006, 05:46 AM

nicepun

07-17-2006, 07:51 AM

As seen on another forum, this is Catalyst 6.6 related. There is a hotfix for this.

Go to
https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894

And look for ticket 737-22664, you'll get a fixed 6.6 driver set.

Awesome find dude, I'll check it out when I get home from work. I shall report back my results. :slap: For been lazy and not looking in ATI for answers. Now I'm wondering if I'm supoosed to install these additional drivers after I install the regular drivers..:confused:

Edit1: It worked. Alright. Just so you guys know, I left both cards in and connected with the dongle during drivers installation.

Edit2: The hotfix is a bunch of crap, it's giving the same scores in 3DMark06 as CATS 6.5, like 400 points less than CATS 6.6. Oh well, let's see what happens with CATS 6.7!!