Crossfire in my hands now too ... ~8)

I can only run bone stock on the two cards, so here is my score:

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=1595573

I have no idea how to overclock the two cards, I can run the overdrive utility, but it only overclocks the master card. Using ATItool, I can switch back and forth between cards and watch the temps rise on the master card only. ATItool overclocking just gives me a black screen with even just 1mhz overclock. I can use the overclocker.exe program to clock up just the single card in slot 0, but that leaves the slave out again. I was thinking of flashing the slave to the oc bios and then using the overdrive to match it's speed. That would probably get them close enough together.

Try this:

http://www.muropaketti.com/3dmark/r520/cf/oc/

Merry Christmas :)

lol sampsa, how the hell did you manage to find that "cheat" ? :rolleyes:

Now if I can only get it to work on x1600pros

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sampsa

Try this:

http://www.muropaketti.com/3dmark/r520/cf/oc/

Merry Christmas :)

---

Wow what's choosing 2 displays in properties meant to do ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sampsa

Try this:

http://www.muropaketti.com/3dmark/r520/cf/oc/

Merry Christmas :)

---

Do you have to switch the display everytime i wonna set the clocks sampsa???:)

You might also want to try this:
-enable crossfire mode
-open taskmanager (crtl+alt+del) and close the two Ati2evxx.exe services
-Use ATITool Beta 10 and set you fan speeds and voltages and clockspeeds for each card (7100 is slave, 7109 is master)

Let me know how this works

Mmmm wow, that is a lot of messing around, I see how it would work really well though... Just that is something that would be for a benchmark.. I'll give it a go for some scores and also see if something has changed in ATItool for overclocking. Using ATItool in the past has caused my machine to black screen just about everytime.

I'm betting on W1zz to get a stable reliable overclocker out for us though in ATItool eventually. It's not like I'm hurting for speed now.. :cool:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by macci

You might also want to try this:
-enable crossfire mode
-open taskmanager (crtl+alt+del) and close the two Ati2evxx.exe services
-Use ATITool Beta 10 and set you fan speeds and voltages and clockspeeds for each card (7100 is slave, 7109 is master)

Let me know how this works

---

Will disableing those services allow extreme cooling? I am still torn between ATI and Nvidia I really would rather run ati but at the same time would like to do so -80c or colder. :)

i thougt crossfire was plug n play... damn this is messy... :/
i hope this is all made a lot easier with the next driver release.

no no, crossfire was REAL easy to just plug in and go. Litterally plug in the card and go. We just exploring how to get both cards overclocked instead of just one with the current utilities. If you want an easy 15k crossfire score, just plug a couple X1800XT's in and hit the enable button and voila'.

nice score Doomeous.

@Sampsa: the method is some messy, enabling, disabling, open, close, etc..
is the only way to OC both cards?

Actually, you can overclock using the method Macci proposed up there a ways. Using ATItool seems to work for me now for some reason. I upped my score to like 15700 on air just trying it once. You just have to switch between the two cards listed in ATItool and make identical settings for each. I sure hope someone comes out with easy and simple overclocking for both cards.

That method sampsa doesnt work for the x1600

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Doomeous

Actually, you can overclock using the method Macci proposed up there a ways. Using ATItool seems to work for me now for some reason. I upped my score to like 15700 on air just trying it once. You just have to switch between the two cards listed in ATItool and make identical settings for each. I sure hope someone comes out with easy and simple overclocking for both cards.

---

waiting for your scores :toast:

Quote:

---

Will disableing those services allow extreme cooling?

---

I have tested -80C evap on press sample cards and now also with newer card versions too. Haven't seen any coldbugs.
If the services are enabled the card will throttle back to default clocks if supercooling is used.
There are reports of cards that cant run colder than -45C thou (Even with services disabled).

macci, does ATI have an official statement on the coldbug or lack there of on these cards? More specifically, why one card will like the cold and another wont?

Quote:

---

Actually, you can overclock using the method Macci proposed up there a ways. Using ATItool seems to work for me now for some reason. I upped my score to like 15700 on air just trying it once. You just have to switch between the two cards listed in ATItool and make identical settings for each.

---

Thanks for confirming this :)

I think that this is already a fairly quick and easy way to OC R520 CF.

Quote:

---

That method sampsa doesnt work for the x1600

---

But the ATITool method does? (saw you got some overclocked scores in the other thread).

Reposting the ATITool method:

1) enable CrossFire mode
2) open taskmanager (crtl+alt+del) and close the two Ati2evxx.exe services
3) Use ATITool Beta 10 and set your fan speeds and voltages and clockspeeds for each card (7100 is slave, 7109 is master), set cards to equal speeds

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by macci

Thanks for confirming this :)

I think that this is already a fairly quick and easy way to OC R520 CF.


But the ATITool method does? (saw you got some overclocked scores in the other thread).

Reposting the ATITool method:

1) enable CrossFire mode
2) open taskmanager (crtl+alt+del) and close the two Ati2evxx.exe services
3) Use ATITool Beta 10 and set your fan speeds and voltages and clockspeeds for each card (7100 is slave, 7109 is master), set cards to equal speeds

---

I dont think ati tool can change voltages for x1600 cards.
I dont see it anywhere.

Will look today and see if its possible

but is X1600 CF Overclocking possible w/ ATITool?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by macci

but is X1600 CF Overclocking possible w/ ATITool?

---

It works perfectly, but the core sucks on these can only get 630 in xfire on the core:confused:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Doomeous

no no, crossfire was REAL easy to just plug in and go. Litterally plug in the card and go. We just exploring how to get both cards overclocked instead of just one with the current utilities. If you want an easy 15k crossfire score, just plug a couple X1800XT's in and hit the enable button and voila'.

---

i know, but im a little confused and dissapointed with the lack of support from rivatuner or the ccc to just set clockspeeds for both cards there.
ati even allows us to change vgpu in windows, wich is a really really nice feature, im kinda surprised they dont have their own tool to boost the clockspeeds of both cards in crossfire...
its like a mainboard with vcore options in bios but no options to increase fsb, get what i mean?
we ca use clockgen and push it up in windows, no problem, most would use that method anywqays :D
but why is there a vcore option but no fsb ption.
get what i mean? :)

disabling services isnt abig deal, but how come we have to do this manually and the ccc doesnt do this automatically for example?
lets hope tey make things easier with the next ccc/driver :D

i mean sure, in cf you need a higher oc to get the same performece boost, percentage wise, as with a single card, but that doesnt mean ocing crossfire is useless...
and i dont se any options to change the mode crossfire is running in, supertiling or afr or sfr etc... where can i set this?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Doomeous

Actually, you can overclock using the method Macci proposed up there a ways. Using ATItool seems to work for me now for some reason. I upped my score to like 15700 on air just trying it once. You just have to switch between the two cards listed in ATItool and make identical settings for each. I sure hope someone comes out with easy and simple overclocking for both cards.

---

so both cards have to be set to identical speeds? what if they arent? stutter? sync problems?
crash? default clocks get applie?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by macci

I have tested -80C evap on press sample cards and now also with newer card versions too. Haven't seen any coldbugs.
If the services are enabled the card will throttle back to default clocks if supercooling is used.
There are reports of cards that cant run colder than -45C thou (Even with services disabled).

---

you mean eve with the services enabled, right?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by althes

It works perfectly, but the core sucks on these can only get 630 in xfire on the core:confused:

---

hey althes, i can run 660 with my 1600pros, but as soon as i oc the memory i have to back down to 640, even with the fan set to full speed.
whats your vgpu btw? mine is 1.41

Mine is about 1.37 could just be these cards.

Quote:

---

so both cards have to be set to identical speeds? what if they arent? stutter? sync problems?
crash? default clocks get applie?

---

You dont have to set em to identical speeds but it just doesn't make any sense to clock one higher than other since the overall speed wont go up that way.

Quote:

---

you mean eve with the services enabled, right?

---

When the service is enabled the card will throttle back to default speed if temp gets too cold (CCC will read +120C and thinks that the card is running too hot). When the service is not running this wont happen.

I have some weird stutter in EQ2, and it also showed up in source, but I truely think it's my Audigy, it's on the same damn IRQ as one of the video cards. I have been fighting with this card for some time now, and I'm going to remove it and use the Azalia audio card that bolts onto the mootherboard. After reading about the Azalia, I think it is probably nearly as good as the audigy minus the crappy IRQ conflits. I tried moving it around, but instead of using one of the 5 or 6 empty IRQ's, it loves to join with one of my damn video cards, and browsing thru the many support pages regarding IRQ issues on the soundblaster site, I think this card is just going to be that way.

Now, overclocking with just one card will gain me some couple hundred points, but both overclocked I get like 500-700 points more in 05. The only time I tried was with the overdrive util. It worked, but only on the master card, and the master is already warm enough. I have a pair of Zalman Fatal1ty coolers bolted on them, but they just kinda circulate the warm air, and the top card (master card) gets very warm. If your going to Xfire cards, dont use the Zalmans, they just don't do anything to remove air, especially the master card. I suppose you could mounts fans all over to get some better circulation, but I am just going to get a pair of those new Danger Den X18 coolers listed for sale on their site. I already have the water cooling crap from my last video card, I'll just re-use it with the new water blocks.

I'm having a hella time getting my Crossfire going. The first X1800XT I got has been working fine for quite some time. I just got this new X1800XT CF Edition on Friday and I've yet to get them working in CF mode.

BTW, I have the DFI RDX CF-DR

At first, I just tried installing the Master card in the primary slot in place of the first 1800 and moved that one to the other slot. Fired it up and I didn't see a Crossfire option in CCC.

In my haste I forgot to enable CF in the BIOS. So I rebooted and enabled CF in BIOS and set both slots to 8X.

Now I see Crossfire as an option in CCC but when I try to click on Enable Crossfire, it just unchecks itself. Also, I can only see my Crossfire Edition in the Adapter drop down.

I flashed the RDX to the 11/23 BIOS. No change.

I uninstalled all ATI Drivers, did a round of Driver Cleaner, re-installed the Cat 5.13's. No change.

In Device Manager, I see 4 Display Adapters listed:

Radeon X1800 Crossfire Edition
Radeon X1800 Crossfire Edition Secondary
Radeon X1800 Series
Radeon X1800 Series Secondary

The Cat 5.13's are listed as the driver for all of these.

I feel like I'm missing something fundemental, like not changing a jumper or something. BTW, both cards spin up the fans and all that. I really thing both cards are 100% functional hardware wise.

I'm completely at a loss. If anyone has any ideas or knows of a better place for me to post this, please let me know.

TIA

techstyled,

Put your Master Card in the second slot :)

-k0nsl

techstyled,
Switch to another adapter in Display properties (there should be 4 items available) and try again. I have had problems enabling CF mode when the #3 adapter (Slave) has been active, switching to #1 has fixed the problemo.

Are we supposed to set the PCIX slots to 8X? I have them 16x and 12x..

my bet is it would go 8x/8x anyhow

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Doomeous

Are we supposed to set the PCIX slots to 8X? I have them 16x and 12x..

---

Both gfx 0 and 1 in bios should be x8.


Btw, My crossfire enabled mode disappears in CCC.

After I shut down far cry, I look in both ati tool and ccc, only master card device gets recognized.
Only way get it going again without re-installing drivers is
take slave card out of pci-e slot. Then you just put it back in boot up and
device gets recognized and crossfire could be enabled through CCC.
Happens with games. :cool:

This is with DFI RDX-200 CF-DR.

huh, thats weird.. You have IRQ conflicts like I did? I finally got the two video cards in the clear and have no issues with anything now.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by k0nsl

techstyled,

Put your Master Card in the second slot :)

-k0nsl

---

Tried this, still not working. Now, instead of only being able to select:

1. Radeon X1800 Crossfire Edition

I can only select:

3. Radeon X1800 Crossfire Edition

@macci

Sounds like you have your cards working fine in the normal configuration where the slave would appear as #3. I'm going to switch back to that way since it is the way stated in the manual but I can't seem to switch display adapters (may be because it things mine is Inactive). I'll try hooking a display to both and see if I can switch back and forth.

EDIT: I meant to say that in Display Properties, I do see all 4 selections under Display:, I just can't switch to any other one because it's shown as inactive (nothing connected I assume).

This is quite frustrating. I'm no newb either, at least not in regards to getting graphic cards working.

Thanks for your suggestions.

EDIT: I also assume that during the getting it working phase, you DO NOT need to have the CF Cable connected. Please let me know if that makes a difference. I had it connected but during the juggling I'm leaving it off. I assume that when I finally (if ever) am able to select Crossfire Enabled, it will ask me to reboot and THEN I'll need to connect the fugly cable.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Doomeous

huh, thats weird.. You have IRQ conflicts like I did? I finally got the two video cards in the clear and have no issues with anything now.

---

Yep, was IRQ conflict with the karajan audio device. I only used my
RDX-200 with pair of X850's to run some CrossFire 3d marks, never tried
any games with crossfire till other night and discovered this conflict.
Cause, when i ran 3d benches I would disable audio.

Ok, I finally got it working. Here's my experience in case someone has similar problems.

My breakthrough point was when I clicked on the 3 monitor in Displays in CCC. After doing that and answering a bunch of stuff about "are you sure, that seems to be inactive", I was able to get both adapters to show up in the drop down.

Then, when selecting my slave card, under Crossfire section it had a warning about making sure my CF Cable was connected (like it could tell it wasn't).

It said to press F1 for more info and in that section I read it said something to the effect that only 1 of the 2 DVI-I slots on the slave card could be used for the compositing.

So after attaching the cable to the CF card, and attaching the cable to the TOP DVI port on the slave (which is contrary to my diagram that came with the CF card), upon reboot, selecting Crossfire on my CF Edition Adapter in CCC showed a warning about connecting my monitor to my CF Cable (it was currently in the DVI port on my Master card.

Moved the monitor to the other connecter and selecting Crossfire Enabled!

:banana: :banana: :banana:

Just ran my first 3d05 with everything stock (Opty 146) and got 9854 :(

The tweaking/oc begins tho...

Quote:

---

Just ran my first 3d05 with everything stock (Opty 146) and got 9854

---

I would check all your configs/settings over, your score seems low for two X1800's.

You should be getting over 12.5K on 05 with stock clks on cards.

Whats spd is the opty running at ??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dynasty

I would check all your configs/settings over, your score seems low for two X1800's.

You should be getting over 12.5K on 05 with stock clks on cards.

Whats spd is the opty running at ??

---

Everything is stock and nothing is tweaked yet. Will have a go at that tomorrow.

You should be getting 12-13 stock, 9800, obviously something is wrong there.

signed

Yup something is up.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by macci

You dont have to set em to identical speeds but it just doesn't make any sense to clock one higher than other since the overall speed wont go up that way.

---

if only one card is clocked higher it doesnt give a boost?
in supertiling it should give a boost, even if its a small one, as there is load balancing, right?
how do i enable super tiling?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by macci

When the service is enabled the card will throttle back to default speed if temp gets too cold (CCC will read +120C and thinks that the card is running too hot). When the service is not running this wont happen.

---

my bad, i have a little fever and read the cards clock to default if the servics are DISabled :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by althes

Yup something is up.

---

I've got a new Raptor I've been wanting to test out so I'm just going to start with a fresh install in the morning. All I got to do is take it into work with me and tell my boss, "hey, look at my cool new system" and he'll say, "well let's see how she clocks" and then I'll be able to tweak it on company time. Nice to have a boss that's an enthus, enthusia, enthusic... likes messin' with computers too.

I'll post back in the morning, there is no doubt something up with this build.

Say, anyone got a "Best tweaks and tips for 3d05" linky for me :)

Edit: or do you just wanna point out the last stickie in this forum ;)

150gb raptor? :D

theres no way i can manage to oc my 1600s in crossfire, not one card, and not both cards... i disabled the services, shut down all ati relaed apps in task manager, but the cards clockspeeds get set to default when i try to benchmark.

ati tool shows
0x71c2: rv530pro;bus:2;device:0
0x71c2: rv530pro;bus:1;device:0
thats it... when i try to enable any of the other 3 monitor outputs in ccc either nothing happens or my scren turns black and 3 seconds later my system resarts... :(

any ideas how to get ocing going with two 1600s in crossfire?

Ok, something definately is not right.

I just (rebooting where approriate):

1. Installed XP SP2 fresh
2. Installed the IGP Chipset driver from ATI which included Cat 5.13 (should I have used the seemingly outdated one from DFI's site?)
3. Installed the Marvell LAN Driver
4. Let Windows install all updates and then selected optional .NET 1.1
5. Opened CCC and checked Crossfire Enabled (this time it seemed to work from the get go because, I assume, I've got my CF Cable connected properly)
6. Ran 3dMark05 and scored 9756 !!!

It's like I'm only running 1 card. When I go back into CCC, the checkbox for Crossfire Enabled is still checked.

Any ideas?

theres your mistake:
4. Let Windows install all updates :D

uncheck the mark for cf in ccc and check if you get the same score?
what cpu speed?

click on the ati logo in the task bar and then go to the second primary card and click on "extend desktop" and then enable crossfire again.

btw, big thx to althes, i managd to get both 1600s oced in crossfire :D
dont know why it worked all the sudden, maybe theservices have to get disabled in a sequqnce or i have to start ati tool before i shut down the services?
or maybe its because i had oced a singelc ard with rivatuner before?
i set it back to defaults though.... anyways, it works now as described.

kill all ati related processes, disable the ati hot key and smart service in system management services, and use atitool.
settings, select bus1, back, oc, settings, select bus2, oc, bench :D

7350 in 2k5 and 10250 in 2k3
too bad theese cards dont scale at all with more cpu power :(
this is 2 1600pro cards at 600/900 128bit gddr2 is limitig them greatly, althes has 2 xts and they have 2x the memory speed at 1.8ghz and the same core speed and he gets almost 10k in 2k5...

Ok, turned off CF and got 8011 in 3dMark05!

OMG, could my measly Opty 146 at stock be impacting 3dMark05 that much?

And if so, were y'all oblivious to me mentioning I was running that? :)

Gonna do some CPU only OC and see if I can hit 11-12k with cards at stock like y'all think I should be getting.

If you're running your Opteron at stock I'll bet that's the problem. I score ~9700 with my cards and cpu at stock and ~12,700 with the cpu@2.9GHz. SLI/Crossfire overhead sucks.

interesting read, posted here to folow...
So is 1800's CF worth getting over SLI 7800's yet, or still go gtx's?

1800xts in cf beat 7800gtx in sli afaik, but they cost more...

does any retailer have the master card in stock?

Allstarshop.com shows OEM and Retail in stock, and if they says it's in stock, they don't mean like Monarch in stock, they mean "will ship today" in stock. :)

Do a search on "crossfire" on their site.

Thought New Egg had these in stock too.

newegg had them, maybe they are sold out again?

newegg is out
I will check those other sites
thanks

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saaya

1800xts in cf beat 7800gtx in sli afaik, but they cost more...

---

X1800Xts 512Mb beats 7800GTX 256MB yes...

but when we are talking about the monster ....:D

yeah but those cost even more plus are barely avalable... :D
the 1800xt crossfire master cards arent available either though :/
but they cost 50$ more where they are available, so as soon as they pop up id say they will cost around 550€

1800xt 512mb is in stock and costs 480€-530€
7800gtx 512mb is not in stock and costs 590€-690€
7800gtx 256mb is in stock and costs 440€-480€

so crossfire 1800xt will probably cost
~480€+~550€ =~1030€

and sli 7800gtx 512mb will probably cost
~600€+~600€=~1200€

and sli 7800gtx 256mb will probably cost
~440€+~440€=~880€

and sli 7800gt will probably cost
~300€+~300€=~600€


so for 600€ you get a 7800gt sli set
for 280€ extra you get a 7800gtx 256mb sli set
for 150€ more you get a 1800xt crossfire set
for 170€ on top of that you get a 7800gtx 512mb set

i dont know how well the 1800xt ocs, but i dont think it ocs as much as the 7800gtx 256mb cards, right?
id say 7800gt sli is powerfull enough and is still an "ok" price, there are single cards that cost that much...
if you want more then id guess the 7800gtx 256mb set is your deal

if you reall need the top end and have to find a way to get rid of cash asap for some reason then get 1800xt cf or 7800gtx 512mb sli... IF you can find them... :D

EDIT: i gues that most people who spend that much money for hardware already have a top end board, wich means they have an sli board... so going crossfire means ean extra of 100-200€ depending on what board they go for... then a 1800xt cf upgrade costs as much as a 7800gtx 512mb sli upgrade... and its a no brainer wich wins the deal... from what ive seen definately the 7800gtx 512mb set.

_Very_ preliminary results with my new Opty 170 at 280x10 has yielded me a score of 12553 with my X1800XT's at stock (and still a lot of room for tweaking basically everything except the CPU, like mem timings).

My point is just to let y'all know that, you are right, I _should_ be getting 11-12k at stock _IF_ I'm running my proc at 2.8 or above :)

I'll post back when I get the CPU and GPU's under water :)