I ran a few tests this afternoon more of a shakedown than anything else. The system appears to be alright so far. I didn’t really hammer anything but I did want to clock the processor up a little so I tested under chilled water to save some time.

I guess I should have researched this systems combination a little more before I bought it? I remember reading somewhere a while back about the HydraLogix and dual GPU graphics cards not working together or at least something to that effect. I don’t remember in what combination of installed GFX cards that applied to at that time but I must have forgotten all about it?

Fast forward to today and my first test which I had planned as a mixed GFX card Vantage test. I installed my Asus 5970 into slot one and two Evga GTX 260’s in slots two and four. When I started Vantage I was greeted with the message “Hydralogix does not work in crossfire mode” (the 5970’s two GPU’s being internally crossfired). I removed the 5970 and installed a 5870 which allowed Vantage to run. I didn’t try the 5970 in slot 2 which may allow it to work with the HydraLogix controller in the X mode for all I know, maybe tomorrow.

I’m not stating in any way that the Crosshair IV Extreme with the HydraLogix controller is a bad product. I’m simply saying that using the GFX card configuration stated above that my 5970 would not work with HydraLogix controller. What I did notice though was that during the graphic test in Vantage the FPS would drop dramatically and at times the image on the screen would stop for the better part of a second before speeding back up.

Oh well the shakedown test results are below. Each test was on run once. The GFX cards are at default clocks.