Flash 4870x2 BIOS in CF mode?

[KamiKiri]

Can i flash two 4870x2 BIOS in Crossfire or? They are watercooled. Should i overclock the first one first and the second card after that? I want too use this guide if it works with two cards in same time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwm4AKlV01s&hd=1 It would be very messy if it doesn't work within Crossfire mode. Golden regards....

 

[erocker]

Have drivers uninstalled and do one at a time. Both cards can be connected to the system.

 

[KamiKiri]

Thanx. Du you also know where i can find drivers for my cards? Is it true that 4870x2 is no more supported anymore. Which version is the best one for my cards in CF? Where can i find it?

 

[Law-II]

Thanx. Do you also know where i can find drivers for my cards? Is it true that 4870x2 is no more supported anymore. Which version is the best one for my cards in CF? Where can i find it?

Hi

Select the version of windows required 64bit or 32bit - AMD catalyst packages/previous drivers/catalyst 11.9
"Where can i find it?"here - http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/downloads.aspx

"Is it true that 4870x2 is no more supported anymore?" Edit: they will be produced quarterly
http://www.techpowerup.com/164573/AMD-to-Drop-Support-for-Pre-HD-5000-GPUs-with-Catalyst-12.7.html

atb (all the best)

Law-II

 

[GotNoRice]

Thanx. Du you also know where i can find drivers for my cards? Is it true that 4870x2 is no more supported anymore. Which version is the best one for my cards in CF? Where can i find it?

"Is it true that 4870x2 is no more supported anymore?" Yes
http://www.techpowerup.com/164573/AMD-to-Drop-Support-for-Pre-HD-5000-GPUs-with-Catalyst-12.7.html

Dispite the misleading title of that article, no, support is NOT being "dropped" for Pre-5000 GPUs.

If you're interested in moving beyond the misinformation, here is an official response from AMD on this issue:

AMD will be moving the AMD Radeon™ HD 2000, AMD Radeon HD 3000, and AMD Radeon HD 4000 Series of products to a new driver support model. We will continue to support the mentioned products in our Catalyst releases, but we’re moving their updates to a quarterly basis, whereas our AMD Radeon HD 5000 and later products will continue to see monthly updates. The Quarterly Catalyst releases will focus on resolving application specific issues and critical updates. The reason for the shift in support policy is largely due to the fact that the AMD Radeon HD 2000, AMD Radeon HD 3000, and AMD Radeon HD 4000 Series have been optimized to their maximum potential from a performance and feature perspective. The 8.97 based driver, released in May 2012 will be the first driver for the AMD Radeon HD 2000, AMD Radeon HD 3000, and AMD Radeon HD 4000 Series under the new support model; it is an extremely stable and robust driver branch for these products and will be the baseline for our quarterly updates.

So drivers for Pre-5000 GPUs will now be released on a quarterly basis. Interestingly, 5000 and later GPUs won't be receiving monthly driver updates now either.

At this point, 4000-series GPUs havn't been moved to the legacy driver yet and they still use the same drivers as any other modern Radeon:

64-bit Windows: http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx
32-bit Windows: http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_win7-32.aspx

There is absolutely NO reason to use anything other than the very latest drivers with these cards. I currently run 2x 4870x2 in Quad Crossfire and performance continues to be fantastic dispute the age of the hardware.

Note that even after the cards are moved to the legacy driver, you will still be able to use the latest CAPs on top of that legacy driver.

 

[Law-II]

There is absolutely NO reason to use anything other than the very latest drivers with these cards

Hi

That is not entirly correct as there are a number of issues with the latest catalyst beta and catalyst 12.1 12.2 12.3 & 12.4 cause the second GPU to idle in full 3d mode on the HD5970, HD6990 and I would be interested to see what the second GPU dose on a 4870x2. [this can be monitored using GPU-Z] this occurs to higher degree if Ulps is disabled via the registry.
nb: I have already reported this to the AMD driver team

Noted; with reference to the TPU article

atb (all the best)

Law-II

 

[GotNoRice]

I would be interested to see what the second GPU dose on a 4870x2.

I use MSI Afterburner to monitor temps, GPU usage, and Core clock via my G15 LCD. All 4 GPUs switch back and forth between 507Mhz (idle clock) and 800Mhz (3D clock w/ slight overclock) normally.

The only notable issue I have sometimes is when I alt-tab out of a game and back in very quickly sometimes only one GPU will be active after that point. But if I alt-tab out and in again the issue goes away.

 

[Law-II]

I use MSI Afterburner to monitor temps, GPU usage, and Core clock via my G15 LCD. All 4 GPUs switch back and forth between 507Mhz (idle clock) and 800Mhz (3D clock w/ slight overclock) normally.

The only notable issue I have sometimes is when I alt-tab out of a game and back in very quickly sometimes only one GPU will be active after that point. But if I alt-tab out and in again the issue goes away.

Hi

thank you, that is helpful to know

atb

Law-II

 

[DRDNA]

Hi

That is not entirly correct as there are a number of issues with the latest catalyst beta and catalyst 12.1 12.2 12.3 & 12.4 cause the second GPU to idle in full 3d mode on the HD5970, HD6990 and I would be interested to see what the second GPU dose on a 4870x2. [this can be monitored using GPU-Z] this occurs to higher degree if Ulps is disabled via the registry.
nb: I have already reported this to the AMD driver team

Noted; with reference to the TPU article

atb (all the best)

Law-II

Yeah the 4000 series did not have the power saving features that the 5000 and up do, they cant shut down the slave card.