Crossfire 5870 Issue

lost0ne · 11-07-2009, 11:03 PM

I'm having issues trying to crossfire two 5870 cards. They work individually fine but when I enable crossfire is when things go downhill.

Sitting on the desktop everything works fine. But the minute I try playing any time of game, it will start out stuttering and then eventually crash the system. Upon reboot, the second card doesn't get detected until I do a full power down.

Any suggestions?

l33tGaMeR · 11-08-2009, 01:58 AM

May be the brand difference... Asus and XFX may be causing an issue... Some brands set their cards so they only crossfire with the same brand...

Zubasa · 11-08-2009, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by l33tGaMeR

May be the brand difference... Asus and XFX may be causing an issue... Some brands set their cards so they only crossfire with the same brand...

Well the only difference between the XFX and the Asus us the Bios, all 5870 avaliable right now are BBA.
Flash the XFX with the Asus bios and the the problem might go away.
The Asus allows for higher driver level OC anyways.

Mussels · 11-08-2009, 10:22 AM

what drivers are you using?

lost0ne · 11-08-2009, 01:34 PM

I have tried both the official 9.10s and the beta 9.11. Also tried an OCZ 1010w and Corsair 750w PSU. I originally had both cards running the asus bios. But I now have flashed the XFX back to it's original bios. It seems to run a bit longer but not by much. hehe.

I have also thought my overclocking was the issue and tried it on stock speeds for my proc. None of the cards are overclocked and they both have waterblocks on them so heat is not an issue.

I really don't want to try the spare DFI board I have, that thing has it's own gremlins... lol.

Mussels · 11-08-2009, 01:38 PM

perhaps somethings up with the watercooling, a VRM or ram chip overheating?

Binge · 11-08-2009, 01:44 PM

Well I assume that after you had this problem you did a clean sweep of your drivers before installing the newest Cats. Try to see if using one or both crossfire connector is your problem. If you're running both, remove the one closest to the cooler, if you're using one... connect both. It may or may not make a difference. If you have multiple power connectors, try using as many from different rails as you can. If you happen to have a PSU with a single rail then ignore that suggestion. In your BIOS under memory overclocking or memory properties there may be something called a "Low Memory Gap". If this is some low number, for instance 1-2GB make it 3-4GB. Have you tried changing any preferences in CCC? Please respond with a list of what settings you've changed in case anyone can give their suggestion on some setting that should be off/on when crossfire is active.

lost0ne · 11-08-2009, 02:06 PM

Temps look all good. I'm wondering if the board doesn't like the PCI x4 slot being filled when I have the other ones populated with video cards.

Trying a fresh install on just my SSD's and seeing if my SAS card is the issue. I'm hoping it doesn't work cause I would really miss them... lol.

lost0ne · 11-08-2009, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Binge

Well I assume that after you had this problem you did a clean sweep of your drivers before installing the newest Cats. Try to see if using one or both crossfire connector is your problem. If you're running both, remove the one closest to the cooler, if you're using one... connect both. It may or may not make a difference. If you have multiple power connectors, try using as many from different rails as you can. If you happen to have a PSU with a single rail then ignore that suggestion. In your BIOS under memory overclocking or memory properties there may be something called a "Low Memory Gap". If this is some low number, for instance 1-2GB make it 3-4GB. Have you tried changing any preferences in CCC? Please respond with a list of what settings you've changed in case anyone can give their suggestion on some setting that should be off/on when crossfire is active.

I'm thinking it's more hardware than software. Cause when it crashes, the second card doesn't get picked up by windows upon reboot. I have to do a cold boot before the second card gets picked up again.

I have thought about the rail issue cause the corsair hx 1000 has seperate rails for 12v. Swapped those around and tried running it on a PSU with a single 12v rail.

Haven't tried running less RAM. When in crossfire mode, it runs for maybe 30 secs. As for settings in CCC, everything is set to defaults.

lost0ne · 11-08-2009, 04:17 PM

Issue has been resolved. Took apart my watercooling loop for the video card. Went and re-applied thermal paste on the gpu of the second card.

Wierd thing is, gpu-z was reporting good temps when I was stressing it. Under load it was 43c, which wasn't much of a change after I re-applied. Oh well, I'm just happy it works.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

Mussels · 11-09-2009, 02:19 AM

hah, i was right! somehow

11-07-2009, 11:03 PM	#1
lost0ne Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 5 (0.32/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts System Specs	Crossfire 5870 Issue I'm having issues trying to crossfire two 5870 cards. They work individually fine but when I enable crossfire is when things go downhill. Sitting on the desktop everything works fine. But the minute I try playing any time of game, it will start out stuttering and then eventually crash the system. Upon reboot, the second card doesn't get detected until I do a full power down. Any suggestions?

System Name:	Gaming Rig
Processor:	Xeon X3350 @ 3.8GHz
Motherboard:	Gigabyte EP45-DS4P
Cooling:	Custom Watercooling
Memory:	Corsair 8GB DDR2 Dominators
Video Card:	Asus/XFX 5870 Crossfire
Harddisk:	Seagate 147GB SAS Raid-0 / OCZ 60GB SSD Raid-0
CRT/LCD Model:	Dell U2410 / Samsung T240 / Samsung 2443
Case:	Coolermaster HAF 932
PSU:	Corsair HX 1000

11-08-2009, 01:58 AM	#2
l33tGaMeR Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Standing Right Behind You Posts: 295 (0.56/day) Thanks: 76 Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts System Specs	May be the brand difference... Asus and XFX may be causing an issue... Some brands set their cards so they only crossfire with the same brand... __________________ One Day Satan Entered Heaven And God Was Like "OMFG WALLHAX!!!" A gamer backs themselves with the best...

System Name:	The Calm Before The Storm
Processor:	Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.8GHZ Stock Cooling
Motherboard:	Gigabyte EP45-DS3 Stock.
Cooling:	Stock On CPU. Non-refernece on the GFX Card. Fans: 2 Back(LED), 1 Side(LED), 1 Front (Plain)
Memory:	Kingston, 4 x 1GB, DDR2, 667MHZ
Video Card:	Palit 4870 1GB GDDR5 @ 790MHZ/4000MHZ (OC'ed) 256-bit Dual fan and dual bios switch
Harddisk:	Seagate Baracudda 320GB SATA, Seagategate Baracudda 500GB SATA both at 7200.12 RPM
CD/DVD Drive:	20x Lite On Burner, 20x Samsung Reader Both are SATA
CRT/LCD Model:	22" Inch, Samsung, 8000:1, 5ms
Case:	Antec PlusView 1000AMG SOHO File Server
Sound Card:	Onboard Soundcard... Does the job. Using Logitec X-530 Speakers
PSU:	Codegen 825W Dual 12v Rail (got this one for about $20 bucks US, $49.95 AUD)
Software:	Windows XP Service Pack 3, Over 100GB's of Battlefield 2 Maps and Mods
Benchmarks:	Overclocking my GPU by 15 incredible MHZ 13762 3DMark06 Overclocking my CPU by 0.4GHZ Razer Keybo

System Name:	Zubasa's DeathStar
Processor:	Phenom II X4 810
Motherboard:	GA-MA770T-UD3P
Cooling:	DeepCool Ice Blade Pro (Extreme Edition)
Memory:	Cosair XMS3 DDR3 1333
Video Card:	HIS ATi Radeon HD 5870
Harddisk:	Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 250GB *2 Raid 0 + Hitachi "DeathStar" P7K500 500GB
CRT/LCD Model:	BenQ G2412HD Full HD
Case:	Ikonik Zaria A10
Sound Card:	Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium
PSU:	OCZ ModXStream-Pro 600W
Software:	Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

11-08-2009, 10:22 AM	#4
Mussels Outdated Meme Moderator Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Bendigo, Australia (NOT THE USA) Posts: 17,928 (9.57/day) Thanks: 897 Thanked 2,883 Times in 2,502 Posts System Specs	what drivers are you using? __________________ AMD tech support - see how bad it really is 5 port E-sata cage. 4x samsung 1TB + 2x Seagate 1.5TB = 7 TB external storage 32 Bit OS vs 64 bit OS information 48x0 card support Getting DXVA working in windows 7!

System Name:	5370HSSV-0773H
Processor:	Xeon 3120 (45nm, E0) - 3.8GHz 1.18v \| 4Ghz 1.26v \|
Motherboard:	DFI x48-T2R
Cooling:	Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme (Lapped)
Memory:	8GB OCZ reaper, 800MHz 4-4-4-15 (varies depending on OC)
Video Card:	2x Powercolor 4870 1GB (800/1000) - Accelero S1's
Harddisk:	Samsung 500GB (7) / Seagate 320GB (games) - see sig for externals
CD/DVD Drive:	Pioneer DVR 212 SATA DVD-RW
CRT/LCD Model:	23.6" Samsung 1080P / Samsung 40" HDTV - 1360x768P
Case:	Antec P150
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PSU:	Corsair TX 750W (silent at idle, noisy at load)
Software:	Windows 7 RTM :) - kaspersky internet security 2010
Benchmarks:	Superpi: 10.938s Vantage: Approx 16K GPU score (still OCing CPU)

11-08-2009, 01:34 PM	#5
lost0ne Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 5 (0.32/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts System Specs	I have tried both the official 9.10s and the beta 9.11. Also tried an OCZ 1010w and Corsair 750w PSU. I originally had both cards running the asus bios. But I now have flashed the XFX back to it's original bios. It seems to run a bit longer but not by much. hehe. I have also thought my overclocking was the issue and tried it on stock speeds for my proc. None of the cards are overclocked and they both have waterblocks on them so heat is not an issue. I really don't want to try the spare DFI board I have, that thing has it's own gremlins... lol.

11-08-2009, 01:38 PM	#6
Mussels Outdated Meme Moderator Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Bendigo, Australia (NOT THE USA) Posts: 17,928 (9.57/day) Thanks: 897 Thanked 2,883 Times in 2,502 Posts System Specs	perhaps somethings up with the watercooling, a VRM or ram chip overheating? __________________ AMD tech support - see how bad it really is 5 port E-sata cage. 4x samsung 1TB + 2x Seagate 1.5TB = 7 TB external storage 32 Bit OS vs 64 bit OS information 48x0 card support Getting DXVA working in windows 7!

11-08-2009, 01:44 PM	#7
Binge Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: PA, USA Posts: 4,243 (9.77/day) Thanks: 531 Thanked 1,011 Times in 856 Posts System Specs	Well I assume that after you had this problem you did a clean sweep of your drivers before installing the newest Cats. Try to see if using one or both crossfire connector is your problem. If you're running both, remove the one closest to the cooler, if you're using one... connect both. It may or may not make a difference. If you have multiple power connectors, try using as many from different rails as you can. If you happen to have a PSU with a single rail then ignore that suggestion. In your BIOS under memory overclocking or memory properties there may be something called a "Low Memory Gap". If this is some low number, for instance 1-2GB make it 3-4GB. Have you tried changing any preferences in CCC? Please respond with a list of what settings you've changed in case anyone can give their suggestion on some setting that should be off/on when crossfire is active. __________________ *Peripheral- noun - computer peripheral, peripheral device ((computer science) electronic equipment connected by cable to the CPU of a computer) "disk drives and printers are important peripherals" Read my latest peripheral review and please join/support the TPU Peripherals Club.

11-08-2009, 02:06 PM	#8
lost0ne Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 5 (0.32/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts System Specs	Temps look all good. I'm wondering if the board doesn't like the PCI x4 slot being filled when I have the other ones populated with video cards. Trying a fresh install on just my SSD's and seeing if my SAS card is the issue. I'm hoping it doesn't work cause I would really miss them... lol.

11-08-2009, 04:17 PM	#10
lost0ne Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 5 (0.32/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts System Specs	Issue has been resolved. Took apart my watercooling loop for the video card. Went and re-applied thermal paste on the gpu of the second card. Wierd thing is, gpu-z was reporting good temps when I was stressing it. Under load it was 43c, which wasn't much of a change after I re-applied. Oh well, I'm just happy it works. Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

11-09-2009, 02:19 AM	#11
Mussels Outdated Meme Moderator Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Bendigo, Australia (NOT THE USA) Posts: 17,928 (9.57/day) Thanks: 897 Thanked 2,883 Times in 2,502 Posts System Specs	hah, i was right! somehow __________________ AMD tech support - see how bad it really is 5 port E-sata cage. 4x samsung 1TB + 2x Seagate 1.5TB = 7 TB external storage 32 Bit OS vs 64 bit OS information 48x0 card support Getting DXVA working in windows 7!

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