Crossfire woes!

[SeeK]

Firstly, hello again. It's been almost five years since I was last active 'round these parts.

Secondly, my issue: I can't get Crossfire working right. I've got 11.6 with its CAP1 installed. Both cards are detected, Crossfire is enabled in CCC and all that. However...

When I run any Source game, everything's fine in the menus but as soon as a 3D environment loads, performance hits rock bottom. It does seem like it's actually running, because if I minimize the game and bring it back up it'll have a different frame. But it simply will not render (and sound loops as if I was changing settings) while in the game.

Metro 2033 gets around 1 FPS at all times. Never got past the menu as it was stuttering too much.

Crysis Warhead works fine, but sees no performance benefit whatsoever compared to running just the 5850.

So, what is wrong? Like I say, everything looks fine in the drivers and setup, but games just will not function correctly with Crossfire enabled. I've tried older drivers, with and without CAP, and I've even done a complete wipe and re-install of Windows, installing only the bare minimum to get a game running. Still nothing.

 

[LGV]

The clock rates may be an important factor, as well. The first card (the one closest to the CPU) is usually the "master" in the configuration. If this card is overclocked, there's a risk that the second card will try to reach these speeds, too. If you suffer from frequent crashes or overheating, you should try adjusting the clock rates of the master card to match those of the second card (or even slower) and see if this makes the configuration more stable. Moreover, both cards have to have the same frame buffer, too.With AMD graphics cards, you usually use the fastest one as the master card. The performance increase by doing this is very small, but it can be seen in all the benchmarks. Again, running a differently-clocked CrossFire combination might cause some issues due to higher clock rates of the master card. You need to either change clock rates or change the card sequence to fix this.

 

[_JP_]

The problem here aren't the clocks alone. Besides, OP's HD 5830 has higher stock clocks than the HD 5850. I'm thinking the differenet number of ROPs must be the problem too. And, as far as I know, Crossfire doesn't downclock or overclock to match speeds. Scaling must be terrible with those two cards too.
SeeK, of the two cards, which one is on top PCI-e slot?

 

[SeeK]

The 5850 is in the top slot. I haven't tried switching them around yet.

I'm aware this is hardly the most common of Crossfire setups, but according to this it's fine. I was thinking the bridge might be faulty, but seeing as the Diagnostics section in CCC doesn't report anything, I dunno.

 

[LGV]

Both card works ok as stand alone?
Try to swap the sequence or make the clocks closer to each other or both.
But even you make them work, wont see too much increase of performance.
(I would sell one of them or both if need higher performance)

 

[SeeK]

Yep, both of them work fine on their own.

Worth noting is that when running Furmark, both cards run and get hotter. Framerate still seems to be the same as a single card though.

Why would I not see much of a performance gain? Crossfire is engineered to be much more flexible with different GPUs and clocks these days and seeing as, with a bit of overclocking, the 5830 will be at least as fast as a stock 5850, I don't see the problem. Time'll tell though...

A dual-5850 combo scales at around 75% it would seem, so a 5850+5830 combo shouldn't be too far off - if I get the damn thing working.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

The 5850 is in the top slot. I haven't tried switching them around yet.

I'm aware this is hardly the most common of Crossfire setups, but according to this it's fine. I was thinking the bridge might be faulty, but seeing as the Diagnostics section in CCC doesn't report anything, I dunno.

That says to me only 5870 can CrossfireX with a 5970, there is nothing to suggest you can pair an 5830 with a 5850, unless I am reading it totally wrong?

Ah ok, I see "external crossfire bridge required" so seems they "should" be compatible, perhaps that isn't the issue then.

 

[arnoo1]

Ptobally cpu bottle neck, you just have a dual core, not enough cpu power for thise gpu's, even my q9550 with gtx275 sli sucks donkey balls, lower fps than one card

 

[SeeK]

Ptobally cpu bottle neck, you just have a dual core, not enough cpu power for thise gpu's, even my q9550 with gtx275 sli sucks donkey balls, lower fps than one card

Which brings me to an issue that'll probably get its own thread sometime soon - my 555 unlocked to a quad just fine on a cheap M4A88TD-M but it freezes in idle on my new Sabertooth board. Figure that. Still, I don't think it should bottleneck that when running scenarios in which the GPUs to the bulk of the work.

To be honest, I wouldn't've gone for this combination usually - but I got both cards quite heavily discounted during a sale at OCUK. Got the 5850 for £99 and the 5830 was just £59.

 

[LGV]

look at http://www.aria.co.uk was my fav shop b4. £99 for a 5850 ( I know , diff what you got)

may bigger PSU as well... I would...

 

[SeeK]

Hi

Look here http://sites.amd.com/PublishingImag.../WebBannerJPEG/AMD_CrossfireX_Chart_1618W.jpg

The HD 5850 & HD 5830 do not run crossfire together

hope this helps

atb

Law-II

That exact picture says that they do work together, 5850 and 5830 are marked with a yellow square which means that they'll work if one uses a Crossfire bridge.

 

[Law-II]

Ptobally cpu bottle neck, you just have a dual core, not enough cpu power for thise gpu's, even my q9550 with gtx275 sli sucks donkey balls, lower fps than one card

Hi

You mention "gtx275 sli (S.D.Balls)" - your system spec's suggest you run one card.

Information asus p5q-ws dose not support SLi; which is possibly why it suck's as it can only see one Nvidia card in Top PCIe x16 slot (however it can run AMD crossfire x8 & x8)

Note: asus p5q-ws

2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (@ x16, x0, or x8, x8)
2 x PCIe x1
1 x PCI 2.2
1 x PCI-X

Look here http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5Q_WS/#specifications

Hope this is helps

atb

Law-II

 

[Law-II]

That exact picture says that they do work together, 5850 and 5830 are marked with a yellow square which means that they'll work if one uses a Crossfire bridge.

Hi

When looking at this chart I was looking at the black dots that represent the cards, I miss read the chart ?

MY bad, AMD recommendation is black dot's

atb

Law-II

 

[arnoo1]

Hi

You mention "gtx275 sli (S.D.Balls)" - your system spec's suggest you run one card.

Information asus p5q-ws dose not support SLi; which is possibly why it suck's as it can only see one Nvidia card in Top PCIe x16 slot (however it can run AMD crossfire x8 & x8)

Note: asus p5q-ws

2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (@ x16, x0, or x8, x8)
2 x PCIe x1
1 x PCI 2.2
1 x PCI-X

Look here
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5Q_WS/#specifications



Law-II

I know, i swapped mobo because it didn't work the way i wanted, i ran sli on my 780i mobo and that supports 3 way sli.

I have single card with p5q-ws atm

 

[SeeK]

I've sent off an inquiry to AMD themselves to see what they have to say. At this point I'm fine if they don't support my configuration, but I will ask them to alter their compatibility charts accordingly if that's the case. I might just get another HD5850 Extreme and stick the 5830 in my girlfriend's system.

 

[Law-II]

I've sent off an inquiry to AMD themselves to see what they have to say. At this point I'm fine if they don't support my configuration, but I will ask them to alter their compatibility charts accordingly if that's the case. I might just get another HD5850 Extreme and stick the 5830 in my girlfriend's system.

Hi

agree, will be interesting to see what AMD say. I did take another look at the AMD chart after your post and took onboard what you said; seems you are on the money and that the yellow represents external crossfire bridge and if the 5850 & 5830 have a bridge, there must be some improvment in performance, just not what AMD recommend.

I agree with others on this thread suggesting that the core and mem should match in both cards, as that could course issues with syncing frames

Good luck

atb

Law-II

 

[SeeK]

Hi

agree, will be interesting to see what AMD say. I did take another look at the AMD chart after your post and took onboard what you said; seems you are on the money and that the yellow represents external crossfire bridge and if the 5850 & 5830 have a bridge, there must be some improvment in performance, just not what AMD recommend.

I agree with others on this thread suggesting that the core and mem should match in both cards, as that could course issues with syncing frames

Good luck

atb

Law-II

Thanks. Will do more testing when I get home in an hour. Eagerly awaiting AMD's response as well! My girlfriend's in need of a new card, so it's no big loss either way - but it would be nice if it worked.

 

[newtekie1]

What slot is each card in?

I don't see a reason why this wouldn't work and give better framerates than a single card.

Your CPU might be a bottleneck, but it wouldn't cause worse framerates with Crossfire than a single card, the worst case is you wouldn't see an improvement, but it wouldn't get worse.

The only thing that I can think of maybe, is your PSU might not be able to handle the load. But I would think a TX650 wouldn't have that problem.

Have you don't a total driver sweep and re-install?

 

[SeeK]

What slot is each card in?

I don't see a reason why this wouldn't work and give better framerates than a single card.

Your CPU might be a bottleneck, but it wouldn't cause worse framerates with Crossfire than a single card, the worst case is you wouldn't see an improvement, but it wouldn't get worse.

The only thing that I can think of maybe, is your PSU might not be able to handle the load. But I would think a TX650 wouldn't have that problem.

Have you don't a total driver sweep and re-install?

The cards are in the light brown slots, so slots 1 and 4. Already triple checked that they're in the right slots. Even if one of them was in an x8 or even x4 slot it wouldn't cause this.

I did think of the PSU, but it should be fine. And Crysis runs fine, although with single-card performance, so...

Yep, tried several drivers with full sweeps in between and I've also re-installed Windows. Think I'm just gonna buy another 5850 Extreme to be honest. Just hope I don't have the same problem with that.

 

[newtekie1]

I did think of the PSU, but it should be fine. And Crysis runs fine, although with single-card performance, so...

I don't think Crysis properly supports crossfire, which is why you are getting single card performance, so the second card isn't being activated and stressed, so the PSU isn't overloading.

If you've done driver sweeps, then the PSU is really the only idea I have left.

 

[seronx]

Firstly, hello again. It's been almost five years since I was last active 'round these parts.

Secondly, my issue: I can't get Crossfire working right. I've got 11.6 with its CAP1 installed. Both cards are detected, Crossfire is enabled in CCC and all that. However...

When I run any Source game, everything's fine in the menus but as soon as a 3D environment loads, performance hits rock bottom. It does seem like it's actually running, because if I minimize the game and bring it back up it'll have a different frame. But it simply will not render (and sound loops as if I was changing settings) while in the game.

Metro 2033 gets around 1 FPS at all times. Never got past the menu as it was stuttering too much.

Crysis Warhead works fine, but sees no performance benefit whatsoever compared to running just the 5850.

So, what is wrong? Like I say, everything looks fine in the drivers and setup, but games just will not function correctly with Crossfire enabled. I've tried older drivers, with and without CAP, and I've even done a complete wipe and re-install of Windows, installing only the bare minimum to get a game running. Still nothing.

http://www.radeonpro.info/en-US/

Use this

 

[SeeK]

Right, bit late, but here's an update on this: The AMD support rep said that while they do support my configuration, he would never ever recommend it. I gave him all my system details and he said they'll look into it. In the meantime I've gotten myself a second 5850 Extreme, so my problem's "solved". Stuck the 5830 in my girlfriend's computer, made her happy as well.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

problem with the 5850 xtreme's is they dont OC too well. Had mine for less then a week before i sold it off to a friend. however i am aware that you can now tweak the voltage using TRIXX. unfortunately, they only added support for the card after i sold it so i have no idea how high it clocks with extra voltage.

It struggled to reach anything above 780Mhz on the core. on stock voltage