question for the tpu gurus (crossfire)

[xmarine0311]

Okay I think I finally got my crossfire setup working. I am kinda sure its working right atleast. Thats where you come in. I need some ideas on how to get some more out of my system. I know it can get better than 13k. I dont know much about overclocking my CPU though. Heres my results what do you think.

 

[ShadowFold]

Vista + Phenom is probly whats killing you. I would guess its Vista and or drivers, I dont think the Phenom is THAT slow. My E2200 at 3.2ghz gets around 12000 with a single HD 3850.. Do you have both the Crossfire connectors hooked up?

 

[calvary1980]

you could try volt modding your 3870 but I would consider Windows XP.

- Christine

 

[xmarine0311]

Vista + Phenom is probly whats killing you. I would guess its Vista and or drivers, I dont think the Phenom is THAT slow. My E2200 at 3.2ghz gets around 12000 with a single HD 3850.. Do you have both the Crossfire connectors hooked up?

yes both are hooked up and I have xp64 also. I havent ran 3dmark on it yet but I know it gets around the same gaming performance.

 

[Kursah]

How does it game? 3Dmark performance scores should really be taken with a grain of salt and more as a "gimmick" than a serious deal unless your goal is to get the highest you can in the program. If that is the case, since 3DM 06 is DX9, like others said, you'd probably be best off in XP for a higher score as Vista won't score as hi. You can update your DX9c by installing the latest release though, that may help a little.

Maybe run some game benchmarks, see how you compare in those against others also, I think that'd be a lot more informative for a gaming application (Crysis Demo, World in Conflict Demo, Trackmania Nations, etc, all are free and have built in benchmarks...there are quite a few out there, Crysis and WiC can both bench in DX10 and DX9, but that may require a change in OS to do so).

If you want to get more out of 3DM06 though, you're definately at the right place!

 

[philbrown23]

well I have crossfire hd380's in vista wiyh a q6600 and I can get 19k out of it. What drivers are you using?

 

[xmarine0311]

okay I can tell you some game averages off hand. R6V2 60-70fps locked. Arma everything on high 30-40fps (lost of lag sometimes though but I thinks its arma). WIC everything cranked 30-40 fps(down to 20 with nukes and whatnot, still smooth though). Some of my games are weird with two cards like oblivion, it seems to run worse with 2 cards but I think it needs reinstalled.

 

[xmarine0311]

well I have crossfire hd380's in vista wiyh a q6600 and I can get 19k out of it. What drivers are you using?

8.4

 

[t_ski]

If you want more, you are probably going to have to push your CPU. 3DM06 is CPU limited.

 

[erocker]

If you want more, you are probably going to have to push your CPU. 3DM06 is CPU limited.

Agreed, get that Phenom over 3ghz at least! The scores will go up with it.

 

[xmarine0311]

I couldnt get this working right before. I was told it could be my processor bottlenecking it so I bought the best one (price and performance) I could find. When that didnt work I RMAd the second card. Nothing. The scores are a little better and the second card actually runs at x8 instead of only x4 now. So I dont know whats going on. The only things left are bad PSU and bad mobo. Two things that are going to be a pain in the ass to replace as ASUS has the worst support I have ever seen. Dont know about Hiper but I assume its going to be a pain in the ass. Once the semester ends I am going to wipe out everything and start over but I am not sure that will help as I have uninstalled cleaned and reinstalled the drivers about 50 frikin times...

 

[xmarine0311]

If you want more, you are probably going to have to push your CPU. 3DM06 is CPU limited.

thats what I thought. But the problems is I have no idea how to overclock shit and dont wanna learn by doing on my new quad core. Do you know of any good tutorials???

 

[ShadowFold]

Nothing is broken... Your CPU + Vista is making your score low. Just play some games and dont worry about 3dmark!

 

[xmarine0311]

Nothing is broken... Your CPU + Vista is making your score low. Just play some games and dont worry about 3dmark!

easier said than done my friend. And I dont know why everyone hates vista so much, I have every OS there is and I love vista. It sucked at first but its coming around now. You just have to have new upper end stuff.

 

[erocker]

It's easy since it's unlocked. You just have to watch your ram dividers. Set the FSB to around 240 (with the right ram divider) and up the CPU mulit to desired speed. There's some good info here: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=775640&posted=1#post775640 that has to deal with your motherboard (I own one!) as it's a little tricky. Look for the post with the ram divider calculator and save it!

 

[xmarine0311]

your the man

 

[xmarine0311]

oh one more thing you think 45-50C is an acceptable idle temp for a quad core?? I keep hearing they run hot. I just reseated it with some articsilver 5 and added two fans yesterday(dropped system +\-10C so it should drop a little once it breaks in I wanna be sure I got a good seat though.

 

[erocker]

No, I wouldn't call that acceptable. In my opinion any quad core needs a high performing quality cooler. The new Xigmateks are excellent and not too expensive. Get the biggest one they make!

 

[xmarine0311]

its at 42.5C right now according to HWinfo program. I was looking at this http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16835185045

 

[xmarine0311]

so I assume it would be a good idea to wait till I buy that to start overclocking

 

[jbunch07]

so I assume it would be a good idea to wait till I buy that to start overclocking

i dont think you would be very happy with that...get this or
this

better for ocing

 

[erocker]

its at 42.5C right now according to HWinfo program. I was looking at this http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16835185045

Meh, that's not a really good performer, try one of these:

Zalman 9700 I use this on my Q6600 and it works wonderfully!

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm These are inexpensive and the HDT tech. works great! (A little extra thremal paste is needed using the direct touch heatpipes)

This is just like the Xigmatek above, but with a nicer looking fan, and the pipe-ends are nickel plated: HDT-RS1283 120mm

I am biased of course as I own the 9700 and a Xigmatek cooler, however, I believe they are the best performing air coolers currently available that aren't too large.

 

[CrackerJack]

I agree with ShadowFold, run 3dmark in XP. I've got my highest score in XP64. Vista drivers are wack for me, My cards only want to run in 2d mode in Vista 64.

I agree with Erocker too, XIGMATEK is a great cooler. But i took the stock fan off and replace it with a faster one. Check my Rig in my sig to see it

 

[xmarine0311]

Meh, that's not a really good performer, try one of these:

Zalman 9700 I use this on my Q6600 and it works wonderfully!

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm These are inexpensive and the HDT tech. works great! (A little extra thremal paste is needed using the direct touch heatpipes)

This is just like the Xigmatek above, but with a nicer looking fan, and the pipe-ends are nickel plated: HDT-RS1283 120mm

I am biased of course as I own the 9700 and a Xigmatek cooler, however, I believe they are the best performing air coolers currently available that aren't too large.

I have an Thermaltake armor case that is HUGE so size shouldnt be a problem. Are these the ones that you have to take the mobo out and add brackets?? Those are a pain in the ass.

 

[xmarine0311]

What does you q6600 Idle at? This guy on new egg claims this with the one I wanted:

"q6600 over clocked to 3.0 ghz from 2.4ghz. never gets above 35 degrees Celsius on any of the 4 cores. "