CrossfireX Disappointment.

[TheMailMan78]

Ok maybe the title is little harsh but I need to vent. I got my second HD4850 in my system last night and I gotta say as cool as it looks finally having crossfire the results so far have been sub-par.

Now I need to do some more tweaking but here are a few of my "lose" results.

Lost Planet DX9 ran worse than DX10 in Crossfire. Sometime worse than single card mode!
Warhead still only sees "mainstream" and I was expecting at least "gamer".

Granted some games seem a lot smoother but not enough to justify the extra 100 bucks I spent on a HD4850. Also my 3Dmark score only went up from 10,000 to 11,000. Maybe I'm being a crybaby noob about this but I honestly expected more.....

 

[crush3r]

A stronger cpu would make the two cards shine. Overclocking your current proc will bring increases though too, especially in your 3D06 score

 

[ShadowFold]

OC your cpu man.. 2.3ghz is going to kill you. Get it to 2.8-3ghz, or get a 720 X3 and OC that

 

[kid41212003]

Your CPU is the bottleneck here.

2X HD4850 is faster than 2X8800GT around 15-20%, and with my old Phenom X4 at 2.8GHz, it's still bottleneck the cards.

You need atleast 3GHz x4 Phenom for your cards.

 

[PaulieG]

Yeah, it would seem that your CPU is a bottleneck here. Get to overclocking that chip, and you'll see some better results.

 

[alexp999]

Agree with crush3r. Your CPU is causing quite a severe bottleneck. It needs to be nearer 3Ghz to run two 4850's.

 

[TRIPTEX_CAN]

Lost planet shouldn't be running worse. That game scales pretty well with my second card. I suggest you recheck background applications and CPU usage before launching the game. You should also remember to enable multiGPU support from the bottom of the page in the graphics options.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Well this sucks. I just got this CPU and it doesn't OC worth a crap. What kind of improvement might I see if I went to a PII x3 BE?

 

[alexp999]

Well this sucks. I just got this CPU and it doesn't OC worth a crap. What kind of improvement might I see if I went to a PII x3 BE?

I dont know a lot about AMD cpus, but I would say if you got a CPU clocked at 3Ghz or higher, you should well see an improvement of 1.5-1.75 times that of a single card. You should get at least 15,000 3dmarks with two 4850's. At least. I get 15k with one GTX260.

 

[ChiSox]

8x Lanes

Well unfortunately the board you have only runs at 8x Bandwidth with crossX this really downgrades your NICE cards....thats why when you're using 1 card ur seeing about the same results...

I would say the chip is holding you back a little but the 8x is the real killer.....

 

[TRIPTEX_CAN]

My board is only 8x and I get mid 19k in 3dmark06

Well this sucks. I just got this CPU and it doesn't OC worth a crap. What kind of improvement might I see if I went to a PII x3 BE?

All depends on the clocks you get from it. Clock it to 3.6+ and that will be a beast. You'll probably need better cooling though.

 

[js01]

If I run my cpu at stock i get about 12500 in 3d06, at 2.8 I get around 17000 so definently more cpu speed will benefit. The best game I've seen that scales with crossfire is devil may cry 4 it's amazing how well that game scales.

 

[ChiSox]

Uhhh ur cpu score is probably nasty with 4GhZ(NICE!!) and ATI drivers are crazy supped up for 3DMark...

I agree the chip is setting him back Any ur buddies got a brisbane or some 3.0 to see what happens?????

my experience with crossx and sli Ive generally gotten 2500+ more score w/16x(x2) and games ran smoother

 

[ChiSox]

I got to thinking and even at 16x bandwidth ur still restricted by the cpu cause its gotta report to both cards still(DUH!) so when u have a high end chip you'll start to see the difference

 

[TRIPTEX_CAN]

From TweakTown.com's comparison of P45 vs x48..

throughout the test the only area the x48 (x16) really wins is in higher resolutions. At lower resolutions the bandwidth limitation is much less of an issue.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Well unfortunately the board you have only runs at 8x Bandwidth with crossX this really downgrades your NICE cards....thats why when you're using 1 card ur seeing about the same results...

I would say the chip is holding you back a little but the 8x is the real killer.....

Thats not the case, 8x lanes with PCI-E 2.0 see's no performance hit whatsoever, i say that only from personal expereince because on two different motherboards, one with dual 16x and one with dual 8x my best crossfire score in 3D Mark 2006 (23,225) was done on the P45 @ 8x.

I can only think that this is a settings issue, however, if your CPU is running at 2.3gig, that would bottleneck one card let alone 2, that said, yes you should be getting better from your setup than that, although I beleive there still remains Crossfire compatibility issues in Crysis.

 

[ShadowFold]

Well unfortunately the board you have only runs at 8x Bandwidth with crossX this really downgrades your NICE cards....thats why when you're using 1 card ur seeing about the same results...

I would say the chip is holding you back a little but the 8x is the real killer.....

PCI-E 2.0 doesn't get held back with 8x lanes. 8x PCI-E 2.0 is as fast as 16x 1.1 so that's not it at all. It's his CPU. Needs to OC his current or get a new one. I recommend getting a PII 720BE or 940BE

 

[Tatty_Two]

PCI-E 2.0 doesn't get held back with 8x lanes. 8x PCI-E 2.0 is as fast as 16x 1.1 so that's not it at all. It's his CPU. Needs to OC his current or get a new one. I recommend getting a PII 720BE or 940BE

A 720BE wont work in his board will it?

 

[spearman914]

I agree with everyone else. That cpu is bottlenecking big time.

 

[ChiSox]

My 8x and 16x Setups

The two Setups I had were

939 3800x2 @ 2.4 2600xt(8x-x2) DDR @ 500 around 7200 3dmark

775 E2200 @ 2.6 2600xt(16x-x2) DDR2 around 9500 3dmark

So I stand corrected it was the chip that was helping my scores & a little from the lanes

I still wouldn't want wasted bandwith with higher end cards IMO (2600xts are low-mid)

 

[phanbuey]

try renaming the exe file... rename the lost planet exe to "afr-friendlyd3d.EXE" and let me know if it helps.

 

[TheMailMan78]

A 720BE wont work in his board will it?

Yes it will. Its AM3 ready with 140watt.

 

[ChiSox]

D-

I'll raise my hand next time I want to speak

Ill take my near failing grade, sit in the front and prepare for the next test

Thx for all the input

I will now go back to the tech bench and perform some new upgrades

 

[TRIPTEX_CAN]

I'll raise my hand next time I want to speak

Ill take my near failing grade, sit in the front and prepare for the next test

Thx for all the input

I will now go back to the tech bench and perform some new upgrades

It's ok

 

[TheMailMan78]

Will a 720BE not OC still be a bottleneck?