How do i setup 2 3870 ati in crossfire

[fullinfusion]

im about to hook up 2 hd 3870 ati cards in cross fire mode
how do i do it proper?
do i install one card-- install new drivers
reboot
turn off
install 2nd card and install driver
reboot with the internal conector hooked up
is that all i do?
any help would be great
thank you

 

[trog100]

i would do it the way u suggested.. get it going with one card then pop the other one in..

it all very new and all a bit hit and miss..

trog

 

[fullinfusion]

thanks trog ill post tomorrow night after i try
i also have a support cd that came with my mobo and it's a cross fire express support disk
dam this rig is costing alota beans and want to know how to before taking the plunge
well off to gears of war on the 360 since i dont have a gpu installed in my rig
ill hope all the fine ppl in here post some working advice and post so my install goes as smooooth as silk
thanks everyone

 

[Nitro-Max]

If they are both new cards m8 test each one first for preformance and stability make sure they are both working as they should be.

 

[trog100]

i am currently playing gears of war on my PC.. for the record it plays nicely with just one 3870 card.. which is a good thing cos it not optimized for crossfire.. he he

trog

 

[fullinfusion]

yeah it does play really well with just the one card but cant wait to try tonight using both cards hehe
time to enable dx10 and crank up the AA

 

[trog100]

yeah it does play really well with just the one card but cant wait to try tonight using both cards hehe
time to enable dx10 and crank up the AA

i am running XP.. but the game simply locked after the section intro video finished with crossfire.. vista and dx 10 might show better results.. dunno..

i have three games so far that dont like crossfire.. world in conflict.. gears.. and conflict denied ops.. in XP and dx 9 mode.. vista i dont know..

i am glad i can turn it on and off as required.. it seems with the x 2 3870 card u cant do this.. i think i would have problems..

trog

 

[fullinfusion]

nope crossfire works like a charm
i still only show 62fps but from what i have searched thats all your going to get with a 60hrz monitor
the way i know that it is in fact working is by turning on AA to 8x and she perks rite along at 62fps
i disabled the second card with aa at 8x and fps dropped to 40ish
installing was i dream.... just hooked up the crossfire bridge and installed the driver and wammo
no problems.
this asus eah3870 is a real overclocker compared to the diamond card
im running the core to 890 and memory 1196
as for the ati overdrive o/c recomended tab it took it up to 940 and 1271
didnt like it much when i opened up ati tool to run the 3d box lol so i dropped it back to the latter
my mark 06 shot straight up with a score of around 13600ish
but anyhoo thanks for the advice and Trog my gamer tag for gears is fullinfusion
look for me and lets getter ownnnn lol
ttul

 

[fullinfusion]

oops forgot to tell ya that dx10 pooped out in crossfire mode
dropped the fps down to 19 and the refresh was at like 70ms lol
i disabled the 2nd card and ran dx10 at 45-52 fps
dont think gears of war is really coded to run crossfire in dx10 mode
i also got Company of Heros game with the cards... 2 in fact lol
think im going to load it up and giver a whirl later
but only if i can use my wired 360 controller with it

 

[fullinfusion]

i said the hell with it and returned the asus 3870 cards and picked up the ati hd 3870 x2 card
works real good... better then the asus cards in crossfire
I think i found my true love lol... Like they say good things come to those that wait and since this card is only a month or so old im sure the upcoming drivers are going to produce some wicked results..

 

[trog100]

i nearly bought the x 2.. but budget caused me to settle for another cheapo 3870 card..

best of luck with your x 2..

trog

 

[fullinfusion]

Hey thank you Trog... you to.

 

[Ryethe]

When I got my two cards, I just popped them in, restarted, and installed drivers and voila, they worked. About to try GoW actually so I'll report back on how that goes.

 

[fullinfusion]

yeah the HD 3870x2 works sweet using Vista home priemum 64 bit
im only getting the 60-62 fps but that's just the monitor running at 60hz so thats all i get but it's so bloody smooth even running AA x16 with high shadows and still holding 60 fps and going to try raising the AA higher to see how much she will run before the fps start to drop off
Oh i might also add this is on GoW
Happy gaming.

 

[Ryethe]

Yeah getting about the same. Turned of DX10 though. Can't really see the diff.

 

[fullinfusion]

well with fire and smoke i can see the diff but that's about all lol
what a waste hey...
But daym the X2 smokes
Check out April issue of maximum pc for the bench marks against the nvidia 8800 ultra
It's a 50/50 split but they went to press before the march 5th 8.3 driver update which improved the over all performance
WooHoo... i think ati has the ultra by the short and curlies now but at the least soon will have.
Keep up the great work Amd/Ati
WHat's your tag?
I'll be playing shortly
I posted mine a few mesg ago

 

[fullinfusion]

Ryethe you got that baby overclocked?
check my system spec for the #rz

 

[Ryethe]

Running my two 3870s at 825MHz Core, 2.4GHz RAM (GDDR4 versions). Memory clock does jack all though. One of the 3870s clocks to about 890, but the other can't get even close stabally (physically damaged heatpipe) so I'm stuck at the lowest common demonator.

Sorry man, I don't currently have a tag. I just borrowed the game from a roomate to see what all the fuss is about and if it is worth the buy. I think I'll buy it soon though (within the next month). Let you know my tag when I do.

Too bad about the 9800GX2 eh? However at $200+ more I think it's performance is about where we expected. With that in mind there is no longer an Ultra as the GX2 took its place. Hell looking at the benchmarks at guru3d SLI 8800GTXs might not be around long either. ATI is going to need to get a new card out quick or improve crossfire X or something.