Incredible lack of performance for a 3870 CF configuration

[Darth Pincho]

Hi everybody. Im having a seriuos issue here. I recently build a new system and im very dissapointed with the performance for now.

My machine specs
Amd phenom 9500
Thermal take thoughpower 850 PSU
2 x HD3870 Diamond ati in crossfire mode.
8 Gb ram corsair dominator 1066 mhz
4 samsung 320 gb 7200 RPM hard drives in RAID 1+0
2 samsung 320 gb 7200 RPM hard drives in RAID in JOBD
MSI k9a2 Platinum mother board
Windows vista 64 with all the updates including SP1

I update today to catalyst 8.5 drivers. Then i run everything on this article http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=51219

Ok. My 3dmark06 FPS rate in the decepticon scene is only 29 FPS. I think its too low for 2 3870 cards. I asume this can be because 3dmark06 are not detecting my CF configuration, so i run crisys benchmarking in vista and get a terrible 12 FPS results in 800x600 resolution all game settings in HIGH.

Something is not working here. i will appreciate any help on debugging this issue.

1.- How can i be completely sure that my crossfire configuration is working propperly?
2.- How can i activate crossfire to be used for crisys?

 

[DrPepper]

Erm sounds simple but have you enabled crossfire in the catalyst drivers, Also even with one 3870 12 fps is quite low. Download GPUZ and it will tell you if your crossfire is enabled.

 

[Darth Pincho]

Check the attached picture. I configure my cards to optimal performance in the catalyst so 12 FPS is very bad performance.

Any idea?

 

[ShadowFold]

At that res the game is totally CPU dependent.. Try it at the highest your monitor goes.

 

[DrPepper]

What shadowfold says sounds more intelligent than mine I assumed you had tried higher resolutions.

 

[johnnyfiive]

From what I've read, the TLB fix is enabled in Vista's SP1. To disable it, use AMD Overdrive and turn the turbo button to RED. Should disable it, IF it is enabled. The TLB causes a 15-20% performance loss unfortunately. Also, what bios are you running on your K9A2?

 

[Darth Pincho]

Whats exactly TLB means. I will try to disable it.

Also i will try in higer resolutions.

 

[CrackerJack]

you should still get more than 12fps 800x600. This seems more like a driver problem, revert back to 8.4 and test it again. At 800x600 you should be in the range of ~100. Cause most people with crossfire 3780 at 1280x1024 are getting 35-50fps at high settings.


Crysis Benchmarks

 

[Darth Pincho]

From what I've read, the TLB fix is enabled in Vista's SP1. To disable it, use AMD Overdrive and turn the turbo button to RED. Should disable it, IF it is enabled. The TLB causes a 15-20% performance loss unfortunately. Also, what bios are you running on your K9A2?

Im running 1.3 Bios version. what type of advantages can i obtain for updating to 1.4??? This can increase my graphics cards performance?

 

[fullinfusion]

Im running 1.3 Bios version. what type of advantages can i obtain for updating to 1.4??? This can increase my graphics cards performance?

only way to find out is to update the bios and find out but as for your gpu i highly doubt it'll speed it up

 

[DrPepper]

Whats exactly TLB means. I will try to disable it.

TLB means translation lookaside buffer and is a cache in your phenom but there is a bug causing it to not function properly under certain circumstances. SP1 disables it to prevent that but incurs a performance hit. Do you know what stepping your Phenom is, if not download CPUZ and it will tell you. It should be something like B2 or B3.

 

[kenkickr]

If he's running a 9500 then that would be the B2 stepping, the 9x50 models use the B3 stepping. Darth, do you have ATI Overdrive unlocked? That could really mess around with performance.

 

[tkpenalty]

Have you ever considered that your CPU is holding you back? I would point the blame there.

 

[DrPepper]

It could be that but still it should serve up more than 12fps and 8000 marks. Thats less than me with an athlon X2. Whats your CPU score on 3dmark Darth Pincho

 

[kenkickr]

Don't alot of the new motherboard bios' automatically enable the stupid TLB fix(even though 95-98% of B2 users will never see the issue since it only occurs in virtualization). I would check your bios or install and run AMD Overdrive and see if the TLB fix is enabled. That would really cut down performance of the processor even worse than it is already.

 

[Darth Pincho]

Ok i have AMD overdrive installed, i disabled TLB and my FPS rate increased a lot, i mean a LOT. Now the cards are performing as they should be, i think.

I can get 29 FPS on maximun resolution, details in very high in crysis benchmark utility.

I have not overclocked anything yet. Neither CPU, memory or video cards. And here you have my 3dmark06 results

Can anyone with a similar configuration confirm that this results are ok??

 

[Darth Pincho]

Have you ever considered that your CPU is holding you back? I would point the blame there.

Yes i know my cpu is not the best. Probably i upgrade to 9850 soon. But i dont have enough money yet.

 

[Darth Pincho]

It could be that but still it should serve up more than 12fps and 8000 marks. Thats less than me with an athlon X2. Whats your CPU score on 3dmark Darth Pincho

Check my las posted image and there is my updated CPU mark.

 

[cdawall]

thats still really low i'm getting 11K with dual 3850 256mb and a AX2

 

[tkpenalty]

thats still really low i'm getting 11K with dual 3850 256mb and a AX2

Consider that your CPU is running at 3.3Ghz. The CPU means a LOT in terms of a dual card setup. Even with a single card setup, on my 8800GT, there is 2x more FPS with me at 2.66Ghz, versus what I usually use; 1.6Ghz.

My honest opinion, stick with the older AMDs!!!

 

[cdawall]

thing with 3Dm06 is that it just takes 1 cores score and doubles it for a dual and triples for a quad so he should have a much higher cpu score than me

and my cpu was @ 3.2ghz for 3dm06


hey darth post your orb link

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=6687940

 

[johnnyfiive]

Im running 1.3 Bios version. what type of advantages can i obtain for updating to 1.4??? This can increase my graphics cards performance?

The 1.3 bios may not be causing ALL your performance issues, but its definitely causing a 15-20% performance hit. Anything after 1.1 includes the TLB fix automatically on the K9A2 Platinum's. I'm currently running 1.13 Beta bios. 1.13 to me, is the most overclockable that doesn't include the TLB fix. I suggest downloading the 1.13B and flashing to that right away. I will upload it here incase you cant find it anywhere.

Here is some testing I did not long ago comparing 1.13 beta bios vs the latest 1.4 bios. I set the turbo button to RED within AMD Overdrive, it didn't matter. Check out the performance hit!!!!

My 9600 was clocked at 2.5GHz (200MHz OC), my 3870's were at 830/1230. You should be getting results closer to what I'm getting.

Here is the 1.13 Beta bios:

 

[johnnyfiive]

Forgot to add something. I use Red Rockets MSIHQ Tool to flash my K9A2 via a USB stick. Works very well. I will link you to the tool in-case you need it. Included in the zip file is the HP USB Format Utility, MSIHQ Tool for flashing, MSIHQ Tool Guide (htm file(s)) and the 1.13 beta bios.

http://www.jmbat.com/MSI_K9A2_Misc/MSI_K9A2_Plat_BIOS_Flashing_Apps_1.13Bios.zip

 

[Focus182]

woah thats low =o my 8600GTS gets 18fps in crysis benchmark all high at 1024x768 .. and at the time i was being bottlenecked by 2500 points on 3dmark06 .. even 1 3870 should be beating a 8600GTS .. in fact i think i will go and do the benchmark again with my new cpu =) cya

~Jas

 

[johnnyfiive]

woah thats low =o my 8600GTS gets 18fps in crysis benchmark all high at 1024x768 .. and at the time i was being bottlenecked by 2500 points on 3dmark06 .. even 1 3870 should be beating a 8600GTS .. in fact i think i will go and do the benchmark again with my new cpu =) cya

~Jas

A 3850 256MB destroys a 8600GT. A single 3870 annihilates a 8600GT.

3850 vs 8600GT:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151&p=8