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Making Crossfire Work and Optimization

Lopsku said:
I guess you could say that is exactly the problem iam having but like i said, even on one card the frame rates are way too pathetic. I seriously doubt my CPU alone would be able to put the FPS down by ~20 as it isn't that slow.

i ran 3dmark06 as you asked but had some problems submitting the scores so didnt get a chance to see them. By looking at the frame rates i would say it was pretty hard to determine whether the C/F was working properly or not as i didnt see any noticable increase there either. 1-3fps difference compared to the single card run is hardly the amount i should be getting right?

Ill post some Screenshots later on if necessary.

edit:
Ok got some 3dmark06 results now:
results.JPG


So as expected crossfire is working but like i said the performance is.. unacceptable.
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an example of my earlier amd system for u.. 6000+ cpu at 3.350 ghz.. one overclocked 850/1250.. 3870 card.. msi 790..16 x 16 pci-e 2 mobo.. 4 gigs of system ram.. 2006 score 11000... one card not too bad..

the same system with CF scored 13000... two cards not very good.. your amd system is gonna be way down on the one i quote and your gain wont be as much..

your scores aint far out i dont think.. CF is a waste of space.. it really wont do what u expect it to.. he he

now if u put the resolution up in 2006 u will see a better gain from CF.. but only if the game (or bench) uses both cards properly.. few do.. the lightsmark one dosnt.. the furbench one dosnt in fact its only the 3dmarks that do show any gain.. the software has to be coded to use both gpus.. sadly most of it still isnt.. the same applies to multi cpus..

all the happy bunnies use overclocked intel cpus and get their kick from seeing a higher 3dmark score.. the rest they take for granted..

both ati and nvidia make bloody sure things work in the 3dmarks.. shame they dont put the same effort into what most of us buy grafix cards for.. games..

i got rid of my first CF second card months back.. then i went intel and (like a prat) got another second card just for the higher 2006 score..

but my general CF results are totally disappointing i am just glad i didnt fork out for a 3870 x 2 card.. he he

CF with my intel cpu at 4.5 ghz boosts my 2006 score from 13000 to 17000..

i am happy with how one 3870 goes but two... a (gaming) waste of space.. energy.. and another 512 megs of my 32 bit system memory.. i now see 3 gig as opposed to 3.5 gig.. he he

i can well undertsand why so many folks think their CF isnt working.. the truth is that most of the time it dosnt.. in fact its that bad that people think they must be doing something wrong.. they aint it really is crap.. he he

three or four cards is even more of a joke..

trog
 
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Well so far your right on atleast one thing: crossfire is a rather big disappointment, atleast at this point. If this indeed is all the performance these cards can put out then what can i say except that i feel a bit ripped off.

Just doesnt add up that a friend of mine with the same CPU can score higher on 3dmark with a single 8800gt and gets 15fps more on crysis even though he has 2gb less memory :/
 
Multi GPU technologies these days need something better than a 6000+ Clocked at 3.36Ghz to be fully utilised; maybe a Q6600 @ 3.6Ghz would make a difference. It seems that none of the AMD CPUs are able to make full use of their spider platform's graphics potential...

Lopsku, a poor CPU choice would be to blame.
 
Sounds fair enough after comparing the results other people have gotten. Well guess ill upgrade it next month or so :P
 
ya you were right it is indeed the prosessor thats holding em back. What i did notice though was that my current BIOS version didnt support this exact model of 5600+. So after updating the bios i ran 3dmark again with crossfire on and got this:
newscore.JPG


So a 1,5k increase from just updating the bios to support the CPU correctly. Crysis got a nice FPS boost as well so now i can live with this processor for a while. Will try some overclocking once i get a better cooling solution for my PC :)
 
Lopsku said:
Sounds fair enough after comparing the results other people have gotten. Well guess ill upgrade it next month or so :P
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its not the cpu that holds general CF performance back.. its lack of proper driver/game support..

if all one cares about is a high 2006 default score a way overclocked intel cpu is needed.. no amd cpu is fast enough to give high default 2006 scores..

but default 2006 scores really aint what CF should be bloody well about.. dont blame the cpu for poor CF performance in general cos it only applies to one silly thing.. default low resolution (cpu limited cos it dosnt stress the grafix card enough) 2006 scores.. repeat.. default low resolution 2006 benchmark scores..

so statements like CF is held back by lower power cpus are bollocks.. CF is held back pretty much universally by poor software/driver support..

the fastest cpu on the planet wont help CF performance at gaming resolutions and settings.. only proper software support will do that.. and it just aint there..

if and only if all u care about is a higher default 2006 score a faster intel cpu will help.. but it wont help in the slightest with any game.. lets just get things in perspective..

a faster cpu will not.. repeat will not.. help your crysis CF frame rates in the slightest.. it will help one thing and only one thing.. 3dmark scores..

CF is.. as yet.. a bag of nails.. :mad:

trog

ps... just for interest.. at 800 x 600 resolution lowest settings CF with my intel cpu at 4 gig scores 187 frames per second with the gpu bench in crysis.. one card 187 fps.. exactly the same 187 fps with CF.. its what happens when the card isnt stressed enough.. even in crysis..

however at real gaming settings my amd at 3.35 gig pulled the same frame rates in crysis as my current intel system does.. in real life gaming amd is just as good as intel.. and in crysis ati CF wont give as many fps as a fast single nvidia card does.. the power is there but the game simply dsont use it.. its an nvidia coded game.. "how its meant to be played".. ???
 
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trog100 said:
a faster cpu will not.. repeat will not.. help your crysis CF frame rates in the slightest.. it will help one thing and only one thing.. 3dmark scores..
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i beg to differ, there obviously is atleast some sort of limit as to how far the CPU will help the FPS with CF or not, i haven't bothered to try with it disabled as i dont really care about single card scores now that i found the reason they were lacking performance.

what other explanation would there be for my "mysterious" fps increase after updating the bios to support the correct processor model? Note that the bios update was only to rewrite the CPU code so the performance couldn't have come from anywhere else.

Just basing this on my personal experience and nothing else.
 
Lopsku said:
i beg to differ, there obviously is atleast some sort of limit as to how far the CPU will help the FPS with CF or not, i haven't bothered to try with it disabled as i dont really care about single card scores now that i found the reason they were lacking performance.

what other explanation would there be for my "mysterious" fps increase after updating the bios to support the correct processor model? Note that the bios update was only to rewrite the CPU code so the performance couldn't have come from anywhere else.

Just basing this on my personal experience and nothing else.
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what limits fame rates can be the grafix card or it can be the cpu.. at normal gaming frame rates with graphically intensive games its the grafix card..

however if the setting and resolution is lowered enough the frame rates will go up till in the end the cpu eventually limits things.. low frame rates will not be a problem in this instance.. where low frame rates are the problem (crysis) its the grafix card holding things back not the cpu..

your bios "mysterious" is just that a "mysterious".. weird things happen.. i am simply stating basic facts.. u wanna doubt what i say (beg to differ) thats entirely up to u.. :)

fact.. a faster intell cpu will help your 3dmark scores but it wont do anything meaningful for your crysis playing experience..

trog

ps.. what the CF gain now in 2006 or dont u wanna know.. he he he
 
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TBH, in regards to the mysterious increase after a BIOS update -

I think it has more to do with better BUS negotiation with the new BIOS. IMO, the SYS BUS has more of a direct impact on CF performance than the CPU does, but we tend to overlook that as we OC a CPU, we're also OCing the BUS itself . . . usually. Not saying that a CPU doesn't have some impact, as it still does, just not that big of an extent.


From what I've seen and experienced with my somewhat outdated pair, is their performance in game is more dependant on how well the game itself is coded. Sure, I've found that the driver version comes into play, but with the exception of CAT 8.3, I haven't had any performance issues with a new CAT release. Some games are just coded horribly for multi GPU support, and with most, it's usually an afterthought that's implimented with a patch - and, I'm sorry, but to impliment multi-GPU support properly with a patch means that the devs goofed during initial development.

IMO, multi-GPU support in a game should be coded during development, not patched in or tacked on last minute. Perhaps in the next year or two we'll start seeing more games developed this way, but right now it still remains to be seen, for the most part.
 
Don't take antibiotics if someone you know gets sick -- do it if you're sick.

Excellent guide. One note though.. This extreme uninstall scenerio, boot to safe mode (?users should never have to do that for anything) should only be done if someone is having problems. To put it frankly, I didn't. It's hard to know what causes this sort of non-plug-and-play install to be necessary, but it is not at all necessary for all users, or even most. There's a lot of us for whom Crossfire always worked fine, only we rarely fill up forums with posts of "Easy install!" We're just busy rock'n out in TF2.

How did I install? I opened my case. Put the card in. Connected the bridge. Turned on the computer. After a detect of the card, I had to reboot once. That was it. Nothing didn't work right. I plugged -- it played -- I fragged with much better FPS. Vista 64-bit.

My FPS in UT3 went from 40-70 to 65-150, after Crysis was updated (v1.2) I got great scalability in it too: 1680x1050 Medium was silky playable. Assassin's Creed worked fine with a name change to the Call of Juarez exe.

To test this, I also did the uber clean procedure. Wow, what a pain in the neck, but if you have a problem, that should fix it. For me, the results seemed the same, though. My properly working (out of the box) Crossfire still worked properly, but no better. So, I would say, plug your card in, try it out that way, and if it doesn't work like it should, you've got one of the mystery configurations that are confusing the Catalyst driver and should do this super-clean procedure.

Rob
 
CrackerJack (I love those, it sucks that I can't find them here in China.. Next time I'm home I should pick some up..) I can't tell if your WOW is high or low. You're clearly more pro than me, so I assume my FPS are low?

Rob
 
No, for Crysis that's damn good.
 
RobRedbeard said:
CrackerJack (I love those, it sucks that I can't find them here in China.. Next time I'm home I should pick some up..) I can't tell if your WOW is high or low. You're clearly more pro than me, so I assume my FPS are low?

Rob
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no no no that's really good. The last time i check i was getting around 50fp in UT3 with single card, at only 1280x1024 And only 20-30fps in crysis :rockout:
 
Okay. Those numbers are based on memory from back before I was overclocking the cards. Now, one of my cards is in the loving care of Sapphire, who promises to make it live again (no I didn't fry it overclocking).

So, I just fired up UT3 with one card. It is currently clocked at 860 MHz and 1306 Mhz with a Thermaltake DuOrb VGA cooler installed. UT3 is v1.2 and I'm opening a Deathmatch on Sentinel with 6 bots set on adept. My resolution is 1680x1050x60Hz and UT3 settings are maxed out. Smooth FPS, mouse, and vert sync are disabled. CCC settings for 3d are everything set to "use application settings (I hate AA)" except mipmap which is set to Quality and Cat AI which is set to advanced.

I am now getting 70-120 FPS in this setting with this one card.

PS I'm running the Cat 8.49 beta driver, I have but haven't installed the 8.5 driver yet. Also, UT3 is really CPU hungry and I also have a BFG Ageia PhysX card in the system and a pretty kick'n CPU.
 
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help

:mad: Got to step 8 , went to device manager and would not show the second card. Any help would be greatly appreciated , thank you.

Vista Home 64bit
GA-MA790X-DS4
2 HIS Radeon HD2600XT pcie16 cards
Catalyst 8.5
 
slyoteboy said:
:mad: Got to step 8 , went to device manager and would not show the second card. Any help would be greatly appreciated , thank you.

Vista Home 64bit
GA-MA790X-DS4
2 HIS Radeon HD2600XT pcie16 cards
Catalyst 8.5
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make sure the card is in slot and the power is connect good.


oh by the way, don't ever get phemon with that board!!!
 
I went to check for the power , these boards dont have external power sockets? do they get it thru the motherboard? I even switched the top to the bottom and the bottom to the top , still not picking it up. Oh and it does have phenom 9500 :( my bros computer
 
slyoteboy said:
I went to check for the power , these boards dont have external power sockets? do they get it thru the motherboard? I even switched the top to the bottom and the bottom to the top , still not picking it up. Oh and it does have phenom 9500
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your card will get power from the psu. the 2600 should have a 6-pin on each card. if this isn't what your talking about. then sorry. i'm sick
 
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