Trouble with Crossfire- Can't tell if it's working (different programs have different statuses)

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theGreatZamboni

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Hello, I am looking for some help discerning what is wrong with my current attempts to get AMD's Crossfire feature to work on my test PC. A friend gave me his old 5770 to mess around with and I just can't wrap my head around the whole process. Both cards have been installed properly on a Crossfire compatible MB, CF cable in place. Drivers were wiped then installed, along with the most recent CCC. CCC allows me to turn on Crossfire, but no program I run seems to take advantage of the 2nd card.

I tried looking up if Crossfire was compatible with any games in my library and the numbers were few (over 250 games and only about 30 or so officially support it). Needless to say I know what games should be utilizing Crossfire. The issue is the activity on the 2nd GPU never increases and no signs of it working are actually evident.

CCC lets me enable it, it shows both GPUs. AMD's Overdrive (not the tab in CCC but the full program) only shows 1 GPU. Piriform Speccy shows both cards, but lists Crossfire as disabled- when I have it enabled OR disabled in CCC. This paradox and inability on my end to get Crossfire to work has caused me quite a deal of frustration and the lack of Crossfire documentation around the net, even from AMD themselves is threadbare.

The cards are not of the same manufacturer but are identical in specs.

Here is an image of the issue

http://i.imgur.com/DuTsZwR.jpg

Keep in mind Crossfire is not working- but is enabled according to CCC, it is not working according to other programs.


Here is the rig I am experimenting with:

Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU
AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHz
RAM
4.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 673MHz
Motherboard
MSI 890FXA-GD70
Graphics
1GB ATI AMD Radeon HD 5770 (Sapphire/PCPartner)
1GB ATI AMD Radeon HD 5770 (XFX Pine Group)


I appreciate any help, thank you.

 
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junkeymonkey

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usely I would think that its best to have twin card and not 2 like card from different brands but that's just my thinking. when I ran sli with 2 NVidia cards the only thing I seen it helped was when I went big screen [46''] with the high res. were the one card struggled with that but in sli it pushed it just fine and that's about it . so its hard to say with what you got if it going to work as well as with 2 same branded twin cards.
 
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theGreatZamboni

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There are two kinds of Crossfire though. Crossfire- for 2 of the same card and CrossfireX- for 2 near/identical cards, basically for what I am doing. 2 same spec cards but different manufacturers.
 
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junkeymonkey

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ok thanks did not know this fact all I ever done was nvidia sli and by the time I switched over to AMD the cards were powerful enough that one card did the job just fine but now I am going to look at that cfx deal and see what I can see on that.. but still I would feel better if they were twin cards... heck I may learn something on this today
 
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junkeymonkey

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one more ? for you when you said ''CF cable '' is it the bridge or the dongle? for these cards? and then what games or program are you testing with? and then in amd overdrive you said it only shows one card but is there a thing to select vid card 1 and vid card 2 like to set each card individually? and how do each card work by them selves to see if one of the cards is holding back the other card?
 
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theGreatZamboni

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I meant Bridge/Cable. I've heard it called both. As for using 2 different makes of the same card, I stress again, CrossfireX was made to do that.

Here is a picture of what I am talking about. Keep in mind that the problem is Crossfire isn't working and that multiple means of showing it is working are coming up with different answers.

http://i.imgur.com/DuTsZwR.jpg

I'm testing it with War Thunder, Red Orchestra 2 , Witcher 2, Crysis 2&3, FarCry 2, Unreal Tournament III, Shadow of Chernobyl, Metro 2033 and HAWX 2. I am also using unigine per a recommendation of another thread I read on these forums.

As I stated SLI and Crossfire do not seem to be supported by a vast number of games. I am looking to test out the performance variances myself but cannot even get Crossfire to work.

I appreciate your patience.
 
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junkeymonkey

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well I don't know all I can say is that my buddy and myself did the sli thing years ago and it came down to this ---- S L I = Sudden Loss of Income we both did not see the gains that were being claimed in about 90% of what we did I just seen what I stated above with the big screen and that was about it on my end that 2 cards pushed it better then one and that was about it .
 
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theGreatZamboni

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That is not useful in the slightest. I understand dual cards are often insubstantial improvements over single cards and that they are not supported well. As stated in the OP, I received the second card for free and am just trying to get Crossfire to work properly. I appreciate you taking a look at it.
 
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junkeymonkey

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well, I know that what I said is not usefull to you . but heres what you just said '' I understand dual cards are often insubstantial improvements over single cards and that they are not supported well.'' well what is it ?? as far as when I looked your image over is why is one of the cards already at 53c? and i'll get bact to twin cards is that they will have the same bios.... and about bios I assume you don't have anything to be turned on in your boards bios? also what does CPU_Z and GPU_Z show for you?? heres alink from toms see at the end what that guy says about the pci-e slots and I guess that's were you got your cards??

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/291483-33-crossfire-4870-890fxa-gd70
 
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theGreatZamboni

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What you told me was an opinion about SLI and Crossfire. So I pointed out subjective opinions about how you feel in regards to SLI/Crossfire are not going to help me. As for your links, they have nothing to do with the issue at hand. The motherboard I have automatically enables Crossfire support. You seem to miss the part where CCC can detect both cards and allows me to enable Crossfire- it just doesn't actually enable it. If the bios were not enabled, I would not be able to access the option to turn Crossfire on or off. Hence the paradox and my need for help. CCC should not let me enable/disable Crossfire unless:

1. Both cards are installed to a Crossfire supported MB
2. The bridge is attached
3. The BIOS are enabled
4. They are running the same drivers

When those requirements are met, Crossfire is supposed to work when running a program that supports it. The information about games/program support available is extremely subjective and unreliable. My issues stem from lack of proper documentation when it comes to setting up Crossfire. I have installed everything correctly, tested both cards independently, yet games that support Crossfire seem to not take advantage of the 2nd card. Again, CCC will only let you turn Crossfire on or off when the necessary steps have been completed, yet programs like Speccy say Crossfire is disabled and AMD's own OverDrive says only 1 card is installed.

I would really appreciate some further assistance, but going through the semantics of checking out other threads, when A: I have and B: they have nothing to do with this technical anomaly- is leaving me both annoyed and distraught. I understand I am ASKING for help- that doesn't mean I will receive it. But at this point I am less interested in what I plan to do with my dual cards and am more vested in solving this mystery of misreading Crossfire. I find myself questioning the lack of concrete documentation out there, especially on the part of AMD themselves.
 
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junkeymonkey

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yup... good luck you know honestly I tried, as you see who else is here ?? amd ccc says it works then it works and I asked how the cards do on there own one at a time , nothing, I asked what cpu-z and gpu-z show on that working, nothing cause you see I'm old and done been there don that and found its a gimmick to sell you another card. now all you got is what is showen on your screen and that's that. I give you that link about the slots for it and a link about a bios update for it I asked you why one card is hot and the other is not and I should of asked if you switched the cards around is the temps the same?

you know I'm waaaaaay over here and not there with you for hands on, so ......
 
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theGreatZamboni

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The questions you ask of me are lost amidst poorly formatted text. I have re-read your posts several times over now, only just noticing you were asking for specific numbers or readings from me. My guess is something can be learned here outside of the mystery in question- formatting matters. I have said numerous times over I appreciate you taking time to mull this over, but what I am getting from you is lost in translation as I cannot decipher what it is you exactly want me to do. I guess if you choose to halt any further attempts to solve this inquiry I can go over and read your posts again.
 
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junkeymonkey

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just about the same here ... how hard is it to get cpu-z and gpu-z to see if they show crossfire is not on? but you just stick to that one thing I mean I don't know is the slot bad ? one of the cards bad driver issue ? I mean theres so many things to be looked at. like crossfire bridge bad? but to save you from dealing with me i'll call it good. and what I asked seemed like straight forward troubleshooting things to ask? but i'll just leave you alone and let someone else have a shot .
 
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theGreatZamboni

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You are missing the point. I appreciate the help but the way you format your replies causes confusion and goes against what most others would do- i.e. bulletpoint, list, number, letter steps or questions you have and use complete sentences.

I ran both GPU-Z and CPU-z, they detect both cards and can tell when Crossfire is on/enabled. The problem lies in that other programs say otherwise, including CCC not listing any activity on the 2nd card when running a Crossfire application. I am continuing to try out solutions on my own.
 
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