2 R9 280x Crossfire Problems, Black Screen Flickering & Possible bottleneck issue?

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Guardian32092

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Hello, 1st problem. I recently bought a 2nd r9 280x, have an Asus and Msi brand, and I have crossfired them but am some of my games I get a black screen that flickers but I can hear the game starting in the background like (skyrim, borderlands prequel, and league of legends, but they do work if its set to windowed mode) but Fallout and Metal Gear and Bioshock Infinite works fine in full screen. Idk what is causing the black screen flickering.

2nd prob. Is that I don't feel like I'm getting much of a frame difference. For instance in Fallout 4 don't really get much of a difference but in my AMD Radeon Crimson manager it only shows that one gpu is working but in the msi manager it shows that both are working but only at like 30 to 40 percent. On the 3d mark it looks like they both work to their max and i see a big difference in results. I think the problem here might be my motherboard (gigabyte ga 970a ds3p) it says its crossfire ready but ive come to realize that its second PCI x16 only runs at x4 if i am correct. Is this what is causing my troubles in both the frames and the screen flickering. If so i was looking at a msi gaming 990fxa motherboard. Would this be recommended?
Sorry for making this so long I just want to figure out what's wrongs. Thank you for your time.
Specs.
GPU: ASUS R9 280X-DC2T-3GD5 Radeon R9 280X 3GB 384-Bit G
MSI R9 280X Gaming OC Edition
Both Cards are overclocked at the same speeds.
CPU: AMD FX-6300 Vishera 6-Core 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) S
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3
Ballistix tactical Tracer 8gb (2x 4)
MB: GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB
PSU: XFX Pro 1050w Gold Rating
Hardrive: Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Ca - OEM
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120
Windows 10.
 
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Signalll

Signalll

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Take off your OC and retest.

Let me look into that MOBO.
 
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Signalll

Signalll

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Ok so here is what I found:
Your mobo has two full x16 pcie 2.0 slots. thats FINE.
My suspicion is the OC.

However if it's not that there is a long list of issues with sli/crossfire to look into as well.
 
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Guardian32092

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So my asus at stock runs at gpu clock 1070 and memory clock 1600, and my msi runs at 1020 and 1500 so I had the msi one overclocked to 1070 and 1600. I set them both to 1020 and 1500 and the screen was still black and flickering. On Fallout I wasn't noticing a difference in the cards performance or activity output. I know that they are both pci x16 but it also says that the bandwith runs at (x16, and x4) for the slots. This is just what i seen and have seen on others that both slots bandwith need to run at x8 atleast. Here is the website for mine just in case.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128602

Also I forgot to say that for some reason in my Radeon Additional Settings, under Gaming, AMD CrossFire, under the enable crossfire dot theres an enable amd crossfire for directx 9/10/11 and open gpl... and theres also a box for show amd crossfire status icon(where applicable) I can checkmark both those boxes but when I click apply it doesn't do anything even after clicking a couple times. and when I exit it and go back it they are both unchecked marked and I don't know why. I've also set both of them to their default settings and no difference.

Another question, My MSI Hardware Monitor will say that both gpus are being used and will go to a 99 but at the same time my radeon settings says that the one isn't doing anything while the other is at 99. I feel like MSI is lying to me because I'm not getting better frames and the temp remains the same for the gpu that's doing nothing while the other gets to 70ish so then theres that. Sorry for throwing so much at you lol.
 
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Signalll

Signalll

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Ok, If you look at the third picture in the gallery for the board on Newegg you'll see a diagram. It shows two pcie 2.0 x16, two PCI slots and one PCIe x1 slot. I assume you're using the two x16's so bandwidth is not your issue.

I cannot give a valid voice on the Radeon settings because I run a Nvidia card, and the rigs I have built with AMD cards I have never used as my daily driver. So I'm sorry I'm not the right guy for that.

Hm. I don't know enough I'm so sorry... The fact that you're using two DIFFERENT cards scares me even though it's the same 280x chipset. What I can tell you is that I never do crossfire/sli for the reason that it is so bloody complicated at times, and there are so many drawbacks. As well as the fact that it just isn't needed anymore considering how powerful single cards can be.

Sorry, hopefully one of the AMD experts swoop in here.
-Signal
 
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Guardian32092

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@signalll yea I didn't want to sell my 280x and buy a 600 some dollar titan and only wanted a small upgrade for now so bought another 280x, everything that I had looked at said that mixing brands was fine as long as they were both r9 280x's but thanks for trying.
 
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renz496

renz496

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AFAIK fallout 4 still doesn't have multi gpu support. And the way i heard aboutcit the game was locked to 60FPS because of physics simulation will break if the frame rates goes above 60. And the game are not that demanding to begin with as long as god rays are not used. Despite being DX11 games god rays probably the only feature using tessellation in that game.
 
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Guardian32092

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well I get that fallout might not have the support but what about that problems with the black screen flickering.
 
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renz496

renz496

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Have you tried uaing different drivers? Black screen seems a common problem for GCN based card. For some people driver updates fix the problem. And some other using modded drivers to deal with it. I heard that black screen was related to memory problem.
 
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Guardian32092

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yes I have the latest drivers for my gpus, my motherboard, and windows 10. don't know what other drivers I would need to update
 
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Guardian32092

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No I have not tried any modded drivers, and if I have crossfire disabled in the advanded version of crimsion or I guess the catalyst then it does not flicker, but when crossfire is turned on it happens and if I disable crossfire in the crimson part like for the specific game (other options is 1 to 1 optimized and afr friendly, that section) it still does it.
 
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renz496

renz496

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Try play aroud with your CF bridge. The last time i have severe flickering problem in games(in my case it was blue or green flickering) was with my 660SLI setup. Working fine when on Sli not being use. Turns out my bridge was faulty. And sometimes have to play around when connecting the bridge like moving the connected bridge (to the card) slowly until the flickering gone.
 
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The realogkush912

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Run the game on one graphics card for both cards in either slot or both slots to make sure slots and cards are both working correctly.
If that is all good, download Msi afterburner. Go to settings>disable ulps. This should help a little.
Alright once you do that, go to "Radeon settings>preferences(at the bottom)>Radeon additional settings."
Next, go to amd crossfire and enable crossfire and the icon.
This little bit should help a lot.
 
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Guardian32092

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To RealogKush: I've run a graphics card in both slots and the games still worked, and used both graphics card separately and they both worked. I already had MSI Afterburner and the checkmark for disable ulps was already checked. In the Radeon Additional Setting, in the crossfire section, I can checkmark the box for both enable amd Crossfire for Direcx 9/10/11 and optenGL...etc etc, and the box for show amd crossfire status icon, but it wont let me like apply them, as soon as I leave and come back they are unchecked again.

To Renz: I didn't have the older catalyst when I added the second card, I just bought the second card recently and never used an older catalyst for it. I just tried to take a video of the flickering but the flickering is so little that I couldn't notice it on my phone,(I don't know how to capture video by using my computer so can only use phone) All that I can say is that it turns black and just has a small flicker to it, on skyrim I cant see my mouse but you can hear the games audio in the background, for league of legends its all the same as skyrim but you can see the mouse pointer for it but everytime you move it, it zooms back to the middle of the screen.
 
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The realogkush912

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That could be the very problem..... It could be my motherboard. Sure it has 2 pci slots for 2 GPUS and it says its compatible, but it may not be fully optimized in this compatibility.
I do not think my motherboard is the best by any means for both gaming and crossfire, but it supports both quite well. The Msi 970 gaming, as well as your 970a motherboard must not support the ultimate "unlocking" features of crossfire, as I am running into the same issues as you with the black screen
 
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Guardian32092

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That could be the very problem..... It could be my motherboard. Sure it has 2 pci slots for 2 GPUS and it says its compatible, but it may not be fully optimized in this compatibility.
I do not think my motherboard is the best by any means for both gaming and crossfire, but it supports both quite well. The Msi 970 gaming, as well as your 970a motherboard must not support the ultimate "unlocking" features of crossfire, as I am running into the same issues as you with the black screen [/quotemsg]

So your agreeing with me that it could be the motherboard?
 
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The realogkush912

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So your agreeing with me that it could be the motherboard?[/quotemsg]

Yes I am.
You see what I think is going on, the boards technology isn't necessarily outdated, but the software is. I'm sure it could be optimized more than it is, but since the motherboard is so generic and pretty much the cheapest you can get for the features, the crossfire addition wasn't focused.
I could be spitballing but in most cases you get what you pay for.
 
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Guardian32092

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Yes I am.
You see what I think is going on, the boards technology isn't necessarily outdated, but the software is. I'm sure it could be optimized more than it is, but since the motherboard is so generic and pretty much the cheapest you can get for the features, the crossfire addition wasn't focused.
I could be spitballing but in most cases you get what you pay for.
[/quotemsg]

True I really didn't want to spend even more money ha but I might have to, I was hoping to get more conformation on the motherboard part before I bought like a 140 dollar board and then not have the same problem.
 
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The realogkush912

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True I really didn't want to spend even more money ha but I might have to, I was hoping to get more conformation on the motherboard part before I bought like a 140 dollar board and then not have the same problem.[/quotemsg]

Yeah I wanna get a definite crossfire compatible board.
When I put my second r9 380 I can't even plug my USB 3 header in!! The board is too small and the card extends too much.
I gave up USB 3 for dual graphics cards lol
 
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renz496

renz496

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You can easily get AMD older drivers from their own website. And sites like guru3d and techpowerup also provide an alternative place to download graphic drivers for both AMD and nvidia.

As for recording there are many ways to do it right now. Even msi afterburner have the feature for video recording right now although they will have very noticeable impact on frame rates. Though it is possible that you might not be able to 'capture' the flicker with recording.

 
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The realogkush912

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I found the problem.
The 970s mobos only offer x16 and x8 pcie slots.
So the main gpu, first slot, is running 100% and the second gpu, lower slot farther from CPU, runs slower and less.
Even with my 970, the second gpu could be running at either 100% or not at all. And that's because of my motherboard same as yours.
The second slot is not fast enough.
Only solution? Get a board with two x16 pcie slots.
 
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renz496

renz496

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I don't think slot running at x8 will negatively impact performance unless the said slot running on pcie version 1.1 at x8. All intel mainstream platform (LGA 1156,1155,1150 etc) will run at x8/x8 config when running dual gpu configuration. If x8/x8 really did have negative impact on multi gpu then nobody would use multi gpu on intel mainstream platform.
 
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