Question about HD 4870 X2

[Maziar]

Hello all hope u are fine
Look @ the screen shot:


Does any one know why the PIXEL FILRATE,TEXTURE FILTRATE,MEMORY CLOCK and BANDWIDTH of one is lower than the other?
I thought it was for power saving and will become the same as the other one in gaming,but it remains slower.

I am using catalyst 8.9.

The strange thing is that CCC is showing one card as a Primary adapter and the other one as Linked. and the specs of them are the same,so why CCC is showing different speeds.... compared to GPU-Z?

 

[yonef]

Do you have 2 cards HD4870X2 ?
and what MB you are using ?

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

OK, theres a problem with the second core downclocking on the card, but I thought the 8.9s elimanted it, maybe its the 8.10s, tho theyre betas. Its ok, if you go into 3D and come back out, itll clear it up. What Ive learned is, since Vista uses its aero, which requires 3D, its ben causing a new approach in power savings/clocking in the new ATI cards, which nVidia may start doing as well. It takes awhile for them to get this working right, but look to the 8.10s to correct it. The new PP coming out, and drivers for them sometime early next year will also lower the power usage on the new cards, not sure which cards, and or when tho, and this is all for idle speeds. But anyways, wait for the 8.10s, they should resolve this

 

[Maziar]

I have one single HD 4870X2 and i have ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA X38.

Jaydee,thanks for the reply so i guess i need to wait for the catalyst 8.10 to come out,also why CCC shows its not downclocking but GPU-Z says it does.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

They change the readouts with every driver change, so Im thinking GPU-Z isnt reading correctly. If you adopt a new driver from ATI, youll have to make sure GPU-Z supports it

 

[mathiasschnell]

Just looks to me like ATI's PowerPlay is running so one card is probably downclocked to conserve power while the other is doing work.

 

[yonef]

I have one single HD 4870X2 and i have ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA X38.

What are those two pictures of GPU-Z then?

 

[Maziar]

to jaydee:
Ok,i hope 8.10 will do the trick

to mathiass:
how can i disable it ?

to yonef:
because HD 4870X2 is actually 2xHD 4870 in one card

 

[yonef]

you can try this drivers, they are WQFL certified and most probably will be released officialy by ATI in next few days.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17929850

 

[Maziar]

thanks,guess i will wait for the final release

 

[No1sFanboy]

Plain and simple this is a bug which ATI has not fixed. It is not because of aero, I've tried disabling aero and it didn't make the card go to to 2d mode on both gpu's. It is not GPU-Z reporting incorrectly, I've verified the extra power draw with a watt meter.

It's not really a big deal but it is a bug. To confirm this Maziar just go into and exit a game and you will see the card properly run both cores in 2d mode as they should on startup.

@JD don't be offended but on this point I don't think you are giving accurate info. Every time this is brought up you elude to a fix or driver fix that is coming but I've seen no confirmation of this. You normally spin ATI's direction but are usually factually correct.

This problem wouldn't keep me from owning the single best card you can buy right now but it is a bug. I do look forward to when a future driver will allow my system to start up in 2d mode with the reduced power consumption and temperatures as intended.

Here is the thread where I originally explored this in August. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/254188-33-4870x2-high-startup-temps

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Ill look around, as Im sure I read about it, and Im thinking it came from ATIs driver team, but Ill make sure. Its a known bug, and they are working on it

 

[Maziar]

thanks
Yeah as i said even if i play a game and exit the second core still is downclocked.

 

[yonef]

Maxiar, can you post some test results in here? The test is as fallows:
Run two instances on GPU-Z switch them both to "sensors" tab. Then run any game and play for couple minutes. After that Alt+Tab and make a screenshot of the two GPU-Zs.
And post the result here please

 

[Maziar]

I played COD4 first mission and here is the screenshot:

 

[yonef]

As you can see, both GPUs are running at full speed(clock). This is the proper behaviour of you 4870X2. The problem is that in desktop mode both GPUs should go for 500Mhz to save power and be cool but one of your GPUs is still running at 750Mhz, which is not proper behavior, the other one(that you think is the problem) is actually acting like it should.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Plain and simple this is a bug which ATI has not fixed. It is not because of aero, I've tried disabling aero and it didn't make the card go to to 2d mode on both gpu's. It is not GPU-Z reporting incorrectly, I've verified the extra power draw with a watt meter.

It's not really a big deal but it is a bug. To confirm this Maziar just go into and exit a game and you will see the card properly run both cores in 2d mode as they should on startup.

@JD don't be offended but on this point I don't think you are giving accurate info. Every time this is brought up you elude to a fix or driver fix that is coming but I've seen no confirmation of this. You normally spin ATI's direction but are usually factually correct.

This problem wouldn't keep me from owning the single best card you can buy right now but it is a bug. I do look forward to when a future driver will allow my system to start up in 2d mode with the reduced power consumption and temperatures as intended.

Here is the thread where I originally explored this in August. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/254188-33-4870x2-high-startup-temps

The problem is nonexistent on XP or Vista safemode. It definitely is a Vista thing with or without Aero. I don't notice this much since I have to have one of the cards in 3d mode since I use dreamscape which seems to require full 3d mode with this card, odd, but oh well. I would not even call it a bug since it does absolutely no harm, I would call it... a personality quirk of the 4870 X2.

 

[Maziar]

As you can see, both GPUs are running at full speed(clock). This is the proper behaviour of you 4870X2. The problem is that in desktop mode both GPUs should go for 500Mhz to save power and be cool but one of your GPUs is still running at 750Mhz, which is not proper behavior, the other one(that you think is the problem) is actually acting like it should.

Yeah i thought so thanks alot

 

[No1sFanboy]

The problem is nonexistent on XP or Vista safemode. It definitely is a Vista thing with or without Aero. I don't notice this much since I have to have one of the cards in 3d mode since I use dreamscape which seems to require full 3d mode with this card, odd, but oh well. I would not even call it a bug since it does absolutely no harm, I would call it... a personality quirk of the 4870 X2.

Yes but my wife tells me my personality quirks bug her; therefore I have bugs.

Call it what you will but using the WHQL Vista driver it uses 30 more watts and runs hotter on start-up than it does in 2d mode. This is also a contributing factor to the uncomfortable idle temps people report with this card. I'd prefer to not let them off the hook and have them fix it so it runs at start up as it does after exiting a 3d app.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Ok... but my card runs @ 60c idle in 2D mode and slightly less than 65c when the "bug" is in effect. Yup that is a HUGE problem. My comment was that it is not something to worry about as it does not make much of a difference. Also, the "bug" IS fixed in 8.10 but the beta bugs actually make a difference and are very annoying.

 

[No1sFanboy]

Ok... but my card runs @ 60c idle in 2D mode and slightly less than 65c when the "bug" is in effect.

My own experience was the first core idling at 80c rather than 58c at default fan setting.

Yup that is a HUGE problem. My comment was that it is not something to worry about as it does not make much of a difference.

Also I never said it was a huge problem, to quote myself I said, "It's not really a big deal but it is a bug."

Also, the "bug" IS fixed in 8.10 but the beta bugs actually make a difference and are very annoying.

I don't use ATI beta drivers so has anyone confirmed that the "personality quirk" is fixed with 8.10?

Again, I'm not trying to be confrontational or come across as unhappy with the card. I'd still make the same purchase today without telling myself the cards flaws are simply more personality. Speaking of which does anyone know if the windowed mode problem has been fixed?

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

OK, after all your bxxxxxxx heheh, not really, but heres a link http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=203290

 

[No1sFanboy]

I'm not sure what I'm looking for in that link. If you mean a link from an unknown download source for what may be the final driver....um no thanks.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

What they are saying is, yes its fixed. 8.10 fixes it. The thread I gave out, ATI driver 8.10 fixes the downclocking on the second core. Thats what it says. So, as I said, I knew Id read it somewheres, and another place as well, and yes, driver number 8.10 fixes the 4870X2 second core 2D mode

 

[No1sFanboy]

I missed it reading through the thread the first time. One line under a tagged image in three pages of comments. I look forward to trying it out when it's released.