4850 xfire low scores in 3dmark06 need help.

[brinton1]

Hello all this is my first post here at Tom's and I am seeking guidance.

first off my system specs.

Gigabyte- GA-MA790GP-UD4H
AMD phenom x4 9600 black edition
4gb g.skill 5-5-5-15 1066 ddr2 ram
(2) sapphire HD 4850
700w ocz PSU

vista sp1 everything updated
ati drivers latest driver cleaner pro / safe mode install

EVERYTHING IS STOCK FREQUENCIES/VOLTAGES

3dmark06 results

with only one of my cards in the 16x slot i got 10088... gpu1 3848, gpu2 4765,cpu 2973

and with both with both bridges installed i got 10781...3634,5755,2951


i dont know what is wrong it seems like i should be getting a larger score

i know the memory issues with my CPU and already have a 9950 with the new stepping on the way.

but will that raise my gpu socres at all? Is there anything i can do or double check? better drivers?

any help is appreciated ty.

 

[brinton1]

bump

 

[topper743]

I notice you state that you did a safe mode install? Run a driver cleaner in safe mode and install the driver in windows. Did you enable xfire in CCC? Is the bios ready to accept the two cards?

 

[redgarl]

Crossfire only need one bridge for 2 cards, 2 bridges for 3 cards and 3 for 4... got the picture?

Using 2 bridges gave me BSOD with an Asus mobo and 2 Asus 4850 TOP.

Also, do a fresh install of drivers and check if the cards are installed properly in your device manager. If one is disabled, enable it and enable Crossfire in Catalyst. Your screen should blink and got black. If it doesn't, you are not in Crossfire configuration.

 

[cjl]

Overclock your CPU. 3dmark06 is HEAVILY cpu limited - my 4870 quadfire setup gets 17k on a stock clocked i7 965 (3.33GHz effectively, with turbo mode), while it gets 27k at 4.2GHz. Your fairly slow Phenom is almost definitely the reason for the bad score.

Oh, and make sure crossfire is enabled (you only need one bridge).

 

[brinton1]

Ah thank you, i have a new 9950BE on the way and i will probably put that at around 3.0ghz. the 9600 BE I have now is awful as far as overclocking goes. i cant get it past a 12x multiplier (vista wont boot)

 

[brinton1]

re-installed the drivers. and Oc'ed the processor to 12x multiplier - about as high as it will go, only got 11312 3977/5882/3088 and i Oc'ed the GFX cards slightly with Riva tuner. is that a reasonable score? i heard the 48xx series cards' performance isn't show very well in 3dmark06 . got a 7700 in vantage.

 

[brinton1]

re-installed the drivers. and Oc'ed the processor to 12x multiplier - about as high as it will go, only got 11312 3977/5882/3088 and i Oc'ed the GFX cards slightly with Riva tuner. is that a reasonable score? i heard the 48xx series cards' performance isn't show very well in 3dmark06 . got a 7700 in vantage.

 

[brinton1]

aha put in the 9950 and at only a 14x multi @ 2.8GHZ i got 14734- 5461/7574/3821

the gpu scores went up - will probably put this cpu at either 3.0- or 3.2