How do I crossfire two 4850s

[offthehookah]

I am fairly new and would like to know how to crossfire; here is my rig (where did that term originate from anyways? )

750tx Corsair
phenom II 2.8ghz 720 be X3
4gb of ddr3 ram
I have two 4850's with two bridges right now running, but I'm not sure if I am crossfired as I didn't do anything. (Researched a bit but couldn't find the crossfire center in Ati CCC)
ASUS m4a79xtd
I also have cool blue lights coming from my case

I plugged both cards in already
and connected the two bridges and they both seem to be spinning, is there a certain way to see if the computer recognizes both?

Also my FPS in team fortress 2 was 80-90, isn't that pretty low?

 

[offthehookah]

So I noticed that adding a second graphic card decreased the game speed and the graphics didn't even get better. Is my ram or Processor not power enough for crossfire?

 

[Timop]

You have to check the crossfire box in ccc.
But 90fps is alot, anything over 60 is unnoticeable..

 

[offthehookah]

You have to check the crossfire box in ccc.
But 90fps is alot, anything over 60 is unnoticeable..

I am skeptical to the two graphic cards working, is there any way to check if the computer sees two cards?

 

[Timop]

I am skeptical to the two graphic cards working, is there any way to check if the computer sees two cards?

Get GPU-Z and see, if it is indeed in crossfire, the little box at the bottom should be checked.

 

[welshmousepk]

For starters, you are only meant to use ONE crossfire bridge. the second connector is for connecting a third card.

Download GPUz to identify the GPUs and their clockspeeds. or just look for the crossfire box in CCC.

 

[offthehookah]

For starters, you are only meant to use ONE crossfire bridge. the second connector is for connecting a third card.

Download GPUz to identify the GPUs and their clockspeeds. or just look for the crossfire box in CCC.

lol. My mistake. I can't find the crossfire box in CCC. In the top left corner of the interface I see Graphics, I click on that I see a few more options such as desktop properties, display options, 3D, ati overdrive, and I went through the 3D settings and the display options but haven't seen the crossfire box anywhere.

 

[offthehookah]

I also am running windows 7 64 bit if that changes anything

 

[welshmousepk]

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/

go there to download GPUz. it will identify all GPUs in your system.

 

[offthehookah]

Hey I realized that one of my graphic cards wasn't being detected, the second pci express slot on my motherboard is the problem (I took out the graphic card in that slot and tried it in the other one and it worked). Is it possible for one of the pci express slots to be faulty? any way to further test my hypothesis aside from trying a graphic card in it (yeah Im hopeful I know) could it be turned off in the BIOS?

 

[welshmousepk]

Is it still under warranty?

 

[offthehookah]

Bought on eBay used, worst comes to worst I can get a refund and return it to the guy.

 

[jitpublisher]

Hey I realized that one of my graphic cards wasn't being detected, the second pci express slot on my motherboard is the problem (I took out the graphic card in that slot and tried it in the other one and it worked). Is it possible for one of the pci express slots to be faulty? any way to further test my hypothesis aside from trying a graphic card in it (yeah Im hopeful I know) could it be turned off in the BIOS?

Have you checked the BIOS? Yes, on most boards with multiple PCIe slots you can turn them on and off, and set the bandwidth as well.

 

[thepinkpanther]

i had a similar problem with my xfire 4850. I think this is what i did. I unstalled all the graphics drivers, and took the second 4850 out. then i started up windows and it did the detected new hardware thing it always does, so i installed CCC. After that i inserted the second 4850. Turned the pc on and it recoginized it. Opened up the CCC and on the menu list the last item is CrossfireX, selected that and enabled the checkbox for xfire. i get around 80-130ish framerates on TF2 @ max settings @ 1650 x 1050. U might need to overclock a little as i have c2d @ 3.2 to get those framerates.

 

[offthehookah]

Hey jitpublisher, I 'browsed' around the BIOS but I didn't really see anything that would allow me to turn a PCIe slot, any terms that I should be looking for?

 

[offthehookah]

i had a similar problem with my xfire 4850. I think this is what i did. I unstalled all the graphics drivers, and took the second 4850 out. then i started up windows and it did the detected new hardware thing it always does, so i installed CCC. After that i inserted the second 4850. Turned the pc on and it recoginized it. Opened up the CCC and on the menu list the last item is CrossfireX, selected that and enabled the checkbox for xfire. i get around 80-130ish framerates on TF2 @ max settings @ 1650 x 1050. U might need to overclock a little as i have c2d @ 3.2 to get those framerates.

Hey what's your entire build? And I don't think this'll work because I can't get that second slot to even bring my computer up. Like if I removed the graphic card from slot one and just left a graphic card in slot 2 and connected it to the monitor nothing comes up on screen..

 

[thepinkpanther]

keep the 4850 in the first slot. Add the second one afterwards. my build is intel x38 mobos, e6750, 4gb ram, win 7 pro 64 bit, and corsair 650 tx psu.

 

[offthehookah]

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. This is so damn frustrating. Smashes computer. lol. Needless to say it didn't work. I did what you told me thepinkpanther but when I put the second graphics card in it isn't recognized on the computer.

 

[offthehookah]

Any other suggestions?

 

[jitpublisher]

Bought on eBay used, worst comes to worst I can get a refund and return it to the guy.

Just saw this, now we know the rest of the story. I'd say you just learned a lesson about buying used hardware, especially off of eBay. Good luck, hopefully the guy will return your money, although I have a suspicion that is why he put the board up for sale in the first place, hoping that whoever bought it would not be using Crossfire!

 

[offthehookah]

Just saw this, now we know the rest of the story. I'd say you just learned a lesson about buying used hardware, especially off of eBay. Good luck, hopefully the guy will return your money, although I have a suspicion that is why he put the board up for sale in the first place, hoping that whoever bought it would not be using Crossfire!

But my card gets power and the fan spins and everything? But maybe you're right.

 

[drinkingcola86]

Like others said did you download GPU-Z?

If so both cards should show up in the bottom left corner in the pull down menu. Next did you enable xfire in the CCC? if not, go to the top left corner with the pull down menu of graphics select it and then go to the very bottom and select crossfireX. there should be a check mark box. Make sure its checked.

next would be to go to the device manager and see if the computer is seeing both cards. If it is then your set. The fps gain that i saw when i xfired my 2 4850's was very minimal in TF2, however other games i saw a bigger jump even when i oc'ed my processor up 200 mhz.

 

[jitpublisher]

But my card gets power and the fan spins and everything? But maybe you're right.

Just because it gets power does mean the slot works. Enabling Crossfire is not that hard, install the second card, put on the bridge, enable in the CCC.
If you are not having any luck, I am sorry to say, there may indeed be a problem with that board.

 

[offthehookah]

Hmm. I messaged the guy on ebay and he said he's only had it since March of this year, and that it might still have warranty on it. He never crossfired and I believe him because if you look at the box it came in, this thing is like-new. still has that new box smell when you open it lol. I'll try everything all over again and post back on here. The problem is that windows keeps automatically installing the drivers which messes me up with the steps you guys gave me, how do I disable that? or instead makes it so windows asks me if I want to install the drivers?

 

[offthehookah]

Hey I went on a watt calculator and its recommending 850 watts?? could it be a matter of not a strong enough power supply? or because the fan on it spins then it couldn't be that problem?