Crossfire overheat

[Garfield2010]

Hi guys

I have 2 x 4890 cards running crossfire and they are overheating. They get to 90 degrees and then guess what.... everything freezes.

I do not have money for a new case (currently have a smilodon).

2 Questions:-

1.) If I put the cards further away from each other (motherboard has 3 slots) will it help? Do you get a longer crossfire bridge as the existing one is too short.

2.) If I open the sifde of the tower and put a big fan next to the PC and power it up, will it work?

Thank you

 

[Maziar]

Hello
Well if your load temp is 90c,then its normal;therefore, the freezes may not have been caused by overheating.
Anyway,
1_Yes it will help
2_You have to have overall good cooling solution in your case for a CF rig.But yes,an additional fan will help

 

[alyoshka]

If you're using 2 x 4890's then , usually a mobo has pcie placements in such a way that there is a step one ration to the x's meaning,
eg.
3 slots
1st slot 16x
2nd slot 16x
3rd slot 16 x
This is when using One Card
If you have 2 cards
1st slot 16x
2nd slot 8x
3rd slot 16x
Populating the 1st and the 3rd slot if what is usually done, if you populate the 1st and second slot they'll both work a 8x

and 3rd case scenario is with 3 cards
1st slot 8x
2nd slot 8x
3rd slot 8x

Although these vary with the model and manufacturer but it still has a chance,
why don't you just populate the first and third slot and check the temps again.

 

[Garfield2010]

Haha

You wont believe it. I got the extended cord, but it is still too short for the link from slot 1 and 3.

So I read the manual and saw that 2 cards should be put in slot 1 & 2, so I did it.

Everything is ok now. My only problem is that certain games freezes when I play them. Games like Starcraft and F1. It doesnt matter if crsoofire is enabled or disabled.

Other games like ARMA 2 is running perfectly.

I disabled hyperthreading of my i7 core as it makes some games faster........ dont know if this has anything to do with this....

 

[alyoshka]

What Motherboard are you using, please give us the systems specs first......
My mobo came bundled with the CF & SLI bridges 1st - 2nd slot, 1st - 3rd slot and the tri SLI PCB Connector....

 

[Garfield2010]

Sorry!!

Motherboard P7P55D

2 x 4980 cards

8 Gig DDR3 RAM

1000W silentpro PSU

Windows 7 64 bit


Intel i7 2.8Ghz

 

[alyoshka]

What is the model of your Smilodon Case?
Do you have any other PCI or PCIe cards in the system in the last three slots of the Mobo excluding the 2 ATIs?

In case you have a very cramped up case you can try to get one of these to help the space and airflow thing
http://www.plinkusa.net/riser.htm

They give you the flexibility to change the position of the PCIe card but with a little bit of know how, it will work.

 

[Garfield2010]

ATX77 RAIDMAX. It is small but has plenty of fans in. I dont think it is the cooling anymore. I have opened the one side of the case and put a monster big fan next to it and it runs fast and the cards are a lot cooler. In anycase, games like just cause 2, Left4dead2 and ARMA 2 run nonstop on these cards.....

No other cards in my system. Using onboard sound etc. It feels as if some setting somewhere is wrong. Should I have changed anything in the Bios when I enabled crossfire?

I have installed the latest drivers etc....

 

[alyoshka]

That's a cool looking case enough airflow
So that takes us to the BIOS, did you change anything in it? if you did, I'd suggest a reset and start from scratch.....

 

[Garfield2010]

No, I only disabled the Hyperthreading Technology as it makes a game like ARMA 2 & Just Cause 2 a lot faster......... But I can reset it to defaults in any case...

Question:- If some games works a 100% and others crashes the whole time, Is it not correct to assume that it must be a driver/software problem?

 

[deweycd]

This is likely a software/driver issue. Try reinstalling the drivers, 10.4 is the one I found most stable for 5850 CF but other packages may work better for you. Also, if this doesn't work you may need to try reinstalling the OS.

 

[alyoshka]

Not always, if they crash then it could be a heat up problem too.
The driver software problem usually gives and error message when the game crashes or a program performs an "Illegal Function" as windows calls it....

 

[deweycd]

When I upgraded from 10.4 drivers to 10.8 BFBC2 would crash back to desktop without any error or notice, it just acted as if I closed the program. When I reverted back to 10.4 this stopped happening. You could look up the system logs to determine if software is the case, you will usually get a bit more info there but not always. Hardware could be the issue, the cards could be getting old or have overheated causing damage, but if some games work then it is more likely not a damaged card, more likely software.

 

[Garfield2010]

Or maybe it is just some games...................... As I mentioned, ARMA 2 works fine and that game absolutely destroyes fast machines in general. Maybe it could also be that it is becoming summer now and where temps were 15 degrees 1 month back, it is now 35 degrees.............

 

[deweycd]

Yes, this could be an issue if your reaching your maximum temperatures. Try running MSI afterburner and look into the temperatures vs fan speed. If your not reaching 100% fan speed you are likely not overheating. Try manually cranking the fan speed to 100% and see if you can run games again.

 

[deweycd]

You must be in Australia? Or atleast that hemisphere?

 

[alyoshka]

MSI after burner? It's a Asus Board
Try CPUz and GPUz or HW Monitor......

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

 

[deweycd]

Afterburner works on all boards even ASUS. I use it on my Sapphires.

 

[alyoshka]

Down my side it doesn't have 2 Asus's and 2 MSIs... works with the MSI ones
Not with the Asus ones?? Any Idea why? Sry but it's a short question...

 

[deweycd]

What cards are you trying to run it on? It may only work on newer cards, ATI 3000/4000+ and NVidia 9000/200+, you would have to read a bit into the documentation for this.

 

[alyoshka]

I got kombustor to work..... it's a stupid 9400GT...... but it's ok. The Rigs where it is supposed to work , it is

 

[deweycd]

Good to hear, I used kombustor before, not so bad but a bit limited compared to Afterburner

 

[Garfield2010]

Hi guys

I switched the cards and reinstalled the drivers. Whalla.... now suddenly when I start games up I get a little crosfire icon on the top right hand corner. The games does not freeze anymore.....

The cards fans keep on average speed so I guess I was not overheating after all...

NEW PROBLEM...............

The games are slower now then they were!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Must I enable the Hyperthreading on my CPU again or what should I try??

 

[alyoshka]

Good news
Now since you have switched the cards and everything is fine, try to switch to HT and see.....
I don't think it should be a problem anymore.....
Keep us posted.......

 

[Garfield2010]

Cool thanks!

I am at work now so will only respond tomorrow again. Yes, I am from the southern hemisphere...