XFX HD4870 in crossfire help

[overseer03]

Hi everyone,

I am a noob at crossfire and OCing. I just built a new system last week, and could use some input as to my crossfire performance. Here are the system specs

MSI 870-g45 mainboard
AMD Athlon II X4 propus 3.0ghz processor
ADATA ddr3 1600g ram(2x2gb)
XFX HD 4870 1gb video card x2 running in crossfire mode
Raidmax rx-630ss crossfire ready power supply
Samsung Spinpoint F4 HD322GJ/U 320 GB hdd
Rosewill Challenger gaming atx mid tower case
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit OS

My last PC was a HP with a 4600+ (2.4ghz)dual core, upgraded to run a NVIDIA 8800gts 512mb G92 card, 4gb of pc2 4200

With some very minor OC of the GPU and the processor I was able to squeak out about 15k on 3dmark 06 v1.1.0

I was expecting a pretty significant jump in score with my new setup, however the best I have been able to do is around 16500, which seems awfully low for these 2 cards running in crossfire. Ands thats with the CPU OC to 3.3 ghz.

I do realize that this MOBO runs 1 card in 4x and 1 card in 16x, but the research I have done suggests that I may lose about 20-25% performance on the ONE card running in the 4x slot.

I am using the most current MOBO drivers, as well as the new CCC.

Any non bashing input would be great, thanks!

 

[fluffypuffy17]

What were your old comps score.

 

[overseer03]

The old PC's best score was in the 10000 range, but this PC I just built was scoring 15k with that nvidia 8800gts 512 g92, which is what has me concerned. I used the nvidia card until my dual 4870s came.p

 

[wa1]

Already tried with some games?
Do not rely too much on benchmark, you must see it on games, see how much fps do you get. You can use FRAPS to monitoring fps on game.

 

[overseer03]

I'll DL fraps and see what I get. Thanks for the tip

 

[overseer03]

Well playing black ops in training mode map nuketown im getting anywhere from 55-91 fps with the gpu oc at 790. Zombie mode was mostly 75-91.

 

[fluffypuffy17]

did you play black ops before upgrading? and if you did what where your fps?

 

[wa1]

That's about right, your scores are fine.

 

[overseer03]

I did not play black ops with the 8800gts in this system.

 

[fluffypuffy17]

Well thats some decent fps then. That x4 on your mobo is probably whats holding it back. I get 40fps on very high 1920x1200 on crysis. But that has garbage drivers for ati and crossfire, but you can download the demo and post your results if you have time.

 

[overseer03]

After much testing I still feel like something is not right. When I run ONE of these cards I get a 3dmark of around 14k, and when I run TWO of them in crossfire I get only 15.5k. A 10% increase with dual cards just doesnt seem right to me. Ive tried adding an extra power supply, sweeping and reinstalling the drivers, and to no avail. Any thoughts? Could it be something with 3dmark? I only used that because thats what is used here at Toms

 

[fluffypuffy17]

Benchmarking is not that accurate at detirming performance, its just benchmarking. Try black ops with 1, and then in crossfire. Make sure crossfire is enabled in ccc.