How to turn off Crossfire

[rockitman]

So I just installed my second 6950 and crossfired them. On a 28" 1920 x 1200 monitor, I have every setting maxxed with 8AA and Very High details in Crysis.

My FPS hovers around 60 pretty steady. With everything maxxed with one 6950, I was sitting around 29 to 30. I guess I'd have to say the scaling in Crossfire for this game is pretty darned good!

I had originally flashed the 6970 bios to a single card and I never really saw a big jump for Crysis. I did notice the card ran hotter. So I flashed it back to normal and added the second card.

First question, there are 2 separate bridge slots on these cards. I only have one crossfire bridge cable connected right now, but will adding another crossfire bridge cable to the second set of slots help at all?

My next question though, is what is the easiest way to shut off the second card? I will rarely need to have Crossfire running at this point, but would like to turn it on when I jump into a more demanding like Crysis. Is it just a matter of going into Catalyst Control Center and disabling Crossfire? Will that shutdown the second card?

What kind of power draw does this second card use when the Crossfire is turned off? I'm trying to figure out just how much juice my rig is pulling.

 

[Maziar]

AFAIK,you can't disable CrossFire with drivers higher than 10.10(I tested with my 5970 though,it maybe different with 68xx/69xx series)
With any driver higher than 10.10,I can't turn off CFX

 

[wannaturnuptheheat]

Adding another bridge won't help.

There is a tab in Catalyst with a box marked "Enable CrossFireX". Uncheck it to disable CFX.

The second card is inactive, drawing no power from the system, unless needed (IE by a 3d app like a game); and then (like the primary GPU) it only puts out as much graphical power as it needs to. There's really no need for you to disable CFX entirely unless it's for a game like Crysis 2 (where CFX actually causes issues).

 

[Kari]

The second crossfire bridge isn't really needed, though some ppl use them thinking it improves crossfire scaling, but it's likely negligible

turning the crossfire off will not shut down the second card AFAIK, you'll just have 2 separate cards running on their own.

kill-a-watt type consumption meters will show you how much your rig is pulling from the wall.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882715001

 

[Kari]

The second card is inactive, drawing no power from the system, unless needed (IE by a 3d app like a game)

even at idle it will pull like 20watts, it won't be completely shut down

 

[rockitman]

The second crossfire bridge isn't really needed, though some ppl use them thinking it improves crossfire scaling, but it's likely negligible

turning the crossfire off will not shut down the second card AFAIK, you'll just have 2 separate cards running on their own.

kill-a-watt type consumption meters will show you how much your rig is pulling from the wall.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882715001

Oooh, nice device. Thanks. Just ordered.

 

[Maziar]

The second crossfire bridge isn't really needed, though some ppl use them thinking it improves crossfire scaling, but it's likely negligible

turning the crossfire off will not shut down the second card AFAIK, you'll just have 2 separate cards running on their own.

kill-a-watt type consumption meters will show you how much your rig is pulling from the wall.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882715001

Strange.
There is no way to disable CrossFire on cards like 6990/5970/4870X2 with drivers higher than 10.10.(And there is no "Enable/Disable CFX" option)
On older drivers,there was an option called "Catalyst AI" which enabled/disabled CF.

 

[marney_5]

I only enable crossfire on certain games. most of the time I have it deactivated to keep my system cooler and quieter.

I dont see any reason for me to run 2 cards on games like F1 2010 and even Crysis 2 because both games run awesome on 1 6950!

 

[rockitman]

I only enable crossfire on certain games. most of the time I have it deactivated to keep my system cooler and quieter.

I dont see any reason for me to run 2 cards on games like F1 2010 and even Crysis 2 because both games run awesome on 1 6950!

Yeah, so far every game I own runs tops with just a single 6950. I've already come across a game that won't let me play at all with Crossfire, GTA 4. It's only Crysis right now that I see the need for Crossfire. Man oh man, Crysis sure looks crispier with 2 cards. FRAPS is showing a steady eddie 60fps with everything maxxed.

Think I'll buy Metro2033 from Steam today and see what's up with that "pc killer" of a game.

 

[marney_5]

Yeah, so far every game I own runs tops with just a single 6950. I've already come across a game that won't let me play at all with Crossfire, GTA 4. It's only Crysis right now that I see the need for Crossfire. Man oh man, Crysis sure looks crispier with 2 cards. FRAPS is showing a steady eddie 60fps with everything maxxed.

Think I'll buy Metro2033 from Steam today and see what's up with that "pc killer" of a game.

Totally!

Trust me Metro2033 is the only game around that you need 2 cards for (Except for the original crysis!).

 

[rockitman]

I feel good about being prepared for future games for quite a while!