Gaming Rig Build Problems

Skoobz

Distinguished
Jun 5, 2011
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Hi guys,

I have built my first gaming rig over the weekend, and have had some problems that you guys might be able to help with.

Firstly, here are the specs:

Case: Cooler master Sniper Black Edition
PSU: Antec TruePower 1000W Quattro
Mobo: Asus P8P67V3
CPU: Intel i7 2600K
RAM: 12GB G.SKilll DDR3-1600
Video: 2x XFX ATI RADEON HD 6870 PCI-E 2.1 1GB
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCIe Fatal1ty Pro
HDD Primary: OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD
HDD Secondary: Hitachi 2TB Deskstar
Monitors: 2x LG W2242T 24inch

After installing all the appropriate drivers, I noticed that there was no Crossfire option in the Catalyst Control Centre. The "Hardware" section showed the second video card as disabled (it was enabled in device manager).

After reading some forum threads and the mobo user guide, I disconnected one of the monitors and went in the BIOS and changed the
'PCI Express X16_2 Slot (Black) bandwidth' option from 'Auto' to '4x'.
The mobo manual said this mode was for high performance support. (USB3_34, PCIeX1_1 and PCIeX1_2 will be disabled)

Being a bit of a PC noob, I didn't realise this would disable my sound card.
Anyway, booted back into windows, loaded up CCC, and Crossfire was enabled! Loaded up some games, even plugged in my second monitor, and CCC maintained that Crossfire was still working. All was good, but alas, no sound.

Seeing as though I actually changed 2 things last time (the PCI slot mode, and the number of monitors connected), my next step was to boot with the one monitor, but with the 'PCI Express X16_2 Slot (Black) bandwidth' BIOS option back in 'Auto' (so that my sound card would work again).

Booted up windows, sound was back, but now CCC doesn't even acknowledge there is a second video card. Tried going back to 4x again, Crossfire is enabled again, no sound.

So now you can see my dilemma. I seem to have to make a choice between my 2nd video card or my sound card. I'm sure there is something I am missing here.

I would really like to be able to have all my components working at once, if at all possible.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Cheers :D

Skoobz

 

zepfan_75

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Jan 3, 2011
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Ok, what it sounds like is that you are trying to CFX while running a Sound Card, but the symptoms you gave sound like the motherboard doesn't allow you to run 2 x8 or x16, and a sound card. Most boards have on board sound so if all else fails uninstall your sound card and use the integrated sound.

Ed. I will say that I haven't ever crossfired so my two-cents probably doesn't mean much but in the grand scheme of things I think I would pick CFX over a discrete graphics card.