Good program to benchmark? 6950 x2

[darksora269]

Just built a computer and not sure if both cards are in use. I've checked Speccy, they both read active, but said crossfire was off. I've checked Catalyst and even when it's set to Enable Crossfire, I checked Overdrive in Catalyst, it doesn't say my second 6950 is active.
Might that be because it cucrently isn't connected to a monitor?
Anybody know any program that can take advantage of both of them so I can attempt to benchmark them?
Thanks.

 

[darksora269]

Any additional information you need, feel free to ask.

 

[Rustyy117]

You can check that Crossfire is active with GPU-Z: http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/

Futuremark 3DMark11 is a popular benchmark and you can compare your results to others with similar systems.
http://www.3dmark.com/3dmark11/download/

 

[andywork78]

Once you build with 6950 (lol very nice spec I have only one ASUS 6950 2GB model)
However crossfire cable is on sit placed and CCC check enable Crossfire then your good to go.
Some game has a option that "Crossfire - enable or disable" Most of all game don't have that options. Which mean is once windows ATI CCC enable crossfire then it's already on.
You are not running any game or software crossfire is off for power save.
Best way to test does baby out is
Run single card with max setting and see the fps.
After that go for the crossfire and see the fps difference.
Goooood luck~

 

[cobra5000]

One thing you could do is download 3DMark06 and run it once with the xfire enabled and once w/it disabled. The performance difference will tell you if the xfire is enabled.

 

[darksora269]

Thanks! I'll check it out. I'll set the best responce if I get everything working.

 

[clonazepam]

I could be wrong or delusional but I think 3DMark Vantage seems to be the least forgiving and most likely to crash from an unstable overclock. When I play with voltages and clock speeds I go to Vantage first. It just seems more likely to crash. Then from there the rest of the pack like 3DMark 11, Alien vs Predator, Heavenly, etc.

I also like Tom's method of testing the full power load of the system by running prime95 and 3DMark 11 at the same time. It's a good way to measure your watts from the wall, and represents the worst case scenario for gaming and full stability testing.

 

[darksora269]

My computer is running completely stock now. I've been installing the usual stuff that any person would use. All my specs are stock clocks. I've plenty of power from my power supply, 1000 watts to be exact. I know it doesn't produce 1000, like 990 or something or other like that. But still enough power. I'll look into Vantage and prime95 as well.

 

[wolfram23]

Hi,

CCC Overdrive will always show your 2nd gpu at 0mhz and everything. Disregard it.

I would say go download GPUZ and MSI Afterburner as they are both great for monitoring the cards.

I would suggest for testing you try 3DMark Vantage, 3DMark 11, and Unigene Heaven. There's some free game benches too like AvP.

For testing new clocks I suggest you start with FurMark (or Kombuster which is included with Afterburner). On that note, my experience says that if you are checking a memory clock OC, run with 4xMSAA. If you are testing a core clock OC, run with 0 AA. In either case run full screen max res.