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Help stabalizing Crossfire 7970s - XFX DD BE + MSI Lightning

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Graphics card Master

OK, so it looks like I could use some advice if anyone has suggestions for me. My problem is thus:

I just got my 2nd 7970, a Lightning model. A couple of times, I've gotten the XFX + Lightning up and running at 1200/1710 MHz and into Unigine to complete benchmark runs. However, most often the computer simply becomes unusable with this combination. I get immediate freezes followed by driver crashes repeatedly (about every 5 seconds) at the desktop. If I try to do anything more intensive than display the desktop, I get BSOD's with BB codes that indicate the graphics driver as the faulty module.

I have a clean win7 install, and up to date Catalyst 12.3 drivers (and have done the workaround that you need to do to get Afterburner unofficial overclocking running post 12.2). I did a clean install and put on Catalyst 12.2 earlier and had the same issue.

It's frustrating, because I know that the GPUs are stable if the driver will work, but because of the driver instability the computer is absolutely unusable.

I'm starting to think that the XFX model is just not compatible with the Lightning in Crossfire... anyone have any suggestions for fixes? I'm thinking I may just have to cut my losses, sell the XFX for ~$500 ish and replace it with a second Lightning.

Don't think I've updated my sig all the way yet, but here's my rig:
-ASRock z68 extreme7 gen3 mobo
-XFX DD BE 7970 + MSI Lightning 7970
-i7-2600k @ stock
-8 GB DDR3 ram
-AX1200 PSU

Any help would be great!

edit - dunno if it matters but the lightning is the top / primary card

More about : stabalizing crossfire 7970s xfx msi lightning

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Graphics card Master

Yes, I'm using Afterburner for the overclock.

However, my initial problem is that the computer is usually crashing before I can even get into Afterburner - I boot up, and as soon as I do anything (and I do mean anything... like pop up the start menu or open task manager), the screen freezes and then 10 seconds later it goes back to normal with the standard "AMD Display Driver has stopped working and successfully recovered" message. This cycle repeats indefinitely until I restart the computer.

I don't have Afterburner set to run at startup or apply any overclocking at startup. So, I'm thinking that the problem isn't strictly speaking that I am trying to overclock the cards (which makes some sense as once or twice I've been able to get booted, overclocked, and through Unigine without problems). I have no idea what is causing this, because the cards coexisted just fine throughout the OS and drivers installation and even an initial trial of overclocking. The problems only came once I got the overclock tested through unigine and then restarted the computer to see if everything would be OK (it clearly isn't).

Could this be caused by the fact that the cards have different stock settings? (1000/1425 for the XFX, 1070/1400 for the MSI) Could this be caused in any way by the integrated GPU or IGPU drivers? I'm not used to having an integrated GPU and didn't do anything in the BIOS to disable it... just assumed it would be irrelevant since it's not hooked up and the mobo defaults to PCI-e as the primary adapter.
Graphics card Master

I've had odd problems like that with MSI Afterburner after a major change in setup. You might need to go to Safe mode and uninstall it, then see if things change. In the past, anytime I changed my GPU configuration, I often needed to reinstall MSI AB fresh.

I'd still try running them without MSI AB first, and if it runs well, then consider MSI AB.
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Graphics card Master

bystander said:
I've had odd problems like that with MSI Afterburner after a major change in setup. You might need to go to Safe mode and uninstall it, then see if things change. In the past, anytime I changed my GPU configuration, I often needed to reinstall MSI AB fresh.

I'd still try running them without MSI AB first, and if it runs well, then consider MSI AB.


Hmmmm OK, I will try booting in safe mode, removing afterburner, and trying again.

Question, though: Without Afterburner, how can I push my XFX's clock limits past the standard CCC limit of 1125/1575 (and perform the necessary voltage tweaks as well)? The MSI card has higher CCC limits, but the XFX does not.
Graphics card Master

To start, just use the CCC to make sure everything works, but a fresh install of MSI Afterburner will likely work, provided it works without it. However, MSI afterburner doesn't always work well with two different models. For one, you cannot have different fan profiles, even though they have different coolers and different needs as a result. I've also had a bear of a time getting 6950's of different makes to sync.
Graphics card Master

Hmmm... OK I'll post again with more info once I get AB uninstalled, but since this is my 3rd try of clean-installing win7 + drivers + afterburner and the problem has been consistent, I doubt that a clean install of AB will fix the problem if AB is the issue.

Probably worth mentioning that I'm using the following two solutions to get unofficial overclocking working in AB... they could always be causing problems too:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=359671
http://www.overclock.net/t/1196856/official-amd-radeon-...
Graphics card Master

I know of the 2nd link, the 1st one looks new to me, as I haven't used AMD for a while.

If it works without MSI AB, you will have to look for another OC method. I've heard of people doing a BIOS update and flash to remove restrictions on some cards. Though that does seem extreme.
Graphics card Master

Yeah if I can't find a way to OC past the CCC limit, I'll sell the card and get a 2nd lightning. I doubt I'll be willing to flash the BIOS on the card, as I'm not interested in turning a $500 GPU into a brick. If there's documentation on how to do it with my specific card, then I might do it, but I'm not willing to be the guinea pig for that experiment.
Graphics card Master

OK so definitely something's up with afterburner... uninstalled, booted --> open Unigine --> run --> no problems

Restarted --> open Unigine --> run --> no problems

:bounce: 

OC both cards in CCC to XFX CCC limit of 1125/1575 --> run Unigine --> crashes after a few minutes of running (but with a different error... this was not the same thing which was happening before though I'm currently looking into the cause - I suspect I need the ability to tweak voltages to get these clocks stable in CFX)

soooooooo the real question is now "How can I get my XFX back up to 1200 MHz without making the whole setup unusable?"

Anyone have any suggestions on that one?
Graphics card Master

Well, I don't really "need" crossfire 7970s for anything... it's just the "for fun" goal to get my rig to a 5-5.2 GHz 2600k with a pair of 1200 MHz 7970s

Not sure what to try at this point... I reinstalled AB and did the slight bit of voltage tweaking needed to get 1125/1575 stable at least through a unigine run. My current guess is that there's 2 things going on:
-Afterburner is trying to sync two non-identical GPUs and having problems
-AMD as of CCC 12.3 no longer includes the files needed for an unofficial OC, resulting in the need for a work around that is likely causing problems.

I'm gonna keep playing around with CCC & AB and see what I can do. Looking like I'm gonna have to sell the XFX and buy a 2nd Lightning if I really want to do this properly, though :( 
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