Radeon 4870x2, no game will use second GPU

[dimes and nickles]

Hello, Ive just bought a brand new OEM radeon 4870x2 to upgrade from my radeon 4850. I am seeing an improvement in FPS, but the problem is Im seeing an improvement from a 4850, to a 4870, not a 4850 to 4870x2, as the second GPU is never used on any game Ive tested it with (Tribes: Ascend (Lobby menu WILL use second GPU, actual in game will NOT), Obvliion, Natural Selection 2 (has predefined profile), and Crysis (also has predefined profile). Im using techpowerup GPU-Z to watch the GPUs statistics.

3Dmark vantage, however, will utilize the second GPU just as much as the first GPU, and provide what I see to be the boost in FPS I was expecting to see (over 100%). Also sometimes 3dmark vantage will show brutal artifacts from the water in graphics test one, the trails from the ships in test two, and the flag test. Researching this Ive seen other people have had this same problem. I dont know if this is related to other games not using the second GPU, though. I say it sometimes happens, because yesterday I decided to try running it again, and all the artifacts were gone. Today, they are back. Later today they might be gone again. (edit: due to catalyst AI being enabled. Disabled they go away).

No actual game shows any artifact.

I fresh installed all the drivers after uninstalling them, then sweeping them in safe mode. I asked in the motherboard forum if it might have been my motherboard that is causing this somehow (Asus M3A78-pro), which was my first thought, and someone responded it shouldnt be the board thats the problem.

No idea whats going on, and I have no idea how to fix it. Im sure someone has run into this problem before, though!

-

Motherboard: Asus M3A78-pro with 780G chipset (only has one PCIE 2.0 16x slot. Its "hybrid crossfireX" enabled, but doesnt say anything about crossfire, which is why I thought it might be the motherboard at first)

Windows vista 64

8GB ram, DDR2 running at 800mhz (4/4/4/12)

Corsair TX750W power supply

And of course a new radeon 4870x2

 

[maxh22]

I think you mean the second GPU, I suggest you update your drivers you can't use the same drivers for different graphics cards.

Try completely wiping off the old drivers and doing a clean install with the LATEST drivers!!

 

[dimes and nickles]

Yes the second GPU.

I have the latest drivers, 12-4, and did do a clean install of them.

 

[maxh22]

Yes the second GPU.

I have the latest drivers, 12-4, and did do a clean install of them.

Try using older drivers then, sometimes the newer ones mess up. For example my friend had an old Gtx 295 which on skyrim had 60 fps constant with 296... something drivers, when he updated it to the 300 series drivers the game was literally unplayable, he was getting like 10-15 fps.

 

[dimes and nickles]

Ill try some previous driver versions.

 

[dimes and nickles]

Same problem with old drivers... doesnt seem to change anything.

 

[panwala95]

hey i think you have to enable crossfire in catalyst control centre

 

[maxh22]

hey i think you have to enable crossfire in catalyst control centre

He said that 3d mark vantage uses his second GPU so that can't be the case

 

[ricardois]

He said that 3d mark vantage uses his second GPU so that can't be the case

well maybe the second GPU is beign used only for Physx? this could be very strange since it is ATI lol

@OP are you sure you have plugged the Crossfire Cable and enabled it on the Control panel?

are both GPUS with same specs? memory size and clocks?

 

[maxh22]

well maybe the second GPU is beign used only for Physx? this could be very strange since it is ATI lol

@OP are you sure you have plugged the Crossfire Cable and enabled it on the Control panel?

are both GPUS with same specs? memory size and clocks?

4870x2 is a dual GPU in one card so I don't think you have to enable crossfire.

AND ATi cards don't and never will have Physx lol

 

[jonnyrb]

Hello, Ive just bought a brand new OEM radeon 4870x2 to upgrade from my radeon 4850. I am seeing an improvement in FPS, but the problem is Im seeing an improvement from a 4850, to a 4870, not a 4850 to 4870x2, as the second GPU is never used on any game Ive tested it with (Tribes: Ascend (Lobby menu WILL use second GPU, actual in game will NOT), Obvliion, Natural Selection 2 (has predefined profile), and Crysis (also has predefined profile). Im using techpowerup GPU-Z to watch the GPUs statistics.

3Dmark vantage, however, will utilize the second GPU just as much as the first GPU, and provide what I see to be the boost in FPS I was expecting to see (over 100%). Also sometimes 3dmark vantage will show brutal artifacts from the water in graphics test one, the trails from the ships in test two, and the flag test. Researching this Ive seen other people have had this same problem. I dont know if this is related to other games not using the second GPU, though. I say it sometimes happens, because yesterday I decided to try running it again, and all the artifacts were gone. Today, they are back. Later today they might be gone again.

No actual game shows any artifact.

I fresh installed all the drivers after uninstalling them, then sweeping them in safe mode. I asked in the motherboard forum if it might have been my motherboard that is causing this somehow (Asus M3A78-pro), which was my first thought, and someone responded it shouldnt be the board thats the problem.

No idea whats going on, and I have no idea how to fix it. Im sure someone has run into this problem before, though!

-

Motherboard: Asus M3A78-pro with 780G chipset (only has one PCIE 2.0 16x slot. Its "hybrid crossfireX" enabled, but doesnt say anything about crossfire, which is why I thought it might be the motherboard at first)

Windows vista 64

8GB ram, DDR2 running at 800mhz (4/4/4/12)

Corsair TX750W power supply

And of course a new radeon 4870x2

Crossfire only works in Fullscreen applications. If you are doing anything in a windowed mode then you will not activate the crossfire.

Additionally use Catalyst 10.9 it's the last driver that I know of that provided ANY support to the 4870x2 or the 4*** series.

I used to own a 4870 x2 it would underclock itself on 1 gpu and disable the other when in windowed mode. Once you're in full screen the second kicks in. Additionally when you tab out to check - there's a possibility it'll disable crossfire until you go back into the game. ( power saving at it' worse )

 

[maxh22]

Crossfire only works in Fullscreen applications. If you are doing anything in a windowed mode then you will not activate the crossfire.

Additionally use Catalyst 10.9 it's the last driver that I know of that provided ANY support to the 4870x2 or the 4*** series.

I used to own a 4870 x2 it would underclock itself on 1 gpu and disable the other when in windowed mode. Once you're in full screen the second kicks in. Additionally when you tab out to check - there's a possibility it'll disable crossfire until you go back into the game. ( power saving at it' worse )

+1

 

[dimes and nickles]

Crossfire only works in Fullscreen applications. If you are doing anything in a windowed mode then you will not activate the crossfire.

Additionally use Catalyst 10.9 it's the last driver that I know of that provided ANY support to the 4870x2 or the 4*** series.

I used to own a 4870 x2 it would underclock itself on 1 gpu and disable the other when in windowed mode. Once you're in full screen the second kicks in. Additionally when you tab out to check - there's a possibility it'll disable crossfire until you go back into the game. ( power saving at it' worse )

Thanks, I will try 10.9 drivers. I hope that will help. All apps are run in full screen.

Dont worry, I am using GPU-Z, it has bars that record the usage over minutes of time, so tabbing out you will be able to see past usage over 2 minutes or something.

 

[dimes and nickles]

Oh and the 3dmark artifacts... catalyst AI.

Disabled, artifacts vanish. Enabled, they come back.

No actual game ever experiences artifacts with either setting though.

 

[maxh22]

Thanks, I will try 10.9 drivers. I hope that will help. All apps are run in full screen.

Dont worry, I am using GPU-Z, it has bars that record the usage over minutes of time, so tabbing out you will be able to see past usage over 2 minutes or something.

Did they work?

 

[dimes and nickles]

Ugh, they are still not working. They *might* be providing a little better performance... and the second GPU is active *slightly* more, but maybe enough to only give a 5% increase.

I cant think of anything else I can do but reinstall windows (it needs to be anyway, comps lost so much speed gradually over the years). I hate reinstalling windows... always such a hassle.

Also my comp crashes randomly when playing games with this video card. Sorry to not mention it earlier; it can crash after 20 minutes, or 8 hours... very random... but it will crash. Happens with all drivers Ive tried with no change.

I cant help but think its related somehow to the computer not using the second GPU, because it never crashed with the 4850 I upgraded from.

Asus got back to me too and said my mobo is good for dual GPU cards.

 

[jonnyrb]

Ugh, they are still not working. They *might* be providing a little better performance... and the second GPU is active *slightly* more, but maybe enough to only give a 5% increase.

I cant think of anything else I can do but reinstall windows (it needs to be anyway, comps lost so much speed gradually over the years). I hate reinstalling windows... always such a hassle.

Also my comp crashes randomly when playing games with this video card. Sorry to not mention it earlier; it can crash after 20 minutes, or 8 hours... very random... but it will crash. Happens with all drivers Ive tried with no change.

I cant help but think its related somehow to the computer not using the second GPU, because it never crashed with the 4850 I upgraded from.

Asus got back to me too and said my mobo is good for dual GPU cards.

toggle you're fan to 90-100% when you play. If you're keeping stock fan speed / temp ratio you're going to over heat.

It sounds like that may be a cause.

it's loud - but it works

 

[dimes and nickles]

What should the card be kept under, C wise? I have the fan on 45%, and the distant GPU stays at 40C idle, and under load I dont recall it moving much past about 52.

 

[maxh22]

What should the card be kept under, C wise? I have the fan on 45%, and the distant GPU stays at 40C idle, and under load I dont recall it moving much past about 52.

Maybe the GPU is dieing that may very well be the case. Those temps are normal for an old dual gpu at idle, what your load temp?

 

[dimes and nickles]

Load is around 52 or 54, doesnt go higher.

Its brand new OEM, I hope its not dieing.

 

[dimes and nickles]

Just reinstalled windows. No change.

This is beyond frustrating at this point... card is giving BSODs related to ntoskrnl.exe (and others), and wont use second core except in 3dmark vantage.

 

[jonnyrb]

Just reinstalled windows. No change.

This is beyond frustrating at this point... card is giving BSODs related to ntoskrnl.exe (and others), and wont use second core except in 3dmark vantage.

Those temps are ridiculously good for that card. So good, that it's obviously only using 1 of the 2 gpus.

Have you tried loading any older games? Perhaps it's still driver related - but AMD's fault.

Games I played when I had my 4870x2 (which ran at like 85 celcius) Crysis, FFXIV, Unreal Tournament 3, CoD MW2, CoD BO etc.

What brand of 4870 x2 was it? Perhaps you should contact the manufacturer or return it and get something like a 670 gtx. How much was the card, if I may ask. I paid $700 back in the day lol

edit: In the command console, type expand d:i386ntoskrnl.ex_ c:windowssystem32 (Assuming your cd-rom drive is D:,

gl

 

[paddy086]

4870x2 is a dual GPU in one card so I don't think you have to enable crossfire.

AND ATi cards don't and never will have Physx lol

i had the 4850x2 well i think it was the 4850x2. but it was a ati with 2 gpu installed on the one card had 4 dvi ports on the back sweet GC.

i ran into the same issues as you were in the ati crnrole software AKA catalyst control center you do have to tick the box for crossfire even do the two gpu are on the one card

and as mentioned by another user you dont have to use a crossfire adapter to span the two cards as you only have one with 2 gpu
hope this helps

 

[dimes and nickles]

Those temps are ridiculously good for that card. So good, that it's obviously only using 1 of the 2 gpus.

Have you tried loading any older games? Perhaps it's still driver related - but AMD's fault.

Games I played when I had my 4870x2 (which ran at like 85 celcius) Crysis, FFXIV, Unreal Tournament 3, CoD MW2, CoD BO etc.

What brand of 4870 x2 was it? Perhaps you should contact the manufacturer or return it and get something like a 670 gtx. How much was the card, if I may ask. I paid $700 back in the day lol

edit: In the command console, type expand d:i386ntoskrnl.ex_ c:windowssystem32 (Assuming your cd-rom drive is D:,

gl

Yeah I have tried crysis; I knew THAT game should use both cores.

Nada. One core in use.

Payed $145 for new OEM Sapphire on ebay. Never had a problem with sapphires before. Looking at an AMD comparison chart on wikipedia, the 4870x2 seemed like the best deal for my money; I couldnt spend to much, bout 150 was as high as I could/can go, and for that price, this card theoretically should be dominating all other cards in price/performance ratio by a long shot.

But I basically just payed 145 dollars to upgrade from a 4850x1, to a 4870x1, instead of an x2. Its really pissing me off; I had no idea this would be such a hassle to get both cores to work together on any application but a benchmarking one.

Ive been doing some more research about ntoskrnl.exe BSODs (IRQL, KMODE, and others), and it seems it can only be a driver issue. The other possibility is RAM, but these problems only occur with this card installed, and disappear with the 4850. And Ive memtested my ram recently with no problems.

Someone mentioned on another forum about being forced to use 9.12 drivers him/herself with this card, even though the series was in the 11.x or something. I guess I will try those next.

/sigh.

 

[ricardois]

Well have you readed that on the motherboard specs?

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM2Plus/M3A78_PRO/#specifications

Hybrid CrossFireX™ Support (For Windows Vista only)

are you using Vista?

EDIT: just saw, that you are.

but i bet it is a motherboard problem, this motherboard is designed for very specific hardware and SO