Correct setup of VirtuMVP?

[TravisR]

Greetings all,

Want to know how to properly setup VirtuMVP hardware and drivers to get the most from my recent system build. I've searched a bit and I haven't found a clear explanation of how to configure the rig for VirtuMVP without running into driver errors and the like.

So far, what I have done is this:

Started out with system configured initially for AMD HD 5870 w/Catalyst Control Center (CCC), monitor connected directly to 5870. Plain old conventional configuration.

Bios, enable and set first display to integrated. Plugged monitor into motherboard DVI port. Booted up.
Boot to desktop, CCC errors saying it can't find a card.
Successfully installed Intel VGA Driver 8.15.10.2712, and VirtuMVP2-1-115a-2321, rebooted again.
CCC errored again after boot- no card found.

Open Lucid control panel and enable all its fancy features.

Played BF3, looked good, felt good. Played Dragon Age: Origins, looked and felt good. Browsing internet w Firefox showed bizarre graphical anomalies... hard to describe. Popup windows in the wrong places during search, popup window contents filled in by random sections of the desktop. Weird. Deal breaker if it can't be fixed.

Tried to start ATI Tray Tools (ATT) and the system immediately black screened and rebooted. Set the BIOS back to Auto/Auto and connected the monitor to the 5870. Booting to desktop, Lucid errored saying Incorrect Configuration.

So, am I supposed to keep my monitor connected to the motherboard, uninstall CCC and ATT when using VirtuMVP (so I don't get errors when booting), and use the Intel HD4000 & Lucid utilities? Don't really want that because of the browser anomalies... Plus from what I see, the Intel utility lacks a lot of the graphics settings that CCC has.

Or do I connect my monitor to the HD5870 and keep CCC, ATT, & MVP running somehow?

Is there a correct way to set this up? Am I missing something?

-Travis

Gigabyte ga-z77-ud5h rev1 @F8
Intel 3570k stock clocks
16GB Corsair ddr3 (2x8GB)
Win7 64 sp1
AMD HD-5870 2GB

Intel VGA Driver 8.15.10.2712 (May 30, 2012)
VirtuMVP2-1-115a-23214 64Bit (Aug 03, 2012)
Catalyst 2012.806.1213.19931 (August 2012)

 

[master_chen]

Were you only using i-mode (IMHO, you really should only use d-mode at the current time, seriously. I-mode's still very raw and it has very long road to go before it could work as it was planned originally), by any chance?

If I'm not mistaken (haven't done that in a while): your monitor should be connected directly to the motherboard only, and your discrete GPU should be out of the PC entirely, before you install Virtu.

Try these steps:

1. Uninstall your discrete GPU and delete all (even last bit of them) of it's drivers. Completely pull it out of your motherboard.
2. Uninstall (If it's installed) Virtu and all of it's components.
3. Connect your monitor to the motherboard.
4. Install Virtu.
5. Plug your discrete GPU into the motherboard and install it's latest drivers.
6. Turn Virtu ON and choose d-mode.

 

[TravisR]

Looks like I was using i-mode (monitor connected to mobo)

Regarding driver installation, the Virtu manual says:

Software Installation
Note:
a. VIRTU Universal MVP is designed for Intel Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge
based platforms only.

b. GPU drivers must be installed prior to VIRTU Universal MVP.

c. It is recommended to restart the system after every driver installation.

 

[nukemaster]

In i-mode the CCC error is always going to happen, but it should have worked. Strange you had issues with FF. I used to have Virtu (pre MVP) and with exception to a few games, it worked out very well.

 

[master_chen]

GPU drivers must be installed prior to VIRTU Universal MVP.

Which GPU, discrete or Intel HD (CPU GPU)?....oh wait....

It is recommended to restart the system after every driver installation.

Did you do that?

Anyway, try doing the steps I've suggested to you and write back on the results.
If it won't work, then I might be really forgetting something...haven't done it in quite a while...
After you do everything, don't forget to plug your monitor back into the discrete GPU, don't leave it in your motherboard.

I used to have Virtu (pre-MVP) and with exception to a few games, it worked out very well.

Same here (with the exception that I still use it...because, really, why wouldn't you? It's great).

 

[nukemaster]

Same here (with the exception that I still use it...because, really, why wouldn't you? It's great).

I had stopped when a friend wanted me to play The Old Republic(Just never reconnected to it. Win8 CP and other things also got in the way). That game worked as it should(performance) but the game left lowering the settings until it was even lower then the lowest settable in game settings. Was strange to say the least.

I did like that the IGP would deal with all video for me, leaving the DGPU more extra power for other things.

 

[TravisR]

Okay I think it's working correctly now.
The trick was: BIOS- Init first = PCI, BIOS- Integrated Graphics=Enable. That, and connect display to GPU card. (I am assuming this is d-mode?)

When it was all glitchy, I had it BIOS- Init first = Integrated, BIOS- Integrated Graphics=Enable., and monitor connected to mobo. (this is i-mode?)

So yeah, master chen... seems i-mode isn't quite polished yet.

Anyway CCC is running without errors, Tray Tools is working and showing the frame rate in the corner like normal, plus BF3 & Dragon Age are both running very smoothly! Going to try a few more games and see how it goes.

After that, want to see if I can get quick sync to work...

 

[nukemaster]

With D-Mode, all games should run. I think the IGP will just be used for video compression and such.

 

[master_chen]

Okay I think it's working correctly now.
The trick was: BIOS- Init first = PCI, BIOS- Integrated Graphics=Enable. That, and connect display to GPU card. (I am assuming this is d-mode?)

When it was all glitchy, I had it BIOS- Init first = Integrated, BIOS- Integrated Graphics=Enable., and monitor connected to mobo. (this is i-mode?)

"D-mode" is when your discrete GPU works in an unison with your CPU's integrated GPU, in parallel (which can't be done if you don't have Virtu installed, because in that case your integrated GPU would turn itself off completely when you insert discrete GPU in your motherboard...it's a little Intel's fail, actually, lol), but your discrete GPU is the leading one in the process, thus performance and speed gets quite a lot higher during video processing (for example, in Sony Vegas Pro, during editing, encoding/decoding, re-sampling, and final processing of the edited video), and videogames lose only 1~5 FPS (usually).
"I-mode" is basically the same, but unlike the d-mode, in this mode your CPU's integrated GPU is the leading one, not your discrete GPU. This mode heavily lowers overall FPS of your entire desktop (both games AND all other applications), usually up to -11~13 FPS off of your usual FPS, but video encoding/decoding becomes even faster. It's very unsuitable for games though, because it has strange restriction formula working for games, during it's usage.
This formula is described in such way: no matter which kind of game you play, while i-mode is on, the played game will always get it's FPS lowered, up to 15% of the maximum possible FPS that it could've get during standard non-Virtu usage of the discrete GPU.
To put it simply: if, for example, you were playing Freelancer while only using your discrete GPU for graphics, without Virtu at all, and at some certain point in the game you got 100 FPS, with Virtu in i-mode you would get only 85 FPS at the exact same point with exact same hardware and settings.
It sounds absolutely crazy, but it's true. At least, it was like that during first versions of Virtu, I don't really know about latest versions.
Aside from that - i-mode is still very glitchy, buggy and overall just simply raw.
Both "d-mode" and "i-mode" are settings that you can simply turn on/off in the Virtu's GUI.

 

[TravisR]

Guys,

Thank you very much for pointing me in the right direction, explaining d vs i-modes, and breaking down the status of this technology as it currently stands in the real world. I appreciate the time spent!

-Travis

 

[TravisR]

Best answer selected by TravisR.

 

[master_chen]

Guys,

Thank you very much for pointing me in the right direction, explaining d vs i-modes, and breaking down the status of this technology as it currently stands in the real world. I appreciate the time spent!

-Travis

You're welcome.

 

[sagara-kun]

Okay I think it's working correctly now.
The trick was: BIOS- Init first = PCI, BIOS- Integrated Graphics=Enable. That, and connect display to GPU card. (I am assuming this is d-mode?)

When it was all glitchy, I had it BIOS- Init first = Integrated, BIOS- Integrated Graphics=Enable., and monitor connected to mobo. (this is i-mode?)

"D-mode" is when your discrete GPU works in an unison with your CPU's integrated GPU, in parallel (which can't be done if you don't have Virtu installed, because in that case your integrated GPU would turn itself off completely when you insert discrete GPU in your motherboard...it's a little Intel's fail, actually, lol), but your discrete GPU is the leading one in the process, thus performance and speed gets quite a lot higher during video processing (for example, in Sony Vegas Pro, during editing, encoding/decoding, re-sampling, and final processing of the edited video), and videogames lose only 1~5 FPS (usually).
"I-mode" is basically the same, but unlike the d-mode, in this mode your CPU's integrated GPU is the leading one, not your discrete GPU. This mode heavily lowers overall FPS of your entire desktop (both games AND all other applications), usually up to -11~13 FPS off of your usual FPS, but video encoding/decoding becomes even faster. It's very unsuitable for games though, because it has strange restriction formula working for games, during it's usage.
This formula is described in such way: no matter which kind of game you play, while i-mode is on, the played game will always get it's FPS lowered, up to 15% of the maximum possible FPS that it could've get during standard non-Virtu usage of the discrete GPU.
To put it simply: if, for example, you were playing Freelancer while only using your discrete GPU for graphics, without Virtu at all, and at some certain point in the game you got 100 FPS, with Virtu in i-mode you would get only 85 FPS at the exact same point with exact same hardware and settings.
It sounds absolutely crazy, but it's true. At least, it was like that during first versions of Virtu, I don't really know about latest versions.
Aside from that - i-mode is still very glitchy, buggy and overall just simply raw.
Both "d-mode" and "i-mode" are settings that you can simply turn on/off in the Virtu's GUI.

from what i read was that entering in I-mode the i-gpu was leading but, when required D-gpu it will just switch on to it e.g when gaming....the i-mode saves power while D-gpu is off...wat u stated is making kind of perplexed lol ... gonna try ur solution and do some testing as well ...