First time crossfirerrerr noob questions/issues

[donimo]

Hi all, it's been a long time since I have been active on here (for reference my last "enthusiast" build was a C2D 6750 based system). After that I had a couple kids and went fairly boring and gamed on consoles for the simplicity, but I got bored haha.

I built up a decent mid-range rig (I will post it up some time) based around a z77x-ud3/3570k setup and re-used my xfx 6850.

Last week I bought a used gigabyte 6850 to try out crossfire instead of shelling out for a 7950. It's been kind of a bummer though, found out the OC version of this card doesn't OC well (huh?) and also the rear fan on it is borked and runs all wobbly and slow. Then I had issues with the card in slot 2's fan would ramp way up at idle, which I figured out was due to ULPS (again, huh?). I can live with those issues but I can't figure out these other ones:

1) Sometimes crossfire just straight up doesn't work, in some things it works fine, but a lot of games and benchmark programs only run on one card? Unigine heaven 4.0 only runs on one card, same for kombustor (although the "1080 preset" test works fine, none of the others use both cards). I found info on profiles etc but everything seems to say that these programs should work fine, and plenty of others have used them just fine and dandy. BF3 also seems to only work off one card as well. I have downloaded the latest "profiles" from AMD.

2) Every time I quit a game and return to the desktop GPU2 will go 99% load until I reboot. Kind of stupid. The first time I even noticed it was when i came back into the normally cool room my PC is in and it was like a sauna because my 6850 had been going full blast for about 6 hours, sigh. I found references to this with older drivers (pre-11.2) but I am on 13.1.

Hopefully these aren't so noob that they are insulting. but so far upgrading hasn't been worth it at all, BF3 runs on one card only, benchmarks dont work and LA noire is frame locked to 30fps and thats all I am playing right now lol.

[Masteroderus]

What psu are you using? Are all cards connected properly with the proper pcie power connectors and not molex adapters?

Are you using the CCC or a third party program to control your cards? I would stay away from even opening up CCC (i let it always run in the background) as it has caused weird bugs with my xfire rigs.

Are you using radeonPro to handle the profiles of bf3 and your other games? If not, get on it. It also allows for real time monitoring of the gpu usage in game, so you can see when your second card is being used.

Certain in games settings like vsync and running in windowed mode can cause only one card to run.


So in short, download radeonpro and a hardware controller program like msi afterburner and see if any of that helps. Also please tell us what PSU you are using, and make sure you're using the proper pcie connectors and not molex adapters.

[IRQ Conflict]

donimo, congrats on the rug rats! I experimented with CF many moons ago. Found it wasn't for me. Things might be better now though. I do know that when it works it's a worth it. Your problem sounds like it might be with a bad driver un/install. Try Driver Sweeper in safe mode after uninstalling Catalyst. Then boot back to Windows normally and reinstall Catalyst. See if that does the trick.

Masteroderus. his spec is at the bottom: Corsair HX620

[donimo]

Yes, HX 620. I know it's at the ragged edge of xfire, but most all tests showed the hx620 can pull a good 750w easy so I figured it's fine.

Both connected with the proper pcie connectors.

I have actually never heard of radeon pro, hell I didnt even know you needed profiles to make xfire work lol. I can give it a try.

I have been using afterburner, mostly to keep the damn xfx fan from whizzing away on the desktop. Also to match the card specs, no idea if it matters but I figured it was better to have them match.

thanks for the congrats, they have made me tired and broke with no free time but I still love the little bastids.

I was thinking it might be a driver issue I will try driver cleaner, never used it before either (never had issues).

Looking forward to being on here more and playing again, got a scyth mine 2 on the way so I can play with o/cing again.

I wanted a nice new 7-series card and some free games but for $50 for a 6850 I figured crossfire it up!

[donimo]

OK, quick update. I ran out of time last night so I didn't get to fully test.

Full driver uninstall and driver sweeper, reboot, reinstall. the 2nd card fan glitch is back (ULPS) where the afterburner fan profile does not work on GPU2 when idle. This seems so ass-backwards and the fan is whizzing away at 50% and then you start a game and it slows down, quit to desktop and it speeds up . XFX have the "idle" fan speed WAY too high on this thing, it idles at 45% even though the card is only 34C when you force it to 30%.

I tried a quick buzz into a game and back out and it didnt lock to 99% but I want to test more.

installed radeonpro (is 2011 really the latest version? lots happened since then). Looks comples haha I need time to look at it.

[IRQ Conflict]

That fan speed issue sounds odd. They are the same card? It is possible that the previous owner installed a modded BIOS. Check (if they are the same card) that the BIOS's for both are the same. Yeah Radeon Pro hasn't seen an update since Moses.

Edit: My bad, I see that the other is a Gigabyte card. But do look into the BIOS version (CCC>Information>Hardware) of the XFX. Maybe do a search on the issue for that particular card.

Edit: Here is one. Not sure if it pertains, I don't have the time to look right now.

Edit#2: Ooooo Looky! (I lied, I'm an addict heh)

[donimo]

Originally Posted by IRQ Conflict

That fan speed issue sounds odd. They are the same card? It is possible that the previous owner installed a modded BIOS. Check (if they are the same card) that the BIOS's for both are the same. Yeah Radeon Pro hasn't seen an update since Moses.

Edit: My bad, I see that the other is a Gigabyte card. But do look into the BIOS version (CCC>Information>Hardware) of the XFX. Maybe do a search on the issue for that particular card.

Edit: Here is one. Not sure if it pertains, I don't have the time to look right now.

Edit#2: Ooooo Looky! (I lied, I'm an addict heh)

Sorry you spent time looking that up, I appreciate it but I knew about that one already. That is for the base model xfx 6850 and idle fan was at 70% on that card . I used to have this card all by itself, afterburner worked perfectly. Just when I put it in crossfire as card 2. I am 99% sure it has to do with ULPS (ultra low power state). Afterburner works fine for about 2-3 seconds then when ULPS turns off the 2nd card to conserve power it kicks back to "stock" fan profile, which is 40% speed. It just annoying because 30% is silent, 40% is actually quite loud. My PC is otherwise silent and it's near where I sit while watching TV etc so it's annoying that it does this.

I can disable ULPS with Regedit, but I am wondering if that's where this "99%" of gpu2 glitch comes from?

I shouldn't have to do this haha. I wish there was a way to flash a fan profile onto the card itself.

[IRQ Conflict]

Originally Posted by donimo

Sorry you spent time looking that up

I'm not. I rather enjoy trying to help people figure things out.

I shouldn't have to do this haha. I wish there was a way to flash a fan profile onto the card itself.

No, you sure as hell shouldn't imho. Send XFX a letter to their tech support. In the mean time we can keep looking for a solution. Optimally, if you could find a BIOS file that works on both cards equally as well, that might be the ticket.

Radeon BIOS editor

BIOS collection

You might want to post in the TPU forum as well.

Edit:

Just when I put it in crossfire as card 2

Same thing happens if you put it in the first slot?

[donimo]

Originally Posted by IRQ Conflict

I'm not. I rather enjoy trying to help people figure things out.

No, you sure as hell shouldn't imho. Send XFX a letter to their tech support. In the mean time we can keep looking for a solution. Optimally, if you could find a BIOS file that works on both cards equally as well, that might be the ticket.

Radeon BIOS editor

BIOS collection

You might want to post in the TPU forum as well.

Edit: Same thing happens if you put it in the first slot?

I will check those out when I get home. I know this seems nitpicky but I picked the case/fans/cooler etc because I wanted a quiet AND cool PC. Pre-crossfire it was silent and ice cold on just air. I could also buy a diff cooler for the card but that seems silly when it works just fine with a custom fan profile.

Also noticed last night the rear fan on the gigabyte card also ticks due to it's wobble, sigh.

try and save a buck haha

[Masteroderus]

So i found that all fan controller software is hella buggy on crossfire and trifire.

My working solution is to only use the fan controller in sapphire trixx, and only to gang the fans to a set % or let them "auto". As soon as I open CCC it has many many times screwed up my fan speeds, and re maximizing trixx fixes it.

Or sometimes only one fan goes to 100% on trixx, i just click auto and try again.

I blame it on buggy CCC software, but the "try it three times" method of troubleshooting has always fixed my fan profiles.

If my fans aren't turned up when i mine.... idk, 80 degrees at 100% i can't imagine at 50%.............