4850x2 4850 CF problems, please help

[o3srt4me]

Hi guys, so after using the 4850x2 for 2 months I decided to up the GPU potential for better gaming performance in new titles coming soon. I purchased an XFX 1gb 4850 to go along with my Sapphire 2gb (1 x 2gb) 4850x2. My comp is as follows:

P5q pro LGA 775 Mobo 2 Pci-e 2.0 16x (8x by 8x in CF)???
Corsair Single coil 850w PSU ( Should be enough)
e8500 3.16 (oc 3.8) @ 1:1 ratio with DDR2 800 ram (400x9)




I simply inserted the 4850 into the bottom PCI 2.0 slot and clicked in the CF connector and fired the computer up. Immediately I noticed the only DVI port working was the one on the new 4850...The X2 card has no response when plugging a DVI cable into it. The CCC had me re enable CF on a 3gpu (0 4 2) configuration. I immediately opened up GPUZ and looked at everything it said that both cores in the x2 were CF enabled with (Sideport off)???? and simply said CF enabled for the 4850. I played Killing Floor ( A new steam game) and saw that only the new 4850 was using any GPU power, the X2 is sitting idle. I tried re installing the driver and the same thing..... I also tried to go to the 4800 series driver from AMD rather than use the specific X2 sapphire driver that is released for the 4850x2, it made the problem worse, now in GPUZ the CF is being displayed as disabled on one core of the 4850x2. Anyone know anything I might have done wrong?? I am fairly new to computers so no doubt Im sure I screwed something up! thanks guys!

UPDATE:

I have found some possible problems/solutions.... Upon changing the cards to difference PCI slots, my BIOS fully reset (Im assuming the mobo did this noticing a major hardware change)

Question 1: Powersupply is too small...I doubt 850w is too small but ???

Question 2: Which driver do I use to power these 3 cards??? the Sapphire specific X2 driver or the one from AMD???

Question 3: Is the problem happening because the x2 cards dont function when the Mobo is put into the CF 8x by 8x Pci multiplier... I head something about this speed being too slow for the X2 cards.??

I know there are some guys running an X2 plus single card setup. Itd be awesome if you could chime in. Will post benchmarks once setup is running!
Jeff

 

[Tempered81]

power supply is enough.

Try the ati drivers from their website Catalyst 9.5 or 9.4

Try using the cards in different slots in your motherboard.

Go into device manager and remove the video cards, and remove the driver package/uninstall drivers. Reboot, with installed cards and install catalyst 9.5.

make sure catalyst a.i. is enabled and gpu-z reports 3 gpus enabled. try your games out.

Maybe some people here on the forum who use tri-fire can help you out. Good luck!

 

[apoppin]

i have 4870-X2+4890 TriFire with 850w and it is [barely] enough; follow the above advice - use Catalyst 9-5 [or 9-4]

install the drivers - then check CCC [catalyst control center] to see that you have a Primary Display Adapter and TWO linked ones
- if not, install the same drivers over again without removing anything

cat AI is set to 'standard' - not disabled

report back and good luck!

i am wanting to say that the amount of increase is pretty small over X-2 by adding a 3rd GPU