HD4870 CrossfireX - Keep or ditch?

[pet3rrr]

I just built a new PC (in sig) a few weeks ago, and as much as I love these video cards, I have been bumping into numerous driver issues and crashes. The only game that I rarely play that takes advantage of Crossfire is COD4, but that's about it. I'm thinking about either selling both these cards and getting a GTX 280 (cheap) or just selling one of my 4870s. I'm playing at 1920x1200, so I want the best possible solution, but I don't want to deal with any kind of multi-gpu solution.

 

[SunnyD]

Move to a NVIDIA card, you're still going to get driver crashes, just everywhere and anytime in the system instead of in a game. Why not pull one of the cards and see if CrossFire itself is the problem for the time being.

Also, a few other things to note:
You're overclocking. Your crashes may be due to the CPU.
Are you overclocking the video cards as well? If so, you know what comes next.
How is your case's air flow? You've got two fairly hot cards running in there, along with an overclocked CPU, a high capacity PSU, all generating heat.
Also, when you moved to your 4780's, what video cards did you have in there previously? Did you go from NVIDIA to ATI without cleaning your system properly from the old drivers?
In that vein, what OS are you using? If it's XP, I'd suggest doing a full reinstall of the OS if you've changed hardware.

There's so many variables, I'd say if you don't want to deal with a multi-gpu solution just pull one of the cards to start with and see where it goes from there.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: pet3rrr
I just built a new PC (in sig) a few weeks ago, and as much as I love these video cards, I have been bumping into numerous driver issues and crashes. The only game that I rarely play that takes advantage of Crossfire is COD4, but that's about it. I'm thinking about either selling both these cards and getting a GTX 280 (cheap) or just selling one of my 4870s. I'm playing at 1920x1200, so I want the best possible solution, but I don't want to deal with any kind of multi-gpu solution.

it sounds like you have something set up wrong

i have a GTX280, a HD4870 and a 4870x2 and X2 Crossfire scales in all my games. No issues and no crashes

What drivers are you running? What did you have as a GPU before and what is the rest of your rig like? Is your CPU O/C 100% stable?

the 280 is faster than a 4870 but slower than the x2

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Move to a NVIDIA card, you're still going to get driver crashes, just everywhere and anytime in the system instead of in a game. Why not pull one of the cards and see if CrossFire itself is the problem for the time being.

What are you talking about Sunny?

 

[videogames101]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Move to a NVIDIA card, you're still going to get driver crashes, just everywhere and anytime in the system instead of in a game. Why not pull one of the cards and see if CrossFire itself is the problem for the time being.

What are you talking about Sunny?

sunny speaks truth

 

[sgrinavi]

Originally posted by: apoppin


What drivers are you running? What did you have as a GPU before and what is the rest of your rig like? Is your CPU O/C 100% stable?

My crossfire set-up has been problematic too, it is a heat issue for sure. My inner card runs 15 degrees hotter than the outer one (at idle) and will hang the system after 20 minutes (give or take) of intense gaming. I pop out either card and everything is beautiful. With my twin turbo cooler a single card stays around 50 degrees c., under load, and does not give me a bit of trouble.

I am thinking about cutting my losses and going to a 4870 X2 card or, perhaps, seeing how the x2 4850's fare

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: videogames101

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Move to a NVIDIA card, you're still going to get driver crashes, just everywhere and anytime in the system instead of in a game. Why not pull one of the cards and see if CrossFire itself is the problem for the time being.

What are you talking about Sunny?

sunny speaks truth

Perhaps

he needs to translate it please

google and babelfish are useless with alien languages


with a STABLE platform and *either* a properly set up Nvidia or AMD GPU, there are NO "driver crashes, just everywhere and anytime in the system"
:roll:

that is what we are for - help and support - it is not magick

to the OP, try and fix Crossfire
-is it even enabled in CCC?

if so, try running with each of the 4870s separately .. to see if there are issues; you have both 6-Pin power cables - all four - firmly seated in BOTH 4870s?
- also try switching them in your PCIe slots [letsee, you have 16x+16x PCIe, right?]

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Move to a NVIDIA card, you're still going to get driver crashes, just everywhere and anytime in the system instead of in a game. Why not pull one of the cards and see if CrossFire itself is the problem for the time being.

What are you talking about Sunny?

I'm talking about random nv4disp BSOD's, video driver resets, black-screen bootups, etc., that happen while just idling on a Windows desktop. For example.

Just talking from personal experience as well, I've had more issues with NVIDIA drivers than I've had with ATI drivers. Of course, I will admit that my personal experience is somewhat skewed, as I've ran NVIDIA hardware or platforms more than I've run ATI hardware or platforms (probably 66%/33%).

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Move to a NVIDIA card, you're still going to get driver crashes, just everywhere and anytime in the system instead of in a game. Why not pull one of the cards and see if CrossFire itself is the problem for the time being.

What are you talking about Sunny?

I'm talking about random nv4disp BSOD's, video driver resets, black-screen bootups, etc., that happen while just idling on a Windows desktop. For example.

Just talking from personal experience as well, I've had more issues with NVIDIA drivers than I've had with ATI drivers. Of course, I will admit that my personal experience is somewhat skewed, as I've ran NVIDIA hardware or platforms more than I've run ATI hardware or platforms (probably 66%/33%).

strange .. i have been running ATi/AMD for years .. and i don't see those issues - ever!

i also have been running Nvidia drivers continuously since last May .. and i find them to be overall excellent
- i might not always know WHICH drivers to run, but i think you are describing personal issues that are related to an unstable PC platform


EDIT: Your link leads to an ancient pile of FUD
- that was over 1-1/2 years ago and it persisted for just a few months with Nvidia drivers; later AMD had the same issues for 3 months after 2900xt was launchec
... and it was related to Vista
:roll:

Perhaps, you ought to update ALL your drivers, Sunny. They have improved over your out of the box driver installation

 

[john3850]

On my sli setup top card is always 8c hotter with water cooling.
I always have at least 1 or to 2 120 118cfm Delta side fans aimed at cards.
Most of my game crashes come when I foget to turn on side fans 20 min. into a game.

[I'm talking about random nv4disp BSOD's, video driver resets, black-screen bootups, etc., that happen while just idling on a Windows desktop]
Sounds like your system is not stable enough.

The more eye canday the hotter stuff runs.

On reason i went to water was due the to the high card
temps on a agp xtpe and most cards since.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: apoppin
strange .. i have been running ATi/AMD for years .. and i don't see those issues - ever!

i also have been running Nvidia drivers continuously since last May .. and i find them to be overall excellent
- i might not always know WHICH drivers to run, but i think you are describing personal issues that are related to an unstable PC platform


EDIT: Your link leads to an ancient pile of FUD
- that was over 1-1/2 years ago and it persisted for just a few months with Nvidia drivers; later AMD had the same issues for 3 months after 2900xt was launchec
... and it was related to Vista
:roll:

Perhaps, you ought to update ALL your drivers, Sunny. They have improved over your out of the box driver installation

I think you misunderstood... I hardly have ever had problems with AMD and/or ATI drivers. I've had numerous issues with NVIDIA drivers. I'll admit, NVIDIA's newer drivers are somewhat better.

Of course take what I say with a grain of salt. After all, I haven't run Vista since it was released, and in fact just transplanted a brand new 790GX motherboard in place of a NVIDIA 570 SLI chipset and NVIDIA video card, started up Vista and didn't have a single crash, bluescreen or issue in doing so without reinstalling Vista.

And I never, EVER use out of the box installations. If you take me for a computer noob, I think nearly 20 years of experience using, building (professionally), supporting (professionally) and developing software for (professionally) should count for something.

 

[pet3rrr]

1. My OC on my CPU is stable. I ran Prime95 for about a day, and no errors came up.
2. This computer was built from the ground up. New case, new PSU, new CPU, new MB, new HDDs, etc. So I had a fresh install of Vista. Every time I installed different drivers, I used Driver Sweeper after uninstalling the drivers through Control Panel.
3. None of my components are overheating.
4. Yes, Crossfire is enabled in CCC, and I have all four PCI-E 6-Pin connectors fitted correctly in the cards.
5. I removed one of the 4870s and I no longer have problems. I even switched the cards and performance was flawless.
6. Thus leading us back to the original point of this thread: Is CrossfireX really worth it, because the problem IS CrossfireX.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: pet3rrr
1. My OC on my CPU is stable. I ran Prime95 for about a day, and no errors came up.
2. This computer was built from the ground up. New case, new PSU, new CPU, new MB, new HDDs, etc. So I had a fresh install of Vista. Every time I installed different drivers, I used Driver Sweeper after uninstalling the drivers through Control Panel.
3. None of my components are overheating.
4. Yes, Crossfire is enabled in CCC, and I have all four PCI-E 6-Pin connectors fitted correctly in the cards.
5. I removed one of the 4870s and I no longer have problems. I even switched the cards and performance was flawless.
6. Thus leading us back to the original point of this thread: Is CrossfireX really worth it, because the problem IS CrossfireX.

no .. there is NP with CrossfireX

it works really well and scales in *most* games. Do you have the bridge interconnect ?

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
And I never, EVER use out of the box installations. If you take me for a computer noob, I think nearly 20 years of experience using, building (professionally), supporting (professionally) and developing software for (professionally) should count for something.

Apparently, it doesn't amount to much if you can't stabilize your own computer.
Not trying to down you here, but if you tout 20 years experience, you should be able to get your system as near perfect as anyone could.

 

[pet3rrr]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: pet3rrr
1. My OC on my CPU is stable. I ran Prime95 for about a day, and no errors came up.
2. This computer was built from the ground up. New case, new PSU, new CPU, new MB, new HDDs, etc. So I had a fresh install of Vista. Every time I installed different drivers, I used Driver Sweeper after uninstalling the drivers through Control Panel.
3. None of my components are overheating.
4. Yes, Crossfire is enabled in CCC, and I have all four PCI-E 6-Pin connectors fitted correctly in the cards.
5. I removed one of the 4870s and I no longer have problems. I even switched the cards and performance was flawless.
6. Thus leading us back to the original point of this thread: Is CrossfireX really worth it, because the problem IS CrossfireX.

no .. there is NP with CrossfireX

it works really well and scales in *most* games. Do you have the bridge interconnect ?

I sense "fanboyism" right now. Can you provide any proof that CrossfireX doesn't have any issues? I just proved to you that CrossfireX IS the problem, because I'm only running one card right now, and it's working perfectly fine (And yes, when I had CrossfireX, I connected both bridges). So stop being subjective.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: pet3rrr
1. My OC on my CPU is stable. I ran Prime95 for about a day, and no errors came up.
2. This computer was built from the ground up. New case, new PSU, new CPU, new MB, new HDDs, etc. So I had a fresh install of Vista. Every time I installed different drivers, I used Driver Sweeper after uninstalling the drivers through Control Panel.
3. None of my components are overheating.
4. Yes, Crossfire is enabled in CCC, and I have all four PCI-E 6-Pin connectors fitted correctly in the cards.
5. I removed one of the 4870s and I no longer have problems. I even switched the cards and performance was flawless.
6. Thus leading us back to the original point of this thread: Is CrossfireX really worth it, because the problem IS CrossfireX.

Ignoring the remaining crap that would likely get thrown around in this thread...

Getting to the point it looks like you found your problem. It could be a bunch of little issues under the hood, and still could be heat (4870's are dual slot right? are they right next to each other? could still be cooling related). I believe you can disable crossfire in CCC even with 2 cards installed right?

In any event, why bother spending $$$ on a different card if you have one of the top performing cards, or two rather already? If Crossfire is indeed the issue with your system, I think you'd come out ahead just by selling off one of the cards and keeping the other as long as you're not having issues with the card in general.

Just as a side note - using some sort of driver cleaner is no guarantee that your driver uninstall is clean. Speaking of, are you using the latest driver revision?

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: pet3rrr

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: pet3rrr
1. My OC on my CPU is stable. I ran Prime95 for about a day, and no errors came up.
2. This computer was built from the ground up. New case, new PSU, new CPU, new MB, new HDDs, etc. So I had a fresh install of Vista. Every time I installed different drivers, I used Driver Sweeper after uninstalling the drivers through Control Panel.
3. None of my components are overheating.
4. Yes, Crossfire is enabled in CCC, and I have all four PCI-E 6-Pin connectors fitted correctly in the cards.
5. I removed one of the 4870s and I no longer have problems. I even switched the cards and performance was flawless.
6. Thus leading us back to the original point of this thread: Is CrossfireX really worth it, because the problem IS CrossfireX.

no .. there is NP with CrossfireX

it works really well and scales in *most* games. Do you have the bridge interconnect ?

I sense "fanboyism" right now. Can you provide any proof that CrossfireX doesn't have any issues? I just proved to you that CrossfireX IS the problem, because I'm only running one card right now, and it's working perfectly fine (And yes, when I had CrossfireX, I connected both bridges). So stop being subjective.

Proof to Who ?
--you could be completely incompetent for all i know

i did not say Crossfire does not have "any" issues

i said i HAVE crossfire .. since 2900xt . . . and 4870x2 is in my PC running without issue and scaling fine; i am going to try x3 very soon with my other 4870

i am about to throw my GTX280 into my PC and compare performance

so .. who is a fanboy?


try disconnecting a bridge and run with just one

 

[pet3rrr]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: pet3rrr

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: pet3rrr
1. My OC on my CPU is stable. I ran Prime95 for about a day, and no errors came up.
2. This computer was built from the ground up. New case, new PSU, new CPU, new MB, new HDDs, etc. So I had a fresh install of Vista. Every time I installed different drivers, I used Driver Sweeper after uninstalling the drivers through Control Panel.
3. None of my components are overheating.
4. Yes, Crossfire is enabled in CCC, and I have all four PCI-E 6-Pin connectors fitted correctly in the cards.
5. I removed one of the 4870s and I no longer have problems. I even switched the cards and performance was flawless.
6. Thus leading us back to the original point of this thread: Is CrossfireX really worth it, because the problem IS CrossfireX.

no .. there is NP with CrossfireX

it works really well and scales in *most* games. Do you have the bridge interconnect ?

I sense "fanboyism" right now. Can you provide any proof that CrossfireX doesn't have any issues? I just proved to you that CrossfireX IS the problem, because I'm only running one card right now, and it's working perfectly fine (And yes, when I had CrossfireX, I connected both bridges). So stop being subjective.

Proof to Who ?
--you could be completely incompetent for all i know

i did not say Crossfire does not have "any" issues

i said i HAVE crossfire .. since 2900xt . . . and 4870x2 is in my PC running without issue and scaling fine; i am going to try x3 very soon with my other 4870

i am about to throw my GTX280 into my PC and compare performance

so .. who is a fanboy?


try disconnecting a bridge and run with just one

"no .. there is NP with CrossfireX "

Proof to whom? I was just asking you to provide any evidence that backed up your statement which I just quoted above. And you stated that directly at my quote, giving me the impression that you were just being subjective, AKA a fanboy. Please be more clear with your statements.

And how am I even remotely showing any "fanboyism"? This is a blunt question. I will ask it again. "Since I am having issues with CrossfireX, and it seems that several other people that I have talked to (friends, co-workers, forum members, etc.) are having the same issues at times, I am beginning to think that maybe CrossfireX is not really worth the money. Also, only a few games that I play actually scales well with CrossfireX, e.g. Call of Duty 4. There are also some benchmarks on bit-tech.net showing this. In some games, CrossfireX does not show any signifcant performance gains. So should I keep my current setup and hope that game industries will add more multi-gpu support to their games and that ATI fixes their drivers, or sell off one of the cards and use one 4870, OR buy a GTX 280 (Whichever performs better at 1920x1200 resolution)?"

Thanks in advance to the people who won't assume that I am incompetent by asking me dumb questions such as, "Did you connect all of the 6-Pin Connectors?" Obviously I know what I'm doing. A moron wouldn't be toying with equipment as such.

 

[pet3rrr]

Originally posted by: apoppin



try disconnecting a bridge and run with just one

Thank you. The only useful thing you've said.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: pet3rrr

Originally posted by: apoppin



try disconnecting a bridge and run with just one

Thank you. The only useful thing you've said.

Man...what the heck...

You asked for help and he asked what drivers you were using. No response. Unhelpful? you should probably think about that.

Crossfire works, but you have to remember that heat becomes a problem, PSU amps becomes a problem, and there may be a driver you should use over another. Since you never mentioned a driver version we can't go any further.

 

[pet3rrr]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: pet3rrr

Originally posted by: apoppin



try disconnecting a bridge and run with just one

Thank you. The only useful thing you've said.

Man...what the heck...

You asked for help and he asked what drivers you were using. No response. Unhelpful? you should probably think about that.

Crossfire works, but you have to remember that heat becomes a problem, PSU amps becomes a problem, and there may be a driver you should use over another. Since you never mentioned a driver version we can't go any further.

Sorry, I forgot that I posted this topic in a different forum as well, so I thought I specified the driver versions. I've used 8.7-8.9.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: pet3rrr

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: pet3rrr

Originally posted by: apoppin



try disconnecting a bridge and run with just one

Thank you. The only useful thing you've said.

Man...what the heck...

You asked for help and he asked what drivers you were using. No response. Unhelpful? you should probably think about that.

Crossfire works, but you have to remember that heat becomes a problem, PSU amps becomes a problem, and there may be a driver you should use over another. Since you never mentioned a driver version we can't go any further.

Sorry, I forgot that I posted this topic in a different forum as well, so I thought I specified the driver versions. I've used 8.7-8.9.

Have you tried the hotfix driver? I don't know where it falls in with the release schedule. I assume before 8.8 though since it's dated before the official 8.8.

Over on guru3d some people have better luck with the 8.8 beta drivers than the official ones. I don't know the particulars of why, but they swear it's better.

 

[Tempered81]

how did you use 8.9, you mean driver vers. 8.54, 8.53, or 8.52?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: jaredpace
how did you use 8.9, you mean driver vers. 8.54, 8.53, or 8.52?

Cat version maybe... there's an 8.9 beta floating around.

 

[sgrinavi]

Originally posted by: pet3rrr

I am beginning to think that maybe CrossfireX is not really worth the money. Also, only a few games that I play actually scales well with CrossfireX, e.g. Call of Duty 4. There are also some benchmarks on bit-tech.net showing this. In some games, CrossfireX does not show any signifcant performance gains. So should I keep my current setup and hope that game industries will add more multi-gpu support to their games and that ATI fixes their drivers, or sell off one of the cards and use one 4870, OR buy a GTX 280 (Whichever performs better at 1920x1200 resolution)?"

I have a 4850 and a 4870 crossfire setup and am having very similar problems with the 4870 set-up. When it runs, daym, it screams, but it overheats so fast that I cant do too much with it. OTOH, the 4850 set up has been really good to me, it scales well and has stayed stable. It cost me around $300.... S W E E T.

In principal the crossfire setup works and works well. Mucho bang/$ , but YMMV on the implementation. We have the same x48 board, maybe there's a problem there? we are certainly in the minority with regard to troublesome pairs of 4870's......