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Crossfiring non-identical cards?

Pete.Dakota

Pete.Dakota

Pete.Dakota

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Surrey, UK
Could I, say, Crossfire a Powercolor 5770 and a Sapphire 5770 as long as I flashed them with matching BIOSes? Or do the cards have to be physically identical?
 
My powercolor 3870 wont CF with my Sapphire 3870.
I still have both and no matter what I do it wont work.

Be careful with powercolor, I know that they don't always use reference PCBs and sometime it causes issues.
I would be tempted to sell the powercolor and get another Sapphire, or vies versa.

It should work but it didn't for me.

I even tried flashing both to same BIO's.... no joy
 
I can promise you that any 38XX series card will crossfire with any other 38XX series card.

I had crossfire 3870 (gigabyte ultra durable ddr3 non reference) with a porwercolour 3850 (non reference) which was later replaced with another reference sapphire 3870. All of the cards were running on a dfi 975xg board which I am still running to this day but with a 5850.

I would look at the following in this order.

1) Do both cards work on their own?
2) Check both cards have power and are firmly in their slots
3) Check the crossfire bridge is on properly
4) Are their any bios updates that address crossfire issues?
5) Finally start swapping out hardware if you have spares, if not any friends that can test them in their rigs?

In answer to the op, you can crossfire any 57xx series cards and they don't have to be the same make or bios revision.
 
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VinceB1 said:
I can promise you that any 38XX series card will crossfire with any other 38XX series card.

I had crossfire 3870 (gigabyte ultra durable ddr3 non reference) with a porwercolour 3850 (non reference) which was later replaced with another reference sapphire 3870. All of the cards were running on a dfi 975xg board which I am still running to this day but with a 5850.
Click to expand...

No, promise all you want I know, im not guessing this is fact, I have this issue.

Im not saying it wont work Im saying be careful.
 
redshadows said:
No, promise all you want I know, im not guessing this is fact, I have this issue.

Im not saying it wont work Im saying be careful.
Click to expand...

It sounds like you never got crossfire working, have you considered that it could have been your motherboard rather than your cards? Non-reference boards aside, the same bioses should have meant it definitely worked. A reference board doesn't mean much really, they work the same way, just that they've redesigned the layout a bit. Functionality will remain the same, of course. Same GPU, specs and same BIOS means it will work providing there's no fault of the cards or the motherboard and or the motherboard supports crossfire.

Just think about it, a 3850/4850/5850 will crossfire with a 3870/4870/5870 (within the same series of course before some one thinks I mean you can crossfire a 5870 with a 4870), and they're different cards with different bioses and different board layouts.
 
kylew said:
It sounds like you never got crossfire working, have you considered that it could have been your motherboard rather than your cards? Non-reference boards aside, the same bioses should have meant it definitely worked. A reference board doesn't mean much really, they work the same way, just that they've redesigned the layout a bit. Functionality will remain the same, of course. Same GPU, specs and same BIOS means it will work providing there's no fault of the cards or the motherboard and or the motherboard supports crossfire.

Just think about it, a 3850/4850/5850 will crossfire with a 3870/4870/5870 (within the same series of course before some one thinks I mean you can crossfire a 5870 with a 4870), and they're different cards with different bioses and different board layouts.
Click to expand...

I know that they work much the same, I am now on my 4th crossfire motherboard , still the same issue.

Both have HIS bios now, I even went to the point of changing crossfire bridges.

Fail's to date
  • DFI Infinity 975X (worked with my dual 2900XT's one Sapphire, one HIS)
  • P5K-E wi/fi AP (worked with my dual 2900XT's as well)
  • P5Q Deluxe (worked with my dual 2900XT's and my Sapphire 4850's)
  • Foxconn Blackops (worked with my dual 2900XT's and my Sapphire 4850's)

Not one of the boards have worked with my Powercolor and Sapphire 3870's, even after flashing with the same BIO's (more than 1 BIOS tried)
I have researched heavily and only found this problem mentioned a few times before.
I have had both 3870's working in crossfire, I got a Club 3D 3870 for a loner and it worked in crossfire with either of the cards=no card issue, compatibility issue.
As I said Im not guessing, benching old tech (graphics and processors) is just about all I do as it keeps me happy for not a lot of cash)

Im not saying it is a common flaw but it does happen.

EDIT: didnt know how uncommon it was till now :(
 
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redshadows said:
No, promise all you want I know, im not guessing this is fact, I have this issue.

Im not saying it wont work Im saying be careful.
Click to expand...

No my friend this is indeed fact. as long as the gpu's use the same core they WILL crossfire. (unless you have some really obsucre issue... which you may have had)

The funny thing is I had several different 3 series cards crossfired on the DFI 975X/G that you mention above, both reference and non reference, 3850 and 3870 (including one non reference powercolor).

On the other hand, is it not possible that the crossfire connector on one of the cards was damaged?
 
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" I got a Club 3D 3870 for a loner and it worked in crossfire with either of the cards=no card issue, compatibility issue."

Go figure, Its a strange one but I looked in to it, there has been a few issues, mostly I would have though "problem on chair not with computer" but after having this issue....

This is an old issue for me and Im not looking for a solution I can safely say I have tried everything.

I also know at least one other person (I say know, more just spoke to him on another forum) thats had this issue (funnily enough with a powercolor 3870)
 
Strange one, my powercolor 3850 used to love a bit of crossfire action, wasn't a half bad clocker either. happy days were had with that card. XD
 
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