HIS 7950 Crossfire help - very low scores

iTek · 27 Mar 2013 at 19:20

Hey folks, please can someone help a crossfire virgin.

Basically just got two of these today and installed them on a fresh version of Windows 7 64 bit and the scores are very very low.

I am a complete novice at this and everything is running stock speeds/voltages etc.

I have tried the cards individually and seem to be scoring 1300 on the heaven valley benchmark where I would be expecting 2000+ points on the extreme HD preset.

Motherboard is P8P67 Pro using a 2600K @ 4.6Ghz

iTek · 27 Mar 2013 at 21:14

Ive now tried a few of the AMD drivers had no luck. Ive tried overclocking the cards and applying the clocks to both cards and see a minimal increase in performance if at all any.

I really need a little hand from some kind graphics guru.

Hybridtheory · 27 Mar 2013 at 21:47

Are you sure you've set the benchmark to run in full screen mode?

CrossFire doesn't work in windowed mode.

Also do you have the power control option set to +20 in the catalyst control center ?

iTek · 27 Mar 2013 at 22:30

Hybridtheory said:
Are you sure you've set the benchmark to run in full screen mode?

CrossFire doesn't work in windowed mode.

Also do you have the power control option set to +20 in the catalyst control center ?

Thanks for your assistance. Yes to both bits. Someone else had a very similar issue using 2x MSI TF3's but he's yet to respond in his thread.

LOL - its you I think.

skyjawa · 27 Mar 2013 at 23:36

Both your cards should show in gpuz like the one on the right, re bus width bandwidth and driver version. Also the pcie bus is showing different for each card, one at x16 and one at x1.....

I had similar before which resulted in the cards running poorly. Did a complete fresh driver install and was much better.

Try removing completely as per the guide with driversweeper then install the official non beta drivers to see if its any better.....

iTek · 28 Mar 2013 at 08:56

skyjawa said:
Both your cards should show in gpuz like the one on the right, re bus width bandwidth and driver version. Also the pcie bus is showing different for each card, one at x16 and one at x1.....

I had similar before which resulted in the cards running poorly. Did a complete fresh driver install and was much better.

Try removing completely as per the guide with driversweeper then install the official non beta drivers to see if its any better.....

Its a fresh install of Windows 7 though?

When using just one card in the top PCI-E slot I get 1950 points on each.

The bottom lane gives me really low scores when each card is in that slot on its own.

I appears the bottom slot is not carrying/giving enough graphics power out.

MeatLoaf · 28 Mar 2013 at 08:59

iTek said:
Its a fresh install of Windows 7 though?

When using just one card in the top PCI-E slot I get 1950 points on each.

The bottom lane gives me really low scores when each card is in that slot on its own.

I appears the bottom slot is not carrying/giving enough graphics power out.

When you say bottom lane I assume you don't mean the black slot at the bottom of the board?

I have this mobo and to use dual cards you have to use the top 2 PCI-E slots

grizzla · 28 Mar 2013 at 09:31

iTek said:

My GPU-Z shows the same for bus width and bandwidth, ie lower on the second card, that changes once it is being utilised in a 3d application.

As for the pci-e bus mine will show @16 1.1 until i am running a 3d app then it shows @16 2.0 (i have pci-e 2.0 mobo). I would look at the slots in which the 2nd (left) card is plugged as it doesnt appear to be in a pci-e 16x slot.

iTek · 28 Mar 2013 at 09:44

I've just realised mine is nit the pro version, would that be my issue.

Drangueos · 28 Mar 2013 at 11:02

my crossfire shows x8 1.1 on both cards when on desktop.

as far as I know with your processor and motherboard they should run at pci-e 2.0 and x8 (I7 2600K)

on mine they run at pci-e 3.0 and x8 (because I have an I7 3770k)

iTek · 28 Mar 2013 at 11:35

Just run on Z68 motherboard which uses x8 and x8 and they are still sub 3000 which is low? Im sure others are using the sandybridge setups and scoring higher?

iTek · 28 Mar 2013 at 11:50

[[For example this thread : http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=23774569&postcount=82 he uses the 2500K on the Z68 platform all be it at 5Ghz but that should not make a huge difference.

andybird123 · 28 Mar 2013 at 11:54

that guy is running big big overclocks, he is bound to be getting bigger scores

the score here is still with a fair overclock;
23, skyjawa #3136 - 7950 CF @ 1175 / 1500

at stock you will most likely be under 3000 at x8 x8

your pic above shows you running x16 on one card and x1 on the other, that will be a big issue, you need to check your mobo manual and use the correct slots to get you x8 x8

(look at me helping an AMD user)

grizzla · 28 Mar 2013 at 11:55

just read this on the asus website about your mobo:

The PCIEX16_2 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX1_1 slot, PCIEX1_2 slot and USB3_34 connector. The PCIEX16_2 runs at x1 mode by default for system resource optimization.

So may need to check bios settings, also could be low if you have devices plugged into the other pci-e slots

iTek · 28 Mar 2013 at 12:10

As of now I am on a Z68 board.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?cat=Specifications&Model=Z68 Extreme3 Gen3

I do not believe that overclocking gives that much performance in Heaven. I have the fastest GTX 680 on that list but and even when overclocked I gained couple of hundred points.

I have nothing but the graphics cards in. A Force 3 SSD and 2 Mechanical drives.

iTek · 28 Mar 2013 at 12:11

andybird123 said:
that guy is running big big overclocks, he is bound to be getting bigger scores

the score here is still with a fair overclock;
23, skyjawa #3136 - 7950 CF @ 1175 / 1500

at stock you will most likely be under 3000 at x8 x8

your pic above shows you running x16 on one card and x1 on the other, that will be a big issue, you need to check your mobo manual and use the correct slots to get you x8 x8

(look at me helping an AMD user)

Currently the card are on 1100 / 1500 and im getting 2900 on an i7 at 4.5Ghz

Its not just benchmarks, games are really poor also. Yet when I return to single card they are more playable.

So at the moment I have two cards which interdependently outscore some 7970s but when used together really under perform.

I've changed the board from P67 to a Z68 which as faster pcie lanes, gone from windows 8 and windows 7 and tried several of the AMD drivers and CAPs.

skyjawa · 28 Mar 2013 at 12:49

andybird123 said:
that guy is running big big overclocks, he is bound to be getting bigger scores

the score here is still with a fair overclock;
23, skyjawa #3136 - 7950 CF @ 1175 / 1500

at stock you will most likely be under 3000 at x8 x8

your pic above shows you running x16 on one card and x1 on the other, that will be a big issue, you need to check your mobo manual and use the correct slots to get you x8 x8

(look at me helping an AMD user)

Re-running with a more modest clock of 1000/1375 my score is 2967, for info.

iTek · 28 Mar 2013 at 14:23

Are you using the default bios of the cards? I thought 3500 would be the area to be expecting like I say it's my first go on xfire with decent cards so perhaps I was expecting too much needless to say I think I'll send them back and go for a different setup if I can't crack it over the next few days...

Fresh install of Windows 7 and 13.3 beta at moment with nothing else added. Also I can't see anything about xfire in Bios?

andybird123 · 28 Mar 2013 at 14:43

iTek said:
Are you using the default bios of the cards? I thought 3500 would be the area to be expecting like I say it's my first go on xfire with decent cards so perhaps I was expecting too much needless to say I think I'll send them back and go for a different setup if I can't crack it over the next few days...

Fresh install of Windows 7 and 13.3 beta at moment with nothing else added. Also I can't see anything about xfire in Bios?

no, as mentioned above, stock 7950's are in the 3000 or below range until heavily overclocked, looking at other people's scores on that thread

tommybhoy · 28 Mar 2013 at 15:04

tommybhoy said:
Before I start, if it's the big blowers moogley like mine, AB only applies clocks, it doesn't move voltage even though it reports it does, so don't use AB or any other oc tools.

If you want to use AB OSD you still can, but you need to open it after you have worked in His iTool but make sure you don't change any clocks/voltage.

1. In your case moogley, download and install His iTool>restart.

2. Download ULPS GUI Config Utility (enable/disable) reg entries from here:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1088266/ulps-gui-config-utility-enable-disable

(I think it only works on W7 but you can try on W8)

Right click disableulps.reg file-run as administrator>restart.

Or manually disable ulps>restart, but the above is simpler.

3. Open His iTool and set the settings like so:

If it still spikes, manually set the voltage on the core to +1 and give it a try and also set 'and restore clocks'.

Let me know how you get on.