5970+5870 tri-fire on UD5

[toxicredcat]

Hi all,
Trying to set up 5970 + 5870 tri-fire on my UD5 but I'm having some trouble.
My original plan was to keep the 5870 in the top slot with the 5970 in the next slot down so the 5970 had no problem getting air. This wouldn't work, drivers installed, CrossfireX enabled but the 5970 wasn't utilised and idle clocks remained at 3D speeds on all cores.
Swapped the cards around and CrossfireX worked fine however the 5970 got very hot and very loud. Temps were hitting high 90's and the fan was revving its nuts off. This was with both cards at stock clocks.

Is it possible to get the 5870 working as the main card?

More ideally does anyone know where I could get an extra long Crossfire bridge so I can use the 5870 in the 3rd PCIe slot? This would then allow the 5970 to breathe and I can still use my PCI soundcard providing this method would work. (Only bridge I've found was on ebay for over £40 :\)

 

[BigBruiserAl]

Have you checked that placing a referance card in the 3rd pcie slot dos not foul the mobo conection like pwr/sw/rset mine did.

 

[Nuwidol]

Have you thought of adding in a side fan that will blow onto the cards? (if you don't already have one)

 

[{SAS}TB]

I've just picked a 100mm CF bridge from FleaBay for just under £5 delivered - they do come up you just need to keep looking

 

[johny dolan]

I had the same problem http://sites.google.com/site/ayupfromdik/files/5970.jpg?attredirects=0&d=1

The 5970 temps would hit 95c load even when i fitted a fan right infront of the cards.

How i fixed it was to change the cards over this does work when you go into the bios and tell it to boot from pci e no2.

The only downside is you dont see the bios display and the screen stays blank until it boots into windows

My 5970 temp has now dropped to 75c load.

If i want to go into the bios now i need to swap the monitor lead over to the 5870 then back again to the 5970 when you've done which is a pain but how often do you do that.

 

[ebilcake]

Yes, use the HD5870 in the 3rd slot, I use my HD5870's in slot 1 and 3 in the UD5 with no trouble at all.

 

[{SAS}TB]

He just needs the longer CF bridge

Its what im intending to do when i swap my case as they are a tad close now

 

[GJ02]

No heat issues here, cards are ontop of each other too

 

[{SAS}TB]

I dont have issues with the heat - theyre sat idling at 41 and 46 now, but that has gone up ~10 degrees since going CF

Load ive never seen them go over 85

 

[rancid_elf]

If your 3rd slot is x16 also then just use an auction site and you will find a longer crossfire lead.

You can actully use the 5870 in main slot I currently have mibne setup like that. My 5870 is in slot 1 and 5970 is in slot 2.

When I actually installed the drtivers though my 5970 was in slot 1 and 5870 in slot 3. I then changed them without cleaning the drivers to 5870 slot 1 and 5970 in slot 2.

As you have your crossfire working I would try swapping the cards now without reinstalling drivers and see if it works.

 

[toxicredcat]

Thanks for all the replys. Just tried what johny dolan said and it worked a treat. I can still see the BIOS when I turn the PC on, I changed the main display to PCIe slot 1.
Initial testing shows all 3 GPUs staying under 75°C on stock clocks which is a vast improvement as is the noise level
Next problem is what soundcard to get if any at all, the onboard isn't half bad actually.