setting up crossfire

GastricTitan · 2 Jan 2008 at 17:42

I've just installed 2 Radeon HD 3870's, I've connected both to my PSU. PC recognizes both of them and drivers are up to date and crossfire is enabled in the control centre.

However i can't find a guide to setting up 'crossfire' anywhere. I have two 'crossfire bridge interconnect cables', one with each card, do I have to connect BOTH of them to the cards or just one, and is there a particular way they have to connect (like plus and minus)

Thanks

paradigm · 2 Jan 2008 at 17:45

They connect any way you like, use both

GastricTitan · 2 Jan 2008 at 18:14

Ok I've done all that, then fired up Crysis, but its playing HORRIBLE, 10fps tops. My 2900 XT was averaging around 25fps

MagicBoy · 2 Jan 2008 at 18:21

Crysis doesn't seem to like Crossfire. I've been playing with a couple of X1950's and I get about half the FPS with it enabled. Had a quick google, and haven't found a solution yet. Keep an eye out for new drivers a Crysis patch perhaps?

Most older stuff runs fine. UT3 is very nice at 1600x1200.

J.D · 2 Jan 2008 at 18:24

Have a look at this post at the bottom.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10797485&postcount=260

GastricTitan · 2 Jan 2008 at 18:28

I was just going to add that i'm pulling approx 40-50 fps in dx9 at high settings, dx10 issue then.

paradigm · 2 Jan 2008 at 18:30

Yeah, crysis is pretty godawful with 32-bit Vista and Crossfire.

64-bit helps, but its still pretty cruddy IMO.

GastricTitan · 2 Jan 2008 at 18:56

ok, just to quickly point out, microsoft have released a hotfix for multiple gpu cards. I've just obtained the file (quick search engine for crossfire/sli hotfix) and can say that Crysis is running beautifully in dx10, high settings, at top end of 50fps

HeX · 2 Jan 2008 at 19:07

You also need the 7.12's for Crysis to have Crossfire working in a reasonable fashion.

tomanders91 · 2 Jan 2008 at 19:56

Wtf? 2 3870xts in crossfire are pretty much better than any single 8800 in the dx9 crysis top list?

paradigm · 2 Jan 2008 at 20:09

tomanders91 said:
Wtf? 2 3870xts in crossfire are pretty much better than any single 8800 in the dx9 crysis top list?

Pretty much, but it involves a lot of setting up and messing around, either with config hacks to enable r_multigpu 1, or by using the right combination of drivers, settings and OS.

J.D · 2 Jan 2008 at 20:13

tomanders91 said:
Wtf? 2 3870xts in crossfire are pretty much better than any single 8800 in the dx9 crysis top list?

Yeah but at £100 more than a GTX and still a little dearer than an Ultra. You pay for the added performance. Great results though I admit.

marscay · 2 Jan 2008 at 23:44

i get ~90% scaling in crysis @ 1920x1200 with 3870/crossfire Vista 64.

but it's so hard to setup, i have to go into the control panel and click on the crossfire button

marscay · 2 Jan 2008 at 23:46

J.D said:
Yeah but at £100 more than a GTX and still a little dearer than an Ultra. You pay for the added performance. Great results though I admit.

shop around, i got mine delivered for 280 ....bang for buck atm these cards are unrivalled.

Hades · 3 Jan 2008 at 00:30

marscay said:
shop around, i got mine delivered for 280 ....bang for buck atm these cards are unrivalled.

That's what I've been thinking. I've just found these benchmarks:

Cards Compared
* XFX GeForce 8800 Ultra XXX Edition 768MB (675MHz/2.3GHz )
* XFX GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB (575MHz/1.8GHz)
* BFG Technologies GeForce 8800 GTS OC2 640MB (580MHz/1.7GHz)
* NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB (600MHz/1.8GHz)
* XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB (625MHz/1.8GHz)
* eVGA 8600 GT 256MB (540MHz/1.4GHz)
* ATI Radeon HD 3870 (777MHz/1.126GHz GDDR4)
* ATI Radeon HD 3850 (669MHz/1.658GHz GDDR3)
* ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT (743MHz/2.0GHz)
* ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT (800MHz/1.1GHz)

Test Machine
Core 2 Quad QX9650
4gb Corsair OC2-8500
Windows Vista Ultimate

What I find really interesting there is that the Crossfired 3850's are stunning value. You can get 512mb version for around £111 each and 256mb versions for £102 each. So for £204 you could actually get cracking performance out of Crysis. I think that definitely deserves a

leon4112 · 3 Jan 2008 at 07:50

Hades said:
That's what I've been thinking. I've just found these benchmarks:

Cards Compared
* XFX GeForce 8800 Ultra XXX Edition 768MB (675MHz/2.3GHz )
* XFX GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB (575MHz/1.8GHz)
* BFG Technologies GeForce 8800 GTS OC2 640MB (580MHz/1.7GHz)
* NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB (600MHz/1.8GHz)
* XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB (625MHz/1.8GHz)
* eVGA 8600 GT 256MB (540MHz/1.4GHz)
* ATI Radeon HD 3870 (777MHz/1.126GHz GDDR4)
* ATI Radeon HD 3850 (669MHz/1.658GHz GDDR3)
* ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT (743MHz/2.0GHz)
* ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT (800MHz/1.1GHz)

Test Machine
Core 2 Quad QX9650
4gb Corsair OC2-8500
Windows Vista Ultimate

What I find really interesting there is that the Crossfired 3850's are stunning value. You can get 512mb version for around £111 each and 256mb versions for £102 each. So for £204 you could actually get cracking performance out of Crysis. I think that definitely deserves a

yeah i agree it is good but its still a shame you need 2 of these cards to get as good performance as one of nvidias card etc

paradigm · 3 Jan 2008 at 08:22

leon4112 said:
yeah i agree it is good but its still a shame you need 2 of these cards to get as good performance as one of nvidias card etc

Yes, its a huge shame that for £150 less than a single ultra you can have two 3850's that walk all over the ultra :confused:

leon4112 · 3 Jan 2008 at 09:57

paradigm said:
Yes, its a huge shame that for £150 less than a single ultra you can have two 3850's that walk all over the ultra

i dunno if you think 3 fps here and there is walking over anything and since the gtx and ultra have been out for over a year who do you think has better value for money over that time!!!

and using medium in a review shame on them

and the fact the bioshock and wic review didn't even show if they used dx9 or dx10 paths or even explain why they showed the benchs for the wic bit since the crossfire scores wasn't even posted is half assed tbh

im not knocking the 3870 cards as for the money there quite a good buy and i nearly picked up a few for my work pc just the only review for them seems a bit amateurish as it were

holyeagle · 6 Jan 2008 at 15:19

GastricTitan said:
ok, just to quickly point out, microsoft have released a hotfix for multiple gpu cards. I've just obtained the file (quick search engine for crossfire/sli hotfix) and can say that Crysis is running beautifully in dx10, high settings, at top end of 50fps

I don't think this is right mate! I got mine 3870CF with catalyst 7.12 and Vista 32bit, Crysis still performs awful! the textures are shining all the time, and a lot of flickers on screen too! WTF is happening?
Can you tell me how did you set your catalyst up?