5970 suddenly slowed down in Xfire

No, that wasn't a typo....
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/14/07/09/5dx.png (GPU2)

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/14/07/09/85x.png (GPU1)

Yeah I'm getting massive stuttering/slowdown while in Crossfire, and even issues while using CCC to disable Xfire on a per application basis. CS GO is stutterly as hell no matter what I do, and that was completely smooth a month ago, using Xfire

It's so strange because 13.9's have x1 each, while 14.4/14.6 have x4/x8. Yet it stutters on both driver versions...

I want to put the 5970 in another computer...but don't know anyone with a computer capable of fitting it/big enough PSU

 

The GPU has to be under stress before it will run at x16.

See the question mark on GPU-Z, click on it and it will explain.

 

Already did that...multiple times to see if it would change. Even after 10m it didn't...

 

How old is the Video card?

How old is the power supply?

Have you tried DDU and performed a fresh install of the video driver?

 

You could also install MSI Afterburner and see exactly what the card is doing during game play / benchmark programs.

DDU : http://www.wagnardmobile.com/DDU/

MSI After Burner : http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/msi-afterburner-beta-download.html

 

PSU's a moduler Corsair 750W from Jan 2012

Already used DDU several times to uninstall/reinstall drivers

Also used Afterburner. Both cards show proper usage/clock increases, but still get horrible stuttering/fps especially when Crossfire's enabled. Benchmarks seem to not account for the stuttering, as 3dmark11 got 6500 GPU score (720p test), and 3360 Furmark score.

 

Here's a recap: this is a dual GPU card.

The Data lines between the two GPU's would be on the PCB of the video card and would not be the traces on the motherboard.

The overall performance of the video card would be limited to the PCI-E bus of the motherboard's PCI-E version ( version 2.0 compared to version 3.0 ) and the video card interface, again version 2.0 compared to version 3.0.

The card is experiencing stuttering.

Lack of Power can cause stuttering.
Overclock can cause stuttering.
Windows video settings can cause stuttering.
Video driver can cause stuttering.
Hardware failure can cause stuttering.
Motherboard drivers could cause stuttering.

Two different OS's are experiencing the same issue and never did before in or about the same time.

The last statement may point the finger at hardware failure.

There is only one way to find out, replace hardware and / or use another computer as a test bench.

Again, age of video card?

Do you push the video card to it's limits ( All maxed out all the time? )

Did you add any external devices to the computer lately or drivers for a printer or such?

 

Pretty spot-on . The 5970 is also from ~Jan 2012. Bought everything for a new rig then. I bought the 5970 from a newegg sale, and lots of people were saying the cards were actually refurbs (though they weren't advertised as such), so dunno the condition ofmy card under the hood, but ran it at stock speeds.

Anyways I just ran Linux off a USB key to see what link speeds it would regester, and it was indeed x4/x8, so it seems like in regards to link speed, it's likely hardware related. Only thing now is to determine if I somehow got a virus that affected both my OSes (both are installed on seperate partitions on same hard drive), or if the GPU is stuttering because of some hardware issue.


I have NO idea if my PSU is conking out. I unfortuntly had the computer sitting on a carpet for several months, and forgot that the PSU's fan was pointing to the bottom of the case.

 

Give MSI Kombustor a try. It can be started via the MSI Afterburner program clicking on the K. If you select F1 on your keybaord there will be a drop down menu you may select which GPU to run the stress on.


I had to install version 2.5.6 to get it working with the latest version of MSI Afterburner.

http://www.geeks3d.com/20131118/msi-kombustor-v2-5-6-and-v3-3-0-available/

http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/kombustor.htm

Just make sure to install it in the same folder that it is installed on your computer at this time.

Use 2.5.6 and not version 3.3.0.

Mine was installed in folder "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSI Kombustor"

Your PSU would have taken on some additional heat and could be the part that is causing the issue.

 

Second thought, you may want to try MSI Kombustor v 3.3.0. Not sure if it is compatible with MSI Afterburner?

Also try GPU Shark for a detailed look at your GPU's infomation.

http://www.ozone3d.net/gpushark/

 

So should I just do a benchmark to see if the computer keels over?

 

If it is hardware issues, I will said that you can just put this graphic card on the other computer, to check for it that it is not graphic card don't wanna use PCI-E x16.

And ya, it did look like a software issues too, maybe try look at the BIOS to see did there is any settings to change the PCI-E speed or similar?

 

Go ahead and run the stress test. See if the settings change.

You have nothing to lose.

 

Nothing really happened...the GPU hit a max of ~83c (though I didn't run a test for more then 5 minutes in fear it'll go higher). ALso I don't know if the results are what they're supposed to be as the "submit scores online" was grayed out.

 

so does gpu usage in afterburner or gpuz show that it's lower than when cf is disabled? what about the rest of the gfx sensors? have you tried something very simple known to scale easily, maybe an old benchmark like 3dmark 06 or vantage? what about system ram usage, pagefile usage, cpu usage, etc...

if only i could come over to start poking at all the variables, wonder if team viewer would work (my 4870x2 died a year ago so i havent happened to test if CF works over TV)

 

-In drivers where Xfire's disabled (13.12/14.1 beta confirmed), only 1 GPU is used. Temps still go up in benchmarks but results are lower

-When Xfire's enabled (13.9/14.4) both GPUs are used. Benchmark results are better

-I actually haven't checked out pagefile stuff, but I did try disabling the page file to see if the stuttering would stop (I was wondering if games were using virtual memory or something). No change. RAM usage I haven't checked, but ran 4 passes of Memtest with no errors (though I left both sticks in).

At this point I kinda just gave up. I don't want to format, so if I pick up a cheap hard drive down the line I'll remove the current drive and install fresh Windows on the new one to see if things improve.