2x4870x2 Best Driver + Profile

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon Drivers Section' started by Constant, Mar 3, 2013.

  1. Constant

    Constant Guest

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    2x4870x2 Best Driver ????

    Hello ,

    i use 2x4870x2 cards ,

    once i changed to 13.1 catalyst from 12.6 i noticed a huge fps drop .

    what is the best catalyst driver version you would recommend for my setup ? (windows8)

    also , is there a way to force quad crossfire ? even battlefield 3 uses 2 out of 4 cards and fps is very low...

    i tried radeonpro but does not work in all games , and when it does its mostly buggy (tried scissors and tiles)

    thanks :)


    EDIT : Changed to Windows7 x64 . And so far the best driver pack for me is kevsamiga's ,

    crossfire works great (manual setting AFR in CCC) with POSITIVE results on quadGPU (sometimes needs alt-tab in-out of game to be activated) and its stable

    here is the link ! :

    ****http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=370745****

     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2013
  2. The Postman

    The Postman Ancient Guru

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    I was once a proud owner of a 4870x2. I loved the card.

    My advice is to sell those cards and buy a single card solution like 7950/7970. It is gonna make a huge difference in everything.
     
  3. kn00tcn

    kn00tcn Ancient Guru

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    you could force AFR & it might end up using 4 gpus that way? it's always been 2 all this time on all drivers?

    single 4870x2 should be getting around 40fps without MSAA at near ultra settings at 1080p (i'd know, i tried beta, plus it's in line with 5870/6870 numbers)

    dont bother with trying other CF modes with RP, they're not supposed to work properly (at the driver level), in fact be careful when forcing like that, have backups of your game saves & GFWL profile if doing it to a GFWL game (everything got wiped when i forced scissor in section8p & it had a hard lock)

    what else are you playing, what dropped? it shouldnt have... the 3d dlls are almost the same

    http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=370745 seen this thread? but certain things really depend on what game you're trying to play

    single 7970 is the way to go yes, that's my plan eventually

    oh & your cpu is holding things back for sure
     
  4. kevsamiga1974

    kevsamiga1974 Master Guru

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    Post 188 is the latest build without having to dig through the entire thread of releases, conjecture, and posts.

    http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.php?p=4542515&postcount=188

    Includes everything in the package as standard & profiles. For Discrete or Mobility.

    Let me know how you find them to work in crossfire... :)

    But they are not for Windows 8 for a reason. Although they will install under a Windows 7 compatibility mode install. :3eyes:
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2013

  5. Constant

    Constant Guest

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    well , i know 7970 will be better for sure... (modern card , better ati support , single core...) but i've invested so much on those 2 4870x2 (watercooling , psu etc) and when i run Furmark at 1080p they make me proud :D , i am simply not ready to get them out of my life yet...

    Cpu doesnt seem to be bottlenecking them ,now that i oc'ed it to 3.3Ghz.. during gaming maximum cpu core usage is aroung 80-85% , ofc that could be my systems incapability of arranging resources ,cause 2x4870x2 when paired to a i7 literaly fly in benchmarks.....

    I forced AFR in RadeonPro but Bf3 used only 2 out of 4 gpus , fps was indeed around 40 without MSAA-antialiasing-postprocessing , perhaps i did something wrong setting radeonpro.. (postproc KILLs my fps....)

    thank you guys for your replies , i used to run old games like GRID , Rainbow six etc and with vsync on i never saw other than 60fps... It all started with bf3 , tried different drivers and noticed HUGE fps differences between them..

    I will try the before-mentioned driver pack later this evening and come back to you :D
     
  6. Constant

    Constant Guest

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    I tried your driver pack kevsamiga1974 ,

    I had to disable driver signing and run setup exe in windows 7 mode.

    Unfortunately quad crossfire scaling has issues..

    in furmark benchmark GPU usage on all 4 cores doesn't exceed 30% and result was 14 avg fps.

    using 12.6 catalyst I get 98-99% usage and 48 avg fps
    and with 13.1 I get 95-97% and 44 avg fps

    i will try bf3 later and see how that goes :D
     
  7. Ruslu

    Ruslu Guest

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    Been using the 11.12 Hybrid with a single 4870 X2 on Windows 8 for a while and so far so good - performance is good and the driver is stable.
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2013
  8. trocio2

    trocio2 Guest

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    Why are multigpu setups so problematic? :D
     
  9. Constant

    Constant Guest

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    bf3 uses all 4 cores but I get negative fps results ....

    apparently that doesn't work for my setup...

    going back to official 12.6 for now... just need to find a way forcing 4 core gpu processing...

    :bawl:
     
  10. kevsamiga1974

    kevsamiga1974 Master Guru

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    Well, specifically first..11.12 is tested and intended for Vista/Windows 7 x64 only.

    Secondly using furmark on 4870x2 is a big no no if you value the cards.

    There is an artificial restriction in Catalyst drivers when running furmark on 4870x2 which classes it as a power virus, and can trip the cards and shut them down unrestricted. This in turn leads to less FPS in turn by analysing OpenGL traffic. So in this case, 11774 might work slowing the FPS, and the originals forgot to do it. !

    http://www.geeks3d.com/20090914/catalyst-9-8-and-9-9-improve-protection-against-furmark/

    The power supply part or VRM (Voltage Regulation Module) of Radeon HD 4850 / 4870 is under-sized and thus are not able to support the current needed by the GPU when FurMark / OCCT are running. The VRM is under-sized because it has been designed to match the TDP (Thermal Design Power) of RV770-based graphics boards. And this TDP can be see as the highest reasonable load a card can support.

    OCCT doesn't have this restriction on current drivers and will knockout the cards and shut them down on the gfx stress test by current overload, which didn't have hardware protection until the 5K series, so it's not possible to kill the cards with gfx stressors unlike 4K series.

    Thirdly, looking at crossfire gpu usage figures isn't enough, sometimes this can be relatively low compared to other drivers yet still have good fps (skyrim on modern drivers is one example)

    Furmark is OpenGL, so it seems then that .11774 does have issues with furmark FPS after all.

    It was always included as a test, but clearly .11672 of 13.1 is better in furmark here, or maybe they just don't have the furmark protection that .11774 does. Easily fixed...

    I don't want to touch furmark (Also have 2x 4870x2), because it doesn't do anything apart from burn out 48xx/x2 cards, and on something 5 years old I don't want to risk these tests on mine.

    BF3 performance on legacy is and always will always be crap...
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2013

  11. Constant

    Constant Guest

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    Thanks a lot for your reply !

    Honestly I had no clue that furmark could burn my cards ! I'm glad you mentioned it out!!!

    However I gave 11.12 a try with bf3 and Nfs most wanted 2012... Unfortunately results where the same , less fps... 12.6 gives me the best performance and stability.

    Your driver pack seems really good , but I'm on windows 8 64bit so it is not for me..

    If only I could force quad crossfire with 12.6....
     
  12. kevsamiga1974

    kevsamiga1974 Master Guru

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    There is always 13.1 Reloaded instead if you're bored, working on Win8 from an unsigned normal install.

    These do include the latest files (mostly)

    DX10 stuff is even higher version that 13.1.

    Tell me...do you get 0x116 BSOD's on 13.1 or 12.6 from coldstart (power switch start, warm restart is fine) under Windows 8 attributed to atikmpag.sys in 4870x2 quadfire ? And is your Windows 8 x86 or x64 ?

    And if not, what is your 4870x2 BIOS version numbers. :)

    I'm curious since I have intel cpu and you have AMD but I get BSOD every time with single card 4870 or 4870x2, but same driver under Windows 7 x64 works wiithout BSOD on cold start.
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2013
  13. Constant

    Constant Guest

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    hmm i only had BSOD's when i manually started and stoped ati services... official 12.6 and 13.1 work great on my rig , i had issues trying to install the modified 12.6 uploaded here , where i had BSOD's during driver installation.

    i tried almost any bios i could find online for my cards , and i must admit im very pleased with my findings. the clock speeds mentioned on my profile are the stock bios ones and if you keep the cards below 80c they will run happy , problem free. Ill check it out tomorrow and let you know , i can even upload it for you.
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2013
  14. kevsamiga1974

    kevsamiga1974 Master Guru

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    This was the real link I was looking for about overcurrent shutdown
    on 4870x2 but my memory isn't what it once was, see :

    http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...sign-flaw-they-can-t-handle-the-new-GPU-test-!

    "Click "Go" and watch your screen go black. Your card has gone into protection mode. Frequencies dropped to 200Mhz. Reboot is needed."

    82/83A border line...Scary stuff...

    I tried OCCT gfx test and faded to black once, and *only* once.

    My cards idle at 55c with PhobyaXT 7w/mk pads and Artic MX4 paste, they get dismanted and cleaned every 6 months.
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2013
  15. Constant

    Constant Guest

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    now that you mention it ...

    i once stressed a 4870x2 with furmark and suddenly it went blank and pc froze. after restart it was artifacting and it never recovered.. i even tried to reflow it but it didnt work at all...

    luckily that was 6 months ago , and i bought that one from ebay for 50 usd...

    - does your setup run 4way crossfire on bf3 ?
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2013

  16. kevsamiga1974

    kevsamiga1974 Master Guru

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    I need to know also whether your using 32 or 64 bit windows 8.

    Yes furmark is a card killer, more so for the 4K series that has no hardware protection against it.

    No it's 2 separate 4870x2 in x2 machines on a LAN.

    Won't risk quadding up on a Corsair 650TX despite the m/b being capable, and the Corsair being able to operate outside specs. 4870x2 quadfire is nice for toasting marshmallows though out the back when running furmark... :)

    One installed is bad enough, heat rises and all...

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2013
  17. Constant

    Constant Guest

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    64bit windows 8 is my current os

    i hate it...

    [​IMG]

    i use the top radiator of my corsair case for warming my hands...
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2013
  18. kevsamiga1974

    kevsamiga1974 Master Guru

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    I'm still on air cooled unmodified cards.

    Artic accellero S2 killed them in months as well, not enough VRM heatsink surface area of the modded coolers.

    The cards are still beastly when they work well in a game, when they don't the scaling can be quite awful.

    At least there is 5 years worth of drivers...more than others have. :)
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2013
  19. Constant

    Constant Guest

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    i had problems with oem heatsinks too...

    thats when i decided i had either to change card or get watercooling , and since im addicted to moding i went H2O.. cpu is oc to 3.3 from 3 and gpus have higher bios clocks

    now max temp is 55 for both gpu and cpu.. 3 radiators though

    [​IMG]
     
  20. kevsamiga1974

    kevsamiga1974 Master Guru

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    EVGA GTX 580 SC
    It's always been the 4870x2 VRM temps I found you can't get under complete control, no matter what or how expensive of stuff you stick on there...

    Even water...

    Not really into modding (apart from ghetto mods) or overclocking apart from CPU.

    The GDDR5 memory on 4870x2 is so fast already, that it only makes sense (from a FPS perspective) to really overclock the core should I try it.

    Even after making my own drivers, and trying all drivers *SPAM* back to 8.7, I always found 11.9 to be the most decent reliable all round driver for 4870x2.
     
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2013

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