R9 290X Crossfire - Performance worse than single GPU

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon' started by stuste, May 4, 2014.

  1. stuste

    stuste Guest

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    GPU:
    2x R9 290X
    Hi guys,

    What started as a problem with Skyrim, turned out to be a bigger problem with my system. Basically for some reason I am getting lower performance and stuttering with Crossfire on.

    At first I thought it had something to do with Skyrim, however after checking I can say that I am getting lower performance with Crossfire in all games, together with some horrible stuttering.

    I copied the following from a post I have on overclock.net so you can check it if you need some extra information regarding my system. Since I cannot post links, I'll copy everything here.

    Here are my Unigine Heaven Benchmark test results.

    Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0

    FPS:
    26.6
    Score:
    671
    Min FPS:
    7.1
    Max FPS:
    53.1
    System

    CPU model:
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz (3499MHz) x4 <-- This has been OCed to 4.4GHz
    GPU model:
    AMD Radeon R9 200 Series 14.100.0.0 (4095MB) x2
    Settings

    Render:
    Direct3D11
    Mode:
    2560x1440 8xAA fullscreen
    Preset
    Custom <-- This is everything maxed out.
    Quality
    Ultra
    Tessellation:
    Extreme

    So this is happening in every game. I am getting lower performance with Crossfire on, than with Crossfire off. I just did a clean format, swapped the position of the cards (I put the top one on the bottom and vice versa). turned on the Uber bios mode, and it's still the same.
    According to GPU-Z my cards are running on PCI-E 3.0 x 16 @ x8 3.0 interfaces (which is due to my Asus P8Z77 Deluxe which can use only one card at x16, but if used in SLI/Crossfire, the two ports go to x8), however I do not believe this is the problem.

    Not only am I experiencing lower performance and stuttering in all games that I've checked with Crossfire enabled, I am experiencing the graphic bugs with the ENBs in Skyrim - stuttering and white/extremely bright sky. I have tried turning Frame Pacing on or off without any effect.

    The only thing different in GPU-Z is that one card has GDDR5 Elpida Memory Type, while the other one has Hynix, but if I understand correctly this shouldn't have this effect?

    What other troubleshooting can I do? So far I've checked that the CPU temp is stable at 55-60 at max usage, my HDDs are fine, 1000W CoolerMaster CPU is more than enough, and I am out of ideas. If one of the cards was defective I should have gotten worse performance in single GPU mode after swapping them, however the same thing happens - single GPU performance > Crossfire. I am clearly out of ideas, except for maybe some problem with the motherboard, however it was bought about a year ago, and I didn't have a problem 1 month ago when I had 2xGTX 680s in the same slots as the R9 290Xs now.

    CPU
    Intel Core i7 3770k OCed to 4.4GHz Liquid Cooled(S1366, 2.80GHz)

    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z77-Deluxe

    Graphics
    2 x AMD R9 290X (PCI-Express 3.0, GDDR5, 4096 MB)

    RAM
    Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3-1600 Ram (PC3 12800, 8-8-8-24

    Hard Drive
    2 x Samsung 840 RAID0 SSD

    OS
    Windows 8.1 64 bit

    Monitor
    Samsung Series 9 27" 1440p LS27B970DS

    PSU
    CoolerMaster Silent Pro M1000 1000W

    Case
    CM Storm Trooper

    Audio
    Asus Xonar DX + ATH-M50


    Thanks,
     
  2. SpajdrEX

    SpajdrEX Ancient Guru

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    GPU:
    Gainward RTX 4070
    Can happen when PSU is dying, how long you have that PSU?
     
  3. Skinner

    Skinner Master Guru

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    GPU:
    Gigabyte RTX 4090
    Do you have framepacing on? (in CCC), I believe it has some issue's in some games.
    I'm on pcie3.0 8x for the two and the scaling is fine.
     
  4. stuste

    stuste Guest

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    GPU:
    2x R9 290X
    3 or 4 years I think. However everything was fine 1 month ago with my SLI GTX680s.

    Any test I can do for the PSU?
     

  5. AcidSnow

    AcidSnow Master Guru

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    GPU:
    Sapphire 5700XT
    I can't remember if when I was using my 2x5870's and playing Skyrim - if it gave me stuttering... I don't think so though. If you're getting trouble in every game, with stuttering then oh man, that sux; I can't stand stuttering. I have some annoying ass stuttering in New Vegas, nothing seems to fix it.
     
  6. stuste

    stuste Guest

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    GPU:
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    I have tried both frame pacing on and off. It doesn't make any difference.
     
  7. AcidSnow

    AcidSnow Master Guru

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    GPU:
    Sapphire 5700XT
    I just read a post from SetsunaFZero who said in another topic: "since Gfx Version 14.100.000 Crossfire is broken, every driver below version 14 works fine for me." You might want to try older drivers!
     
  8. evasiondutch

    evasiondutch Guest

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    GPU:
    2x-MSI gaming 290x 4gb OC
    My xfire also don't work eather with z77 deluxe so maybe mother board is not good?

    I play skyrim with one card and its great it can handle skyrim easy with heavy modded and i mean heavy i use mainly 4k texutres have 200 mods installed use SEASONS OF SKYRIM at moment no problem, before using Real Vision ENB also no problem.

    Other mods CoT RLO SFO parralax mod Realistic waters 2

    Run 2560x1440p

    No white sky.

    LOAD ORDER is very importend if you don't pay attention to this you can have all kinds of problems with Skyrim.

    Just a question and you prolly already knew? Did you disable AA and Antriprosofic in Skyrim launcher and CCC? ENB demands this.

    1 MSI 290x 4GB gaming can handle skyrim easly around 50fps heavy modded.

    Next MB z97 OC gaming version prolly ASUS normal boards sucks:p
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2014
  9. gerardfraser

    gerardfraser Guest

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    GPU:
    R9 290 Crossfire
    The Asus P8Z77-Deluxe has PLX chip (PEX 8608) I am wondering if it is possible to turn off this feature on the motherboard and see if it makes a difference.

    I have a MSI Z77A GD65,that does not have this PLX chip that i am aware of.It does run crossfire fine and also does in skyrim.

    Re-post of these screens in OP thread on another form.Hope you can figure it out,seems to be a weird problem on that Asus board.
    Skyrim tested to see if crossfire is working and yepper it is pegged at lightboost refresh rate 120FPS.
    [​IMG]
    free photo upload

    ADDED:ENB to test crossfire and its good.
    [​IMG]
    image upload no size limit
     
  10. Skinner

    Skinner Master Guru

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    GPU:
    Gigabyte RTX 4090
    Which one is this? No SAAO and Skylighting? I'm allway's getting quite a hefty perf. decrease.
     

  11. gerardfraser

    gerardfraser Guest

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    GPU:
    R9 290 Crossfire
    The screens were from ENBSeries 0.119 for TES Skyrim (graphic mod)I guess if you say no SAAO and Skylighting then I guess there was none.

    So I tried new enbseries_skyrim_v0254 with SkyRealism - ENB Evolved (DOF turned off,to much blur.)
    [​IMG]
     
  12. Skinner

    Skinner Master Guru

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    GPU:
    Gigabyte RTX 4090
    So you haven't much of a hit when enabling enb?
    Maybe it's my texturepacks in comb. with enb, but I at least 50% of my perf.
    I have quite heavy SSAO and lighting settings though.

    But @the op, did you try different drivers yet?
     

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