Crossfire worse performance than single card?

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon' started by Donkeylips, Mar 17, 2010.

  1. Donkeylips

    Donkeylips Member

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    GPU:
    2x POWERCOLOR pcs+ 5770
    Added 2nd identical 5770 and I'm getting worse performance than a single card running in X4. Uninstalled all ati drivers, installed 10.2 (tried 10.3 later also). I tried a stronger power supply (750w +12V@60A) and no luck. Am I missing anything? Any suggestions?

    I read you can expect a 5% performance loss with PCI-e 2.0 x16 / x4 crossfire, is that a loss over a single card in x4 or two in x16?
     
  2. Hardware Killer

    Hardware Killer Member Guru

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    GPU:
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    Maybe a bit more than 5%, but two card x16

    Crossfire enabled in CCC ?
    Crossfire ribbon/ribbons fitted? sometimes you need both ribbons fitted to enable, for no good reason.
    Are both GPU's recognized in your op sys?

    You should be definately be getting a decent gain , even in a x4 lane

    What software are you using to test?

    In CCC you can enable a crossfire X watermark in the corner of your screen when CFX is in use in 3D apps, check to see if it comes up.

    Sometimes I have had to run the monitor cable off the lower card, again for no good reason, you could try that also if you don't have any luck with the above.

    Are you overclocking the cards ?
     
  3. Donkeylips

    Donkeylips Member

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    Yes crossfire is enabled in CCC. I'm using both ribbons and both GPUs are recognized in CCC / GPU-z / furmark multi-gpu. I'm not overclocking at all.

    tested on :

    Battlefield 2 Bad Company 2
    Fallout 3
    Furmark
    3dmark06


    I'm not seeing an option for a watermark in CCC. I'm back on 10.3 but I didn't see them in 10.2 either.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Mar 17, 2010
  4. Ti3Kob

    Ti3Kob Guest

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    Isn't AMD rana a 3 cores processor ? At 2.9Ghz it's a pretty low end CPU. BFBC2, FO3, Furmark and 3DM06 are all very CPU dependent apps, and crossfire too. Can't you try on more GPU intensive games/benchmarks ?

    Forget 3DM06 for example, and use 3DM Vantage instead.

    EDIT : I did'nt see it at first, but it seems you are running XP. I don't know what to say but "upgrade your OS with your hardware". It can solve many issues ;)

    EDIT2 : ok I'm a bit sleepy it seems :D
     
    Last edited: Mar 17, 2010

  5. Donkeylips

    Donkeylips Member

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    GPU:
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    Running win 7 64 bit, the CPU is unlocked to a quad core. I don't have a problem with FPS in BF2 BC2 @ 1024x768 with 1 card so I was under the assumption I'm more GPU bound than CPU bound. I Also forgot to add I ran that dx11 benchmark Heaven with the same performance as one card in x4.

    Just ran Vantage with 1 card in :

    3DMark Score
    9768 3DMarks
    CPU Score 9542
    Graphics Score 9846

    Will update put 2nd card back in and update with results after I run it..
     
  6. WhiteLightning

    WhiteLightning Don Illuminati Staff Member

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    You need to right-click the Ati logo in the tray near the clock.
    if you check the 2nd adapter there should be something about the watermark.
     
  7. Ti3Kob

    Ti3Kob Guest

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    GPU:
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    For a single card it's good (maybe a bit low, but probably the CPU once again, sorry :p). Same performance in Heaven isn't normal at all for sure. The cards have same bios and frequencies ?

    Have you tried to switch them ?
     
    Last edited: Mar 17, 2010
  8. Donkeylips

    Donkeylips Member

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    GPU:
    2x POWERCOLOR pcs+ 5770
    Same bios/card
    [​IMG]

    So my CPU is causing it to perform worse @ 1024x768 and the same at higher resolutions? I was hoping for 1024x768-like performance at 1920x1080, 1600x1200 or even 1280x1024 but I get the same FPS as I do with one card @ those resolutions.

    edit : I haven't tried switching them, I'll try after this series of tests.
     
  9. Ti3Kob

    Ti3Kob Guest

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    GPU:
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    Something strange is going on.
    Waiting for the GPU score on Vantage with the two cards, but I'm almost sure it will be weird. Are your two cards working together when you're running a game ?(talking about GPU usage)
    You can see that in Afterburner for example. You will see if one card do nothing or if they are bottlenecked or not to a percentage of usage by your CPU.
     
  10. Donkeylips

    Donkeylips Member

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    GPU:
    2x POWERCOLOR pcs+ 5770
    Vantage :

    3DMark Score
    P12614 3DMarks
    CPU Score 9499
    Graphics Score 14162

    In overdrive it shows both GPUs active when running Furmark
     

  11. Ti3Kob

    Ti3Kob Guest

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    Oh my.. So it works. Your GPUs are working together.. Your problem is driver issues with the games you are playing or CPU bottleneck. If you can overclock you CPU by 200 mhz you'll probably know.

    On Furmark the two GPUs are @ 100% use ? Or less ?
     
  12. Donkeylips

    Donkeylips Member

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    GPU:
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    Furmark the activity is listed from 95-99 on both GPUs. I can go up to 3.3ghz without messing with voltages on this CPU, So I guess I'll test that now.
     
  13. Ti3Kob

    Ti3Kob Guest

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    GPU:
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    Try it, you will see quickly if the problem is here. If it's not the case it's probably a driver issue. A weird issue indeed..

    Another thing I see. On GPUZ you have the first card with PCIE 2.0 x16 and PCIE x16 on the 2nd, not 2.0.

    A x16 1.0 slot is equal to x8 2.0 in speed. So a x4 1.0 slot will be at x2 2.0 speed, and it can be a major bottleneck as you probably know.

    Your motherboard specs are saying that :

    PCI Express 2.0 x16 :
    1 x PCI Express x16 slot (PCI_E2) with x16 operation
    1 x PCI Express x16 slot (PCI_E3) with x4 operation

    Two 2.0 ports..

    Maybe another way to investigate..
     
  14. Donkeylips

    Donkeylips Member

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    Yeah I saw the same issue pointed out by someone else with this board on MSI's forums and they're blaming it on GPU-z.

    http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=136460.msg1023513#msg1023513

    The CPU overclock seemed to yield about 5FPS avg increase in BF2 (3.2GHZ). I just went to test the DX11 Heaven benchmark and noticed the FPS was still the same as 1 card and noticed no watermark. I switched to fullscreen, saw the watermark appear and saw my FPS double. I also saw a lot of texture flashing in BF2 BC2 so hopefully this is just driver related.
     
  15. Ti3Kob

    Ti3Kob Guest

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    The flashings in BFBC2 are crossfire issues/driver related, and it seems to disappear when changing the ambient occlusion option or something (you'll find it on the forum).
    5 fps average is a pretty good improvement for this little overclock, so you are CPU bottlenecked, don't know if it's big or not.
    Your crossfire works finally, but yes, it does not work in windowed mode. It's one of the crossfire drawbacks.
     

  16. Donkeylips

    Donkeylips Member

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    OK got around to testing FPS @ higher resolutions with CPU overclock + watermark enabled. Wow no wonder, I've been running desktop 2048x1536 to test 1920x1080 / 16x10 in window mode because I can't load any of these LCD resolutions in full screen. Just went full screen on 18x13 and averaged 60-70fps in Bad Company 2 (was averaging 40 before @ 16x10) so it would appear the problems solved. Thanks!
     
  17. Ti3Kob

    Ti3Kob Guest

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    No problem, glad to be of any help ;)
     
  18. Erqury

    Erqury Guest

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    yeah thats what i was going to say. Crossfire only kicks in during fullscreen. I know. the second i go full screen the fan kicks on for my second card :p and performance goes UP
     
  19. Sever

    Sever Ancient Guru

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    on a random note, dont forget to turn on catalyst ai, as having that off disables crossfire.

    and yeah, crossfire only works in fullscreen. except for msi kombuster and furmark, they can run crossfire in window mode.
     
  20. Roffle

    Roffle Member Guru

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    Just FYI, Windows XP users don't get the new fancy CCC (UI update). They just get the old "tree" based CCC, even with the latest drivers.
     

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