4870 X2 Owners Club

Before: I had a couple of black screens at the start of games, drivers were hard to install but the most important reason was the "laggy" feeling even though I had 80 fps there was something I dont know how to explain.
I had an Asus p5n32 sli with 2x 8800gt. I reinstalled vista64 sp1 and then I saw an improvement with fps, IQ, no microstutter... this was done with beta 8.8

After: I decided to push my hardware, but with that mobo wasn't going to happen. I replaced it with a rampage formula (crossfire in next months) and a E8600 since I read a review(xbitlabs) of that chip with excellent oc.

Changes were drastic, I play all my games including Mass Effect, TF2, Gears,etc at 8xAA and Crysis at 4xAA perfectly smooth

I dont suggest to change hardware, but I think a fresh installation of vista64 could help to improve your experience with your card. Take it like a new beginning !!!

Good luck

 

My X2 arrived! MASSIVE GRIN ON MY FACE!

Currently running on my rig in my profile, and I have to say. Oh My ****ing God.

From a P4, DDR and a 6200 LE to a Q9550, DDR3, and this monster X2. The difference is staggering. Currently have my desktop at 1680x1050. The difference from 1024x768 is enough to bring a tear to my eye. Moving my mouse across the screen has become a proper mission!

So, what drivers should I be using for the most performance, and are there any other little tips or tricks I should know about?

 

8.8 beta (some people thats 8.54 others 8.52.2 I use the latter) for Vista x64 works best with the X2 cards. Make sure you don't use the option "Force Vsync off" that has a performance hit, use "Vysnc off unless applications specifies", you need to have Catatlyst AI on or else you wont have your 2nd GPU working.

There was something else, but I can't remember, had to page a first responder team back in.

 

Got the drivers, many thanks (Went for 8.52.2 like you linked).

Where do I make sure Vsync is not forced?

 

cataylst control center, 3D, all settings toward teh bottom. I remember now, if you want Vsync download rivaturner and use the DX3d overrider thing to force triple buffering which doesnt work with CF (or the X2) in ATI drivers. forcing it on makes vysnc run much better.

 

That's odd my Crysis has epic stutter on any settings as well as bad framerates, epic stutter in gears and regular drops in TF2 that really piss me off.

Any ideas? I'm using drivers 8.54.

PS: And really epic stutter in CoD 4. This card fails inlike every game.

 

Thanks for your help Stukov!

 

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry if this have been posted before, but my 4870X2 seems to have problems with EVERY DX10 game.
In this mode, second gpu remains at default 2D clock, while 1st GPU is at 750/900 Mhz (tested with GPU-Z)
I tried Dx 9 version of those games and the frequencies scale correctly.

Tested with Company Of Heroes, Stalker Clear Sky, i have to try with Crysis but i'm sure it will be the same .

Anyone experienced this?

I'm using Vista 64 with SP1, have a C2D E8500, Asus P5Q and a Gigabyte 4870X2, drivers 8.9 beta.
Thank you for your answers!

 

Those should On by default? I didnt change anything in CCC cuz its being running great.

 

Hello guys. I will buy a 4870x2 this month, for now I use a mist 600W power supply, but will it be enough for the monster 4870x2 and the rest of my hardware? Someone have experiences with that? And what can be the worst that can happen if I install it and it will not be enough power?

 

Shut-down problem?

Dear Gurus,

I am facing a very inconvenient issue with my R700 and Crysis...was wondering if anyone else has a similar problem:

I get a hard shut-down during game-play in random situations...system just goes off, no BSOD, restart or any other error indication.

I initially thought this was due to overheating as I got past many occurences with a fan-speed tweak, but I'm pretty much stuck at one point right now with no solution in sight...Have even tried manually setting fan speed to 65% (loud as a turbine) and playing through, but it just shuts down with no change. Don't think temps can be causing it...can it?

I'm using Cat v8.8 beta (v8.52), and have encountered the same problem on Vista 64 and WinXP 32bit, exact same place.

Did anyone face the same issue, and/or know of a solution for this? Btw, I don't have this issue with any other game/app. This is very aggravating, and I wonder if this could be a PSU issue? I have a quad-rail Zalman 600W, a VERY rock solid and stable performer.

Thanks to all of you in advance.

 

PSU is only 600W, you probably need a 750W when overclocking Q6600.
The 4870x2 uses 483W fully loaded, that leaves little room for the other components. See here for power consumption of 4870x2.

For the time being downclock your Q6600 for stability.
If I was you I would get a >=1200W PSU. Especially for future upgrades like Larrabee. I am waiting on a 1500W from ThermalTake. So I can crossfire 4870x2.

 

1200W ??!

Isn't that a bit too much?! I mean, yeah, bigger is definitely better, but isn't that much essentially overkill?

 

Yeah, a 700-800 is enough for a single 4870X2, I would lean towards 800 if you overclock a quad core 65nm.

Yeah that should be fine.

No, that PSU will likely not be enough, you will have troubles. Again, 700-800 a good point for the X2.

Sturmk, is that a fresh install of Vista 64?

Hsvdude, what OS/driver and is it a fresh install?

 

That graph shows the load for an entire system with a 4870x2 in......

 

Stukov,

So you think the shut-downs I'm getting are due to my PSU? Or can it be a problem with the card itself??!

 

Yeah, that can happen.

 

Its pointing towards your psu, I'd try official drivers with crysis to see if it crashed also.

 

Hard shut downs under full load are in most cases related to the powersupply. Have you tried loading up everything in your system to see what happens? I'd fire up prime95 on all cores and then run 3Dmark Vantage or similar. I've said this before and I'll say it again; 600w is really a bit on the thin side with this card and a fully loaded system.

 

I'll give that a try.