Crossfire Disabled: Need help!

[w1rex]

I've been running with two ATI Radeon 4800s (bridge installed, software up to date) for the past 6 months... and crossfire has been "disabled" this whole time since I couldn't get it to work in the beginning.

Now I have time to do some research and toggling with my computer, so I'd like to try and solve this issue.

What are the steps I need to take to properly install Crossfire? I've seen ALL the online tutorials and they only list the hardware installation, but I'm pretty sure there's a software side to it as well - which I haven't yet found.

 

[osholt]

Take a look at http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-cards/88980-ati-crossfire-tip.html.

Hopefully this will fill in any blanks in regard to drivers etc.

Oli

 

[w1rex]

hrm yea so i installed ccc, the driver, and the crossfire profile.. is crossfire supposed to start working automatically? there must be something amiss.

 

[osholt]

I believe after a restart it should start working.

It may be that you have to tick a box or 2 in ccc to get it to work, if you want to check rerun your WEI score and see what you get for graphics and gaming graphics compared to what you used to get.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/79177-windows-experience-index-reset.html

Oli

 

[Snakeyeskm]

open the Catalyst Control Center.
Click on Graphics.
In the menu that opens up, click on CrossfireX.
Check the box "Enable Crossfire".
Click on OK.

You're done.

 

[w1rex]

see that's the problem, there is no crossfire option in the dropdown!!

though there's proof that both cards are contributing to performance. I can see the difference in Battlefield Bad Company 2 and other games. My Windows Score is also showing high numbers... but crossfire is still disabled. It's so retarded!

 

[w1rex]

my motherboard, the Infinity Dark P-965 used to not support crossfire, but now it does:
ASUS P5B Deluxe: ATI CrossFire and Intel P965 Tango - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News
so there should be no problem.

In my BUS interface though, there's something weird. One card shows PCI-E x16 @ x16 while the other shows PCI-E x16 @ x1.

 

[mpcrsc562]

I read that disabling Catalyst AI in the 3D setup will disable CrossFire. Never tried it myself to see if it in fact happens, but check your 3D settings and see if Catalyst AI is disabled.

 

[kucing13]

im using HD4850 and never enable crossfireX . does enabling it make any difference..?
maybe just some improvement in anti aliasing?:sarc:

 

[fishnbanjo]

im using HD4850 and never enable crossfireX . does enabling it make any difference..?
maybe just some improvement in anti aliasing?:sarc:

You can only enable CrossFireX if you have 2, or more, cards bonded together with the CFX bond a single card cannot use CrossFire.

 

[BugMeister]

see that's the problem, there is no crossfire option in the dropdown!!

though there's proof that both cards are contributing to performance. I can see the difference in Battlefield Bad Company 2 and other games. My Windows Score is also showing high numbers... but crossfire is still disabled. It's so retarded!

can you post a picture of your drop-down menus..??
it seems odd that the option is missing..

- this is how it should appear:


and make sure that the disable Catalyst AI box is NOT ticked:

 

[smarteyeball]

My Windows Score is also showing high numbers...

The WEI only takes into account the primary card. Higher numbers are influenced by drivers or clock speed only.



*****

Firstly, what models of 48xx cards do you have? ie 4830, 4850, 4870, 4890 etc and that are definitely both 48xx series cards?



I assume they are two single physical GPUS and not a single x2 GPU? ie 4870x2

If it is actually a single x2 card, that is why there is no Crossfire menu.



The next step would be to check Device manager>Display Adapters to confirm that there are two display adapters shown.

If there is only one display adapter shown, that is why you have no crossfire.

ie:



Another method to verify if CrossfireX is enabled is to right-click on the CCC icon in the tray icon area and if you see the CrossfireX settings, then it's enabled. If it's not there, it's definitely not enabled.




Assuming you see two cards in Device manager yet you still have no Crossfire drop down menu available in CCC and CAT AI is enabled as per Bugmeisters Pics then this is the method I'd use:

► Download and install Driver Sweeper

► Uninstall the Ati Catalyst Install Manager to uninstall the drivers.

► Power off the machine and physically remove the second card.

► Re-boot into Safe Mode and run Driver to Analyze/Clean the ATI installation.

► Boot normally and install the CCC suite / drivers with only one card installed. Once installed:

► Power off and re-install the second card plus bridge and then boot normally again.

CCC should then pop up with the CrossfireX menu box.



* This is how your board supports Crossfire btw *

CrossFire mode
PCIE 2 slot operates at x16 bandwidth.
PCIE 4 slot operates at x4 bandwidth.

DFI DFI INFINITY P965-S

I'd look around the BIOS a bit more to investigate that PCI-E x1 a bit more if the above dosen't work.

 

[HMonk]

im using HD4850 and never enable crossfireX . does enabling it make any difference..?
maybe just some improvement in anti aliasing?:sarc:

You can only enable CrossFireX if you have 2, or more, cards bonded together with the CFX bond a single card cannot use CrossFire.

Otherwise possible if one is running Hybrid

Monk

 

[kucing13]

You can only enable CrossFireX if you have 2, or more, cards bonded together with the CFX bond a single card cannot use CrossFire.

Otherwise possible if one is running Hybrid

Monk

make sense to me

 

[w1rex]

 

[Rik55]

Smarteyeball's got it spot on. The issue here is that the motherboard is reporting only pci-e 16 @x1 speeds on the 2nd card. His board should have pci-e x16 @x16 & pci-e x16 @x4 as it's a x16/x4 xfire board.

 

[Mellon Head]

im using HD4850 and never enable crossfireX . does enabling it make any difference..?
maybe just some improvement in anti aliasing?:sarc:

You can only enable CrossFireX if you have 2, or more, cards bonded together with the CFX bond a single card cannot use CrossFire.

Otherwise possible if one is running Hybrid

Monk

Hybrid isn't supported on all motherboard IGP/GPU combinations or OS's. My board will Hybrid with a 3400 series card under Vista, but not under Win 7.

Hybrid is getting better, but it still isn't as good as 2 or more cards together, unfortunately.

 

[HMonk]

For those who may never have heard of the Hybrid XFire I mentioned, it was developed by ATi specifically to marry the integrated GPU in AMD 780 chipset mobos to either 2400 or 3400 gfx cards. The effect was to produce an XFire-like array without the need for two gfx cards. As Mellon Head noted, it was only operational with Vista. Why do this? To save money, I guess (by not having to purchase two cards) but many feel the results were not worth the hassle. I never had a Hybrid array: only know what I read. Interesting concept though.

Monk

 

[Mellon Head]

For those who may never have heard of the Hybrid XFire I mentioned, it was developed by ATi specifically to marry the integrated GPU in AMD 780 chipset mobos to either 2400 or 3400 gfx cards. The effect was to produce an XFire-like array without the need for two gfx cards. As Mellon Head noted, it was only operational with Vista. Why do this? To save money, I guess (by not having to purchase two cards) but many feel the results were not worth the hassle. I never had a Hybrid array: only know what I read. Interesting concept though.

Monk

Yeah, Hybrid was quite underwhelming, if you ask me. The improvement in my system was marginal, and it overheated my NorthBridge something fierce. I could count on a 15 to 20C rise in temp when playing a game. I had to stick an extra fan on the NB to keep it cool enough. I finally gave it up during the summer because the NB got so hot that the machine became unstable.

The problem was that the original Hybrid only worked with very low end cards, and you'd get a bout a 10 to 20% boost in performance (ATI claimed). But 20% of marginal is still marginal compared to a slightly better, reasonable cost, discrete card.

 

[HMonk]

Yeah, Hybrid was quite underwhelming, if you ask me. The improvement in my system was marginal, and it overheated my NorthBridge something fierce. I could count on a 15 to 20C rise in temp when playing a game. I had to stick an extra fan on the NB to keep it cool enough. I finally gave it up during the summer because the NB got so hot that the machine became unstable.

The problem was that the original Hybrid only worked with very low end cards, and you'd get a bout a 10 to 20% boost in performance (ATI claimed). But 20% of marginal is still marginal compared to a slightly better, reasonable cost, discrete card.

Good grief! Never heard about that: talk about a deal killer!

Monk