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4870x2 8.54 drivers = Wow Performance in COD4!!!!
- Thread starter BigCactus
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snowysnowcones
[H]ard|Gawd
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Dan, do you mind making a list of things you've changed that you thought might have been hurting your X2's performance? I know you got a new power supply, right?
I'm just willing to bet it's not the X2 that's actually causing the problem.
I'm just willing to bet it's not the X2 that's actually causing the problem.
I'm not sure what you are trying to say here, but the problem isn't an issue with my memory performance or anything else with my system. It is tuned just fine and It is 100% stable and if I drop dual Geforce GTX 280's into my box, they will provide flawless performance on par with any system with similar video card hardware out there.
Yes, FB-DIMMs are slower than regular DDR2 or DDR3 memory, but memory performance isn't going to make that big of a difference in the overall scheme of things. It certainly isn't what's causing my problem. Age of Conan runs perfect. The performance I'm seeing is comparable to the [H] Preview evaluation as well as any other results you'll find on the net. I don't think its' a bandwidth issue either as the Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad systems pale in comparison to the Phenom and Athlon X2 in memory bandwidth and performance yet dominate them in virtually every test out there. I've tuned my BIOS options systematically.
Bottom line, it isn't my system. It is the combination of this hardware, software and the 4870 X2's themselves. No doubt about it, but the issues have nothing to do with my system being improperly built, tuned, or maintained. None of the hardware in my system is defective.
Yes, FB-DIMMs are slower than regular DDR2 or DDR3 memory, but memory performance isn't going to make that big of a difference in the overall scheme of things. It certainly isn't what's causing my problem. Age of Conan runs perfect. The performance I'm seeing is comparable to the [H] Preview evaluation as well as any other results you'll find on the net. I don't think its' a bandwidth issue either as the Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad systems pale in comparison to the Phenom and Athlon X2 in memory bandwidth and performance yet dominate them in virtually every test out there. I've tuned my BIOS options systematically.
Bottom line, it isn't my system. It is the combination of this hardware, software and the 4870 X2's themselves. No doubt about it, but the issues have nothing to do with my system being improperly built, tuned, or maintained. None of the hardware in my system is defective.
I hear you loud and clear man, just trying to make suggestions. I hope whatever conflicts your having with the card get resolved. Maybe the drivers just won't work well with your system in particular, and perhaps the official 8.9s that come out this month will help resolve your issues.
decapitator
Limp Gawd
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Here is the answer to your problem Dan, ATI 4870X2 and your MB do not play well together.
http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=609&pageid=14
http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=609&pageid=14
what does that review answer? it's been linked before, but not sure what point you are trying to make
I've read this and I hardly see it as an answer to my problems. They are still getting FAR better results in Call of Duty 4 than I am. Age of Conan works as it should, I'm still testing Crysis, and I haven't tested many of the other games in that list as I don't have them. Also their testing methods are ambiguous at best. If Crysis doesn't pan out I'll be testing Half-Life 2 Episode 2 as well. I will say that my Crysis results are identical to those in the [H] 4870 X2 preview article.
One thing to note is that while I'm using a very similar system configuration my experiences were quite different. I have never experienced BSOD's. I have experienced the screen abnormalities but those are all during the driver installation using the 8.540 drivers. The 8.8 release drivers don't do that. With the Geforce GTX 280 SLI setup I get cold boot issues. With the 4870 X2's I do not.
The article references performance issues with the 4870 X2's and I find that odd because those results seem pretty accurate from what I can tell through my own testing and research on the matter.
Several times and on fresh installs of the OS with all three Catalyst versions.
decapitator
Limp Gawd
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Do not need to be an smart ass about it, was not aware of link and just trying to help find solution, The point being Nvidia runs well on the board and the 4870X2 needs some work for this board. They do not feel ATI will move fast to bring better drivers for the 4870X2 on the Skulltrail. I think it still comes down to the MB as well as the drivers. Yes the issues they had may have been different then Dan's but they did have issues on the Skulltrail.
sorry I wasn't trying to come off like that, as I am not having the best results w/ the current ATi drivers also
so I was wondering if there was something I might have missed in the review, that you were trying to highlight
Hey, do you happen to have a spare p45 / x38 /x48 motherboard laying around somewhere? Try out your graphics card on any of those boards or a friends board b/c it could always be your motherboard bios does not fully support hd 4870 x2.
decapitator
Limp Gawd
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Hey Dan, have you talked to anyone from ATI about your issues ? They must be aware of these motherboard compatibility problems we are seeing here. Hope they can resolve them soon. If not, well you can either stick with the 2 GTX280s or get another mb and keep the X2. Ide prolly go for a new mb, but thats just me as I dont have 2 gtx280s waiting and taunting me LOL
Already done that. In my other system the cards work perfectly. I know my motherboard BIOS supports it because the Driverheaven review showed vastly better results than I'm getting and I have used the same BIOS version.
Well between fully supporting and not supporting there could be various shades of grey. Maybe thats Dan's issue. Anyways, Im pretty sure its his motherboard and the X2 not getting along 100%. There must be something that cod4 does differently to his system. Its kinda wierd that most other games hes tried has worked flawlessly though
I'm still waiting to here back from ATI on this issue so we'll see. I'm hoping a driver issue will resolve these problems. Mainly the concern is with the abysmal CoD4 performance. I could go with 3-Way SLI'ed Geforce GTX 280's and call it a day, but I'd kind of like to grab an actual sound card as two 4870 X2's are more than good enough for everything out there today. At present I'm mostly playing Call of Duty 4 and Age of Conan which should run better on ATI hardware.
My Crysis testing shows poor results compared to the Driver Heaven review however my results are right on par with the [H] 4870 X2 Preview Evaluation. So the issues I'm experiencing may just be with that one game alone.
That's right damn it.
I know your not going to get beaten by some damn video card, but how long can you wage the war against the drivers
That's right damn it.
Isn't it suppose to be the other way around...your suppose to own the card...the card isn't suppose to own you? How come you can't even get the same results that your buddies at [H] seem to have gotten? If I were you I'd consult the person that tested the 4870x2 on your [H] review to help troubleshoot your issues...because all you seem to do on these forums is reitterate how badly the 4870x2 performs, and that isn't helping to solve your issue.
First off the card doesn't own me. Secondly I have consulted Kyle on the matter, and he put me in contact with AMD on the matter. Thirdly, I tried one of the very evaluation boards that was used in the [H] 4870 Preview Article. My results in Crysis and Age of Conan are almost exactly the same as those in the [H] evaluation.
I do not just talk about how badly the card performs. I do talk about the drivers sucking because I believe they do. Poor fan speed control, install issues, missing AA options, poor performance, broken AA modes, etc. The drivers suck plain and simple. I'm also not the only one having issues like this with the card. I've done everything I can possibly think of to solve these issues. I'm basically waiting from a miracle from AMD or some new drivers or something along those lines. There is nothing more I can do here. If anyone has any more troubleshooting ideas I'm listening. Hell I've tried ideas that weren't particularly good because I'm desperate to get these cards performing right. I know the hardware is good. I've seen what the cards can do and they are amazing under the right circumstances.
Why are you sticking with the Skulltrail board now that you're running 4870X2's anyway Dan? I'm not suggesting that chucking it and going w/an X48/58 should be the solution, because it shouldn't be, even if it's within your reach... I'm just curious.
This one case aside, here's definitely still plenty of issues with multi-GPU cards and SLI/CF configs in general, I'm not sure what all the pontification about how transparently they perform on this thread is about...
This one case aside, here's definitely still plenty of issues with multi-GPU cards and SLI/CF configs in general, I'm not sure what all the pontification about how transparently they perform on this thread is about...
I'd have to buy additional memory and a new processor, not to mention the cost of the board itself. Sure I can do it but the D5400XS serves me well. I've got no problems with NVIDIA boards on it and it's been a great setup for me. As far as I am concerned its' AMD's drivers. Everything points to that so far.
I am VERY anxious to hear what ATI has to say to you.
I so much want this CrossfireX set up to work and kick some major ass........alas, so far HL2 is the only game that I've run that really impresses me from a performance standpoint.
I can run 8X MSAA with edge-detect = 24X CFAA and average nearly 100 FPS. Thats impressive.
COD4,Crysis = meh.
I so much want this CrossfireX set up to work and kick some major ass........alas, so far HL2 is the only game that I've run that really impresses me from a performance standpoint.
I can run 8X MSAA with edge-detect = 24X CFAA and average nearly 100 FPS. Thats impressive.
COD4,Crysis = meh.
On the issues with my 4870 X2's? Nothing new. Call of Duty 4 performance sucks in SP but not MP, Crysis is totally unplayable regardless of the settings, Age of Conan runs awesome, UT3 runs pretty well, but I am experiencing some micro-stuttering in the game but only in CrossfireX.
So have you figured out how to get some advance engineering samples of the 55nm 280s to put in Tri-SLI yet?
I have not.
Of course since BigCactus said I was on the NVIDIA payroll, I should have them incoming like tomorrow or something.
Also, I want ma checkz...............
Blackforge
Gawd
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2004
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- 718
I have not.
Of course since BigCactus said I was on the NVIDIA payroll, I should have them incoming like tomorrow or something.
Also, I want ma checkz...............
Well, we can't have you seen with a 4870X2, so you had better give it to me. I have the perfect place to hide it. We don't want your checks disappearing...
Well, we can't have you seen with a 4870X2, so you had better give it to me. I have the perfect place to hide it. We don't want your checks disappearing...
Damn, beat me too it!
Awww, you'll just have to be mortal like the rest of usDan_D said:have not.
Of course since BigCactus said I was on the NVIDIA payroll, I should have them incoming like tomorrow or something.
Also, I want ma checkz...............
I need to make a decision on this within a couple of weeks. The first card I've been outside the exchange period on but the second one I've got a couple weeks with. If I can't make it work by then, I'm going to take it back to Fry's and exchange it for a Geforce GTX 280. I'll go to 3-Way SLI and sell off the other 4870 X2. I'm hoping ATI releases a miracle driver in the time being. If they do I'll stick with the two cards vs. going with three.
Either way, I'm going to have a video card blow out in the FS/FT forum soon.
Either way, I'm going to have a video card blow out in the FS/FT forum soon.
/shocked!
I thought this was on your skulltrail. And I thought you couldn't find the drivers that driverheaven claimed to use to get 3x SLI on that board? Or are you going to retreat to a 780i?
For the longest time I couldn't find those drivers. However NVIDIA's 177.92 drivers do actually enable 3-Way SLI support for the D5400XS motherboard. So I can now run three cards in 3-Way SLI mode if I want to. I do have a 3-Way SLI bridge from my Striker II Formula that I can use for that since the D5400XS doesn't come with a 3-Way SLI bridge.
There are pros and cons to doing this. The Geforce GTX 280's cause me cold boot issues. It takes two or three attempts to start the system. Note: I haven't had that problem with any previous video cards I've used on the board such as the NVIDIA 8800GTX, 9800GX2, 8600GTS, etc. The other issue is the onboard sound fails to initialize and shows up as not installed in device manager occasionally. Lets' not forget that all my expansion slots would be gone at that point.
The ATI cards do not cause me the cold boot issues. They do however prevent me from using my LSI MegaRAID because the option ROM configuration of those boards is terrible just like the 9800GX2. So while there are dual GPUs on the card, the design isn't much more elegant than the NVIDIA GX2 style cards are. I couldn't use my LSI MegaRAID with the 3-Way SLI setup either, but only because all the slots will be taken by the cards. At least with the 4870 X2's I can get myself a PCI-Express sound card which is an appealing idea.