4870x2 8.54 drivers = Wow Performance in COD4!!!!

So, you guys can run a canned benchmark and get 28 FPS on very high.

In the [H] review, Brent could only run on high settings and no AA at 19 x 12 and got 26 FPS average, but he actually plays the game.

When I run the canned benchmark on very high, I get high 20s as well, but the game plays like shit.

I dont think there is anything wrong with my Crossfire, as my results in other games are pretty much the same as other websites running CrossfireX.
But when I get time, I'm going to take one card out and see what happens.
 
Yup, I suspect the lack of gunfire, lack of weapon, and flying above the trees makes a fair difference.

However, I can't bring myself to play that bloody game, I just don't have any desire to do it.

Edit: I just tried the Assault_Harbor benchmark on the same settings, ran pretty much as you'd expect. Min:4.70 Max:38.37 Avg:18.66. I suppose that confirms the standard benchmark is a load of crap, hardly a surprise.
 
Dr. kitteny berk said:
Yup, I suspect the lack of gunfire, lack of weapon, and flying above the trees makes a fair difference.

However, I can't bring myself to play that bloody game, I just don't have any desire to do it.

Edit: I just tried the Assault_Harbor benchmark on the same settings, ran pretty much as you'd expect. Min:4.70 Max:38.37 Avg:18.66. I suppose that confirms the standard benchmark is a load of crap, hardly a surprise.
Click to expand...

Where did you get that benchmark, i would like to give it a go?
 
In the benchmarking tool, it's in the global settings under the "timedemo" drop down menu where it says "benchmark_gpu"

Fresh crysis install and benchmarking tool off guru3d, so i'm assuming it's standard.
 
Dr. kitteny berk said:
Yup, I suspect the lack of gunfire, lack of weapon, and flying above the trees makes a fair difference.

However, I can't bring myself to play that bloody game, I just don't have any desire to do it.

Edit: I just tried the Assault_Harbor benchmark on the same settings, ran pretty much as you'd expect. Min:4.70 Max:38.37 Avg:18.66. I suppose that confirms the standard benchmark is a load of crap, hardly a surprise.
Click to expand...

I agree, I don't necessarily like to play the game.
You can see however, the value of actually playing it and capturing FPS in demanding sections, as that truly represents the real gameplay; and you see what happened......tanked the FPS.
 
magoo said:
I agree, I don't necessarily like to play the game.
You can see however, the value of actually playing it and capturing FPS in demanding sections, as that truly represents the real gameplay; and you see what happened......tanked the FPS.
Click to expand...

Indeed, but if I'd gone and compared the action heavy benchmark to the benchmarketing one, We'd've muddied the waters even more, as it is we should get something close to useful (in that it's still a canned bench, but indicative of the game in question)
 
Xenozx said:
Dan, I get exactly double your FPS at those exact same settings. I will run the test now and screenshot to show you. Something is up w/ your rig man.
Click to expand...

I also got those numbers in the beginning of the game, with the same settings as Xenzx.

Unfortunately about halfway through I had to turn down most of my settings, I got a slide show in heavy fighting.

-dave
 
slideways666 said:
DanD
just thinking outloud here.. But do you think it could have something to do with your pcie speed.. Or even a pcie problem? Have you tried another motherboard?(its 230am here im not reading 14 pages of stuff lol)...
Click to expand...

The PCI-Express speeds should NEVER need adjustment. With that said I've tried that. It didn't make any difference. I can not try another motherboard as I've said before. My processors and memory aren't compatible with standard LGA775 motherboards and I don't have any other LGA771 boards laying around. I don't believe it's the board either. As I've said numerous times the 4870 X2 works fine in most games with my setup. Also Geforce GTX 280's work great in this system as well.

slideways666 said:
Also-- have you sent your x2 to kyle to see if he could run your board on his system.. The same system he did the x2 test on.. We know what he got on that system with his x2-- lets see what he can get with yours.. Will validate or eliminate a problem with your x2..

If it comes back ok -- then time to try another mother board?
Click to expand...

As I've said before, I've tried the cards in another system and they work fine. In some games I don't have a problem with the 4870 X2 at all and I get outstanding performance. Call of Duty 4 and Crysis are the exception to the rule. I've tried two retail 4870 X2's and an evaluation 4870 X2 board with an older BIOS that Brent used in the Preview article. It's not the cards, it's not the software, and it isn't my system. It's the combination of my system and these cards that is somehow an issue.

slideways666 said:
Also--i had problems with my x2 when i had both 6 and 8 pin plugged in on the same rail.. I then plugged them into sep 12v rails and that seemed to help a bit.. Not sure if thats good or bad to do-- but i did it-- and it helped..
Click to expand...

Not power supply related either. I've used three difference PSUs and I've unplugged as much from the system as possible. I did this out of desperation. I had no stability issues and a power problem won't cause a drop in FPS. It just doesn't work that way.

Xenozx said:
ya, theres definately a problem. Im just pointing out I dont think its the 4870x2. Like I said above ive been able to play crysis with this card like I could never play it in the past. I mean this vista 64 install is a fresh install, so maybe thats your issue. sorry I didnt read back to see if you already tried that. Whats funny is I get these kind of results on an nvidia chipset (780i) you would almost think it would perform better on an x48....

EDIT: I dont know wtf is up w/ the times, but I respond to you, and yet it appears above your post?
Click to expand...

Yeah the posts are out of order for some reason.

Xenozx said:
ya, I didnt specify hardware or software :p Im just amazed that your having so many issues. I am on the 8.54 drivers, but even w/ the 8.8's, I got double your performance at those settings. Like I would almost say, only one of your 2 cards is working. I get double your FPS in COD4, and double your FPS in Crysis. It just seems to me the logical answer to that, is only 1 of your 2 cards are working, but the real question is why?
Click to expand...

I've done the fresh install thing now about 6 times or so. It's not that. What it seems like is that only one GPU on one card works in Crysis and CoD4. I've outlined my theory in another post somewhere in this thread. Should only be a page back or so but since everything is in a messed up order I'm not sure where that post went. :eek:

magoo said:
So, you guys can run a canned benchmark and get 28 FPS on very high.

In the [H] review, Brent could only run on high settings and no AA at 19 x 12 and got 26 FPS average, but he actually plays the game.

When I run the canned benchmark on very high, I get high 20s as well, but the game plays like shit.

I dont think there is anything wrong with my Crossfire, as my results in other games are pretty much the same as other websites running CrossfireX.
But when I get time, I'm going to take one card out and see what happens.
Click to expand...

The Crysis Benchmark tool is a canned benchmark. I've only run it to compare my results to others. My 4870 X2 CrossfireX results are definitely about half what they should be if not worse when compared to results others have achieved.

Just as an update, I've returned the second 4870 X2. I've still got one I can test with later but I've yanked it out of my machine pending newer drivers from ATI. I'm not going to bother with it anymore. I've got three BFG Technologies Geforce GTX 280 OC cards in my machine and they are working perfectly in all my games. I'm happy with that. The cold boot issue and audio initialization issues appear to be resolved so all is well with the NVIDIA cards.

When the 8.9 release drivers come out, I'll try again. If I like what I see within the next 30 days, I'll swap my third Geforce GTX 280 OC out with a 4870 X2 at my local Fry's and pay the difference. Short of that the Geforce GTX 280 OC 3-Way SLI setup is here to stay.
 
Sorry to hear you got so frustrated as to give up.

I am not 100% satisfied with my CrossfireX either. I expect more.

I don't have the capability to switch over to nvidia in my machine (least I only use 1 280) nor do I want to throw money at this problem.

Time will tell. If I dont get some results soon that I'd expect out of this much horsepower, I guess I'll go back to nvidia once the i7 is released.//shrug//
 
magoo said:
Sorry to hear you got so frustrated as to give up.

I am not 100% satisfied with my CrossfireX either. I expect more.

I don't have the capability to switch over to nvidia in my machine (least I only use 1 280) nor do I want to throw money at this problem.

Time will tell. If I dont get some results soon that I'd expect out of this much horsepower, I guess I'll go back to nvidia once the i7 is released.//shrug//
Click to expand...

That's the great thing about the D5400XS. I can switch between SLI and Crossfire anytime without changing boards.
 
Well, I guess it's offical now.

ATI-1 Dan-0.

But remember kids, sometimes winning is lossing. :p
 
vengence said:
Well, I guess it's offical now.

ATI-1 Dan-0.

But remember kids, sometimes winning is lossing. :p
Click to expand...

Well I'm still going to hold on to the one 4870 X2. If and when ATI gets' the driver fixed to where I can actually use the card in my main system I'll go back to CrossfireX'ed 4870 X2's. While 3-Way SLI'ed Geforce GTX 280's might be slightly faster, I'd like to have some of my expansion slots back, and the 4870 X2's got AA modes above what NVIDIA offers right now and I am a bit of an AA whore.
 
I sold my 2nd x2, i wasnt seeing any difference having a single x2 vs quad fire...until drivers make it worth while...i will hold off....i can always ppick another one up later
 
yang88she said:
I sold my 2nd x2, i wasnt seeing any difference having a single x2 vs quad fire...until drivers make it worth while...i will hold off....i can always ppick another one up later
Click to expand...

Yeah I didn't get much out of it either. SLI definitely has CrossfireX beaten on scaling.
 
I couldnt run the assult benchmark for some reason, it would load up to about 92%, then it would go to a black screen w/ the FPS and triangle #'s and then within 2 seconds it would go back to my desktop, and the thing would say completed, tried many different settings and a reboot and it didnt change. I only have the EXE of the program, could that be a problem?

I ran the assult map off one of my saves. The only time I saw FPS under 20 FPS was when I first entered the map, and spun arround in teh circle. I guess it was loading textures and such. After that it was mostly 25+ many times in the 30-40 range. Durring the explosions of the AMV's or heavy fire fights it was low to mid 20's.

None the less it felt totally playable.
 
yang88she said:
I sold my 2nd x2, i wasnt seeing any difference having a single x2 vs quad fire...until drivers make it worth while...i will hold off....i can always ppick another one up later
Click to expand...

Has there been any good benchmarking of "tri-fire"? Esp. with a 1GB 4870 out now? Is that something worth considering?
 
wildfire99 said:
Has there been any good benchmarking of "tri-fire"? Esp. with a 1GB 4870 out now? Is that something worth considering?
Click to expand...

Not from what I've seen. Just a thought here but if 4870 X2 CrossfireX doesn't scale very well over the one card then it seems unlikely that a 4870 combined with a 4870 X2 would be worth while either.
 
wildfire99 said:
Has there been any good benchmarking of "tri-fire"? Esp. with a 1GB 4870 out now? Is that something worth considering?
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone has seen much in the way of scaling beyond 2 gpu on ether side of the fence. and Adding 1gb doesn't seem to do much for you unless your at 2560 by 1600.

for real I think I am going to go with a pair of 4850 after I get my money back for the GTX280
 
Valset said:
I don't think anyone has seen much in the way of scaling beyond 2 gpu on ether side of the fence. and Adding 1gb doesn't seem to do much for you unless your at 2560 by 1600.

for real I think I am going to go with a pair of 4850 after I get my money back for the GTX280
Click to expand...

It depends on the game. Call of Duty 4 is the rare exception. It scales very well up to four GPUs thus far.
 
Oh I'm BACK. I've got some more ideas for making the 4870 X2 work. I'll be wrapping up another review and that means I'm going to have some time to get things done on my PC. As a result I've got some new ideas to make this work.

I'm going to eliminate all onboard hardware. I can do this by using add in network and audio boards. I'll be using only one 4870 X2 to start. If that doesn't get it done there are two OSes I forgot to try. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003. I think of these now because Windows 2003 Server uses a different kernel and I'm betting that the Seaburg Chipset (Intel 5400 series) drivers are probably more updated and well developed for Windows Server than they are for Vista. Just a guess but it sounds reasonable considering what that chipset was designed for. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is based on Windows server kernel so therefore it will also be different than Windows XP 32bit. I also may use that as a test just in case the 64bit XP drivers do the job. I'm just trying crazy stuff now.

Took a few days to ignore the problem and now I'm back and ready to try some new things. I'm still proceeding as though this is a driver related problem and I believe it is based on the fact that messing with CoD4 executable names has quite an effect on the game and the fact that with some games the 4870 X2 worked quite well in this system. So, when all is said and done I've got a couple more avenues to try while waiting for updated drivers.

If that doesn't work of course I'll simply fall back on my Geforce GTX 280 3-Way SLI setup. It's faster on my motherboard anyway, but I want to solve this probelm to satisfy my curiosity. I'll probably still go back to 3-Way SLI (due to its' speed) though I really wish I could have similar performance without using up all those slots.
 
Good Luck Dan!

Good grief, you've tried everything under the sun.

I've tried xp 32, 64, vista 64...I just raised the white flag and sold 1 x2 and everything seems to be running..."ok" on my end.

Keep us posted and best of luck again
 
Dan_D said:
Oh I'm BACK. I've got some more ideas for making the 4870 X2 work. I'll be wrapping up another review and that means I'm going to have some time to get things done on my PC. As a result I've got some new ideas to make this work.

I'm going to eliminate all onboard hardware. I can do this by using add in network and audio boards. I'll be using only one 4870 X2 to start. If that doesn't get it done there are two OSes I forgot to try. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003. I think of these now because Windows 2003 Server uses a different kernel and I'm betting that the Seaburg Chipset (Intel 5400 series) drivers are probably more updated and well developed for Windows Server than they are for Vista. Just a guess but it sounds reasonable considering what that chipset was designed for. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is based on Windows server kernel so therefore it will also be different than Windows XP 32bit. I also may use that as a test just in case the 64bit XP drivers do the job. I'm just trying crazy stuff now.

Took a few days to ignore the problem and now I'm back and ready to try some new things. I'm still proceeding as though this is a driver related problem and I believe it is based on the fact that messing with CoD4 executable names has quite an effect on the game and the fact that with some games the 4870 X2 worked quite well in this system. So, when all is said and done I've got a couple more avenues to try while waiting for updated drivers.

If that doesn't work of course I'll simply fall back on my Geforce GTX 280 3-Way SLI setup. It's faster on my motherboard anyway, but I want to solve this probelm to satisfy my curiosity. I'll probably still go back to 3-Way SLI (due to its' speed) though I really wish I could have similar performance without using up all those slots.
Click to expand...

I'm here with your friends, Dan_D.... I'm afraid this is an intervention...



:p
 
yang88she said:
Good Luck Dan!

Good grief, you've tried everything under the sun.

I've tried xp 32, 64, vista 64...I just raised the white flag and sold 1 x2 and everything seems to be running..."ok" on my end.

Keep us posted and best of luck again
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that X2s in CrossfireX would not work in/on XP of any kind, am I wrong???? I tried it briefly and all I got was graphics corruption. Maybe it was the driver set I was using????

Any answers???? I was successful using one X2 and a single 4870 in CrossfireX in XP however.
 
yang88she said:
Good Luck Dan!

Good grief, you've tried everything under the sun.

I've tried xp 32, 64, vista 64...I just raised the white flag and sold 1 x2 and everything seems to be running..."ok" on my end.

Keep us posted and best of luck again
Click to expand...

Well I always had problems with the one 4870 X2. So my problems run deeper I think.

vengence said:
I'm here with your friends, Dan_D.... I'm afraid this is an intervention...



:p
Click to expand...

Yeah, they all think I have some kind of computer hardware addiction. Not sure where it comes from. :D

magoo said:
I was under the impression that X2s in CrossfireX would not work in/on XP of any kind, am I wrong???? I tried it briefly and all I got was graphics corruption. Maybe it was the driver set I was using????

Any answers???? I was successful using one X2 and a single 4870 in CrossfireX in XP however.
Click to expand...

I think you are right. CrossfireX is a no go in Windows XP but you can use a single 4870 X2 with it. I've confirmed that last part. In the system that my card worked properly with the card was amazing for a single card solution.
 
I used XP 64 when I was able to enable Cross Fire, but that was w/ the official 8.8's Never tried w/ the 32bit OS
 
yang88she said:
I used XP 64 when I was able to enable Cross Fire, but that was w/ the official 8.8's Never tried w/ the 32bit OS
Click to expand...

So you used two 4870 X2's in CrossfireX with Windows XP Professional x64 Edition?
 
Dan_D said:
So you used two 4870 X2's in CrossfireX with Windows XP Professional x64 Edition?
Click to expand...

yeah, after installing the drivers, and installing the 2nd card. reboot, CCC up @ startup was able to recognize the 2nd card, but I just did a quick 3dmark06 and vantage runs to test to see if both cards were working. 17k in vantage...not bad, but not great for 4 gpus :(
 
yang88she said:
yeah, after installing the drivers, and installing the 2nd card. reboot, CCC up @ startup was able to recognize the 2nd card, but I just did a quick 3dmark06 and vantage runs to test to see if both cards were working. 17k in vantage...not bad, but not great for 4 gpus :(
Click to expand...

I get 21153 in Vantage using 3 Geforce GTX 280's in 3-Way SLI.

I know, I hate 3D Mark, but I was curious.
 
Dan_D said:
That was my one run off of their trial key. I don't want to crack the software and I'm not about to pay for something so useless.
Click to expand...

yeah it's pretty useless...but it's a good way to test if my gpu's are working haha
 
yang88she said:
yeah it's pretty useless...but it's a good way to test if my gpu's are working haha
Click to expand...

Well SLI has a built in test found in the drivers. Regardless of whether I'm using Crossfire or SLI I simply fire up a game. I can tell if I'm not getting both GPUs.
 
Dan_D said:
I get 21153 in Vantage using 3 Geforce GTX 280's in 3-Way SLI.

I know, I hate 3D Mark, but I was curious.
Click to expand...

/bookmarks this post for blackmail later...

And why do I have the sudden urge to post a photoshopped pic of a TNT2 and 486 getting 23K in Vantage?
 
Dan_D said:
Well SLI has a built in test found in the drivers. Regardless of whether I'm using Crossfire or SLI I simply fire up a game. I can tell if I'm not getting both GPUs.
Click to expand...

I honestly couldn't tell a difference w/ a single x2 or duel x2's when I was gaming, but the last SLi setup I had was w/ the 7950 gtx and that was very noticeable

....damn I'm just killing time @ work....can't wait to get off, relax and zone out in front of game/ movie
 
yang88she said:
I honestly couldn't tell a difference w/ a single x2 or duel x2's when I was gaming, but the last SLi setup I had was w/ the 7950 gtx and that was very noticeable

....damn I'm just killing time @ work....can't wait to get off, relax and zone out in front of game/ movie
Click to expand...

I notice large gains with SLI even with Geforce GTX 280's. Two is really enough most of the time. In Crysis I get some out of the third card but not much. In UT3 it does nothing and in Call of Duty it's a fairly big deal. Call of Duty 4 scales VERY well with added GPUs. Other game developers should take lessons on how to make games from Infinity Ward. It scales well regardless of hardware, its' smooth, fun to play and looks great. It's got good single and multi-player. The single player is too short, but generally speaking it's still great.
 
Xenozx said:
I get 21,000 w/ 1 4870x2. Looks like you overpaid lol.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=7897619
Click to expand...

Not really. As I've said 1,000 times 3D Mark is useless. Its' numbers are abstract and don't translate to in game performance. Add to that the fact that 3D Mark's numbers are effected too much by processor clock speeds and it doesn't gauge GPUs worth a damn. This is evidenced by the 8800GTX days. When the 2900XT came out every site on the planet knew the 8800GTX still beat the snot out of it. Yet in 3D Mark the card reigned supreme. That right there simply reinforces my stance on 3D Mark being stupid.

I also forgot to mention that I ran the test at stock clocks for all my hardware. If I overclocked my processors I'd have gotten much higher marks.
 
Dan_D said:
Call of Duty 4 scales VERY well with added GPUs. Other game developers should take lessons on how to make games from Infinity Ward. It scales well regardless of hardware, its' smooth, fun to play and looks great. It's got good single and multi-player. The single player is too short, but generally speaking it's still great.
Click to expand...

You'd think ATI/NV would be all over that, trying to get other dev studios to code games that scale as well as that in order to sell more cards...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top