5870CF Nice Speed But Quality Problems

K

Kubicide

Limp Gawd
2FA
Joined
Oct 15, 2005
Messages
147
Well, the honeymoon was over fairly quick with a pair of 5870's. Was upgrading from a 4870x2 and the increased speed from the 5870CF was great. But these cards/drivers have issues. Now the disclaimer: I'm not a noob, system was stable before and after changing back to the 4870x2 even after the OS being hammered with installs, etc. (probably need to do a fresh install now).

System:
i7 920 @ 3GHz
DX58SO w/ 6GB
850W PSU
X-Fi Audio
Windows 7​

Issues:
  1. System resets hard when trying to select/deselect CrossFire with both installed, once the CF setting is enabled during install it could not be changed (attempt to changes causes hard reset after reset...)
  2. No dual monitor in CrossFire - not dual monitor accelerated - just simply having 2x displays enabled when not in games is impossible when both cards installed (tried all DVI connections on both cards CCC would 'see' the monitor when connected to the second DVI on the primary card but would not enable - system hard resets if 'extended' or 'duplicate' is selected
  3. Switcher noise from the card; buzzing-like sound started only after ~2 hours of use with one card installed; noise sounds like it is related to fan but actually comes from the switching supply on the board; can hear the pitch increase and get louder instantly when the 3D demands increase (this is the noise also often heard from bad / overloaded power supplies and mainboards)

Summary: both cards work in CF but only allow one display to be active in 2D and 3D modes; no extended desktop. Could remove one card and have 2x functioning displays in 2D with extended desktop and 3D modes (second display not accelerated like the 4870x2 - useful for showing TeamSpeak, etc during gaming). One card whines now after very little use, great...


Tried the 9.11 drivers first then the two beta's (beta 4 and 5) with same results as above. It is possible only card card is defective but which one? Frankly, after experiencing these issues first hand, and seeing the number of quality reports with so few in circulation, I have to wonder if ATI knows they have issues with the product.


Question: has anyone successfully enabled 2x displays for 2D use while having 5870's Crossfire enabled? Any ideas?



PARTIAL FIX: updated MB BIOS, formatted and installed final Win7 (was on beta 7100). Expect there was a problem first with the BIOS then with legacy registry settings from the older 4870x2 card. See below...
 
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I have (2) 5870's in CF. using the official 9.11's. I have had absolutely no issues in regards to stability and I have the clocks at ~960/1300 on each. Your CPU might be slightly limiting the cards as well.. I have a 920 D0 and when I had it at the stock 2.66 Ghz there was slight stutter in certain high potent games. As soon as I clocked it to 4.2Ghz everything was REALLY REALLY smooth (no other changes, just the increase to 4.2)...

I can tell you that the whine is "normal" for these cards. one of mine had it (had to RMA it due to another issue) and google searching led me to find it was normal. I also made a thread in this forum about the whine and other people experience it across both ATI and nVidia. Nothing to worry about there (however it can be slightly annoying, but there is no damage to/being done to your cards.

I can not assist on the dual LCD front (for now) but just wanted to fill you in on the other stuff. I am really really happy with the 5870's, hope you can resolve your issues.
 
Not sure if I can resolve my issues :)-) but I am working on the graphics issue. Just found a BIOS update for the MB - guess what one fix is: "resolves issue when using two graphics cards of the same type ...".

Almost done reinstalling...
 
I was just gonna post, it works for me.

I extend my desktop to my TV and play movies on it, I can play a game and it'll keep the second screen running, but I can't run the game on both because they're different sizes... :( . Could be a BIOS issue like you said though. Be sure to post back if it's fixed.
 
Nope. Still hard resets whenever 2x displays are connected and the CrossFire straps are on. Have to either remove the bridges or unplug the second display.

Does anyone have 2x 5870's running with multiple displays in Win7? How are they connected and what drivers are you using?
 
Final Results: (or FYI to share installation experiences)

Reinstalling Windows 7 fixed item #2 above enabling both displays on the primary card and during CrossFire gaming. But item #1 still remains broken: cannot disable CrossFire when the bridge straps are installed. Would be curious to hear others confirm that they can freely enable/disable in Windows 7 with 2x displays connected to the primary with bridges installed, and using a DX58SO mainboard.

As far as item #3 that is the deal breaker, and both cards are going back because of the dang noise!

With the CF issues I was thinking "okay, keep one then when they get the drivers figured out go back to CF". But both make this buzz-like sound when gaming and it's louder when only 1x card is installed since it is being stressed harder. There is something wrong either quality wise or with the design. Voltage regulators VRMs or DC converters, or whatever you want to call them, should not make noise. They are not speakers or transducers! And the noise gets quite loud when stressed. Have to wonder if some reporting fan noise actually have this problem. Note I am quite picky about fan sounds, etc., so others may find this problem acceptable. My 4870x2 fan does get louder when gaming but its sound is tolerable compared to the harsh, buzz-like noise from these 5870's.

Another FYI: one card would idle at ~37C while the other wouldn't get below ~45C; testing one at a time over two days in the exact same conditions. Confirms there is fairly significant variation between these GPUs.
 
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What brand 5870s did you get? I remember my XFX 5870 was somewhat noisy at load but not noisier than the sound of killing zombies in RE5 =).

My 5970 gives off a ton of heat. But luckily I don't have any rattling fan problem.
 
Dual 5850's here, no problems at all. No whining either which is a change from my previous GTX 285.
 
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