ATI CrossFireX Application Profile 10.8a Performance @ [H]

A question about 10.5....can I use 10.5 drivers and 10.8a profiles together without conflicts?

Yes. That's the point of splitting up the application profiles from the drivers, so you can mix and match.
 
http://support-prod.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/ATICatalyst108bHotfix.aspx

Hotfix for x2.

"
ATI Catalyst 10.8b Hotfix Features:

* ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 and ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 use both Graphics Processing Units (GPU) for high performance
* Ubisoft H.A.W.X 2 with forced on Anisotropic Filtering (AF) using ATI Catalyst Control Center can improve performance

Instructions:
Download and install the ATI Catalyst hotfix from the following location:

* ATI Catalyst 10.8b Hotfix for Windows® 7 / Windows Vista®

Refer to Article 20870 for detailed instructions on how to properly install the ATI Catalyst ™ hotfix.

Note! This hotfix is provided as is and is not supported by AMD. It has not completed full AMD testing and is only a driver update.

Applicable Products:
This article applies to the following configuration(s):

* Hardware
o ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 series of products
o ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 series of products
* Software
o ATI Catalyst Control Center
o Ubisoft H.A.W.X 2
* Operating System
o Windows 7 32-bit Edition
o Windows 7 64-bit Edition
o Windows Vista 32-bit Edition
o Windows Vista 64-bit Edition

"
 
Thanks for the response Terry. I think the main issues in this thread are:

***4xxx X2 series with the second gpu not clocking or working properly.
***Hotfix on the way.

***10.8a BFBC2 crossfire 5870 or 5850 (2 cards 1 monitor), users experiencing low FPS, approximately half of 10.5a. Frames actually increase turning crossfire off.
***Open issue.

***Users with HDTV via HDMI: reporting over scan not remembering settings and color saturation slider not functioning properly with crossfire.
***Open issue.

***Crossfire scaling including quadfire. Nvidia has seen strong improvements in SLI over the last few releases.
***Open issue.


I am in the process of re-reading this thread and filtering through all the troll comments. I will update this post with issues that have been reported by more than 2 users on this thread. Hopefully that will help the team that is looking at this. I am sure that most of us, my self included, would be willing to give more details or clarification. So just ask.

Updated 6/4 1pm

Many thanks for putting this together!

1) Hotfix released today
2) We dont see this in our lab, so I will need full info such as system config, maps, in game settings, CCC settings, and FPS observed in 10.5 vs 10.8
3) Known issue - we are working to fix it
4) I need to see specific numbers/games where it is percieved that scaling is not good, or nvidia has better scaling than us, in order to reproduce it and fix it. Note - Quadfire scaling was improved in last months hotfix http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/ATICat107aBetaDriver.aspx


Your post was certainly the most helpful one so thanks again. In order to fix something, we have to be able to reproduce it, which sometimes is harder than actually fixing it. Please keep this list active if you dont mind, it certainly is very useful
 
2) We don't see this in our lab, so I will need full info such as system config, maps, in game settings, CCC settings, and FPS observed in 10.5 vs 10.8.

Since I have this one, I will give my details.

System Specs:
i7 920 @ 4.00ghz
6 gb ddr3 @ 1542
2x asus 5870v2 crossfire
foxconn bloodrage x58
x-fi prelude
intel nic
raptors and intel SSD
Windows 7 Enterprise 64 running SP 1.
Dell u2711 2560x1440 res

CCC settings are:
AA App Controlled
AS App Controlled
Cat AI Standard
Mip Detail Quality
AA mode Adaptive MSAA
no overclocking, on video cards, everything else on default in CCC

BFBC2 settings:
AA 8x
AS 16x
HBAO off
vsync off
all quality on high

10.5a 100fps avg
10.8a 50fps avg

If you load up multi player, this is pretty much true for me on any map. About half the frames with the 10.8 series compared to 10.5. I have not tested with single player as I only really play the multi player.
 
I just want to vouch for dakon, I'm on a sapphire 5970 @ stock. 10.5 Are still the best performing specially for bad company 2. I tested this on 2 completely different setups (i7 860 + corsair hx850 and q9550 + corsair tx650) with 2 different cards (5970 oc sapphire and a sapphire 5970stock individually)
 
While i'd tenatively say 10.8b enables the 2nd gpu on my 4870x2, it seems kinda slapped together attempt.

Yes dx9 games now enable the 2nd gpu,but the 2nd gpu remains stuck 'IN' 3d mode after exiting said dx9 games. Altho dx10 games still seem to function correctly and return to desktop 2d mode after exit. You can return the stuck on 2nd gpu by running and exiting a dx10 game.
 
4) I need to see specific numbers/games where it is percieved that scaling is not good, or nvidia has better scaling than us, in order to reproduce it and fix it. Note - Quadfire scaling was improved in last months hotfix http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/ATICat107aBetaDriver.aspx

Yes I agree that scaling is better but......

I run an HD 5970 + 5870 and I am getting these issues with BFBC2 with 10.8's.

1. CTD frequently mostly after a round (multiplayer).

2. Laggy spawn screen on hardcore servers, the servers that have a grey spawn screen. low fps 6-8 whereas 10.5's are in the 70-80's.

3. Slow map loading is back with the 10.8's.

Please can you look into thses issues as I would love the performance of the 10.8's without the above issues.

Thanks.
 
2) BC2 details (5850 Crossfire)

Happy to add in details:

My specs:

Motherboard: Asus P5Q Deluxe
RAM: 4gb Corsair Dominator
GPU: 2 x Asus HD5850 (not overclocked)
CPU: Q6600 @ 3.2ghz
OS: Windows 7 64 bit
Resolution: 1920x1080


CCC settings: Default (I have played around with AI but didn't make any difference).
Game settings: Everything on highest except HBAO = OFF and SHADOWS = LOW. BLOOM might be off (need to check) and I think I use DX10 (though have messed around with the DX version via the config and it didn't make any difference anyway).

How I test my FPS:

1. Start FRAPS
2. Start BC2
3. Load up an empty ARICA HARBOUR map
4. Start game and make my way to the zebra crossing at one end of the main street, where I stand and point my crosshair at the flag on top of the flag pole in the middle of the street.
5. Make note of FRAPS figure

10.5a

Result = 80 fps

10.6 - 10.8

Result = 35 fps

If I turn CAT AI = OFF and use 1 GPU under these drivers the frame rate I get is 50 fps

Weird as heck. And no matter how many times I uninstall / re-install versions of drivers, the result is always the same.
 
I mentioned these earlier but they may have been missed:

1. The CrossFireX issue with Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is still there in 10.8 + 10.8a CAP. When the prince dies and you start from the last checkpoint the framerate drops to 20 fps and stays there. Alt-Tabbing out of the game then back fixes it. Disabling CrossFireX is a more permanent fix but I'd rather see CrossFireX supported properly. It's what I bought the second card for after all!

2. Blur doesn't support CrossFireX at all. I believe ATI disabled it because of a bug with CrossFireX that caused the framerate to drop to 20 fps when driving through water and it stays there until you restart/reload the race. This is a similar issue to the Prince of Persia one.

Renaming the Blur executable to DiRT2_Game.exe allows the game to run on two GPUs with a better framerate, albeit it feels oddly laggy, so why isn't it properly implemented yet? I don't get a solid 60 fps with one GPU either and it annoys me to see my second GPU just sitting there doing nothing. The game has also always been stuttery on my system, especially during the pre-race fly-by, but I can't be certain whether this is a driver issue or something specific to my system.

3. Red Faction Guerrilla has some serious framerate dips with CrossFireX in areas where there is lots of vegetation/foliage but otherwise runs fine in the more desolate Martian areas. I know this is a comparatively old game now but I still enjoy playing it.

4. BioShock 2 doesn't support CrossFireX which would be useful when forcing anti-aliasing (at least in DX9 mode). Incidentally, why is it that NVIDIA support AA in DX10 in both BioShock and BioShock 2 but ATI don't?
 
I'll be rolling back to 10.5a but here's my current issue with 10.8b:

Dual monitors enabled any games causes dropped frames / framerate dropping issues whenever I move my mouse. I dicked around with several CCC settings to no avail. The only solution to this issue is disabling the 2nd monitor which clears the problem up. Obviously turning off my 2nd monitor isn't exactly an ideal solution. Hope you can clear this up in 10.9. Also a quick google search showed a few people on the Eve forums that had the same problem with 10.8.

Clock problems seem to be fixed though.

System Specs:

4870x2
Asus P5Q3 Deluxe
E8500 @ 4Ghz
4GB DDR3 Dual Channel
X-Fi Xtrememusic
Win 7 x64
 
Dual monitors enabled any games causes dropped frames / framerate dropping issues whenever I move my mouse.

I am experiencing the same issue. When I start up World of Warcraft for example the FPS drops to 0 every time I move my mouse and everything is very choppy. If I disable Hardware Cursor then the problem goes away but without the hardware cursor my mouse isn't nearly as responsive which is a deal breaker.

specs in sig.
 
2) BC2 details (5850 Crossfire)

Happy to add in details:

My specs:

Motherboard: Asus P5Q Deluxe
RAM: 4gb Corsair Dominator
GPU: 2 x Asus HD5850 (not overclocked)
CPU: Q6600 @ 3.2ghz
OS: Windows 7 64 bit
Resolution: 1920x1080


CCC settings: Default (I have played around with AI but didn't make any difference).
Game settings: Everything on highest except HBAO = OFF and SHADOWS = LOW. BLOOM might be off (need to check) and I think I use DX10 (though have messed around with the DX version via the config and it didn't make any difference anyway).

How I test my FPS:

1. Start FRAPS
2. Start BC2
3. Load up an empty ARICA HARBOUR map
4. Start game and make my way to the zebra crossing at one end of the main street, where I stand and point my crosshair at the flag on top of the flag pole in the middle of the street.
5. Make note of FRAPS figure

10.5a

Result = 80 fps

10.6 - 10.8

Result = 35 fps

If I turn CAT AI = OFF and use 1 GPU under these drivers the frame rate I get is 50 fps

Weird as heck. And no matter how many times I uninstall / re-install versions of drivers, the result is always the same.

This is good - thanks! Please can you just confirm that with the hotfix from yesterday 10.8b that you stil get 35 FPS on the above map
 
I am experiencing the same issue. When I start up World of Warcraft for example the FPS drops to 0 every time I move my mouse and everything is very choppy. If I disable Hardware Cursor then the problem goes away but without the hardware cursor my mouse isn't nearly as responsive which is a deal breaker.

specs in sig.

I just tested that solution with WoW right now, seems to work fine. In talking with my friend he told me I should just stick to FPS games since there are no cursors for them ;)

So the problem is definitely with hardware cursor because when I think about it pretty much most games I play have a cursor. Go figure!
 
Brand/Model: XFX 5870 XXX

Driver Set: 10.8.

System:
- I7 940 Stock.
- Asus P6T Motherboard.
- 12 gigs Corsair RAM @ 1333MHz
- Corsair 1000 Watt PSU.
- Windows 7 Ultimate.

Problem: OpenGL support is still broken. If I start up any OpenGL game with a driver set passed 10.4, it crashes. I am at work now, but will take a SS of the error when I get home.

Edit:

capturedf.png


For what it's worth, here is a DxDiag:
capture2qv.png


capture3wo.png
 
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I mentioned these earlier but they may have been missed:

1. The CrossFireX issue with Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is still there in 10.8 + 10.8a CAP. When the prince dies and you start from the last checkpoint the framerate drops to 20 fps and stays there. Alt-Tabbing out of the game then back fixes it. Disabling CrossFireX is a more permanent fix but I'd rather see CrossFireX supported properly. It's what I bought the second card for after all!

2. Blur doesn't support CrossFireX at all. I believe ATI disabled it because of a bug with CrossFireX that caused the framerate to drop to 20 fps when driving through water and it stays there until you restart/reload the race. This is a similar issue to the Prince of Persia one.

Renaming the Blur executable to DiRT2_Game.exe allows the game to run on two GPUs with a better framerate, albeit it feels oddly laggy, so why isn't it properly implemented yet? I don't get a solid 60 fps with one GPU either and it annoys me to see my second GPU just sitting there doing nothing. The game has also always been stuttery on my system, especially during the pre-race fly-by, but I can't be certain whether this is a driver issue or something specific to my system.

3. Red Faction Guerrilla has some serious framerate dips with CrossFireX in areas where there is lots of vegetation/foliage but otherwise runs fine in the more desolate Martian areas. I know this is a comparatively old game now but I still enjoy playing it.

4. BioShock 2 doesn't support CrossFireX which would be useful when forcing anti-aliasing (at least in DX9 mode). Incidentally, why is it that NVIDIA support AA in DX10 in both BioShock and BioShock 2 but ATI don't?

I had similar issues with Singularity back on June, and I downloaded a tool called RadeonPRO and works like a champ, I was able to force Crossfire and Anti Aliasing on Singularity which couldn't enable Anti Aliasing through the CCC (The game lacks of an AA option), I played the game at 16x Crossfire Anti Aliasing and never experienced a single slowdown, (Edge Detect was a little too much though). I downloaded from www.radeonpro.info , I forced Singularity to AFR Mode and worked, the same thing also worked for the ScreenSpace Demo which couldn't use my two cards and now it does, also it worked like a champ if you want to enable Tripple Buffering (I use it for Mafia 2 due to strange issues with MultiGPU and severe screen tearing).
 
This is good - thanks! Please can you just confirm that with the hotfix from yesterday 10.8b that you stil get 35 FPS on the above map

Happy to help. Am currently on 10.5a with 10.8 CAPS. Went in and verified FPS as posted above and saw exactly 80 FPS with Crossfire enabled.

Grabbed the 10.8b hotfix and just installed it over the top of 10.5a, frame rate was just over 40 FPS with Crossfire enabled (and the Crossfire logo was displaying on the top right of the screen).

Now here's the weird part. I turned CAT AI = OFF and went into BC2 again and my FPS was 85. Crossfire logo was not displayed.

Now I'm really puzzled :D
 
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Just would like to report another issue with 10.8b and curious if anyone else is having the same

Running a 4870x2 and noticing that in 10.8b I'm running about 10c hotter than I did in 10.5a. Anyone else noticing that?

What would be the reason behind it? Fan is cranking at full.
 
My set is CX 5850 with Eyefinity @5760 x 1080 and running all VGA .. with 10.6/10.7/10.8 on BC 2 will lock up and i get BC 2 has stopped working after about 30mins or so of game play.. but i don't get this error with 10.5 as it will run as long as i want to play..

I like the look of 10.8 over 10.5 in how smooth it feels but i am running 10.5 with 10.8a caps now and it runs great..

The rest of my setup is..
Intel i7 930
Evga x58 e758 3xSli
OCZ Gold DDR3 1600Mhz 6Gb kit
Corsair TX 950watt supply
Vista 64bit SP2
 
Another oddity I've noticed with the 10.7 and 10.8 drivers... DXDiag shows the Approx. Total Memory available as 716 MB for my HD 5870 rather than the expected 1,024 MB. Other third-party tools show either 1,024 MB for the card or several GB (which presumably includes some system RAM?). Is this a bug because I'm pretty sure it showed more memory with the pre-10.7 drivers?

My concern is that if DXDiag only sees 716 MB then games may too which in turn could limit the settings I can use or even introduce issues such as stuttering because the game is paging data to and from system RAM because it sees less free video RAM.
 
Brand/Model: XFX 5870 XXX

Driver Set: 10.8.

System:
- I7 940 Stock.
- Asus P6T Motherboard.
- 12 gigs Corsair RAM @ 1333MHz
- Corsair 1000 Watt PSU.
- Windows 7 Ultimate.

Problem: OpenGL support is still broken. If I start up any OpenGL game with a driver set passed 10.4, it crashes. I am at work now, but will take a SS of the error when I get home.

Do you have v-sync enabled by any chance?

I ask because I downloaded the Amnesia: The Dark Descent demo a couple of days ago, a game which uses OpenGL, and it will only run so long as I don't enable v-sync in the options. If I enable v-sync in the game, it attempts to restart but never loads, instead it crashes to the desktop every time. The same happens even if I manually edit the config file to enable v-sync.

Now I've not tried any other OpenGL games such as Doom 3 or Quake 4 yet, both of which I have installed with v-sync on, so it may be an issue specific to that game. If I remember I'll try them later to see if I get crashes with those.

To be honest, I'm not impressed at all with ATI's OpenGL drivers as it seems very buggy compared with the ones I was used to from NVIDIA's drivers. I tried playing Doom 3 a month or so back only to find out the HUD was all weird and the textures/shadows flickered. I fixed it by using the OpenGL file from the 10.4 drivers and placed in the same folder as the Doom 3 executable. That fixed the issue for me but it really shouldn't be necessary. OpenGL is rarely used in games these days so it's disconcerting when the few games that do use it don't even run properly.
 
Another oddity I've noticed with the 10.7 and 10.8 drivers... DXDiag shows the Approx. Total Memory available as 716 MB for my HD 5870 rather than the expected 1,024 MB. Other third-party tools show either 1,024 MB for the card or several GB (which presumably includes some system RAM?). Is this a bug because I'm pretty sure it showed more memory with the pre-10.7 drivers?

My concern is that if DXDiag only sees 716 MB then games may too which in turn could limit the settings I can use or even introduce issues such as stuttering because the game is paging data to and from system RAM because it sees less free video RAM.

Mine shows the same thing with the ram.
 
Do you have v-sync enabled by any chance?

I ask because I downloaded the Amnesia: The Dark Descent demo a couple of days ago, a game which uses OpenGL, and it will only run so long as I don't enable v-sync in the options. If I enable v-sync in the game, it attempts to restart but never loads, instead it crashes to the desktop every time. The same happens even if I manually edit the config file to enable v-sync.

Now I've not tried any other OpenGL games such as Doom 3 or Quake 4 yet, both of which I have installed with v-sync on, so it may be an issue specific to that game. If I remember I'll try them later to see if I get crashes with those.

To be honest, I'm not impressed at all with ATI's OpenGL drivers as it seems very buggy compared with the ones I was used to from NVIDIA's drivers. I tried playing Doom 3 a month or so back only to find out the HUD was all weird and the textures/shadows flickered. I fixed it by using the OpenGL file from the 10.4 drivers and placed in the same folder as the Doom 3 executable. That fixed the issue for me but it really shouldn't be necessary. OpenGL is rarely used in games these days so it's disconcerting when the few games that do use it don't even run properly.

I have vSync forced off. I never use it. When I get home I'll play around with vSync some more and see what I can do. I know this: I don't have to edit or touch anything with the 10.2/4 driver set; OpenGL works like a charm. To be honest, I am getting really annoyed with this whole driver thing. If it's not one thing it seems like another. SLi 260's or 270's are looking really good to me right now. I'm just frustrated.
 
Happy to help. Am currently on 10.5a with 10.8 CAPS. Went in and verified FPS as posted above and saw exactly 80 FPS with Crossfire enabled.

Grabbed the 10.8b hotfix and just installed it over the top of 10.5a, frame rate was just over 40 FPS with Crossfire enabled (and the Crossfire logo was displaying on the top right of the screen).

Now here's the weird part. I turned CAT AI = OFF and went into BC2 again and my FPS was 85. Crossfire logo was not displayed.

Now I'm really puzzled :D

Ok forget mix and matching for a moment. If you could, can you please just test the following:
Cat 10.5 (10.5 CAP) vs Cat 10.8 with CAP 10.8b
 
10.8b: Same problems with BFBC2 since 10.6 where there are flickering black screens or the whole screen goes black to a HUD-like view. The second GPU also sticks at 3D clock speeds after a DX9 game has been played.

10.5a: Still the best driver for me even though it does not have near as good performance in Crysis Warhead as 10.6-10.8b.
 
Running the 10.8b drivers wit the 10.8a CAP.

2x 5870 in crossfire.

If I turn vsync on, it stays at 60 no matter what and never dips in game below 60.

If I turn vsync off, it gets quite choppy and plummets below 60 on a regular basis. Is something fubar with the way the frostbite engine and vsync off renders with the newer drivers?
 
I have been following this thread for about a week now and have decided to post.

Here are my system specs:
Asus M3A32-MVP
8GB Corsair Dominator @ 1066
Phenom II X4 965 (125w) @ 4.0Ghz
2 x Asus 3870X2 in Crossfire X (old I know, but still pwns)
Windows 7 64bit

I have tried everything except the 10.8b driver (since I just saw the hotfix just this morning). Nothing past the 10.4a driver works worth a crap for me in BFBC2. With the 10.4a drivers I have 3 second loads and am seeing about 90fps average at 1680x1050 everything full on and turned up except I don't run any AA. With anything above 10.4a I get C2D all the time, long load times (way over 30 seconds) and corrupted textures (appearing as big areas of black). I also see texture flashing and never get above a max of 50fps. I will give the 10.8b's a try tonight and see what happens. I thought I would say something since nobody has said anything about the 3000 series...
 
forgive my ignorance but what does one need to run AA in SC2? Is it just 10.8a drivers? or do I need a patch on top of it.
 
My settings in CCC are the defaults except cranking the Catalyst AI to max. I run at a resolution of 1280X1024. I have the settings maxed out in BFC2. I could make changes and see no differences when I was runing the 10.8+10.8a profile.

Would it be of any benefit for me to try the 10.8 driver and new 10.8b profile>>CatalstMaker?
The only game I am playing is bad company 2.

Thanks for the help guys, this FORUM ROCKS!!:eek::D:D
 
forgive my ignorance but what does one need to run AA in SC2? Is it just 10.8a drivers? or do I need a patch on top of it.

10.7a CCC, at least or 10.8 CCC.

The CAP are not needed for SC2. I actually downclocked my twin HD5870 cards to HD5850 speeds, and I still get about 60fps (vsync) with rare dips into 55fps, and about 70-90% GPU usage for both GPU, all at 1920x1080.
 
I have been following this thread for about a week now and have decided to post.

Here are my system specs:
Asus M3A32-MVP
8GB Corsair Dominator @ 1066
Phenom II X4 965 (125w) @ 4.0Ghz
2 x Asus 3870X2 in Crossfire X (old I know, but still pwns)
Windows 7 64bit

I have tried everything except the 10.8b driver (since I just saw the hotfix just this morning). Nothing past the 10.4a driver works worth a crap for me in BFBC2. With the 10.4a drivers I have 3 second loads and am seeing about 90fps average at 1680x1050 everything full on and turned up except I don't run any AA. With anything above 10.4a I get C2D all the time, long load times (way over 30 seconds) and corrupted textures (appearing as big areas of black). I also see texture flashing and never get above a max of 50fps. I will give the 10.8b's a try tonight and see what happens. I thought I would say something since nobody has said anything about the 3000 series...

cuz its time to move onto more modern cards. im sure 1 5870 is faster is 2 of those. They probably do not even make updated drivers for scaling on those cards anymore.
 
What exactly does Catalyst A.I do? I've googled and never really found an answer. This ;may be placebo but over the years I've always found I have better performance and image quality with it turned off, so I always turn that shit off.
 
yeah that's what I mean, turning A.I off causes CFX to turn off.
 
10.10c is the latest driver set. let us know if you crossfire them if games work properly.
 
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