Crossfire issues, 7950 + 7970. Benchmarks GOOD, but game performance is not.

Crossfire issues, 7950 + 7970. Benchmarks GOOD, but game performance is not. [S]

Hey, overclockers!

So, I recently updated my system from 1 GPU to 2 GPUs (CROSSFIREX) to see what would I gain. I thought I would get amazing performance i.e @Battlefield 4 but no. My benchmarks are trough the roof, but all in all i dont get good performance in games. I know that all games dont support xfire, but im sure some games still should boost my performance.

My system consists of:

ASUS 24" 1080p screen, primary GPU connected via DVI cable.

MoBo: Asus M5A97 R2.0

CPU: AMD FX-8370

RAM: 16 GB ( 2x8gb, 1 Corsair Vengeance* + 1 Kingston HyperX Savage* *DD3 1866MHz

GPU(s):
Club 3D royalQueen Radeon R9 280X (HD 7970). (These are in crossfire, now running with the 16.1 hotfix drivers. PRIMARY SLOT 16x
Gigabyte AMD Radeon R9 280 WindForce (HD 7950) SECONDARY SLOT 16x (x4 mode)

PSU: Fractal Desing Newton R3 800w

Chassis: Aerocool ExtremeEngine 3T

SSD: Crucial 128Gb containing windows 10, + Battlefield 4
HDD: Samsung 1TB, containing most of the games + misc.
SSD: OCZ Trion, 240GB, containing Star Wars: Battlefront


My Unigine Heaven 4.0 benchmarking results are consistently between 1600-1800 points, depending on wether I'm overclocking the 7950 or not. I got it to be stable at 1100mhz core clock, and 1500mhz memory clock. Both are at 20+ powertune.

I have also disabled ULPS with Afterburner.

With Unigine, my load on the GPUs are 98-100% on extreme settings with 1080p. With Battlefield 4, it is more like 50% load on the GPUs, on ultra. I have enabled mantle from video settings. In The Witcher 3: the Wild Hunt, my fps is about 30-40 on ultra. The load is about the same as in BF4.

Is there some game I could get the crossfire performance checked so I could rule out my system as faulty, and point my finger on the drivers? Or could it be that the secondary pci-e slot in x4 mode could be the problem; though I dont understand how can I get so good benchmarking results whilst games are lacking in performance?

I'll post more information when reguired, (snips, results of testing etc.)

Thank you all, who see the trouble of helping me / providing informative discussion

Simple answer, your bottleneck lies in the processor.

I dont think so. If it were bottlenecking, i would get atleast the same FPS whilst playing with the 7970, right? And here is some guy who runs a quad-7970s with and FX-8350, and surely it wouldnt be so overclocked that my fx-8370 couldnt handle two? http://www.overclock.net/t/1235557/official-top-30-heaven-benchmark-4-0-scores

There is a glass ceiling on amd processors vs intel with multi gpus. Period.

That said you don't mention what the fps were in bf4 before and after.

The other card in a 4x slot isn't optimal, though losses there should only be a couple percent. You also have mismatched CFX so the 7970 is running like a 7950 I belive. That and 1080p is becoming cpu limited in some titles.

I would, with your current system, overclock the cpu and see if that helps in games. In bf4, turn up the resolution scale and see if that increases the gpu load...

Otherwise, if I was you, I would sell those cards, and grab a single 390x or Fury or something. There isn't a point of CFX at 1080p..more headaches and not where dual cards are needed.

EarthDog said:

There is a glass ceiling on amd processors vs intel with multi gpus. Period.

That said you don't mention what the fps were in bf4 before and after.

The other card in a 4x slot isn't optimal, though losses there should only be a couple percent. You also have mismatched CFX so the 7970 is running like a 7950 I belive. That and 1080p is becoming cpu limited in some titles.

I would, with your current system, overclock the cpu and see if that helps in games. In bf4, turn up the resolution scale and see if that increases the gpu load...

Otherwise, if I was you, I would sell those cards, and grab a single 390x or Fury or something. There isn't a point of CFX at 1080p..more headaches and not where dual cards are needed.

Click to expand...

All of this +1.

What EarthDog said about the 7950 is most likely why your performance is lower than before.

Overclock the CPU. If you gain FPS you know you are CPU limited.

Thanks for the tips. Im going to try and install my Noctua tower cooler on the cpu so I can begin the overclocking process. Ill report back on the results.

With mantle the multi GPU optimization is on the game devs. You should contact BF4 support with this issue.
8370 should not bottleneck those cards.
Play around with the game settings and ensure that your cards are not throttling.

So, I got the CPU to run @4.45Ghz. After that my socket temp gets too high (70-73c). Sub par mobo isnt a good base for overclocking that chip. I did update my Fan to Noctua Nh-D15 so my CPU cooling is god-tier, atleast what come to air cooling systems.

I dont think it had measurable effect on my rigs performance in game. The GPU load is still somewhat low, and the FPS isnt that much better. I will need to take notes of the FPS in game with BF 4 and Battlefront whilst running the stock speeds and the OC speeds. 4.45 isnt much i know, but it is enough to have an effect, right? Plus I really cant get the system to be stable much higher than that, atleast with this mobo.

Ill post back when I have more info, but for now I think this was all

Put a fan on the backside of the motherboard as well as on the Vrm section and you should see the socket temps come down a bit. Also the miss matched ram may not be playing nice in the system.

Now my system keeps Freezing. Almost everytime at a different time. Sometimes right after gaming, sometimes when loading a game online with the browser. Sometimes after 1h, sometimes when loading windows. What could this be a sympton of? The Clocks, the voltages? The GPUs i have put on stock clocks, and the CPU i have clocked at a steady 4.1Ghz.









So, what to do? I have also reseated the GPUs, and did the Crossfire procedures, again, and now my BF 4 loads are good, i can get 100fps while gaming. So i guess the bottleneck wasnt a problem, but even a slight overclock reveals problems. Im i doind something wrong with my overclock? Or is it just really hard on this board? Going to get temps after 30 min prime95, as soon as I can, and post them here.

What are your load temperatures in game?

Have you tried with just one stick of RAM?
Mixing and matching isn't a great idea and HyperX has been known to have issues on FX...

ATMINSIDE said:

What are your load temperatures in game?

Have you tried with just one stick of RAM?
Mixing and matching isn't a great idea and HyperX has been known to have issues on FX...

Click to expand...

Could a memtest spot possible problems with mix matched RAMs? I'm going to get the load temps later tonight nevertheless.

Yes, it could.

You have the ram slightly overclocked as well as the processor. I suggest setting everything back to default just to see if the problems persist. If they go away then the problem is related to either the Cpu Oc or the Memory and we can work on getting a better Oc for you.

So, thanks for the help everyone, but I updated my CPU and MOBO to Intel i5-6600k and Z170-a from asus, so the problem is now non-existent

Glad the upgrade fixed it!