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4 GPU CrossfireX XP64 or Vista 64, does it matter?

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DaPoets

Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2007
I'm running x2 ASUS 3870x2's on windows XP64. Would going to Vista 64 make any difference what so ever with these 4 GPU's? I have read conflicting information... something about xp doesn't do well past 3GPUs or something but I can't confirm that.

Thanks in advance
 
I can confirm that...have been trying the last few days to get Tri-Fire running on Xp to no advail...Vista sees it right away...matter of fact...8.3 - 8.8 picks up Tri-fire right away on Vista...

Will see in a few weeks what running quad fire will do on XP...getting another X2...

As far as Tri-fire working on XP64...I can not say...

And yes I do have all updates with SP3...so this is not a driver/hardware issue...this is a OS issue...
 
sorry I guess we touched on this in another thread but this one is better titled for it. So does ATI have docs saying that XP64/XP only supports up to 2 GPU's for CrossfireX? I know both of my 3870x2's are working in XP64 as I have monitors plugged into both of them but when running benchmarks, my scores didn't budge having added this 2nd 3870x2. Any idea if there will be a patch for XP for this? I have had no reason to go to vista yet but if this is the case then I guess I will have to go out and buy Vista 64 reluctantly. I just bought this OEM xp64 like a month ago too, but it was only $40 I think so I'm not too upset.
 
F*in A... Guess I HAVE to F*in get vista 64 now damit... :-(


from: http://www2.ati.com/relnotes/catalyst_83_release_notes.html

CrossFireX™ (Quad) Support 3 or 4 GPUs in CrossFireX™ Mode
This release of Catalyst™ introduces CrossFireX™ Quad support. Users with any combination of a ATI Radeon™ HD 3870, ATI Radeon™ HD 3850, and ATI Radeon™ HD 3870 X2 graphics accelerators running with 3 or 4 GPUs will be able to run in CrossFireX™ Quad mode (when used in a CrossFireX™ compatible PC). CrossFireX™ Quad will deliver significant performance improvements in a number of applications. Users can expect to see further DirectX 10 QUAD CrossFireX™ performance improvements in future Catalyst™ releases.

Users are now able to run in CrossFireX™ (Quad) mode while running in extended desktop mode on the Windows Vista desktop


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: CrossFireX™ (Quad) is only supported under the Windows Vista operating system
 
Even without specs saying it, I would say Vista would be better suited for it, expecially 64-bit Vista. Quad Fire is still relatively new for ATI/AMD.
 
Well I installed Vista 64 home premium, and it's slower than XP64 (granted I put it on my Raid 10 section and XP64 is on the RAID 0 section of my drives so I have a clean dual boot) I see more options in Cat and a drop down for 2, 3, and 4 GPU crossfireX which is cool. 1st thing I noticed was that in XP64 when CFX was active, I still had 2 LCD's going, but when in Vista64 it cuts me down to 1 LCD when I activate CFX... So I'm guessing right away that XP64 will allow multiple monitors since it only allows for 2 gpu's in CrossfireX and Vista64 uses all 4 GPU's thus cuts you down to 1 monitor. I updated Vista64 and all the latest drivers blah blah blah, ran 3Dmark06 w/ all 4 GPU's in crossfireX mode and my score wasn't any better compared to 2 GPU's in XP64... Cat 8.52 from ASUS is what I'm using as it's their newest one. I didn't compare any of the other 3Dmark0X's as it was getting late... Thoughts?
 
I can run 2 monitors in CF no issues. Vista 64-bit Ultimate. You can't re-enable the second monitor after CF is activated?
 
yeah, but you know, it was late, I'll fool around w/ it more when I'm home from work. I do have 8 dvi outs so my list of monitors is long when it comes to enabling a monitor.
 
So when I do a 2, or 3 crossfireX GPU I can use my 2nd LCD, but when I do a 4GPU Crossfire, it shows both monitors in CCC but only one is active and the other is greyed out. I click on it and it says I have to enable it, so I hit yes, and the monitor doesn't come on and CCC still has it greyed out...

Just did a clean install and update to Vista 64 home premium. Even formated the hard drive.
 
F*in A... Guess I HAVE to F*in get vista 64 now damit... :-(


from: http://www2.ati.com/relnotes/catalyst_83_release_notes.html

CrossFireX™ (Quad) Support 3 or 4 GPUs in CrossFireX™ Mode
This release of Catalyst™ introduces CrossFireX™ Quad support. Users with any combination of a ATI Radeon™ HD 3870, ATI Radeon™ HD 3850, and ATI Radeon™ HD 3870 X2 graphics accelerators running with 3 or 4 GPUs will be able to run in CrossFireX™ Quad mode (when used in a CrossFireX™ compatible PC). CrossFireX™ Quad will deliver significant performance improvements in a number of applications. Users can expect to see further DirectX 10 QUAD CrossFireX™ performance improvements in future Catalyst™ releases.

Users are now able to run in CrossFireX™ (Quad) mode while running in extended desktop mode on the Windows Vista desktop


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: CrossFireX™ (Quad) is only supported under the Windows Vista operating system

Dood Vista is not so bad now after all the fixes. I switched about 2 months ago, and i have yet to have any problems (except for my SB fatality, creative is crap).
 
Well I had to plug both LCD's into the same card and that now lets me use both LCD's while in 4 GPU CrossfireX mode. I ran 3DMark06 and had no noticable improvement on my benchmark score...
 
Oh you didn't have the monitor connected to the same card? Yeah you must connect it to the primary card.
 
Yeah I didn't know... not much documentation out there for 4 GPU CrossfireX as well as detailed FAQ...

Now my current issue is that 3Dmark06 scored didn't go up... I have a fresh Vista64 home premium install on a formated 4 hard drive raid 0 + 1, fully updated vista sp1, and if I select 2 GPU or 4 GPU my 3Dmark06 scores are the same. is 3Dmark06 not a good benchmark for 4 gpu's? Or is there something wrong w/ my crossfireX even though vista seems to think it's working fine now.

I have only been using vista64 for a few hours now so I don't know the nooks and crannies of it.
 
I'm sorry to tell you Quad CrossfireX support was removed in Catalyst 8.7. If you want quad cards to work use Catalyst 8.6 hotfix. AMD just told me via official support channel Quad CrossfireX is not supported. And if you look at my system, you'll see I am quite angry right now. www.hydrabolt.com

PS use Vista not XP, quad never worked on XP, it only worked on Vista using Catalyst up to 8.6 hotfix.... 8.7 REMOVED support for quad connected cards.
 
I'm sorry to tell you Quad CrossfireX support was removed in Catalyst 8.7. If you want quad cards to work use Catalyst 8.6 hotfix. AMD just told me via official support channel Quad CrossfireX is not supported. And if you look at my system, you'll see I am quite angry right now. www.hydrabolt.com

PS use Vista not XP, quad never worked on XP, it only worked on Vista using Catalyst up to 8.6 hotfix.... 8.7 REMOVED support for quad connected cards.

I am only using drivers 8.52 and upgraded to Vista64 a few days ago. My 3Dmark03 score put me 12th in OCforums.
 
DP...the best way to tell if quad fire is truely working or not is to run 3d mark 06 pixel shader test with one card...then run it with both X2's...you should see a 80 - 100% jump in FPS if quad fire is truely working...
 
Actually the best way to tell if it is active is through the Catalyst Control Center. Two ways I know of are to look in the Information Center -> Graphics Hardware and make sure all 4 cards are enabled. In my system right now with Catalyst 8.8, 2 cards are enabled and 2 cards are disabled :<

Then open up ATI Overdrive and click the lock to unlock it. Under "Select GPU to configure:" pull down the menu. If you see 4 cards, you're running quad crossfirex.

I'm not entirely sure this same procedure works with the "X2" dual gpu cards. I have 4x 3870 single GPU cards o/c to 1000MHz each, and for a time I did have the #1 Phenom CPU-based system 3dMark06 score back in June
 
Or another way is to open up GPU-Z and see if its enabled on all cores as well. Not sure how accurate is though. Best way is really to run a benchmark to see if numbers went up.
 
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