HD3870X2+HD3870 CrossFireX Results! (with a fair few pics)

[Anubis_386]

I ordered a HD3870XT to put in CrossFireX with my HD3870X2 .. I also got a new PSU, an Akasa PowerMax 850w .. The card I got sent was the wrong one, it was an ATI OEM card with a zalman copy cooler that gives of a high pitched whine so tomorrow I'm going to send it back for a slightly higher clocked, better cooled one ... But I didn't see any harm in running 3D06 and a few games on it before it goes bak

The performance gain in 3D06 isn't huge, but its not much less then a pair of X2s so this will tide me over until the X2s come down in price further and I have enough cash ...

Here's the two cards in my machine ..





Here are the clocks of the cards:
HD3870X2 Cores: 825Mhz
HD3870X2 Memory: 900Mhz

HD3870XT Core: 775Mhz
HD3870XT Memory: 1125Mhz

My HD3870X2 on its own scores 18045 in 3D06 at stock timings

Ok .. HD3870X2+HD3870 in CrossFireX @ 1280x1024: 19526 3DMarks​

HD3870X2+HD3870 in CrossFireX @ 1920x1200: 18371 3DMarks​

HD3870X2+HD3870 in CrossFireX @ 1920x1200 + 8xAA/16xAF: 12089 3DMarks​

I then put the clocks of my HD3870X2 up to 891/981 but the boost wasn't very significant as my score only went up to 19655 3DMarks

I'll post game benches later on tonight .. Crysis and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will be it though .. Also I'll post full overclocks when I get a better card ..

Cheers

 

[vt420]

in the anandtech cfx tests 3 gpu's kind of looked like the sweet spot to me. Thats a nice setup you've got there.

Jeff

 

[Riverslide SS]

verry nice rig dude !

 

[Anubis_386]

Small update .. Tried the setup in Crysis, 1920x1200 with all settings on High + 2xAA I get an average of around 55FPS (can't tell you exactly as the benchmark tool is being gay) .. The highest I saw it go was 63FPS and the lowest 49FPS .. This is on the 'Contact' part of the game taken from during a firefight ..

Edit: ... Dam these 8.3 drivers are sh*t! For some reason now Crysis doesn't work, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and ArmA crash on start up and nothing in Steam works .. So I've pulled out the HD3870 and I'm sending it back on Monday .. I'll keep the cash and save a little for a 2nd X2 .. Hopefully by then the 8.4 drivers will be out ..

 

[Mathis]

My Results

Hey, this is my first post, so hi everyone!

Anyhow, I decided to go for TRIFIRE on my new setup, and this is what I have so far.

Edit: Sorry for the size of the IMG, I was just following the rules, but it is hard to read.

After I finish my cable managment, I'll try to post pics of my rig. Thanks!

BTW, IMO the 3870X2 is a beautiful card in my case! I want to keep it open just to look at it!

 

[Anubis_386]

Welcome to the forums ... That's a nice setup you've got there, CrossfireX has potential but due to the amount of problems I had getting games to work with it .. I ditched it .. I'll wait until CC 8.4 is out and look to to get another X2 then .. But I'll have probably spent me cash on a new quad or something by then ... lol

 

[Smallz750]

I just recieved my visiontek hd3870x2 oc edition and a sapphire toxic hd3870 cards. Installed both of them in my asus maximus formula x38 mb. installed the crossfire bridge, but when I go to enable crossfire on the 3870 it tells me that "the Crossfirex internal bridge interconnects linking your crossfirex graphics cards are not properly connected. Both bridge interconnects must be attached. For more information see the user's guide for your graphics card."

I am not able to connect both bridges since the HD3870x2 only has one interconnect on it. it does show the enable crossfireX check box and give me the option to enable it when I go to my X2 card, but when I click on my 3870 card it gives me that message. Also when I run 3dmark06 I am getting a score of 16035, which my two hd3870's I did have installed were able to get a score of 20,000. So I know it's not detecting my 3 GPU's for some reason.

Anyone have any suggestions or know what I might be able to do to fix this problem.

I have an Asus Maximus Formula mb, bios 1004, with 8gb of ocz titanium DDR2 800 ram, Windows Vista 64Bit OS. and an Ultra 1600w X3 psu.

 

[OnDborder]

Welcome to the Forum! http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=491697 Smallz750

 

[DaPoets]

To be honest I had crap success getting 2 different brand cards playing nicely together in crossfire... I had HIS and Sapphire and they just didn't want to do the job together. 2 HIS worked great and 2 Sapphires worked great but mixing the 2 (same damn card just different sticker on them) just didn't pan out too well for me. Ended up ebaying all of them and I'm just using 1 HIS card right now until I do another big upgrade at the end of summer.

I just recieved my visiontek hd3870x2 oc edition and a sapphire toxic hd3870 cards. Installed both of them in my asus maximus formula x38 mb. installed the crossfire bridge, but when I go to enable crossfire on the 3870 it tells me that "the Crossfirex internal bridge interconnects linking your crossfirex graphics cards are not properly connected. Both bridge interconnects must be attached. For more information see the user's guide for your graphics card."

I am not able to connect both bridges since the HD3870x2 only has one interconnect on it. it does show the enable crossfireX check box and give me the option to enable it when I go to my X2 card, but when I click on my 3870 card it gives me that message. Also when I run 3dmark06 I am getting a score of 16035, which my two hd3870's I did have installed were able to get a score of 20,000. So I know it's not detecting my 3 GPU's for some reason.

Anyone have any suggestions or know what I might be able to do to fix this problem.

I have an Asus Maximus Formula mb, bios 1004, with 8gb of ocz titanium DDR2 800 ram, Windows Vista 64Bit OS. and an Ultra 1600w X3 psu.

 

[e_1337]

To be honest I had crap success getting 2 different brand cards playing nicely together in crossfire... I had HIS and Sapphire and they just didn't want to do the job together. 2 HIS worked great and 2 Sapphires worked great but mixing the 2 (same damn card just different sticker on them) just didn't pan out too well for me. Ended up ebaying all of them and I'm just using 1 HIS card right now until I do another big upgrade at the end of summer.

Wow, that's a bummer dude, I've never had a problem using different brands. Maybe I've just been lucky?

 

[DaGamer]

I'm using an MSI 3870 X2 OC Ed (850/901) and a PC 3870 X2 (825/901) and they seem to run just fine. Even mildly OC both to 855/936 w/o any problem. Does games just fine as i've had no real problem since the 8.4, I'm running the 3DMark Vantage hotfix driver and it's rock solid. Assassin's Creed seem to benefit from this driver as I see a good FR boost.

 

[prime81]

Well I'm on Vista Ult 64bit, with 8.6 drivers installed... it's seeing both of my cards which are..... HIS 3870x2 and a Sapphire Toxic 3870. I've got the single Crossfire bridge installed, Catalyst Control center claims crossfireX is enabled, GPU-Z states crossfire is disabled. Any ideas?

 

[Badbonji]

Try benching it with crossfire disabled and enabled in the CCC then see if there is a difference. If there isn't then it might be that it isn't working properly, or just doesn't scale better in a game. The score should increase in 3dmark06 though.

 

[prime81]

Well after disabling and re-enabling CFX, I got GPU-Z to give me the 3 green lights. Stock clocks on the cards, 3.6ghz Q6700.

 

[Anubis_386]

That looks right for Crossfire Enabled .. Nice score ..

 

[prime81]

Question here... I absolutely hate Vista, on ATi's site they say CFX is supported on both XP and Vista. I have the 8.6's installed on XP and GPU-Z is reporting the 3870 as crossfire disabled, however my 3870x2 is showing enabled with 2 GPUs. What's the deal here? I also downloaded and installed ATiTool and it won't load.