[NOT SOLVED] Crossfire issues, XFX and SAPPHIRE R7 260X

[epicylon]

PROBLEM:

Catalyst Control Center won't let me enable Crossfire (picture below). Device manager recognizes both cards.

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WHAT I'M USING:

I have one XFX R7 260X and one SAPPHIRE R7 260X.
System Information: http://pastebin.com/QjeNdbza
Motherboard: GIGABYTE F2A78M-D3H
Manufactorer pages: XFX R7 260X SAPPHIRE R7 260X
PSU: Cooler Master B500 ver.2. It is 500W and should be sufficient according the the PSU calculator (see below).

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WHAT I'VE TRIED SO FAR:

• Resocketing.
• Swapping the GPU's to different PCI-e sockets.
• Running both GPU's alone.
• Reinstalling AMD software to wipe drivers.
• Changing out the PSU with a MIST Modular 650XHE12DC 650W.

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HWiNFO, HWMonitor, GPU-Z:

HWiNFO GPU screens



CPU-Z GPU screens



HWMonitor, only recognizing one GPU?

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QUESTIONS:

I can't seem to find a Crossfire 'finger' for the bridge on the XFX card, but the SAPPHIRE card has one. I'm starting to be legitimately worried that the XFX R7 260X actually does not support Crossfire.
If that's the case I'll never use XFX again. @ATMINSIDE confirms XFX can crossfire.

According to the AMD Crossfire Chart, my cards should be able to do bridge-less Crossfire.

Does my motherboard even support bridge-less Crossfire?

I'll definitely buy the person who cracks this case a game or two on Steam!

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ADDITIONAL PICTURES:


Computer case, everything attached.


PCI-e sockets.


XFX GPU, no visible Crossfire bridge finger. Weird, huh?


Sticker on XFX card.


Sticker on SAPPHIRE card.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Can you post links to the manufacturer page of each card?

Also, can you host the pictures you linked to via the forum please?

 

[epicylon]

Can you post links to the manufacturer page of each card?

Also, can you host the pictures you linked to via the forum please?

Done and done.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Thanks for all that!

The XFX page lists Crossfire, you're good there.
What driver version?
I'm wondering if the issue is that the second GPU is on a 2.0x4 slot...

 

[kyfire]

Are you running the latest Radeon Software Crimson Edition 15.30.1025.1001?

 

[epicylon]

Thanks for all that!

The XFX page lists Crossfire, you're good there.
What driver version?
I'm wondering if the issue is that the second GPU is on a 2.0x4 slot...

Yeah, this was also a bit on my mind..

Here is some screens from GPU-Z, I'm not sure if you can tell from those, but it's worth a shot, right?





Here is the 'Status' bar from GPU-Z on the SAPPHIRE card



And here for the XFX card

Are you running the latest Radeon Software Crimson Edition 15.30.1025.1001?

I think I'm running the latest..



This would be correct, right?

Thank you guys so much for helping me out with this..

 

[ATMINSIDE]

The PCIe bus will drop speed when at idle to save power, that's why it shows @1.1

It could be worth checking out some older drivers after cleaning with DDU

 

[epicylon]

The PCIe bus will drop speed when at idle to save power, that's why it shows @1.1

It could be worth checking out some older drivers after cleaning with DDU

OK, will do that right now.
One question tho, should I get seperate drivers for the GPUs? Considering one is XFX and one is SAPPHIRE?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

What you're asking isn't possible.

Also, even though the brands are different, the GPU inside is the same piece of silicon.

 

[epicylon]

What you're asking isn't possible.

Also, even though the brands are different, the GPU inside is the same piece of silicon.

Alright, thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

[epicylon]

The PCIe bus will drop speed when at idle to save power, that's why it shows @1.1

It could be worth checking out some older drivers after cleaning with DDU

Alright, small update.

I've rolled back on all previous R7 260X drivers, with a complete DDU before installing them.
Nothing has worked so far..

Back to the drawing bench I suppose..

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

I don't see a X-Fire bridge on the XFX so that's the issue.
The only other way of crossfire I know of was some link on the mobo combined with AMD APU's?

XFX is a good brand, I wouldn't ditch them just because of this one GPU. Lifetime warranty FTW!

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I don't see a X-Fire bridge on the XFX so that's the issue.
The only other way of crossfire I know of was some link on the mobo combined with AMD APU's?

XFX is a good brand, I wouldn't ditch them just because of this one GPU. Lifetime warranty FTW!

The 260X can do bridgeless Crossfire.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

The 260X can do bridgeless Crossfire.

Can the Sapphire do it though?

Maybe it cant because it has a physical bridge?

 

[Lochekey]

It is possible that the XFX card conforms to the AMD standard and thus can do bridgeless crossfire while the Sapphire is a non standard design that still relies on the external crossfire bridge for support, thus rendering the 2 cards incompatible. Everything I can find on the sapphire card refers to using the external bridge.

This is just my supposition based on the research I did on the subject so please don't take my above statement as an absolute fact.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

It is possible that the XFX card conforms to the AMD standard and thus can do bridgeless crossfire while the Sapphire is a non standard design that still relies on the external crossfire bridge for support, thus rendering the 2 cards incompatible. Everything I can find on the sapphire card refers to using the external bridge.

This is just my supposition based on the research I did on the subject so please don't take my above statement as an absolute fact.

Didn't think of this, good logic Lochekey.

 

[epicylon]

@Lochekey, @Silver_Pharaoh and @ATMINSIDE, some really good thinking there.

I think this might be the answer I've been looking for. I will continue to investigate, and I'm pretty stoked for what AMD Tech Support has to say.

Thank you all for helping me out. I really, really appreciate it.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Please let us know what AMD says, I'm curious

 

[epicylon]

Please let us know what AMD says, I'm curious

Will definitely do. Opened a ticket yesterday so we'll see how long it takes for them the reply as well I guess.

 

[epicylon]

Alright, small update. I've got a reply from AMD Technical Support.

Response and Service Request History:

I understand that you have two R7 260 graphic cards and you are unable to enable in ctalyst crontrol centre. If I have missed out on critical information on your email please get back to me as my suggestions may change.

I would recommend you to please refer below CrossFire compatibility chart for your reference.
http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/Crossfire-Chart.aspx

You can CrossFire an R7 260 or an R7 260X

I suggest you to please visit below link for how to set-up AMD crossfire system.
http://support.amd.com/en-us/search/faq/233

In order to update this service request, please respond, leaving the service request reference intact.

Best regards,

AMD Global Customer Care

TL;DR Nothing we didn't know.

Another thing. As I've previously mentioned I've rolled back on all AMD drivers that are compatible with the 260Xs,
and somehow, for some reason I ended up using 15.7.1 drivers for a little while.

With these drivers only, I've been starting to get this message from CCC at start-up.



Does that mean there's hope?

When I go into Performance > AMD CrossfireX™ I still get the same message from CCC (the one posted in OP).

I'll get back to AMD Technical Support, and have another word with them.

[28.01.2016] Edit:

Small update again. Haven't gotten another reply from AMD. Beginning to come to terms with the fact that the second GPU is completely useless right now and is just drawing power.

Will try to reach out to AMD Tech Support again, but it will be the last time.