4870 in PCI-e x1 mode

[kalrith]

Update: I noticed GPU-Z reporting that the cards in PCI-e x1 mode. Any thoughts on how to fix that? It seems that it must've been in x8 or x16 mode to give the 9100 GPU score, so I'm wondering what changed.

Cliffs:

1. Upgraded from 2900XT to 4870 512MB without uninstalling/reinstalling drivers
2. Got Vantage GPU score of 9100
3. Uninstalled and upgraded drivers
4. Got Vantage GPU score of 6200
5. Please help!

I upgraded from a 2900XT to a 4870 512MB. The 2900XT got a 3900 GPU score on 3DMark Vantage Performance (which is the default). I swapped out the cards without uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers. The 4870 got a 9100 GPU score on 3DMark Vantage.

I'm not sure what driver I was running, but I uninstalled the old version, ran driver cleaner, and installed the 10.5 drivers and CCC. I dabbled in some overclocking with ATI Tray Tools as well. Now my 4870 won't get above a 6400 GPU score .

I tried to uninstall and reinstall the drivers (using 10.6 this time). I stopped using ATI Tray Tools, and I've run it at stock clocks again. Nothing I do will get it even to a GPU score of 6500, let alone above 9k where it was before.

Another thing I noticed is that it constantly switches between the 2d clocks and 3d clocks when I'm just sitting at my desktop doing nothing other than running GPU-Z. Also, it sometimes dropped to 2d clocks right in the middle of 3DMark Vantage but didn't do that when playing a game. Just in case dropping to the 2d clocks affected the score, I used ATI Tray Tools to force it to 750/900 (stock clocks) with no change in the score.

Here's one other interesting thing. When I installed rivatuner to overclock the card, it said I still had a 2900XT. I haven't tried it again since upgrading to the latest drivers.

 

[kalrith]

Anyone?

 

[busydude]

How is the performance in games?

 

[kalrith]

Well, I've only played Titan Quest so far, and the performance is so-so. However, Titan Quest is plagued with some problems that even some very capable systems have. Still, the performance is better with AA on than it was with AA off with the 2900XT.

I'll have to fire up Oblivion and COD4, which were both taxing on my 2900XT with no AA and no AF to see how the 4870 fares.

Are you thinking that the problem is with 3DMark Vantage instead of my card or drivers? I know my card should be getting over 7k at least. It scored less that 7k even overclocked to 820/1050.

I was thinking that maybe something extra was installed (like DX10) when I installed the new drivers instead of using the ones from the old video card, and that caused the problems.

 

[RussianSensation]

You have may Anti-aliasing enabled in the Control Panel where it forces it in Vantage.

 

[kalrith]

You have may Anti-aliasing enabled in the Control Panel where it forces it in Vantage.

Thanks. I'll check those settings when I get home. I'll also try some older drivers to see if that's the issue. I think I was running 10.2 or 10.3 with the 2900XT.

 

[kalrith]

Update: I noticed GPU-Z reporting that the cards in PCI-e x1 mode. Any thoughts on how to fix that? It seems that it must've been in x8 or x16 mode to give the 9100 GPU score, so I'm wondering what changed.

 

[kalrith]

I reseated the card. It showed up as x16. I scored 9340 Hopefully I don't have this problem again.