ATI x1950XTX Crossfire Problem

[UltimaBoB]

Well, after spending TONS of cash, my computer issues are still not
solved. I am sad.

Computer:

Intel E6700 Core 2 Duo CPU @ 2.66GHz ) w/ copper heat sink + thermal compound)
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Motherboard
2 x HIS 1950XTX GPUs in Crossfire w/ Dongle
150 GB WD Raptor HDD
Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Extreme Music Soundcard
Enermax Liberty 620 Watt PSU
4 GGB OCZ Memory
LG DVD/R
Creative Inspire 5.1 Speakers
Samsung 2693HM 25.5" LCD (TN panel w/ DVI connection)
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard
Logitech G5 Laser Mouse
Windows XP x64 Professional


To be fair, I did have issues with heat, mother board and CPU usage, soundcard, etc... that were resolved. But the underlying issue that caused me to have my system checked out in the first place is still there.

When my crossfire cards go into 3D mode (games, google earth, etc....) the image on the new 26" Samsung LCD I have oscillates back and forth or "jitters".

I have tried this on:

3Dmark06
Neverwinter Nights 1
Neverwinter Nights 2 (totally different game)
Simearth 3D screensaver

On all of them the screen jitters back and forth. Interestingly, on the CPU tests on 3Dmark, the screen does not jitter - but it does on the graphics tests - leading me to believe that going into 3D mode is the issue. There are no issues with video or any other 2D applications.

I have a clean reinstall. There are no viruses. Heat has been managed. All my connections are solid. The PSU is running well and adequate. My 3DMark06 score tests perfectly for all of my compnents which are all at factory timings.

I didn't know what to do until I say this post:

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33846405

After reading it, I:

1. disabled crossfire in ATI CCC
2. Disbled the secondary card in Device manger
3. Unplugged the Crossfire Dongle
4. Plugged my monitor into the master card directly

Voila! just like this person reported, no problems. But no crossfire. When my computer worked perfectly, I was using a CRT with a DVI (from Dongle) to VGA adaptor. But that monitor isn't working anymore.

The original post I linked to was sevral years ago and concerned the X1900 - not X1950 series cards. And the drivers I have are much newere - but still the same issue. Does anyone have more up-to-date info? Or understand the issue better than I? Enough to offer me more options than essentially unplugging one of my cards. Could I use a DVI to VGA connection with my LCD? That might screw with image quality in other ways, right?

EDIT: This archived Post has some fix suggestions but I can't really follow the tech speak - do they work?

http://www.rage3d.com/board/ar...ex.php?t-33846405.html

 

[UltimaBoB]

Found a couple of other thread that leads with this:

"Hi,

I'm having a BIG problem running Crossfire with games and 3D applications.

The problem is that when playing a game or running 3Dmark05 in crossfire mode the screen starts to jump around.. like an earthquake or something similar.. have never stumbled into a problem like this before, and when only using a single card everything works flawlessly..

For example in 3Dmark05 I score about 11000 points with a single card, in crossfire mode the score is about 12000.. so there is definately something wrong here

I'm using the Cats 6.2.

System specs:
Asus A8R-MVP
AMD Athlon X2 4400+
Mushkin Extreme 2 x 2Gb
ATI Radeon 1900 XT x 2 Crossfire
Raptor 74 Gb RAID 0
Hiper Type-R PSU 580 W
Soundblaster X-Fi Fatality
Thermaltake Tai Chi Chassis

Any of you guys have similar problems..

Any help is appreciated, Thanks

Regards

Toby"


and two responses with possible ideas:


"I know I am alittle late to the thread, I just stumbled upon it trying to google a problem I have,

Anyways I know what's wrong with his machine. Why? Because my setup is almost identical to his. The problem is the Creative X-Fi card.

I had every single thing he said happened happen to me. I first RMA'd my X-FI Extreme music after a year of snp's and random freezing and whatnot. They sent me an X-Fi extreme gamer. same problems.

I got fucked. I sold the card to a buddy and went with my A8r-mvp onboard sound. Which, since i now have Vista (it was free and legal so that's why I got it.) the onboard drivers didn't come out till last month. I could get the sound but only 2 channels and it sounded like crap.

I have an uber rig with everything but a soundcard. I was going to get the X-Meridian but now I am getting the Auzentech Prelude 7.1, if that thing kills my machine I will personally drive to Creative headquarters and punch people."

I have an X-Fi...


or

"I had the same problem, it drove me nuts. I went through 2 monitors and 2 dongles. The fix is to lower the 3d voltage to 3.75 instead of 4. Works like a charm. If you raise the voltage above 4 it will shake again. I used ATI tray tools and created a profile with the slightly lower voltage. I just launch that profile before I game and the problem is gone.
Hope this helps,"

Wouldn't even know how to do this...

I'm pretty inexperienced with computers. Do any of these make sense?

 

[apoppin]

try switching the cards in the slots

what IS your PS?

1950 series still has the dongle, but not the master-slave card, right?

 

[UltimaBoB]

What are IS and PS?

1950 is basically 1900 with better memory (DDR4) and stock cooler so still has dongle

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: UltimaBoB
What are IS and PS?

1950 is basically 1900 with better memory (DDR4) and stock cooler so still has dongle

Sorry, my caps got temporarIly Stuck

---what is your Power Supply?

and there is no "master - slave" card, right?