Crossfire Capped at 40fps and Flickering?

[Elfear]

I'm having some weird issued with my Crossfire setup. It was working just fine for the last month or two but lately it hasn't been working at all. One card would render things just fine but anytime I'd open a 3D app with Crossfire enabled the screen would just black out.

I finally reinstalled WinXP and just used the ATI 6.9 drivers (I was using the Warcat 6.6 + Chuck before). I can now get 3D apps to open and run but everything is capped at 40fps and I get a flashing screen sometimes, like in Firefly in 3DMark05. Here is what I've tried up to this point:

Using .NET 1.1 & 2.0 (fully updated)
Uninstalled X-Fi card through Device Manager
Uninstalled McAfee Virus Scan (heard there may be probs with CLI.exe and McAfee)
All CCC settings are at default except for Crossfire being enabled (V-Sync is off)
Physical inspection of both cards to ensure that no water dripped on them
Tried older chipset drivers that came on MSI CD


Not sure what went haywire but I'm only hitting 9,691 in 3DMark05 now which is less than a single card. Any ideas??

 

[TanisHalfElven]

another resinstall.
and use the 6.6. there supposed to be the best drivers for ati (esp crossfire)

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven
another resinstall.
and use the 6.6. there supposed to be the best drivers for ati (esp crossfire)

That's what I heard too but after reinstalling those drivers 3 or 4 times I got sick of it and tried the 6.9's. I used the Cat Uninstaller and DCP each time I reinstalled the drivers so I don't believe it was a driver conflict. With the 6.6's I just got a black screen upon running a 3D app and with the 6.9's I get a 40fps cap and weird flashing (almost like a strobe light going off).

I tried the 6.6's immedietly after my last XP install and it was the same black screen. I was using the Warcat 6.6 + Chuck drivers so maybe there was an issue with them specifically??

 

[LittleNemoNES]

No problems here, elfear
are you using some other app to mange your card? ATI Tool, Ati Tray Tools? Cos I would leave them out since they make crossfire a PITA more than they help in my own experience
Check to make sure the crossfire dongle is secured tightly to your cards.

 

[lopri]

Very weird. Only thing that I know about frame cap, other than the apps themselves, is V-sync. But I'm assuming you've checked the related configurations. Are you using FRAPS to read FPS? If so, try uninstalling the FRAPS and employ a different method to measure the FPS?

 

[lopri]

Have you also tried underclocking? In the past, NV cards with clock domains would show problem in 3DMark05/06 FireFly test. That test heavily utilizes vertex shaders, and the geometry clock (as well as memory OC) was the main cause.

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: gersson
No problems here, elfear
are you using some other app to mange your card? ATI Tool, Ati Tray Tools? Cos I would leave them out since they make crossfire a PITA more than they help in my own experience
Check to make sure the crossfire dongle is secured tightly to your cards.

I've been using both ATT and ATI Tool with great results. Ever since the problems started I've uninstalled both apps and I'm back to stock clocks. I checked the dongle and it is secure.

Originally posted by: lopri
Very weird. Only thing that I know about frame cap, other than the apps themselves, is V-sync. But I'm assuming you've checked the related configurations. Are you using FRAPS to read FPS? If so, try uninstalling the FRAPS and employ a different method to measure the FPS?

Haven't used FRAPS for a long time. Good thought though.

Have you also tried underclocking? In the past, NV cards with clock domains would show problem in 3DMark05/06 FireFly test. That test heavily utilizes vertex shaders, and the geometry clock (as well as memory OC) was the main cause.

I'm back to stock clocks now until I figure out this problem.

 

[BFG10K]

Check that Temporal AA isn't enabled.

 

[Elfear]

I couldn't find anywhere that I could disable/enable Temporal AA. That was looking in ATT, ATI Tool, and CCC. Where can I see that option??

On a side note, I tried out the 6.10 Beta's and the cap and flickering are now gone. My 3DMark05 score still looks a little low (~13,200) but that may have been been because the cpu was at stock clocks. It still boggles my mind that the 6.6 drivers won't work at all, 6.9's halfway work, and 6.10 Beta works the best by far. I've been running on the 6.9's for awhile now and I wish I knew what went haywire.

 

[josh6079]

I couldn't find anywhere that I could disable/enable Temporal AA. That was looking in ATT, ATI Tool, and CCC. Where can I see that option??

Using ATT, this is how I change such settings:

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Honestly though, it is disabled by default and unless you enabled it I don't think that's the problem. Afterall, if you enabled it you wouldn't be curious as to where to find it.

Perhaps a renamed .exe somewhere that wasn't quite right? It just seems weird how the 6.6's are giving more problems than the 6.10's. Although, the 6.10's carry more Crossfire support, just not as much performance quality. Still, if 6.10's give integrated Chuck and flawless Crossfire support in your case I'd just stick with that.

 

[LittleNemoNES]

Originally posted by: josh6079

I couldn't find anywhere that I could disable/enable Temporal AA. That was looking in ATT, ATI Tool, and CCC. Where can I see that option??

Using ATT, this is how I change such settings:

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Honestly though, it is disabled by default and unless you enabled it I don't think that's the problem. Afterall, if you enabled it you wouldn't be curious as to where to find it.

Perhaps a renamed .exe somewhere that wasn't quite right? It just seems weird how the 6.6's are giving more problems than the 6.10's. Although, the 6.10's carry more Crossfire support, just not as much performance quality. Still, if 6.10's give integrated Chuck and flawless Crossfire support in your case I'd just stick with that.

This is helpful for single x19xx users but relatively inexperienced folks shouldn't be using ATI Tool/Tray Tools with Crossfire.

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: josh6079

I couldn't find anywhere that I could disable/enable Temporal AA. That was looking in ATT, ATI Tool, and CCC. Where can I see that option??

Using ATT, this is how I change such settings:

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Honestly though, it is disabled by default and unless you enabled it I don't think that's the problem. Afterall, if you enabled it you wouldn't be curious as to where to find it.

Perhaps a renamed .exe somewhere that wasn't quite right? It just seems weird how the 6.6's are giving more problems than the 6.10's. Although, the 6.10's carry more Crossfire support, just not as much performance quality. Still, if 6.10's give integrated Chuck and flawless Crossfire support in your case I'd just stick with that.

Sweet, thanks Josh. I'll check it when I get home but I assume like you that it is off.

I just hope that the official 6.10 drivers really do incorporate the Chuck patch and prove to be just as good as the 6.6's for Crossfire. Until then I guess I'll stick with the Beta version.