Crossfire HD4870-X3 [4870x2/2GB + 4870/512MB]; Anyone here run it?

[apoppin]

Let me preface this by saying i have had this in my PC for only a short time - 12 hours of testing - and i am running it in my Gigabyte P35 MB - PCIe 1.0 and 16x+4x PCIe slots - and my e8600 at stock.

On the basis of 5 games and a couple of synthetic benches, i'd have to say "it works" but X3 appears to be a driver mess

It is Hot .. very hot running - with the X2's fan stuck on high and the 4870s on normal is *damn irritating* - i just got the latest RT so i can mellow it out on "idle"

Scales ... not really, except in a few games at a few resolutions .. when it does not scale, it will drop to a single 4870's performance

Of course, i am held way back by my MB - which i am upgrading to Asus Rampage x48 and i will OC my e8600 - and i will continue to see how my other test games go, but i'd love to hear from anyone else running 4870-x3

Is there anything especially you would like me to look at or test?
- i am benching Crysis, UT3, ET-QW, HL2 LC, FEAR, STALKER [and getting clear sky], CoJ, LP and Vantage and 3DMark06. i am probably also getting CoH today.

 

[dug777]

Keep up the good work :beer:

 

[lavaheadache]

Apoppin.... what happend to the good ole days when you only upgraded when it was absolutely neccesary. I remember you rocking that 9800xt and pentium 4 for the longest time arguing about what is a sensible upgrade. Ever since you bit the bullet and got the "cheap" 2900 pro you've been on fire. 2900 crossfired, hd4870, hd4870 X2, GTX 280. This is not to even mention how many cpu and mobo upgrades you've been through. I've also noticed your on like your third monitor in a year. I'm not calling you out but, sheesh..... I still think your a cool guy I just agreed more with your "old" style. On that note, I appreciate all of this beta testing your doing for the rest of us. Diving into new and uncharted territory, lol. Anyhow, I haven't posted in a while cause I think this place is getting too congested with immature fanboys and the such and every time a good discussion starts people come in and destroy the thread. Now onto what I actually came in here to say: When was the last time you did a full format re-install. On my Q6600 rig I havent noticed the problems you have with your hd4870 @1920x1200. I tend to use as much AA as possible. The only instance I have had any problems is on R6 Vegas and bioshock. Vegas just seems too demanding cause I'll have great frames on e minute and then the second I step outside I get choppiness, but frames will be in the teens so it makes sense. This is unlike your situation because you stated that frames were sufficient to provide smooth game play yet it was not smooth. My bioshock problem isn't actually a problem at all because AA is not supported in DX10. I am especially interested in your Crysis benching cause I am blown away by the fact that even now a year after the game came out, there isn't a video card solution out there that can run High res and maxed out settings ie; very high with high AA with very satifactory results. I'd be curious to see if 4870 X3 would be up to the task. BTW, did you notice that the 4870 1 gig's are readily available on newegg? That would be a great card to get to pair up with the X2 so you get a full 1 gig frame buffer Sorry for the randomness of this post just had a few things to say :thumbsup:

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: lavaheadache
Apoppin.... what happend to the good ole days when you only upgraded when it was absolutely neccesary. I remember you rocking that 9800xt and pentium 4 for the longest time arguing about what is a sensible upgrade. Ever since you bit the bullet and got the "cheap" 2900 pro you've been on fire. 2900 crossfired, hd4870, hd4870 X2, GTX 280. This is not to even mention how many cpu and mobo upgrades you've been through. I've also noticed your on like your third monitor in a year. I'm not calling you out but, sheesh..... I still think your a cool guy I just agreed more with your "old" style. On that note, I appreciate all of this beta testing your doing for the rest of us. Diving into new and uncharted territory, lol. Anyhow, I haven't posted in a while cause I think this place is getting too congested with immature fanboys and the such and every time a good discussion starts people come in and destroy the thread. Now onto what I actually came in here to say: When was the last time you did a full format re-install. On my Q6600 rig I havent noticed the problems you have with your hd4870 @1920x1200. I tend to use as much AA as possible. The only instance I have had any problems is on R6 Vegas and bioshock. Vegas just seems too demanding cause I'll have great frames on e minute and then the second I step outside I get choppiness, but frames will be in the teens so it makes sense. This is unlike your situation because you stated that frames were sufficient to provide smooth game play yet it was not smooth. My bioshock problem isn't actually a problem at all because AA is not supported in DX10. I am especially interested in your Crysis benching cause I am blown away by the fact that even now a year after the game came out, there isn't a video card solution out there that can run High res and maxed out settings ie; very high with high AA with very satifactory results. I'd be curious to see if 4870 X3 would be up to the task. BTW, did you notice that the 4870 1 gig's are readily available on newegg? That would be a great card to get to pair up with the X2 so you get a full 1 gig frame buffer Sorry for the randomness of this post just had a few things to say :thumbsup:

What happened? i am editor for a new tech site - this HW is *absolutely necessary*
- check my sig, i can't spam ABT here (we do bang-for-buck; i never changed personally; 280GTX runs in my own PC]

You don't like my NEW comparisons?


i do .. i love playing games and benching
.. it's a "living" [and i kept my day job also]


BtW, Disabling a core of my X2 gives me a 1GB 4870 that is slightly slower than my single 4870x2; so i may sell my 4870/512 and pick up a 1GB version for a proper X-fire - and of course a chance to "explore framebuffer" limitations of 512MB with 4780-x3 CF
-it's all good!

EDIT: oh, last time i did a complete format?
- last month. i do not like to do "completely clean" reviews as NONE of us run with our PCs that way. I DO make *sure* that my benches are "in line" with my old ones when they were first installed on that clean new partition. And i ran ALL of my benches again - on both partitions - when i was checking "smoothness"; remember i am being picky as heck! It is not a major problem you really notice in-game.

i am going to do a complete new install and format of both of my [identical] HDs making new disk images when i migrate to Asus x48 tomorrow night - that way i can compare the comparison increase with x48 over P35.

 

[nRollo]

I've read that tri-fire doesn't work for this gen at Rage3d, posted by ATi Beta Tester Sound_Card I believe. I don't think the problems extend to quad fire. Which is too bad, tri-fire is the sweet spot of performance and pricing.

On the bright side, most people don't need more than an X2 for most games.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: nRollo
I've read that tri-fire doesn't work for this gen at Rage3d, posted by ATi Beta Tester Sound_Card I believe. I don't think the problems extend to quad fire. Which is too bad, tri-fire is the sweet spot of performance and pricing.

On the bright side, most people don't need more than an X2 for most games.

what happens when the X2 doesn't scale?
- it seems much worse when CF-x3 doesn't scale

Cat 8.8 is a *mess* with CrossfireX-3; i still have an issue with Cat 8.9 = my 4870x2's fan is stuck on "medium" - core temp is in the 60s and the 4870 is on "low" with temps in the low 80s
:roll:
the "whine" of the x2 is less, but i need to adjust the fans profile so i don't go insane ... it is far more irritating *together* than my 2900 crossfire ever was

ANYWAY, i dumped my benchmarks made with Cat 8.8 as i am doing a platform comparison - i am *hoping* that AMD addressed the CF X3 issues - that IS their best strategy against SLI'd 280GTXes imo as they are competitive pricewise

anyway, i am starting with Crossfire X first - so expect a few benches
- there is no point to showing results with Cat 8.8 - they are all over the place - some resolutions in the same game scale better than others :Q

BtW, will ANY GPU play Crysis?-
Warhead still runs like cra .. Crysis

the only change the made was renaming "very high" to "enthusiast"
- that will help
:thumbsdown:

Are the crytek devs out of touch with reality - or what
- they will fail in the console market also. At least STALKER's Clear Sky appears to look better with DX10 features .. but DX10 pathway runs bad and crashes .. just like Stalker's first week

 

[BFG10K]

I disdain ?X2? products (be it ATi or nVidia, before someone accuses me of being anti-ATi) so what chance does X3 or X4 have?

 

[VERTIGGO]

why do you "disdain" them? although my mobo cannot handle both X2s, I've stepped down to one 3870X2 and it runs like a dream. you'd never know it had two cores.

 

[unr3al]

I'm not at all in favor of multi-card setups, its a mess. I'd as soon just wait for a single card with performance to match a dual-card setup when it scales.

Concerning EA, they are making a mess of the entire PC gaming world.

Look at the NFS series. What a disaster they have become. NFSMW was good, the cops/bounty/milestones annoying as hell but still a good game. The cars were tuned just right performance wise. For example, the Aston Martin DB9 was one of my favorite NFSMW rides. Carbon? The cars are so shiny I need a Ray-Ban. And the DB9 is a TIER 2 exotic. WTF?? The Supra is a better car (tier 3 tuner!)??? And I won't mention ProStreet. The damage system is my biggest gripe. And since when is NFS track-bound?? Oops I mentioned it.

Crysis. Ah yes... Crytek really chose the right name there. Who doesn't feel like crying when you see the performance v. image quality?

Not to mention those mediocre sports titles...

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I have a request:

I would like to see a comparison of a single HD4870X2 on the P35 board (with a PCI-E 1.1 x16 slot) compared against benches of a single HD4870X2 (with PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot) to see if the older spec is hurting this beast of a card. Or if you know of some benchmarks already done, then I'd gladly take a link

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: VERTIGGO

why do you "disdain" them?

Because they're multi-GPU and have all the inherent problems of such.

you'd never know it had two cores.

I would.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
I have a request:

I would like to see a comparison of a single HD4870X2 on the P35 board (with a PCI-E 1.1 x16 slot) compared against benches of a single HD4870X2 (with PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot) to see if the older spec is hurting this beast of a card. Or if you know of some benchmarks already done, then I'd gladly take a link

You got it


that is *exactly* what i am exploring .. only i got setback because i have to redo all my Radeon benches with Cat 8.9; i finished with Cat 8.8 an hour before AMD released the new ones
- then my X3 overheated last night and i almost lost her; everything is OK this AM [except for lack of sleep - mine]

i have to have 8.9 consistent from one platform to another when i change out my MB from Gigabyte P35 to ASUS P5e Deluxe X48

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I see you are going to do some thorough tests. Do you have any info you can give us from your tests thus far?

 

[Hauk]

Apoppin, disregard the multi-gpu stabs.. it's a worthy project. I for one would like to know more! I have an Asus Rampage Formula x48 and an X2, and have *thought* about adding a 4870 to finally play Crysis and Warhead on very high w/AA enabled. Due to temp and power requirements, I'd likely pull the 4870 out unless needed.

Please DO share your findings. Fan speeds at idle and load, temps, benchies, spefically Crysis with and without 4870 installed, driver impressions, etc.

Temps, airflow, and how fan speeds are reacting are of special interest. I've modded the x2 bios files, it's a two step flash process using Winflash (first primary then slave), does a great job though, fan starts at 40%. Have a 4870 bios modded as well. Let me know if interested.

 

[apoppin]

i am working on it

Just when i *finished* my benching with X2, 4870 and 2900xt, Cat 8.9 came out .. so i redid all my benches

Just when i *finished* my benching with 280GTX and 8800GTX, 178.13 Geforce Drivers came out .. so i redid all my benches

.. again ..
:roll:

i have a day job and i need to go to work


i only have a few benches left to go with GTX280 and 8800 .. THEN i swap out my MB for x48

i can post the raw figures from Cat 8.8 anytime and most of what i got with Cat 8.9 with my OC'd e8600

EDIT: Noise and fan profiles for my X2 seem to have been solved with Cat 8.9; they still ran together weirdly however in CF X3. The X2 runs so hot in CF, i just have my case completely open with a desktop fan circulating air very well. My CPU idles in the 40s and gets into the 50s under load; X2 has dropped into the 70s [or lower] at idle now, from the 80s with 8.8 although it still maxes out ~86C .. my room is warm

 

[alphadogg]

Is it crashing?

My 4870 worked fine on my Biostar T45, with 4GB GSkill RAM and a Q6600. It is a Visiontek ATI 4870X2 (750MHz/900MHz) with catalyst 8.9 drivers.

Then, I added a second same card. It will reliably crash (within 1-10 minutes of gaming, otherwise runs fine) with the dreaded atikmdiag.sys error now...

 

[Tempered81]

Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
I have a request:

I would like to see a comparison of a single HD4870X2 on the P35 board (with a PCI-E 1.1 x16 slot) compared against benches of a single HD4870X2 (with PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot) to see if the older spec is hurting this beast of a card

I would also like to see this ^

Originally posted by: apoppin
X2 has dropped into the 70s [or lower] at idle now, from the 80s with 8.8 although it still maxes out ~86C .. my room is warm

Have you done the fan fix to 100% fan speed?

 

[sourthings]

You should be using a 1GB 4870, not a 512, you're crippling the X2 this way. Also, not sure where you get that a 4870 CF with a 4870X2 should be the competition to GTX280SLI. Are you aware in most benchmarks a single 4870X2 is faster than GTX280 SLI ? There is no need for another card, in most cases 4870X2 on it's own is faster.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: jaredpace

Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
I have a request:

I would like to see a comparison of a single HD4870X2 on the P35 board (with a PCI-E 1.1 x16 slot) compared against benches of a single HD4870X2 (with PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot) to see if the older spec is hurting this beast of a card

I would also like to see this ^
Yes, that is a big part of my testing - for X2/4870/4870 and 8800gtx

Originally posted by: apoppin
X2 has dropped into the 70s [or lower] at idle now, from the 80s with 8.8 although it still maxes out ~86C .. my room is warm

Have you done the fan fix to 100% fan speed?

Nope .. the Cat 8.9 appears to have fixed it; otoh, it appears messed up still in X3 configuration

Is it crashing?

Not anymore ... not since i made sure the case temps stay low .. they climbed into the 50s !!
:Q

ok, i am off to benchmark-land

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: sourthings
You should be using a 1GB 4870, not a 512, you're crippling the X2 this way. Also, not sure where you get that a 4870 CF with a 4870X2 should be the competition to GTX280SLI. Are you aware in most benchmarks a single 4870X2 is faster than GTX280 SLI ? There is no need for another card, in most cases 4870X2 on it's own is faster.

I was wondering about that. According to this guy's support response, you can't use a 4870 w/ an X2? The trouble ticket is dated prior to the 4870 1GB launch though. Apoppin, very curious to see if you get it working, and benchies without and without the 4870 installed:



Here is the full response:

We have responded to your issue.
Solution: Unfortunately, you cannot crossfire an HD 4870X2 with an HD 4870.

You must crossfire the HD 4870X2 with another HD 4870X2. For triple crossfire setup, you would need to crossfire 3 HD 4870s.

Ticket Information:
Ticket #: 737-1357446
Date Created: 8/15/2008 1:23 AM EDT
Category: Solve a Problem

Customer Care
ATI Technologies Inc.
ati.com

Source - post #16

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: SteelSix

Originally posted by: sourthings
You should be using a 1GB 4870, not a 512, you're crippling the X2 this way. Also, not sure where you get that a 4870 CF with a 4870X2 should be the competition to GTX280SLI. Are you aware in most benchmarks a single 4870X2 is faster than GTX280 SLI ? There is no need for another card, in most cases 4870X2 on it's own is faster.

I was wondering about that. According to this guy's support response, you can't use a 4870 w/ an X2? The trouble ticket is dated prior to the 4870 1GB launch though. Apoppin, very curious to see if you get it working, and benchies without and without the 4870 installed:



Here is the full response:

We have responded to your issue.
Solution: Unfortunately, you cannot crossfire an HD 4870X2 with an HD 4870.

You must crossfire the HD 4870X2 with another HD 4870X2. For triple crossfire setup, you would need to crossfire 3 HD 4870s.

Ticket Information:
Ticket #: 737-1357446
Date Created: 8/15/2008 1:23 AM EDT
Category: Solve a Problem

Customer Care
ATI Technologies Inc.
ati.com

Source - post #16

Well it works fine for me

i got a message in CCC that CFX was enabled and working together - but not at optimal performance since the cards were not identical


ALL that happens is the the 4870x3 is limited to 512MB of frame buffer instead of the usualy 1GB

the whole POINT of my exploring this is to see the effect on performance by limiting it at 16x10 and 19x12 resolutions

in other words, do i *need* more than the regular 4870's 512MB of frame buffer even though it is now running well over twice as fast by using 3 cores

i have benches for Cat 8,8 = but then there were SO many issues with it ...
i definitely did scale in some games over X2 .. so now i am going to try with Cat 8.9 and then move it over to x48 and try again
- i have settled on 3.99Ghz for my e8600 as it is rock solid at stock voltage and very good temps. Also, there are diminishing returns OC'ing over 3.6Ghz for X2, so it's all good

BtW .. i am finishing my benches with 280GTX first tonight .. then back to the "Radeon Partition" .. i will get to X3 shortly thereafter

- i am not delaying on purpose - i am really dying to see my own results []; but i am being extra thorough and making sure the benches are running very close to one another [or i find out why not]

i have not enough hours in the day nor energy to bench all night after working all day; if it were possible there would be many errors from exhaustion
:clock:

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Just send me your hardware (and software) then I'm only taking one class this semester and working a part-time job.

 

[apoppin]

Update:

testing is done on both p35 and x48MBs
- mostly with 280GTX, 4870-512M, 4870x2, and 4870+4870x2 - with 1GB and 512MB 4870s in the 2nd slot

Now, here are the briefest cliffs as it looks as i am heading to work today:

there is almost no difference between PCIe 1.0 and 2.0 .. even X2 makes little difference if it is in a 1.0 or a 2.0 pciE slot

there IS a small but noticeable improvement going from 16x+4x HD4870CF to 16x+16x HD4870 .. if you have a choice, the X48 MB provides a better gaming experience; if you have a p35MB you will get a decent boost from using a 4870 in 4X for the 2nd slot with X2 in the primary.

BUT .. here is what i did not expect, after i replaced my 512MB 4870 in CF-x3 with a 1GB 4870:

if you are running with a 4870x2 and a 512MB 4870 in CF-x3, you have almost no disadvantage
- there is only one bench - PT boats - where the full 1GB of VRAM really makes a big difference .. a 1 GB card will breeze thru it; a 512MB card is a slideshow.

 

[Tempered81]

i think p35 vs. x48 with crossfire is game dependent

Look at the differences per game:

crysis

devil may cry 4

sup com

wic

ut3

Supcom & DMC4 show differences with every motherboard. Have you tried the 4870 CF rig for x48 vs. p35 on different games?
edit: btw, it looks like you get more performance with 8x + 8x vs. 16x + 4x

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: jaredpace
i think p35 vs. x48 with crossfire is game dependent

Look at the differences per game:

crysis

devil may cry 4

sup com

wic

ut3

Supcom & DMC4 show differences with every motherboard. Have you tried the 4870 CF rig for x48 vs. p35 on different games?
edit: btw, it looks like you get more performance with 8x + 8x vs. 16x + 4x

i don't get any of your links ..

Yes, all my benching for p35 and x48 MBs are done

Now i have a MOUNTAIN of raw data to organize, graph and publish

i paid particular attention to PCIe 1.0 vs 2.0 - nothing i can see that is practical so far

also P35's 16x+4x PCIe CF; it DOES have a penalty compared to x48's 16+16X CF lanes with either 512MB or 1GB 4870 in the 2nd slot. Yet there is still a noticeable performance boost by adding the 2nd card to X2

finally, except for PT Boats - where the 512MB cards became a slideshow - including X3 with 512MB 4870 in CF - whereas a *single* 1GB 4870 ran it very well - there was no difference with either 1GB or 512MB 4870 in the 2nd slot of a x48 MB
- that is something i did not expect

BUT i would not get stuck with a 512MB VRAM card for next year, if PT Boats is any indication of what is to come; nor do i think any single GPU is sufficient for 19x12 running maxed out DX10 with 4xAA/16AF