Just got my 5870, this can't be right...

[miteethor]

**Edit - fixed scores after finding an issue with my multipler after flashing BIOS

I got an XFX 5870 arrived in the mail yesterday, and replaced the pair of 8800GT's I had running SLI in my current rig. Ran some benchmarks and it's either slower, the same, or just meh. I was not expecting this...

My PC
ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus (Nfoce 650i SLI chipset)
Intel E6850 (Dual Core @ 3.0 GHZ not overclocked)
2GB GSKILL F2-6400PHU2
XFX 5870
Windows 7 RTM 32-bit

removed a pair of EVGA 8800GT's

My first problem is that hitting POST screen with the ATI card takes FOREVER - like literally 1 minute to POST before booting normally. I updated to the latest BIOS and I still have the same problem. I know I can't run a crossfire config on an Nforce chipset but I would think a single ATI card is ok? By the way, after updating and clearing BIOS my numbers are actually lower than when I first started this whole adventure.

3DMARK 06
------------------------
8800GTSLI: 13600
ATI 5870: 13000 - WTF SLOWER???

3DMARK Vantage
-----------------------
overall score 10328
cpu 5345
gpu 14982

Windows Experience Index:
---------------------------------
8800GTSLI: 7.3 Gaming Graphics
ATI 5870: 6.0 Gaming Graphics

Crysis Crysisbench tool @ 1680x1050 no AA (my 22" lcd native res)
-------------------------------
8800GTSLI: 32FPS High or Very High
5870: 41FPS High - not the big boost I was hoping for

I don't know if it's the drivers or my MB or what but this doesn't feel like a $400 upgrade. What am I doing wrong?

I have flashed BIOS, reset CMOS settings, removed all exisiting NVIdia drivers, updated to latest ATI 8.66RC drivers from today.

I do plan on updating the rest of my system but not until beginning of the year. My long term goal was to get a new CPU with a crossfire MB and get a 2nd 5870 at that time, but I was hoping to see some gains with a single card and it's just not happening...

 

[lavaheadache]

slow boot is most likely a windows problem related to the major hardware switch and or traces of the other drivers still there. Less than stellar performance near confirms it. If you want the easy way out, format windows.

 

[miteethor]

This isn't slow boot, it's slow POST. Literally 1 minute, it hits the CD drive 8 times, then you finally see the POST screen with HD, memory, CPU, etc. After that Windows boot is fine.

 

[lavaheadache]

also you gotta realise that 3dmark is highly cpu dependant on speed and #of cores which clearly your stock clocked e6850 is lacking.

Second off, windows experience doesn't mean squat unless it is zero or 1, lol


3rd off you are using a beta os with most likely beta drivers or basically brandnew drivers.

Way too many variables here!!!

 

[bryanW1995]

3D mark 06 is not a good benchmarking tool anymore (if it ever was). try vantage instead. windows experience index is absolutely uselss, ignore that. crysis, however, IS a good benchmarking tool. try oc'ing your cpu a little bit to see if you experience a change, that gpu should perform much more than 10% than 8800gt sli. I also second lavaheadache's recommendation of a windoze reinstall. You might also switch back to the 8800gt sli combo just to confirm that it really is the 5870 and not something else that is causing the 1 minute post.

 

[thilanliyan]

Amount of RAM too?

 

[hans030390]

I think the first thing to try in these cases is a driver reinstall. Uninstall all drivers (make sure the Nvidia ones are gone) and run a driver cleaner (like Driver Sweeper) to get rid of all leftovers from any video card drivers. Make sure you obtain the latest drivers for the new video card (which may be beta), install, etc. That might help performance.

As for taking a long time to POST, it sounds like it could be something with your motherboard...maybe some sort of incompatibility? Maybe something's wrong with the video card?

 

[alyarb]

wow, 650i? seriously? get yourself a real motherboard.

used P35 and 45s are a dime a dozen on ebay and would give the whole system a fresh new breath of quality.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Well your mb is pci-e v 1.x and its a known issue that some older mb's have trouble with v2 cards. You also have a dual core cpu when most benches are conducted with quads. Your system cannot fully utilize the card so your benches will undoubtedly be lower than a system that can.

 

[waffleironhead]

Originally posted by: Puffnstuff
Well your mb is pci-e v 1.x and its a known issue that some older mb's have trouble with v2 cards. You also have a dual core cpu when most benches are conducted with quads. Your system cannot fully utilize the card so your benches will undoubtedly be lower than a system that can.

I think you have hit it on the head. The version 2.0 pcie card is saturating the 1.x slot and the motherboard can not keep up with it.

 

[alyarb]

that doesn't account for the 60-second post, and that his nvidia motherboard is simply junk.

 

[AzN]

Perhaps it might be having trouble with his pci-e 1.1 or not. Majority of games are only optimized for 2 cores not 4.

I think the problem lies within your installation of drivers or your mobo considering you say you have problems with POST.

8800gt sli is no slouch. @ 1680x1050 it shouldn't be much slower than 5870. Perhaps 20-30% faster at best which is holding back by your CPU.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

drivers

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: waffleironhead

Originally posted by: Puffnstuff
Well your mb is pci-e v 1.x and its a known issue that some older mb's have trouble with v2 cards. You also have a dual core cpu when most benches are conducted with quads. Your system cannot fully utilize the card so your benches will undoubtedly be lower than a system that can.

I think you have hit it on the head. The version 2.0 pcie card is saturating the 1.x slot and the motherboard can not keep up with it.

Not really. A 4870X2 is almost filling the whole slot, but it's not causing dramatic performance hits, by any means. 5870 is a tad slower then the X2, so I don't see it being bottlenecked by the 1.1 slot.

 

[thilanliyan]

I think it's a combination of CPU speed, PCIe 1.1, and low res that keeps the 5870 from from stretching its legs...if you've read benchmarks you'll see that at lower than 1920x1200, the performance differences between the high end setups are not that big.

 

[miteethor]

According to the manual this MB was designed to run dual PCIE at 16x for a pair of Nvidia cards. The manual doesn't specifically say PCIE 1.x or 2.0 but it does meet the speed requirements.

After flashing the bios it apparently dropped my clock multipler to 6x instead of 9x so I was able to bump my scores a bit:

Crysis 1650 no AA High

Dual 8800GTs: 32
Single 5870: 41

I ran 3dMark Vantage on the current setup:

overall: 10328
cpu: 5345
gpu: 14982

They don't have a lot to compare with so I don't know how to interpret the 3dMark Vantage score - does it look right for a new GPU/old CPU?

As for replacing parts, YES I will be replacing everything in Feb when I get my tax refund - I'll go for fastest/reasonable Intel proc, new ATI crossfire MB, lots of RAM, and a 2nd 5870 to go with this one. In the meantime I was hoping to get a leg-up with a single card drop-in on my current system.

 

[themisfit610]

The POST issue leads me to believe you are having a hardware issue.

Have you updated to the latest BIOS for your motherboard?

Also, if you have any other devices take them out to test..

And - try the other PCIe slot. You did flip the bridge to disable SLI - right?

Finally - clean drivers and reinstall.

~MiSfit

 

[thilanliyan]

Try resetting the BIOS to defaults and starting again.

 

[dguy6789]

It is definitely not the pci e 1.0 slot. I remember seeing benchmarks comparing 5870 performance in different slots and it ran perfectly fine in 1.0 x16 slots.(2.0 8x)

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: waffleironhead

Originally posted by: Puffnstuff
Well your mb is pci-e v 1.x and its a known issue that some older mb's have trouble with v2 cards. You also have a dual core cpu when most benches are conducted with quads. Your system cannot fully utilize the card so your benches will undoubtedly be lower than a system that can.

I think you have hit it on the head. The version 2.0 pcie card is saturating the 1.x slot and the motherboard can not keep up with it.

http://techpowerup.com/reviews...Express_Scaling/1.html

----
What resolution are you running?
Did you remove all the old drivers? (eg. safe mode uninstall, and then cleaning up with driver sweeper?)
After you reset your BIOS, did you set all the memory timings and what not to what they should be, could be your BIOS running everything slower than it should be.
I don't know what could be causing the slow boot, sounds like a mobo issue to me :X

 

[dguy6789]

Originally posted by: Quiksilver

Originally posted by: waffleironhead

Originally posted by: Puffnstuff
Well your mb is pci-e v 1.x and its a known issue that some older mb's have trouble with v2 cards. You also have a dual core cpu when most benches are conducted with quads. Your system cannot fully utilize the card so your benches will undoubtedly be lower than a system that can.

I think you have hit it on the head. The version 2.0 pcie card is saturating the 1.x slot and the motherboard can not keep up with it.

http://techpowerup.com/reviews...Express_Scaling/1.html

That's the one!

 

[miteethor]

BIOS was flashed and reset to defaults already (in an attempt to get the slow POST fixed)

All drivers were removed from the NVidia cards before I ever put the ATI card in. ATI is running the current Vista/Win7 driver which is 8.66RC (the only one availble for DL on their site)

This MB has no jumper for SLI - seems to be a pure BIOS setting. It's only got 1 jumper at all for clearing CMOS

I have no addin cards - only the video card.

I have a feeling the POST part isn't ever going to be resolved with this MB. After fixing the CPU multiplier it's definitely faster, just not the 2x or more faster I was expecting - more like a 30% increase.

 

[Extrem1st]

try formatting your computer and reinstall the OS

 

[alyarb]

heh, so many suggestions have nothing to do with POST...

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: miteethor
I have a feeling the POST part isn't ever going to be resolved with this MB. After fixing the CPU multiplier it's definitely faster, just not the 2x or more faster I was expecting - more like a 30% increase.

Try overclocking your CPU and see what results you get.