My 5970 thinks it's card no1

[HAL9000]

Hey everyone,

I've got two ati cards that I want to crossfire together, a 5970 and a 5870 but my 5870 registers as GPU number 1 and my 5970 as GPU 2 regardless of what pcie slot I put it in,

I've tried
5970: slot 1 16x - 5870 slot 2 1x
5970 slot 1 8x - 5870 slot 2 8x
5970 slot 1 16x 5870 slot 3 4x
5970 slot 2 8x 5870 slot 2 8x
5970 slot 2 1x 5870 slot 1 16x
5970 slot 3 4x 5870 slot 1 16x


Little help?

Edit title: 5970 thinks it's card 2

 

[Vdubchaos]

wait, can you even crossfire different cards?

 

[Ben90]

wait, can you even crossfire different cards?

Yep, not really sure why you would want the 5970 as the main card however.

 

[HAL9000]

hmm I thought you had to have the more powerfull card as number 1

 

[Arkadrel]

Everythread I see about crossfire problems seems to be with the 5970 + 5870 cards.

Im gonna give you the advice I give all of the others.... sell the 5870, be happy you got a 5970 (thats like 480+50% performance), and should handle more or less anything you throw at it.

 

[HAL9000]

Everythread I see about crossfire problems seems to be with the 5970 + 5870 cards.

Im gonna give you the advice I give all of the others.... sell the 5870, be happy you got a 5970 (thats like 480+50% performance), and should handle more or less anything you throw at it.

Yup you posted that in my last thread, at least your consistent!

 

[Ben90]

hmm I thought you had to have the more powerfull card as number 1

The 5870 is the more powerful GPU unless you have a decent overclock on your 5970

 

[apoppin]

hmm I thought you had to have the more powerfull card as number 1

i don't think so. Perhaps your MB's BIOS is out of date.

At any rate, make sure the HD 5970 is in the x16 PCIe slot - you should be good to go with CrossFire-X

First, run the HD 5970 by itself on a few game benchmarks or Vantage; then run it together with HD 5870 in CF-X and see what kind of performance improvement you get. It should be a decent improvement if everything is scaling properly.

 

[HAL9000]

i don't think so. Perhaps your MB's BIOS is out of date.

At any rate, make sure the HD 5970 is in the x16 PCIe slot - you should be good to go with CrossFire-X

First, run the HD 5970 by itself on a few game benchmarks or Vantage; then run it together with HD 5870 in CF-X and see what kind of performance improvement you get. It should be a decent improvement if everything is scaling properly.

Ok guys, figured it out, the best performance I get is... for some reason... the 5870 in slot 1 16x and the 5970 it slot 3 4x, I ran a load of benchmarks before and after in each slot, and this way definately worked out best... Don't know why, don't care why.. thanks for your input all.

 

[MentalIlness]

The 5870 is the more powerful GPU unless you have a decent overclock on your 5970

 

[HAL9000]

The 5870 is the more powerful GPU unless you have a decent overclock on your 5970

That's not quite true, it's the same GPU (but only one of them) and it's running at slower speeds without an overclock, and I have overclocked to match the speeds in any event.

 

[apoppin]

Ok guys, figured it out, the best performance I get is... for some reason... the 5870 in slot 1 16x and the 5970 it slot 3 4x, I ran a load of benchmarks before and after in each slot, and this way definately worked out best... Don't know why, don't care why.. thanks for your input all.

If your performance is best with HD 5970 in a 4x PCIe slot, your system is messed up

 

[HAL9000]

If your performance is best with HD 5970 in a 4x PCIe slot, your system is messed up

Yeah i lose about 5% having it in 4x but it just made the airflow in my computer better so I could overclock higher without it overheating....

 

[apoppin]

Yeah i lose about 5% having it in 4x but it just made the airflow in my computer better so I could overclock higher without it overheating....

You are going about it wrong.

HD 5970 in PCIe x16 slot
HD 5870 in PCIe x16 or x8 slot

Then make sure the airflow is good in your case. If not make it so. You have close to $1000 worth of graphics cards. Don't mickey mouse it
:'(

 

[HAL9000]

You are going about it wrong.

HD 5970 in PCIe x16 slot
HD 5870 in PCIe x16 or x8 slot

Then make sure the airflow is good in your case. If not make it so. You have close to $1000 worth of graphics cards. Don't mickey mouse it
:'(

I don't have a 16x and an 8x at the same time.

 

[apoppin]

What, 8x + 8x?

That is reasonable for performance. But you really should have both the HD 5970 and the HD 5870 each in an 8x slot. Your case should also have excellent airflow and monitor your temps for long life especially if you OC.

It is a shame that there is so little space in some MBs between multiple video cards.

 

[HAL9000]

What, 8x + 8x?

That is reasonable for performance. But you really should have both the HD 5970 and the HD 5870 each in an 8x slot. Your case should also have excellent airflow and monitor your temps for long life especially if you OC.

It is a shame that there is so little space in some MBs between multiple video cards.

Yeah I can do 8x/8x but then the cards are practically touching, and they get rather hot, in an ideal world things would be different, but with what vie got this is the best setup

 

[apoppin]

Yeah I can do 8x/8x but then the cards are practically touching, and they get rather hot, in an ideal world things would be different, but with what vie got this is the best setup

What about reversing the cards; putting the HD 5870 in the 4x slot and the HD 5970 in the 16x slot. The 5970 is the stronger card with the higher bandwidth and it makes sense to give it the least restrictions.

 

[HAL9000]

What about reversing the cards; putting the HD 5870 in the 4x slot and the HD 5970 in the 16x slot. The 5970 is the stronger card with the higher bandwidth and it makes sense to give it the least restrictions.

Yeah I tried that and when it boots the driver fails. No idea why,

 

[apoppin]

Yeah I tried that and when it boots the driver fails. No idea why,

if this were my issue, i would fix it before proceeding. Something is definitely not right and you are losing performance the way it is set up.

What MB do you have? Is the BIOS up to date? All the very latest chipset drivers?

 

[HAL9000]

Good point I'll have a look into it again I. The morning, I think I know what the problem is I had to install one graphics card at a time for some reason, it's a Mac Pro (please don't let this turn into a Mac bashing thread)

 

[apoppin]

Good luck

Sometimes it is as simple as reinstalling the driver over a few times (and not rebooting)

 

[HAL9000]

Ok just tried it but now when it starts up I just get a flashing white cursor...

 

[HAL9000]

Good luck

Sometimes it is as simple as reinstalling the driver over a few times (and not rebooting)

Do you mean install the graphics card while the commuters on? That can't be good...

 

[OCGuy]

Wow, even your card is a fanboi! It thinks it is #1? Wait until 5990!