Worse performance with Crossfire?

shipinabottle

Member
Aug 12, 2011
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When I play a game with Crossfire using two cards, I notice a bit of stuttering. But when I play the same game with only one card, the images are smoother. Weird... What do you think is the problem?

I made sure I played the same game with the same graphics settings in the game and in the Radeon control panel. Both cards are Radeon 7770, and my PSU is 650W. Could it be that the problem is from simply using two different card brands? One's PowerColor and the other is Sapphire.
 

3DVagabond

Lifer
Aug 10, 2009
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What drivers are you using, and what are the rest of your system specs? What make and model PSU?
 

RaulF

Senior member
Jan 18, 2008
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What game? Also some games do not support xfire(or so i have read), so it is not guarantied to work.
 
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NatePo717

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2005
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What's the display setting? Full Screen? Windowed Full Screen? Crossfire doesn't seem to work AT ALL in Windowed Full Screen... at least not in any of the games I play. (which is why I'm planning on dumping my 7950's for a single R9 290(x) for 1440p games. The second card is useless most of the time I play games.
 

3DVagabond

Lifer
Aug 10, 2009
11,951
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This isn't definitive, but...
ac3_1920_1080.gif


...looking at the 7990 performance in this review, I'd say crossfire doesn't work with AC3. Might need to check more reviews. Also, sometimes W1zzard @ TPU doesn't update drivers and game patches. Have you checked the game's website to see if others have this issue too? Maybe there's a patch or an update that fixes it?
 

RaulF

Senior member
Jan 18, 2008
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This isn't definitive, but...
ac3_1920_1080.gif


...looking at the 7990 performance in this review, I'd say crossfire doesn't work with AC3. Might need to check more reviews. Also, sometimes W1zzard @ TPU doesn't update drivers and game patches. Have you checked the game's website to see if others have this issue too? Maybe there's a patch or an update that fixes it?

I would also suggest disabling xfire and maybe a different set of drivers. One thing at a time.
 

shipinabottle

Member
Aug 12, 2011
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Oh, so, Crossfire doesn't work with ACIII. But, it's still weird that the graphics actually get worse with two cards instead of one in that game.
 

RaulF

Senior member
Jan 18, 2008
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Oh, so, Crossfire doesn't work with ACIII. But, it's still weird that the graphics actually get worse with two cards instead of one in that game.

Yeah that's a dead give away that the game/current driver does not support crossfire.

And example for me is COD Ghost, it runs better single card(no way i can actually play crossfire since is just lag city). While i know another forum member that actually has no issues with crossfire with the same game. But he has a newer GPU version than mine.
 

shipinabottle

Member
Aug 12, 2011
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So Crossfire isn't all it's cracked up to be. Haha. Does this also happen with SLI? (I'm not a hardcore gamer, so all this is news to me.)
 

bystander36

Diamond Member
Apr 1, 2013
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So Crossfire isn't all it's cracked up to be. Haha. Does this also happen with SLI? (I'm not a hardcore gamer, so all this is news to me.)

Multi-GPU support is mostly good, but there are occasional games which don't work well with it. For the most part, I'd guess over 95% of games support CF and SLI well. You ran into one that doesn't like it. At least CF.
 

blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
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So Crossfire isn't all it's cracked up to be. Haha. Does this also happen with SLI? (I'm not a hardcore gamer, so all this is news to me.)

CF is better than it used to be, but SLI generally has much better support of non AAA titles and less demanding games. Whereas, CF usually works for AAA titles and super demanding games - which I didn't like too much because, SLI is useful for upping the AA levels with SGSSAA and what not even in less demanding titles. Case in point - when I used CF in 2012, none of the AC titles at the time supported CF at all - in fact, most UBI games are not supported by CF for whatever reason. I haven't seen any mention of CF ever working in Splinter Cell or AC IV, although I could be wrong. CF definitely did not work in AC 2 or AC brotherhood in 2012...
 
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Johnny4

Member
Nov 12, 2013
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This is a known issue, just disable multigpu in your config and 90% of your problems go away.
 

battletoad

Member
Mar 21, 2012
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I have the exact same issue with Battlefield 4 with my two 7950's. I get about 15-25 fps LESS in CF than running one card, with the exact same settings...and those settings are pretty low:

1080p
Ultra textures and mesh
Normal Lighting
FXAA Low, which is only one step up from no AA at all
low/off for everything else

Even when using one card at these reduced settings, there are massive dips into the low 40's high 30's in small TDM maps with only 20 or so players.

Not only do I get much lower fps when running two cards, it has massive stuttering randomly as well. Even the map loading screen which is static goes from about 15fps down to 1-2fps. By comparison when using one card it always says 30fps. This is a known issue, I have found a thread where many 7950/7970 CF owners say the same thing about BF4.

On one hand it makes me want to buy a 290 once aftermarket models hit, on the other it just ticks me off because all my other games run fine in CF for either 120hz or 1440p (I don't have AC3). It also ticks me off as my rig should be good enough to last until the better next gen models come out in 2014, and not settle for semi-upgrades that are available today. AMD/DICE need to get their **** in gear.
 
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bystander36

Diamond Member
Apr 1, 2013
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Have you installed the CAP profiles to go along with those drivers? In BF4, 7950 CF should definitely do better, and does in benchmarks.
 

Fastx

Senior member
Dec 18, 2008
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BF4 1080 Ulta Preset 7950 Crossfire 1134/1625 18 minute Youtube video link below keep in mind this is also with taking a 10-20 fps hit recording it also not my video.
Just also wanted to add as you can see no throttling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8tu2geJcTs
 
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battletoad

Member
Mar 21, 2012
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I am not familiar with CAP profiles. I update my driver ASAP on a regular basis, but haven't heard of CAP before now. Where would the downloads be located on AMD's site for this and any other software needed to make CAP work?

All my other games work well having never heard of this, maybe they will run better too. Sounds good. Any info would be appreciated.
 

RaulF

Senior member
Jan 18, 2008
844
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Just wanted to drop in and say my 6950s xfire in BF4 kick ass, I run everything ultra with no msaa and I stay above 60.

1080 rez.