Eyefinity Upgrade

[Schultzy]

Get an NVIDIA video card

I lost my faith in nVidia a long time ago. I tried to give them two other chances since I lost that faith, and have been let down both times.

ATI, on the other hand, has given me many cards for a fraction of the price that have performed for longer. *shrugs*


I think I found the issue, or atleast have a promising lead. SighKo and another whom I didn't recognize in TS3 tonight gave me some good advise I will be following this weekend. Going to be a busy Saturday.

[Schultzy]

Well, in my humble opinion?

Waste of money.

The Crossfire will not work in BFBC2, and runs glitchy in most other games I have played. Eyefinity isn't all that great on a single card. The SSD is great though, and the monitors are of good quality. I should have bought just the one 6950 and SSD and been done with it.

I've tried about a dozen things with these cards.

-Rewired the case so that they each have 2 separate plugs coming off the PSU for them.
-Tested each card individually to ensure that it was not the card itself
-Uninstalled drivers completely, going so far as to remove the registry entries and then reinstalling both the 11.8 drivers and the 11.8 profiles for crossfire
-Swap which card is the "Main" card
-Increased the power by 10% on each card, thinking maybe they were not getting enough power
-Disabled the OB sound on the motherboard
-Checked the temp's while under load, never increases beyond 82*C before the crash. Crash happens within 10 minutes of play, so I severely doubt that it's a temp issue.



I am now at a loss as to what else I could do to get these things to work, and am at the point of wanting to just smash one (or both) with a hammer. The only two things I have not done - and am really resistant to doing - is "Down clock" each card to the reference speeds (cards are 80mhz overclocked out of the box), and tried different (older) drivers. I am not a fan of down clocking something that should have been tested stable out of the box, nor am I fan of bouncing through version after version of driver. If I have to be picky as to what drivers I am running - someone isn't doing their job.

[{CLR} Cobalt]

I've read instances where some down clocked their cards. May give it a try, Also, I'm not sure the temps may or may not be the problem since it takes a bit to heat up. I dont know about ATI cards and how much heat they can take. May try and cool them off a bit and see if that helps.

If you down clock them they will run cooler. If the game runs then you may not be able to tell whether it was the down clocking that helped or the heat that was causing the problem. I'd try cooling them off a bit better and see if it works first.

[Schultzy]

I've read instances where some down clocked their cards. May give it a try, Also, I'm not sure the temps may or may not be the problem since it takes a bit to heat up. I dont know about ATI cards and how much heat they can take. May try and cool them off a bit and see if that helps.

If you down clock them they will run cooler. If the game runs then you may not be able to tell whether it was the down clocking that helped or the heat that was causing the problem. I'd try cooling them off a bit better and see if it works first.

Heat was my first thought too. I checked the temps - they are not breaking 83*C while under load before the game crashes. I checked online to see what people are saying these things can take for temp, and some have stated as high as 102*C, others have stated 95*C. Either way, I am still below those numbers.

I suppose I could try downclocking. If I have to downclock though, what was the point of spending the extra dough for the higher clocked cards? :\

[Caddys83]

Get an NVIDIA video card

[{CLR} Cobalt]

Heat was my first thought too. I checked the temps - they are not breaking 83*C while under load before the game crashes. I checked online to see what people are saying these things can take for temp, and some have stated as high as 102*C, others have stated 95*C. Either way, I am still below those numbers.

I suppose I could try downclocking. If I have to downclock though, what was the point of spending the extra dough for the higher clocked cards? :\

Well, you're making an assumption that may not be 100% correct. What if it is the temps. Not saying it is, but that's a start. You know as well as I do that computer trouble shooting is based on eliminating one thing at a time. If you dont try, you may miss something.

I'm just trying to prod you into thinkin differently. Sometimes faulty thinking produces faulty results.

And I concur, what's the use in paying for overclocked cards if you have to downclock em to work.

So the cards are not faulty, since you tried em separately.What were the temps on single use. What I would do, is go and see if you can hook them up in crossfire on another machine if that's possible. If that works then it could be something else in your system causing the problems. But running for 10 min and then shutting down seems odd. If it was compatability it seems it wouldnt even work. I may be wrong but thats what led me back to the temperature issue.

Do those things have auto shutdown on em or something if they get too hot. Maybe the settings are too low to allow for operation.

I know it's frustrating but if you have time, keep trying different things. I'm way curious as to what the problem is so I can file it as possible problems with ATI cards seeing as how I'm looking at getting a 6970.

[Schultzy]

Well, you're making an assumption that may not be 100% correct. What if it is the temps. Not saying it is, but that's a start. You know as well as I do that computer trouble shooting is based on eliminating one thing at a time. If you dont try, you may miss something.

I'm just trying to prod you into thinkin differently. Sometimes faulty thinking produces faulty results.

And I concur, what's the use in paying for overclocked cards if you have to downclock em to work.

So the cards are not faulty, since you tried em separately.What were the temps on single use. What I would do, is go and see if you can hook them up in crossfire on another machine if that's possible. If that works then it could be something else in your system causing the problems. But running for 10 min and then shutting down seems odd. If it was compatability it seems it wouldnt even work. I may be wrong but thats what led me back to the temperature issue.

Do those things have auto shutdown on em or something if they get too hot. Maybe the settings are too low to allow for operation.

I know it's frustrating but if you have time, keep trying different things. I'm way curious as to what the problem is so I can file it as possible problems with ATI cards seeing as how I'm looking at getting a 6970.

I was actually able to unlock one of the cards to a 6970. The second does not read properly, and I will be consulting NewEgg as to this. I honestly think this may be causing a (albit minor) issue. Note: I did not unlock the card till after I had gotten tired of screwing with trying to get the two to play nice.

As for down clocking, I'll try that after I install Windows 7. Maybe a fresh install will help fix the issue? I'll be working on/off that most of this night. Got a dozen other things on the plate I need to get handled (re: ex wife drama).

I wish I had a separate test bed to try them on. Unfortunately, I don't have many (re: no) geek friends down here. Used to be I had two or three different computers at any one time that I could test bed hardware in for compatibility issues.

So, install Win7 on the SSD, then proceed with further testing.

[FrOgM]

are you shure your power supply is pumping enough juice to run 2 cards ...probally arlready know this but thought i would say it anyway

[Brian is Huh?!{CLR}]

are you shure your power supply is pumping enough juice to run 2 cards ...probally arlready know this but thought i would say it anyway

knowing schultzy..he gets everything top of the line...

[Schultzy]

knowing schultzy..he gets everything top of the line...

heh, top of the line two years ago.

I am wondering if my PSU can support these two cards. I am looking at other options before I spend more money (that I don't technically have) just yet.


I have formated the computer to Windows 7, and am working on doing all of the program/tweak/installs tonight. I may not be around tonight/tomorrow. :P

On the up side, Win7 installed so quick I didn't even get a chance to make dinner...

[{CLR} Cobalt]

heh, top of the line two years ago.

I am wondering if my PSU can support these two cards. I am looking at other options before I spend more money (that I don't technically have) just yet.


I have formated the computer to Windows 7, and am working on doing all of the program/tweak/installs tonight. I may not be around tonight/tomorrow. :P

On the up side, Win7 installed so quick I didn't even get a chance to make dinner...

If you been hobbling along with XP like I did for so long. You'll enjoy Win7. It's everything Vista was supposed to be. Actually, it's just Vista fixed. Take you a bit to find where everything is. But you'll be happier in the long run.

ps: I'm so glad I skipped Vista and waited for Win7. Best decision I've made in a while.

[Schultzy]

If you been hobbling along with XP like I did for so long. You'll enjoy Win7. It's everything Vista was supposed to be. Actually, it's just Vista fixed. Take you a bit to find where everything is. But you'll be happier in the long run.

ps: I'm so glad I skipped Vista and waited for Win7. Best decision I've made in a while.

I had Vista. People dogged on it, but I really didn't have the issues so many were complaining about. *shrugs*

[Dead...Again]

I had Vista. People dogged on it, but I really didn't have the issues so many were complaining about. *shrugs*

Same here...

[Caddys83]

I had Vista. People dogged on it, but I really didn't have the issues so many were complaining about. *shrugs*

^this,


Same here. I had Vista and didnt had any issues with it.