Is something wrong with my 4870X2

[Viral]

Got my rig up and runnin a couple of days ago with the specs in my sig. Other things to note are case fans, two intake 120mm @ 1200rpm, 4 exhaust @ 1900rpm and 1 @ 1900rpm on thermalright HSF, so plenty of cooling, but I don't have any intake on the side panel as the 200mm cosmos fan didnt clear my HSF.

The problem is with temps of the two GPU's. Can other people with X2's please tell me what they are getting at idle and load because mine are VERY different.

When I first fired my rig up in the BIOS etc the air coming from the back of my X2 was very hot. In windows it got a bit cooler but I think this is because it was moving less air so I couldn't feel it as much. Anyway my temps on the first GPU were around 80C, and 42C on the second.... This can't be normal. Anyway I fired up Crysis and after playing for 30 mins and having a temp monitor on in the BG I saw that the temps hardly went up on the first GPU but went up a bit on the second. After that however, the first GPU dropped down to 52C idle. So there was only a 10C delta.

Where I'm at now... well most of the time the first GPU idles around 70-78C while the second is usually 40-48C. The first creeps up to the 80's when playing Crysis but the second GPU gets nowhere near that.

Also, on performance, I'm getting between 15-30 FPS in crysis DX10 Very High 1770x1000 (can't get 1080P in the menu havent bothered adding a custom res yet). It's not really playable..... I thought it might just be a CPU bottleneck but the first stage of my CPU overclocking to 3.4GHz hasn't seemed to help at all. I'm using Cat 8.9beta's and have had CatCrontrolCenter crash on windows startup a few times...? Also, now Crysis has corrupt images for the intro movies and menu (just the scrolling map part doesnt scroll properly), the game is fine except for white dots when you look at the floor in some buildings and very thin lines through some walls. This only happened on my last play through.

X2 owners please give me your feedback and opinions I'm not having the best first impressions here, but I am sure something's wrong.

UPDATE: I just remembered that it has also has a quiet ticking sound coming from it only when in 3D. I'd assume its the fan.. the sticker on the fan is fine but maybe the higher speed is triggering something? I'm a bit scared of what could happen.

[Viral]

Back on stock CPU clocks, CCC crashed on windows boot, ran crysis CPU2 bench once, CPU temps were good but uneven (diff thread) GPU temps were good but uneven (oh the luck). Went to run the bench a second time and my pc crashed straight away.

Everythings stock.... I think it might be time to reinstall the drivers. Maybe try some official drivers? 8.7 or 8.8?

[ATi]

drvier sweeper in safe mode... hope you fix your rig:)

[Heinz68]

I don't have the x2 so I can only GUESS, in 2D only one GPU is used that might be why the temps are so different at idle.
You can lower the temps with Profile Fan-Control Hack (http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=115569) or today Rivatuner v2.11 (http://www.guru3d.com/news/download--rivatuner-211-released/) was released. According to the release notes it now "provide proper fan control on AMD RADEON HD 4870 X2 series."

[Xion X2]

You can rest easy; the variance you're seeing in temps between the GPUs is perfectly normal. Both of mine are the same.

A likely cause of this is that there is only one fan cooling two GPUs, and that fan is sitting all the way to the right of both of them. So you have one GPU directly next to the fan and the other GPU receiving the heat blown off the first GPU from the fan. So one runs hotter than the other.

I'm using Cat 8.9beta's and have had CatCrontrolCenter crash on windows startup a few times...?

That means you have a corrupt driver install. Uninstall the driver using the "Program & Features > ATI uninstall manager" and uninstall all ATI software. Do NOT run Driver Cleaner/Sweeper/Remover or any 3rd party driver-removal software as it can and often WILL screw things up with the subsequent ATI driver install. When you get the prompt to restart, do it, then on restart simply install the 8.9 beta again and you should be good to go.

[Xion X2]

drvier sweeper in safe mode... hope you fix your rig:)

Bad idea. DO NOT run driver cleaner utilities on ATI drivers. They do not require it, and you can easily bork your registry which will screw up a subsequent driver install.

[Tho Jo Smale]

I've used the cleaner lots and never had a borked anything.


But listen to Xion...he knows lots of ****.


JC

[LordJuanlo]

GPU 1 is idling at around 70ºC and GPU 2 around 45-50ºC, from day 1

[Viral]

You can rest easy; the variance you're seeing in temps between the GPUs is perfectly normal. Both of mine are the same.

A likely cause of this is that there is only one fan cooling two GPUs, and that fan is sitting all the way to the right of both of them. So you have one GPU directly next to the fan and the other GPU receiving the heat blown off the first GPU from the fan. So one runs hotter than the other.



That means you have a corrupt driver install. Uninstall the driver using the "Program & Features > ATI uninstall manager" and uninstall all ATI software. Do NOT run Driver Cleaner/Sweeper/Remover or any 3rd party driver-removal software as it can and often WILL screw things up with the subsequent ATI driver install. When you get the prompt to restart, do it, then on restart simply install the 8.9 beta again and you should be good to go.

Good to know, I knew the temps for each GPU would differ because of what you described, but I didn't think it would be over 20C. I guess at idle it will be higher because of one not being used... You'd think they'd use the one furtherest from the fan in 2D to counter this.

I just uninstalled CCP and all ATI software in the Programs and Features section of the CP. I'll do it the way you suggested if I still have problems. Once I finally get this thing stable I can finally overclock my CPU and actually know what's causing instabilties, it was a headache before. Hopefully that will get my performance up somewhat, not that I'm expecting too much, just playable very high crysis at 1080p or 1920x1200.

[Mym8marmite]

I've noticed that my 4870 X2 is running one core at 750Mhz and the other at 507Mhz at idle.
The core running at 750 is about 84C and the slower core is 44C. Is this right?

I presumed both cores should be at 507 under a windows 2D envrionment and 750 under 3D.

Edit:

Using Rivatuner I underclocked the first core from 750 to 507 and memory down to 500 as that was also at 900. My temps on that core reduced to 65C from 84C

S

[Viral]

Awesome, I'll download rivatuner then.

Just reformatted and still having crashes with everything stock :\ Bit strange this one... I'll have to keep at it.

[methimpikehoses]

Awesome, I'll download rivatuner then.



reporte

[Viral]

lol

anyway I can't even play crysis with this install.... 8.9b's still seem to be causing the crashes. I'll download the 8.9 officials I guess.

[LordJuanlo]

Strange, they are the same, I'm still with the betas and those are by far the best Catalyst drivers for the x2

[Mym8marmite]

Update to my earlier post, it seems when I first boot up into windows vista one core runs 750 the other 507. 84ºC and 45-50ºC respectively (This is under 2D).
When I run 3D i.e. a game, both cores go up to 750. When I drop back into 2D both cores drop to 507. 65-69ºC, 45-50ºC respectively.

Strange.

BTW does anyone know why the overdrive section in my CCC is greyed out, not that I want to overclock mind you.

[LordJuanlo]

When you boot, core 1 is in 3D mode and won't revert to 2D until you start and exit a 3D app, this is a known bug that will be fixed in a future driver release.

The overdrive section is grayed until you click on the key icon to unlock it.

[Mym8marmite]

Thanks LordJuanlo

I'm not used to ATI as I haven't had an ATI card since my 9800XT.

[Viral]

You need to click the unlock button. I had the same confusion. Not that I'm considering overclocking either.

Tried the 8.9's and same problems. Crashed when trying to play a new game of crysis at different points all of which were in the intro scenes (3D). Then, the FMV and menu BG was corrupt again, but I got a bit further into the first scene in the plane. Just now when starting up my PC I had catcontrolcentre crash on boot again :\

Going to try 8.8 betas now. Don't want to try 8.8 official as they suck. If this doesnt work all I can think of is that there's something wrong with my RAID setup, might be worth installing catalyst on my other drive.

[Mym8marmite]

@Viral

Installed the 8.9 drivers last night and crysis ran lovely, though I did experience flashing textures and corruption on one occasion but I put that down to swapping between crysis and the desktop when trying to get AA to work. A quick reboot of crysis stopped it happening and played for about an hour after that. My god the 4870 X2 is so silky smooth compared to my 8800GTX

Talking of AA, Is there a trick to enabling AA in crysis as I can't seem to get it to show up. I was using edge detect 12X AA, is this type supported under crysis or do you have to use the standard Box type AA?

[Xion X2]

You need to click the unlock button. I had the same confusion. Not that I'm considering overclocking either.

Tried the 8.9's and same problems. Crashed when trying to play a new game of crysis at different points all of which were in the intro scenes (3D). Then, the FMV and menu BG was corrupt again, but I got a bit further into the first scene in the plane. Just now when starting up my PC I had catcontrolcentre crash on boot again :\

Going to try 8.8 betas now. Don't want to try 8.8 official as they suck. If this doesnt work all I can think of is that there's something wrong with my RAID setup, might be worth installing catalyst on my other drive.

Could be your RAID setup, I guess, but I would check your CPU overclock and the temps on your northbridge and southbridge first. That's most likely the cause of your crashes. Or your memory.

I don't think it's the video drivers causing your problems. I've had some BSODs along the way with mine, but every time I thought it was the video driver I found something else was causing the issue (most notably an unstable CPU overclock or northbridge/southbridge running hot.)

The video drivers have been extremely stable for me.

[Viral]

It's not the drivers, you're right. Got the same issues with 8.8 betas.

Nothing's overclocked RAM is at 5,5,5,15 timings not "specced" 4,4,4,12 and prime 95 and furmark are running fine. Tried installing on my WD drive, no difference. CBFed with installing other games just want crysis running good before i buy warhead. I think it's the memory, going to try my mates GEIL... knew i shouldn't have bought this team dark crap but it was all that was in stock for a decent price. Will test it soon and hopefully that's it since the store I bought the RAM from isn't far away.

[jcossin]

Hi Viral,

I noticed your power supply isn't on AMD's approved list. I had crashing when I first got my 4870X2 and my power supply was not on AMD's approved list so I went out and got an approved power supply and all is good now!

Not sure why the Corsair power supplies aren't on the list but please don't shoot the messenger! You may just need to pick up a new power supply. I got the Antec Earthwatts EA-650 at Fry's for $95 and it's running my system like a champ!

[Xion X2]

His PSU is fine. I'm using the same one to power 2 of his cards. He may want to think about swapping PCI-E connectors, though.

Viral, are you using the hard-wired connectors or the modular ones? Switch to whichever one you're not using and see if that fixes the problem. Make sure the connectors plug in all the way and that the card is seated properly all the way into the slot on the motherboard.

Also, check your northbridge and southbridge temps in your bios after some gaming. Come back and report what they are, if you can.

[DRen72]

His PSU is fine...+1 for the Corsair HX-1000. No problems here.

[Mym8marmite]

I'm running a corsair 620 modular here and everythings fine