Crossfire 6950's not performing well

[hohehi1]

So I recently bought a second 6950 gpu in the hopes of increasing my fps for Guild Wars 2. There seems to be a problem though, as the fps sits around 25-30, sometimes dipping to around 10-15 when in crowded areas. This is with everything on the maximum. This seems low because my friend is reporting 30-40 fps at all times with a single 560 Ti. I am also seeing issues when playing Rift, as my friend is still receiving higher fps than me. What could be wrong?

System Specs:
ASUS P8Z68-V Pro
Intel i5-2500k @4.5ghz
2x Sapphire Radeon HD 6950
2x4gb GSkill Sniper RAM
Rosewill BRONZE Series 1000w psu

Both cards are running x8 I believe. All drivers are up-to-date, and both gpu's are detected by gpu-z. Crossfire is enabled on Catalyst Control Center. I have done a complete driver reinstall since i noticed the problem, but it did not improve anything. My first thought was a cpu bottleneck because my windows task manager was reporting a 100% cpu usage. This no longer seems the case because cpu usage is reported around 30-50% while running Guild Wars 2. Also, the first gpu was bought about 7 months ago; it was a Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 Flex edition, while the one i recently bought was a Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 that came factory overclocked. I thought the differing clock speeds could be the issue, but I read about Crossfire and it said that if the two gpu's were running at differing speeds, the faster of the two would be brought down to the slower, so I no longer think that is the problem. Basically, I have tried everything I know of to do, and nothing is working. Please help.

 

[k-dub]

There are 3 PCIE slots - Maybe you've used the one that isn't x8 for the secondary GPU ? Try using the other slot.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Use CCC/Vision Engine control whatever they call it now, to match the cards speeds, slow down the Oc'd one to the standards clocks and volts,
**it said that if the two gpu's were running at differing speeds, the faster of the two would be brought down to the slower**
I believe that refers to the Pcie slots speeds, not clocks,
a card in a x16 slot will be slowed to x4 if the secondary card is in an x4 slot
Moto

 

[Earnie]

Use CCC/Vision Engine control whatever they call it now, to match the cards speeds, slow down the Oc'd one to the standards clocks and volts,
**it said that if the two gpu's were running at differing speeds, the faster of the two would be brought down to the slower**
I believe that refers to the Pcie slots speeds, not clocks,
a card in a x16 slot will be slowed to x4 if the secondary card is in an x4 slot
Moto

wrong,it is the clock speeds,not the PCIe slot speed.

Op,your cards need to be in the dark blue and white slots,they will run in X8 for crossfire.Bridge installed and power connectors to the new card?
make sure you have the latest caps installed also.

 

[hohehi1]

wrong,it is the clock speeds,not the PCIe slot speed.

Op,your cards need to be in the dark blue and white slots,they will run in X8 for crossfire.Bridge installed and power connectors to the new card?
make sure you have the latest caps installed also.

They are both completely plugged in and recognized by computer and CCC says they are running in crossfire. I made sure they were in the blue and white slots; they were there originally. What do you mean by latest caps? If you mean drivers, then I have the latest from AMD installed as well as chipset and BIOS.

 

[Earnie]

the CAPS are the "Catalyst Application profiles" for crossfire setups(and also single GPU),they are a seperate download,

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/crossfirex-app-profiles.aspx

try those and see if there is any difference.

 

[hohehi1]

the CAPS are the "Catalyst Application profiles" for crossfire setups(and also single GPU),they are a seperate download,

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/crossfirex-app-profiles.aspx

try those and see if there is any difference.

I downloaded the CAPS but saw no improvements. Does the recent application profile update include performance improvements from previous versions? Because I remember seeing Guild Wars 2 in the list of affected games for application profiles. Also, is there anything extra I need to do for the application profiles to work? Or is it simply a download?

 

[Earnie]

I downloaded the CAPS but saw no improvements. Does the recent application profile update include performance improvements from previous versions? Because I remember seeing Guild Wars 2 in the list of affected games for application profiles. Also, is there anything extra I need to do for the application profiles to work? Or is it simply a download?

nope,you just install and thats it,now I also read about a GW2 profile ,I would check on the GW2 forums,i believe I saw a reference to it there ,as far as I know,they are all in the latest.

 

[Drivvo]

Hey there all

I've had the same issues as the OP and i think i found the solution

The Caps have the GW2 listed as GW2Dev.exe,

I made a new app profile (just via the 3D application settings page) and chose "Use AMD Pre-defined Profile" and set it to the GW2Dev.exe profile, then saved it as the GW2.exe which it prompts, im seeing less FPS drop especially when turning your camera, try it and see if it does the same for you

BTW im pretty unsure on this kind of stuff i was just messing around as i have 2 x 6950's which were chugging even with lower graphics settings

 

[DevonK]

Thanks a lot - that worked well for me, the change in the exe name left the Cap profile useless with the release game.
My earlier workaround was to use the AFR mode in a custom profile, but that messed up the UI overlays when you click on someone in-game (their portrait would be flashing).

Hey there all

I've had the same issues as the OP and i think i found the solution

The Caps have the GW2 listed as GW2Dev.exe,

I made a new app profile (just via the 3D application settings page) and chose "Use AMD Pre-defined Profile" and set it to the GW2Dev.exe profile, then saved it as the GW2.exe which it prompts, im seeing less FPS drop especially when turning your camera, try it and see if it does the same for you

BTW im pretty unsure on this kind of stuff i was just messing around as i have 2 x 6950's which were chugging even with lower graphics settings

 

[Drivvo]

Thanks a lot - that worked well for me, the change in the exe name left the Cap profile useless with the release game.
My earlier workaround was to use the AFR mode in a custom profile, but that messed up the UI overlays when you click on someone in-game (their portrait would be flashing).

glad to hear it worked! this page was hitting high on google for crossfire hopefully other people can see it to, not too sure where else is common to advise on it

 

[Guest]

hmm, seems that the profile you are talking about are not listed @ my CAP page -.- any solution about that?