Question Crossfire Compatibility and Multiple Displays

[Mikeysun]

Hello,

I am running out of ideas trying to figure out the issue with my PC not being able to run two graphics cards at the same time.

Here is my setup:
Motherboard: ASUS Maximus III Formula (Intel p55 board) (Supports dual PCI-E 2.0 graphics at 8x and 8x)(also supports Crossfire)

GPUs: 2x Sapphire Vapor-x ATI Radeon HD 5770 (form factors are slightly different but they are both 5770)(should be compatible as per the crossfire compatibility chart on the AMD website)

Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit

Windows nor AMD Control Centre detects both GPUs at the same time. When both are plugged in to my PCI-E 2.0 slots, only the second slot is detected.

For some odd reason when both GPUs are installed, it only detects the secondary slot as the display and any display connected to the primary GPU does not work.

When either of the GPUs are installed in the primary slot on its own (secondary slot empty), it works.

I have also tried installing the crossfire cable and it does nothing.

My goal here is to have the capability of displaying my PC on four monitors. I am pretty sure with two GPUs this is possible (either three displays on one card and one display on the other OR two displays on each card).

One graphics card does not support more than three displays.

AMD Control Centre doesn't even have an option to setup Crossfire. I am very confused.

I have recently discovered that the VBIOS on both cards are slightly different. Would this be the main cause of the issue?

Looking for a resolution to this or an economical alternative as graphics cards that support 4 displays are pretty expensive.

I appreciate your time.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

What is the make and model of your PSU and it's age? What OS version are you on? We're currently on version 20H2. What driver version are you working with for the GPU's? I actually have that same motherboard and it's still kicking. What BIOS version are you on at the time of writing?

 

[Mikeysun]

Hello!

I have a Kingwin 1000 watt PSU, I cannot determine the exact model at this time. I have updated windows to the latest version (20H2).

The BIOS version of my motherboard is v02.61.

This motherboard is great! I love it! It has lasted me over 10 years without barely any issue.

Only one is connected right now. I noticed that it is running at 8x, it should be running at 16X since only one slot is in use. Perhaps I need to reinstall the drivers.

AMD CCC version - 2015.1104.1643.30033
Driver Version - 15.201.1151.1008

Thanks for your help!

 

[Mikeysun]

So after figuring out that crossfire will probably only work with GPUs with the same VBIOS, I think my best bet here is to find another identical Sapphire Vapor-X AMD Radeon HD 5770 card.

I found a way to successfully update and downgrade VBIOS. So I will make sure I match them and then hopefully that works.

I still have a few questions/concerns:

1. I still don't understand why my GPU is only running at 8x when it is the only GPU installed to my motherboard (motherboard does not have dedicated graphics). It should be 16x with one card.

2. Being that my main goal for doing all this is to have the ability to support 4 displays at once, will this proposed setup allow me to do this? Do I require crossfire to make this happen?

With one 5770 card, even though 4 ports are provided, it only supports 3 displays. My thought process here was (with or without crossfire) to have two GPUs installed to support more than 3 (most likely splitting 2 displays on each card). The cards that I have tried to pair with my original 5770 do not work at all (an almost identical 5770 and other NVIDIA cards). I have even tried pairing the other NVIDIA cards together and they always have the same result. The second slot always becomes the primary card and nothing is detected in the primary slot (no display or even the GPU.

Any help/advice is much appreciated.

 

[Karadjgne]

Crossfire isn't vbios sensitive. You could use asus and sapphire or msi or Gigabyte combinations, wouldn't make a difference. Just have to be the same card. HD 5770.

Check your other ports, many times add-ons in the pcie x1 or pcie x4 or even the Sata ports are sharing bandwidth with the second pcie x16 and can/will chop it to x1 or x4 only.

Check your bios to make sure both cards are recognised.

The newer versions of AMD software don't recognise Crossfire because it's been basically phased out in favor of mgpu, which is Win10 native. You'd need an older version like Catalyst for better compatibility.

 

[Mikeysun]

Hey Karadjgine!

That's what I thought before. I thought this was going to be an easy configuration.

At this point, I have a dedicated PCI-E 2.0 1x port with a sound card connected to it (it came with the board).

I also have a standard PCI slot in use with a USB expansion card. Nothing is connected to those ports at this time though.

As for SATA, I only have two drives installed. An 512GB SSD and a 4TB HD.

I do have all my USB connectors in use (USB910, USB1112 and USB13)
but there is nothing connected to any of these ports at this time.

If this changes things, I should note that I have an Intel i7 880 CPU @3.07GHz and 12GB of RAM (All 4 slots utilized).

Also, I did not find much in the BIOS regarding GPU configuration or even a list of identified GPUs installed for this motherboard.

Should I try removing some of these components to see if this works?

I feel like this is a pretty standard setup and shouldn't be utilizing that much bandwidth at this point. There really isn't much connected.

I appreciate your help. Thanks!

 

[Mikeysun]

Sorry,
Karadjgne

 

[Karadjgne]

You could try that pci usb card, it might be an x8 version. That would totally explain things.

Also the drives should be located in #1 and #2 Sata ports as those will be Intel - direct cpu lanes, #3 and higher use Sata chipset which also uses pcie lanes, not cpu.

The dedicated pcie slot for the sound card should be using cpu lanes, so shouldn't compromise the gpu outputs.

It's not so much the amount of bandwidth used, it's more about the amount of bandwidth allocated and what's doing the allocating.

 

[Mikeysun]

Hey Karadjgne,

So I received a reply from AMD about my Crossfire setup and even though the cards (and my motherboard) do say they support crossfire (as of 2009/2010 lol), according to AMD, Crossfire is not supported with the 5770.

Even though their own compatibility chart does have my card on the list. I guess like you said it is being phased out.

At this point, I feel like my motherboard should still be capable of recognizing two different GPUs at the same time at least. I disconnected the USB PCI card and any unused SATA ports (meant for E-SATA connections on my chassis which I never use).

I still receive a x8 speed with one card and both cards are still not recognized at the same time. The second slot becomes the primary card and the top slot is not recognized at all.

Either my motherboard is malfunctioning or perhaps it simply no longer supports that function with windows 10. As fast and functional as my computer still is, I sometimes forget that it is an 11 year old motherboard lol.

 

[Mikeysun]

Hello,

From what I have researched and read about the Maximus III Formula, it is unclear whether the mobo supports a non-crossfire/sli multi-GPU setup.

It would explain as to why even with all components using up the PCI-E bandwidth unplugged that two GPUs still do not work on my mobo.

I have seen videos of perfectly functioning crossfire configurations with my mobo. I have not seen two different GPUs operational on my mobo.

Can anyone confirm if my mobo can even support two different GPUs at the same time?

Thanks!