CrossfireX second card stops working!

[gustafangus]

Help! I recently built a new machine and i have 2 7970s in crossfire. Here are the full specs:

I7 3930k
Corsair H100i liquid cooling
Asrock X79 Extreme4
Sapphire 7970 OC
Corsair TX-850W 80+
Seagate something 2TB
4GB ddr 3 Silicon Power 1600mhz (i had 12gb but i am having some problems currently)

So, i was getting like only 30fps in Crysis 1 and i was confuse because i am running on a Single 1080p monitor with a 2nd 1280X1024 monitor for temps ect.

I read online that I should run the game with crossfire disabled. So I went to CCC ad turned ir off (but my Crossfire bridge was still on). After that the 2nd card stopped spinning so i got scared and turned Crossfire back on. The monitors flashed and all but still the GPU disnt spin the fans. I got scared so i restarted my PC and after the new boot the 2nd GPU started spinning, but as soon as the Windows welcome sign appeared, it stoped again. I wanted to de-install my driver (i only have CCC) but i thought that the 2nd card could burn out or something with no cooling, so i turned the PC off again. Now I am here.

NOTE:
I never overclocked nothing
The MOBO has a 4pin Molex plug for crossfire cards. It is said in the manual to attach it if were running SLI or CF. i kept it on after i disabled CF is that right?

Please help!

 

[bystander]

While in CrossfireX, the 2nd video card powers down when not in use. If you are not in fullscreen, crossfire does not work. Fullscreen Windowed mode does not work either.

 

[gustafangus]

While in CrossfireX, the 2nd video card powers down when not in use. If you are not in fullscreen, crossfire does not work. Fullscreen Windowed mode does not work either.

What? Really? Well thats a relief. I will post tommorow if i will lets say, play crysis again and ill look if it starts spinning. But when not in use it means it doesnt get hot? Its just there waiting for a application to use it?

Because i was worried with the fans not working that the card would burn from the heat.

So again, its normal, that it spins when booting up but not when on my desktop?

 

[bystander]

When the drivers are loaded, it allows the software to put the 2nd card to sleep until it is needed. This is known as ULPS or Ultra Lower Power State: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2940/2

 

[gustafangus]

When the drivers are loaded, it allows the software to put the 2nd card to sleep until it is needed. This is known as ULPS or Ultra Lower Power State: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2940/2

Wow, thats cool, i guess i shouldnt be worried. Now this doesnt have much to do with anything, but do you have any idea why i get 30-50fps on Crysis on a 1080p monitor? A single 5970 could get tht back in the day! I tried turning vsynh on and off, no help. Its funny, if I look at the ground in Crysis, my fps go up to 250 lol. Any idea? Is it thefact that i have 4GB ram?

 

[bystander]

I can only assume you are trying to use 8x MSAA. Don't do that. Drop down to 4x MSAA at the most. A 5970 could not do that with 8x MSAA either. You likely had that lowered and forgot.

 

[gustafangus]

I can only assume you are trying to use 8x MSAA. Don't do that. Drop down to 4x MSAA at the most. A 5970 could not do that with 8x MSAA either. You likely had that lowered and forgot.

I have Antia Aliasig up to 8X whoops, gonna change that tommorow. Thanks again 🙂

 

[gustafangus]

I can only assume you are trying to use 8x MSAA. Don't do that. Drop down to 4x MSAA at the most. A 5970 could not do that with 8x MSAA either. You likely had that lowered and forgot.

Well, you were right. I monitored in CCC my 2nd GPU activity and clocks, and the minute i start Crysis up, the card starts.

Although i turned AA off, i still get like 60fps, and my GPU activity seems to be at 70% best and my CPU activity 20%... Isnt that odd?

 

[bystander]

I can only assume you are trying to use 8x MSAA. Don't do that. Drop down to 4x MSAA at the most. A 5970 could not do that with 8x MSAA either. You likely had that lowered and forgot.

Well, you were right. I monitored in CCC my 2nd GPU activity and clocks, and the minute i start Crysis up, the card starts.

Although i turned AA off, i still get like 60fps, and my GPU activity seems to be at 70% best and my CPU activity 20%... Isnt that odd?

Just because the CPU says 20%, doesn't mean there isn't a core that is running near 100%. It is that core which is slowing you down. The original Crysis came out when 2 cores was the norm, so it doesn't use 8.