How to Enable crossfirex with APU (Using 6670)

[heavyarms39]

Hi everyone,

N00b question, I'm a first time buyer of a GPU (XFX radeon 6670) to crossfire with my a8-3850 APU. Currently I have the integrated graphics installed (6550D) and was wondering if anyone can walk me through the process of installing this one (not physically) and running crossfire .Currently I have 11.7 Catalyst driver and I don't see the crossfire option with it. The most recent one is the 11.8 but I have not tried it yet, but can I keep the integrated graphics installed and then install the new driver and enable the option?

Thanks for the help in advance

 

[nforce4max]

Yes go with 11.8!

 

[photonboy]

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx

This is for Windows 7 64-bit, but my point is to show you that the Crossfire profile is a separate download. It's the 0.5MB file. So you would simply install the first larger file of the main driver and Control Center than install the Crossfire profile.

I should add you'll get a lot of micro-stuttering but if you absolutely need more frames per second that's the price you have to pay.

Check out the article on micro-stuttering at Tomshardware.

*I'm uncertain if you can disable the onboard graphics and use any single graphics addon card. It's my understanding that you can only use a second graphics card that matches your onboard. It MIGHT be possible to add TWO cards for a 3xCrossfire setup which may help with micro-stuttering.

 

[heavyarms39]

wow, thank you for that answer. I never knew about micro stuttering. So what you're saying is that...it'll happen for sure using crossfire no matter what the specs? Would you just recommend using the 6670 on its own instead of using crossfire? I mean my specs are:

a8-3850 cpu
600w psu
f1a75m-pro mobo
2x2 gb 1333 ram
1920x1080 res

ill be getting the card in the mail sometime this week. I'd love to hear everyone else's opinion on this too

 

[benski]

^What you are trying to do isn't called hybrid crossfire anymore, they are calling it Radeon Dual Graphics.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/dual-graphics/Pages/dual-graphics.aspx#/3

And not everyone or every game has microstuttering issues with crossfire.

 

[photonboy]

Micro-stuttering:
I refer solely to the article. Read that. The general consensus seems to be that the worst stuttering is with TWO, LOWER-END graphics cards.

The name may change from Crossfire when you're dealing with an APU (CPU + Graphics), however I'd imagine its basically the same thing.

I assume you'd use a Crossfire profile, but I couldn't confirm that.

I did confirm that currently any desktop APU can only be paired with a SPECIFIC graphics card. Since the graphics portion is so integrated with the CPU portion the graphics can not be disabled like a normal motherboard with onboard Video.

The APU is a great deal, on its own if you know you won't need better graphics. It's similar to laptops which aren't upgradeable but there's a SLIGHT upgrade path with the second card.

I could NOT confirm if you could add two of those cards for essentially a 3xCrossfire situation. I would suspect that it is possible.

 

[photonboy]

Games:
I should add that there are several older games, and even newer games that play well on a lower end machine.

Not all games have to be like CRYSIS. Having said that, most good games are.

Points:
1) Deus Ex (#1) is a great older game which should run well. Get the STEAM copy.
2) Experiment with DEMO's rather than buying a game and being disappointed.
3) Gamespot has a section that lists all PC games. You can adjust by year or by score if you wish to find a few games that run well. Your best bet may be a few years ago.

Anway, I don't have the time to look but there should be a couple games to keep you satisfied. I was shocked to see how crappy Diablo 2 looks now but remember loving it at the time. It's not all about the graphics.

I'm checking my STEAM list for games which may run good on a lower system:
1) Sam and Max series
2) Beyond Good and Evil
3) Red Alert 3
4) Command and Conquer 3
5) Half Life 2 (maybe)
6) Multiwinia (there's a DEMO. apparently it gets addictive)
7) Portal (not sure how it would play, but there is a DEMO at STEAM)
8) Shadowgrounds
9) Star Wars - Jedi outcast (force AA on if not available through RadeonPro)
10) Monkey Island series
11) Splinter Cell series (not Conviction though)
12) Torchlight (#2 coming)
13) Trine
14) Dawn of War - Soulstorm (earliest DOW Warhammer 40,000 games are only 4x3 and later games require powerful PC)
15) Street Fighter IV (not sure how it plays. There may be a DEMO or Benchmark utility around. Fun game, but you need to find a manual or website which explains advanced moves because you get lost.)

I just realized that the only game that needs an XBox Controller is the last one.

 

[heavyarms39]

Thanks for the input, read the article aswell. I'll let you know how it goes once I receive the card

 

[heavyarms39]

Hi everyone,

I installed the 6670 into my system to enable dual graphics with my a8-3850 llano apu but CPU-z, device manager, dxdiag does not recognize this as a 6690D2 (which it should be). When it's enabled it still shows both drivers 6670 and 6550d(integrated). When I run games like starcraft it can barely run it on 1920x1080 res, highest settings at around 26-30 fps. What am I doing wrong!?!? I am also using a vga cable at the moment that I put into the graphics card, before I used a dvi to plug into the MOBO.

Someone help!!!

 

[Damuppet]

Hi heavyarms39,

I have a F1A75-M PRO Mobo w/A8-3850 CPU. In windows 7 x64 disable the crossfire in the CCC while it's plugged into the mobo VGA port. Plug the DVI or HDMI into the 6670 not the Mobo. After it detects the monitor ( and the screen comes back up ). Go into CCC and re-enable the crossfire. I had to do it that way. It's running in crossfire however not posting as a 6670D2. I am getting the performance just not the post. Also be aware that a digital DVI or HDMI is needed my old analog VGA port only monitor refused to work with crossfire. This maybe unique to my system but this is what I've seen so far all systems are different. I hope this helps.

 

[heavyarms39]

Hi heavyarms39,

I have a F1A75-M PRO Mobo w/A8-3850 CPU. In windows 7 x64 disable the crossfire in the CCC while it's plugged into the mobo VGA port. Plug the DVI or HDMI into the 6670 not the Mobo. After it detects the monitor ( and the screen comes back up ). Go into CCC and re-enable the crossfire. I had to do it that way. It's running in crossfire however not posting as a 6670D2. I am getting the performance just not the post. Also be aware that a digital DVI or HDMI is needed my old analog VGA port only monitor refused to work with crossfire. This maybe unique to my system but this is what I've seen so far all systems are different. I hope this helps.

It helps a bit, I have a few more questions... In CCC is the 6670 listed as the "primary driver" or alternate? and what configurations did you make to the asus bios (if any) as for the NB configuration or anything else??

 

[photonboy]

Try running a couple benchmarks (write down the scores) with the card and without it (physically remove it).

If things are working you should see better benchmarks scores with the second card. If even a SINGLE benchmark or game works better with the card installed or without then you should be setup okay.

As for Starcraft 2, I saw a big article on the difference in quality settings vs performance. There was a HUGE difference from the basic setting to the next one but then the third and fourth (Ultra?) were minor improvements but much more demanding.

The game SHOULD be designed to run at 30FPS with VSYNC but it's not. I would choose whatever quality setting gets you to 30FPS or higher (60FPS with VSYNC allows no screen tearing but you won't get there, again that's why 30FPS should have been done.)

Good luck.