Problems with 4890 crossfire and Fall Out 3

[mat7861]

So yesterday i installed a second 4890 in 16x 16x crossfire. Most games i have seen a noticable difference in frames. But in fallout 3, i have wierd FPS issues. In places where it wouldnt seem the graphic intensive, the frams drop all the way down to 30 fps, and in places like looking out over the land for far distances, it stays at a solid 60. Even more where is in most games when you looks straight down at the ground, your frames jump, but in fallout three i look straight at the ground and the frams drop. There is also some where lighting, like the HDR seems to be flickering. Does anyone else have issues with this card/game? could it be an issue with the crossfire scaling? thanks in advance!

 

[jay_l_a]

Specs?

Dis you uninstall, and re-install the Catalyst drivers?

 

[mat7861]

Core 2 Quad Q6600 oc to 3.2ghz
Gigabyte x48 DS5 mobo
4gb Patriot viper ddr 2 1066
2x4890 crossfire
Soundblaster X-fi Extreme Gamer
Corsair 650W psu

I know its not a psu issue because every other game scales nicly. And after it was happening last night i decided to format my hard drive and start fresh. Installed 9.10 drivers and then installed fallout 3. Same thing is still hapenning.

EDIT: oh and also a couple times, when getting into a game, the graphics are all rainbow and wierd looking. it has happened a couple times, in a couple different games. could it be the second 4890 is faulty?

 

[jay_l_a]

OK, whenever I'm having any problems with the machine, I start at the top, and work down to the details.

1. Is your machine stable? Can you run prime 95 for 12+ hours? This will test everything but the GPU.

2. I see a lot of people using FURmark to test GPU stability. Will your GPUs tolerate furmark?

3. If your machine is otherwise stable, have you tried different catalyst driver versions? I had trouble with 9.10 and went back to 9.9. For me they worked better, others have had no problems with 9.10.

4. Have you becnhmarked with a single graphics card, and then again with 2 cards to confirm that crossfire is indeed working? I had an issue where the crossfire checkbox was checked, but only a single card was in operation. I knew this by comparing a new 3dmark06 run, and compared the results I had previously for single and dual GPUs

 

[mat7861]

I will try all that you listed and get back to you with results when done. thanks for the reply!

 

[mat7861]

I just disabled cross fire in ccc, and the frames wit one card are exactly the same. So either Fall Out 3 doesnt benifit from crossfire, or theres a problem with the second card.

 

[nforce4max]

Now that is odd. :O
Try patching the game to the latest version. Fallout3 is one of the few games that I can run with out issues except for micro shutter when running sli.

 

[mat7861]

I patched the game last night before i formatted my hard drive. and it was the same way. I didnt patch today to see if it made a difference.(plus i hate games for windows live)

EDIT: Should i be using one bridge or 2? i currently have 2 connected.

 

[jay_l_a]

In my experience, Fallout 3 DOES benefit from Crossfire.

What screen resolution are you playing at?

How many crossfire links/cables/dongles did you attach?

 

[mat7861]

I am playing at 1680x1050. I know its not the highest res, but my other games seem to scale good.

I have 2 crossfire brisges attached. I read somewhere that this is better, but im not totally sure. Im new to this whole sli/crossfire thing.

 

[jay_l_a]

2 bridges should be fine.


What do you have the catalyst AI set to in CCC?

 

[mat7861]

Catalyst AI is set to standard.

 

[jennyh]

I had crossfire issues with Fallout 3 too, using two 4770's.

A single 4890 should run the game almost perfectly anyway.

 

[mat7861]

Ok i just ran 3dmark06 at default settings, first with crossfire disabled, then with crossfire enabled:

Xfire disabled: 16203
Xfire Enable: 18280

The first time i tried to bench with xfire enabled, it gave me the wierd rainbow colords thing, and i hit print screen to show you guys. But when i went to paint and pasted it, it looked normal! 8-O wth is going on? lol

 

[jay_l_a]

Those scores look comparable to my scores for xfire enabled/disabled, although the real world benefits are greater than 3dmark indicates.

So crossfire is working. The rainbow thing is odd, you could try swapping slots for the cards, see if anything changes.

As to the weird FPS, did you patch Fallout 3 to the latest version?

(When I did, it broke Fallout 3, and had apply some windows hotfix or other. Good work Bethesda...)

 

[mat7861]

I did patch it last night, but the same thing happened. i might try it again though, doesnt hurt to have the game patched.

 

[mat7861]

Ok so i just took out my first card i had(HIS 4890) and put the new card i bought(xfx 4890) in the main slot, and left the HIS out all together. Fall Out 3 is noticably smoother with almost no stutters... Will edit this and post 3dmark score in a few mins.

HIS by its self: 16208
XFX by its self: 15954
Crossfire: 18280

Im now gunna put the HIS where the XFX was before. (so taking your advice and trying them switched around)

 

[mat7861]

Well crossfire is definatly worrrking. I decided to test Hellgate London cuz its a dx10 game.
xfire disabled: 61 avg fps
xfire enabled: 111 avg fps

Though i am starting to wonder if those extra frames are worth 200 dollars, since its perfectly fine at 60fps.... hmmmmm at least i got it from best buy, so i have 30 days to decide heh.

 

[mat7861]

Ok so i decided i am gunna return the second 4890 in a few days. The extra frames on games that already exceed 60+ frames on avg is not worth the 200 for me. PLus, some games i notice no difference or acutally get less fps. At least i tried though. I will use the extra cash and pick up a couple games. Mw2 is on my list. (ready to get flamed) Dont worry i signed the petition....

 

[jay_l_a]

2 things to consider. Crossfire is generally more stable if you have 2 identical cards.

How long are you going to keep this machine? As games become more demanding, the crossfire might really help...

You could consider selling both 4890s and buying two cheaper cards, eg 2 4870s that are identical. You'll probably have less trouble that way.

 

[mat7861]

I usually upgrade the video card once a year.. i know a wast eof money but i like to stay on top. Im gunna keep this for a few more days, since i hava awhile to return it and test out some more games. If i end up returning it i will probably buy a 5850 or a 5870 in the coming months.