What motherboard for crossfire

[dantrio]

I currently have a msi 970 gaming motherboard and 2 r9 280x in crossfire but not getting much of a performance boost if any. Is this due to the board not having good enough support for crossfire. I believe both lanes are running at 8x speed, would it be worth upgrading to a board where both can run at 16x speeds?

 

[Anonymouselite5]

Both lanes at 8x speed should be plenty, so you should have no bottleneck there.
What games are you having bad performance on? also have you enabled crossfire in your driver settings?

 

[dantrio]

Yep crossfire is enabled in drivers, every game i have tried i have had no or only about 10 fps increase in performance. Looking at benchmarks of 280x in crossfire it should be pritty damn quick but things like assassins creed 4 maxed out at 1080p im only getting around 30fps with or without crossfire while benchmarks say it should be above 60. Processor is fx 6300 overclocked to 4.1ghz.

 

[rockie_]

x8/x8 is fair enough for R9 280X CF . No need of new mobo and CPU - perhaps . i guess you re facing CF driver issues or need a better processor . But i guess you ve got a fast one .

 

[dantrio]

I only think the lanes are running x8/x8 is there any way to make sure they are or to see the speeds there running at?

 

[rockie_]

GPU-Z but it shows wrong results sometimes .

what CPU do you have ?

chipset 970 is not very good for Crossfire . One of the PCI-E should be wired to the north bridge but the second to the south bridge.

 

[Anonymouselite5]

Your cpu is bottlenecking your gpu's. With 1 r9 280x your cpu overclocked to 4.1ghz just saturates it, now that you have 2 it cannot keep up. Which is why you get the results of just one gpu.

You will need to upgrade your cpu too. Depending on your budget? if not you'll just have to stick with what you got for now. Possibly overclocking further will give you more fps.

 

[dantrio]

I have a amd fx 6300 overclocked to 4.1 ghz. Should i be looking at upgrading to a 8350 and will this give me the performance from the crossfire that i should be getting? Or is it that the 970 chipset isnt any good and i should be looking to upgrade to a new mother board like this http://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH_990FX_R20/ ?

 

[rockie_]

First check the CPU load . If its 100% but the two cards work at 50% , so the processor is bottlenecking them and should be changed . Or try a different driver , even fresh install of Windows . If you re going to change both - the CPU and the motherboard , go Intel .

 

[dantrio]

I checked this before the cpu is usualy anywhere from 85% to 100% and is usually above 90% but both gpu's are also running around 90% when i look in msi afterburner. I dont to have to upgrade the motherboard or the cpu i just want to be able to get the performance out of the crossfire setup that i should really be getting If i up the overclock on the cpu up to 4.5Ghz is this going to improve the performance a reasonable amount? On my old r9 270x single card i would get about 60fps constantly in biohsock infinite at ultra 1080p and now with 2 r9 280x in crossfire im only getting about 85 fps. Im sure there should be more performance than that.

 

[dantrio]

Also if i reinstall windows and try the latest amd beta drivers is this likely to help? I just want the most performance out of this as i can?

 

[rockie_]

Give it a try

 

[Anonymouselite5]

I checked this before the cpu is usualy anywhere from 85% to 100% and is usually above 90% but both gpu's are also running around 90% when i look in msi afterburner. I dont to have to upgrade the motherboard or the cpu i just want to be able to get the performance out of the crossfire setup that i should really be getting If i up the overclock on the cpu up to 4.5Ghz is this going to improve the performance a reasonable amount? On my old r9 270x single card i would get about 60fps constantly in biohsock infinite at ultra 1080p and now with 2 r9 280x in crossfire im only getting about 85 fps. Im sure there should be more performance than that.

If it's above 90% usage overall on your cpu that may be a cpu bottleneck. Also depending on the game that bottleneck will be better or worse.

Yes overclocking further will make a little difference, try overclocking up and see what the difference is. If you're lucky and depending on your cooler you may get close to 4.8ghz. Even an 8350 will bottleneck 2 r9 280x's so an upgrade to that would reduce the bottleneck but one that is noticeable will still be there.

Try reinstalling everything, but I still think there is a cpu bottleneck here.
With a CF setup with 2 r9 280x's. You should see about 120fps in bioshock infinite.

If you're willing to upgrade you can go a more expensive route to intel, to a i5-4590k, or you can stick with AMD and go the fx 9590 (takes alot more energy and heat but I think you can just place it in your motherboard)
I would suggest the intel as the 9590 is not worth it, but it's up to you.

-good luck

 

[dantrio]

So if i wanted to upgrade hardware without splashing out for a £250 i7 and intel motherboard would getting the fx 8350, overclocking it a bit and getting something like the Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 Motherboard be good and would this leave options to upgrade to a more powerful single gpu or better crossfire or sli config in the future?

 

[Anonymouselite5]

So if i wanted to upgrade hardware without splashing out for a £250 i7 and intel motherboard would getting the fx 8350, overclocking it a bit and getting something like the Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 Motherboard be good and would this leave options to upgrade to a more powerful single gpu or better crossfire or sli config in the future?

The FX 8350 will decrease the bottleneck but it will still be there, with a high overclock that might beat the bottleneck.
The truth is Intel dominates the higher end of the cpu range, but AMD is cheaper and good for video editing, Intels performance per core is much better and AMD just slaps in more cores. At the moment most games don't use over 4 cores or 6.

So if money is a problem go with the 8350, it's a pretty good cpu. Overclock it and you'll defeat most of that bottleneck.

If money isn't the problem a new motherboard plus maybe an i5 4670k will solve all of the bottleneck (although much more expensive.) Also is more future proof.

It's your choice, the 8350 (and when you overclock it) will do the job.

 

[dantrio]

So for going down the route of intel, i understand that the asus ROG motherboards are the best. I might as well spend the extra money and do things properly this time so i don't end up spending more money down the line to upgrade to soon.

 

[Anonymouselite5]

So for going down the route of intel, i understand that the asus ROG motherboards are the best. I might as well spend the extra money and do things properly this time so i don't end up spending more money down the line to upgrade to soon.

Well you can't say they're the best... but they're usually pretty good. Just spend on what you're willing to spend. Yes Asus is good but if you want to save some money another will be good enough. As long as it has at least compatibility for SLI 8x and your new cpu.

Although you could go a 8350 and stick with the same motherboard, personally I would still recommend the intel though but AMD is much cheaper.