HD 5870's are in Xfire Mode but 2nd GPU isn't taking any load, HELP!

I wanted to OC my GPU's and increase my performance because it really seemed a little lackluster for a $4,000 laptop. I made an astonishing discovery. Only one of my GPU's is taking load. My 2nd GPU is just sitting there. Strange thing is according to GPU-Z they are in Crossfire Mode.

Here's the Story:
I used Mandrake's Guide exactly as he instructed. I copied my VBIOS to a USB Boot Disk and used RBE to edit my Core and Mem Clock Speeds from 700/1000 to 800/1100. Then I re-flashed it back. I then ran a Final Fantasy XIV Benchmark to test it out my stock clock vs OC'd clock and also to make sure my GPU wasn't running hot.

Here is the log with all the information regarding Temperatures, Fan Speeds etc of the OC'ed BIOS using GPU-Z.

From left to right these are what the values are.
Date GPU Core Clock , GPU Memory Clock , GPU Temperature , Fan Speed% , GPU Load% , Fan RPM , GPU Temp. #1, GPU Temp. #2, GPU Temp. #3
2010-09-26 15:30:32 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 91.0 , 30 , 99 , 277 , 76.0 , 91.5 , 87.5 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:33 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 91.0 , 30 , 99 , 277 , 76.0 , 91.0 , 87.5 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:34 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 91.0 , 30 , 99 , 277 , 76.5 , 91.0 , 87.5 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:35 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 91.0 , 30 , 99 , 277 , 76.0 , 91.5 , 87.5 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:36 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 91.0 , 30 , 99 , 277 , 76.0 , 92.0 , 88.0 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:37 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 92.0 , 30 , 99 , 277 , 76.5 , 91.5 , 88.5 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:38 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 92.0 , 30 , 99 , 277 , 77.0 , 92.0 , 88.5 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:39 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 92.0 , 30 , 99 , 277 , 76.0 , 92.0 , 88.5 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:40 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 92.0 , 30 , 98 , 277 , 76.5 , 92.0 , 89.0 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:41 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 91.0 , 30 , 99 , 277 , 76.5 , 91.0 , 89.0 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:42 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 91.0 , 30 , 99 , 277 , 76.5 , 91.0 , 88.0 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:43 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 91.0 , 30 , 99 , 277 , 76.5 , 91.5 , 89.0 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:44 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 91.0 , 30 , 99 , 277 , 76.5 , 91.0 , 89.0 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:45 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 91.0 , 30 , 99 , 277 , 77.0 , 92.0 , 89.0 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:46 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 85.0 , 30 , 98 , 277 , 74.5 , 85.0 , 83.0 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:47 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 79.0 , 30 , 87 , 277 , 72.0 , 79.5 , 79.5 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:48 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 78.0 , 30 , 68 , 277 , 71.5 , 77.5 , 78.5 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:49 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 78.0 , 30 , 55 , 277 , 71.0 , 78.0 , 78.0 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:50 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 81.0 , 30 , 48 , 277 , 72.0 , 81.0 , 80.5 ,

2010-09-26 15:30:51 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 85.0 , 30 , 42 , 277 , 73.0 , 85.5 , 83.0 ,

2010-09-26 15:31:26 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 75.0 , 30 , 86 , 277 , 69.0 , 75.5 , 75.5 ,

2010-09-26 15:31:27 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 74.0 , 30 , 66 , 277 , 67.5 , 74.0 , 75.0 ,

2010-09-26 15:31:28 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 74.0 , 30 , 53 , 277 , 67.0 , 73.0 , 74.0 ,

2010-09-26 15:31:29 , 800.0 , 1100.0 , 73.0 , 30 , 34 , 277 , 66.5 , 72.5 , 73.5 ,

It looks like the fan speed was stuck at 30%. That's a problem, no? Also the temperature reached a blazing 91C. So DR650SE said I should re-flash the original VBIOS back and check the fan speeds and temperatures. So that is what I did, and I ran the Final Fantasy Benchmark and logged the Temps, Fan Speeds etc again with GPU-Z. This time I took a screen shot, and I swapped between GPU1 and GPU2 and I noticed that GPU2 was taking ZERO LOAD!

Here are the photos:
GPU1 - Notice the load %'age and the Temps


GPU2 - Notice there's NO LOAD AT ALL!!! !!!

 

Hey there chiefs. The FFXIV benchmark is shocking to use lol. Even super high end systems score quite low or lower than expected.

When using GPU-z the fan speed readings are not accurate. Try using HWiNFO32 and the sensors tab. As for GPU-Z open up 2 of them before running games or benchmarks. So have one set to GPU1 and the other to GPU2. You can also try installing radeon pro and clicking the show Crossfire enabled logo in games and applications when it is indeed utilising both GPUs to render that particular game or application.

Also in CCC make sure Catalyst AI is set to standard or Advanced. Set it to advanced 1st and only change it to standard if your having problems in games. If catalyst AI is disabled Crossfire won't run at all.

Also try setting the default settings in CCC apply then going through ur settings again and changing them back to what you like. Also disable crossfire and then apply, then re-enable it again apply. Then try benching or gaming again. If it is running in crossfire mode for that particular game or benchmark it will show a ATI crossfire logo in the top right hand corner when radeon pro is used.

Make sure you run GPU-z and or HWiNFO32 sensors button before you try any benching or gaming. Leave them running in the background as well. Also when or if you alt tab out some of the sensors will immediately drop so don't be too alarmed there. For example the Crossfire will get chopped and clocks and load will also drop making it look like it was doing nothing the whole time. You can check afterwards under the max tab for gpu load and % of mem bandwidth being used. Also use the fan speeds up the top and not under each GPU in HWiNFO32.

Good Luck.

Cheers.

 

I don't think FFXIV benchmark supports xfire. The game itself favors nvidia all the way, unfortunately.

 

FFXIV does support Crossfire now with the new drivers and CAP profiles however your right it does favour Nvidia just like most other games.

Cheers.

 

What everyone already said, FFXIV Benchmark does not run in CrossFire in windowed mode.

FFXIV the game on the other hand, is working in crossfire, but the drivers are not 100% compatible to it yet, and the GPU's (Both) don't scale correctly. The load is between 60-80% on each.

I tested the 10.9 for a while on the beta, and the game was performing well 100% on both gpu's for like 5 minutes, but when the temps reached high (~92°C) the cards throttled to 50% (load, not clocks) each, and i called it a day with testing those.

Your best bet at the moment is to wait for ATI/AMD to release a stable 10.10 mobility driver. I would be very dissapointed if the next release of mobility drivers, does not finally change something, since they already skipped 10.9. If AMD wants to be strong now and don't want to lose too many customers, before the 400m series from nvidia hits, they better get their act straight and begin to care.

Getting the standard edition of the game this week, once i got that, you can be sure, i'll try to get the max. out of it with the current available drivers and the tweaks i have access to.

Cheers

 

I'm going to have to run home after work tonight and test that out. I'll download furmark and check the loads of each GPU with 2 instances of GPU-Z running. My gut tells me it will have the same outcome.

I will follow reborns post if it doesn't work.

 

I see they offer SLI® 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 285M now on the Alienware website. I almost feel like getting those instead because NVIDIA Drivers are so much better as far as compatibility it seems. I've always had NVIDIA cards. These are my first ATI Cards and it seems like it's nothing but problems.

 

Yeah, not easy at the moment, i think Alienware and AMD are aware of that. And if AMD wants to show it's new side, they definetly have to work harder to keep and satisfy their customers under their hood. IMO AMD should fire the whole driver team and redevelop it's drivers from ground up again. And that is nicely said

I don't like Nvidia or ATI more, they both can't get things right as many other companies aswell, it's just, i didn't had many more options to play games on a fairly affordable system for it's time being. So i make the best out of it and see how i get along. I'm sure if i had some other system, i would have run into far bigger trouble.

And i am with you for that game and playing it on ATI cards, i'm optimistic, it'll work out sooner or later (yeah, the later maybe *grin*)

Cheers

PS: I miss the days where 3dfx was doing things right, with the right philosophy, too bad they went bankrupt, and NVidia kinda ate em.