The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    How do I know if both cards are running?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by nt1, Nov 18, 2010.

  1. nt1

    nt1 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    15
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I have the 4870 x2 and noticed it getting hot only on the back left side but not on the back right side. I never opened it up to notice where they are but yeah How do I find out if they are both running. Device manager does have them installed everything looks fine playing COD Black Ops with 80 fps avg.

    How can I really tell?
     
    nt1, Nov 18, 2010
    #1
  2. Porter

    Porter Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    786
    Messages:
    2,219
    Likes Received:
    1,045
    Trophy Points:
    181
    There are many ways, but the way I like to is to use a program called HWinfo32. I use the portable version rather than the one that you have to install. It will show you temps and % GPU use for each card that will confirm that cards are being used.
     
    Porter, Nov 18, 2010
    #2
  3. Photolysis

    Photolysis Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    56
    Messages:
    206
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    31
    As dajohu commented, one of the easiest ways is to use some software to look at the temperatures of the components. Personally I use the free version of HWMonitor

    If one card is being used much less than the other, you should see a large temperature difference between them.
     
    Photolysis, Nov 19, 2010
    #3
  4. Marvie100

    Marvie100 On a Mission

    Reputations:
    394
    Messages:
    1,221
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Ort just turn on the in-game crossfirex logo and look for it when playing....
     
    Marvie100, Nov 19, 2010
    #4
  5. Porter

    Porter Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    786
    Messages:
    2,219
    Likes Received:
    1,045
    Trophy Points:
    181
    That is not a very reliable way of telling if both cards are working (from my personal experience anyway), that ONLY tells you that crossfire is enabled. I found out that many times the logo showed and it was runnnig off one card. I gave up on the logo method after seeing that a few times. The GPU utilization is a much more reliable way to tell.
     
    Porter, Nov 19, 2010
    #5