M17xR2 w/4870 Crossfire vert rolling in Batman Arkham City

I'm sure there's an easy answer. I have freshly reloaded a M17xR2 that has dual 4870's. I have Crossfire enabled and am using the latest 12.4/8.961 drivers from the AMD site (not the older Dell drivers).

Problem is, I just loaded Batman Arkham City and as soon as the opening screens come on, the display starts randomly rolling vertically (like the vertical hold is off). Also there is slight horizontal tearing in the graphics.

I've disabled Crossfire, and the problem goes away. I tried turning off V Sync, no difference. I also tried enabling triple buffering, no help.

So, do I need to revert to older Dell drivers or is there an easy configuration change I can make?

Thanks!

 

Does it only happen with this game? Have you applied any overclock?

I'd check the CF cable for any damage and if it's not the case reseat it in both plugs.
Eventually, run a benchmark with CF enabled and see how it behaves.

 

It's the only game I have right now, so I can't test anything else. Are there any demo softwares that utilize Crossfire, for testing? What do you recommend for a benchmark?

I will check the CF cable, too, though. Thanks.

 

Download and run 3D Mark Vantage. When you're done post the result here.

 

I think my CF is broken. Here's what I've done up to now:

1) Downgraded my drivers to what Dell has on their website (uninstalled the latest AMD first). Same problem.

2) Checked CF cable. Disconnected and reconnected. Removed/replaced video card #2. Put back together. When on battery (Powerplay ON), it's fine, but on AC, I get the rolling.

3) Removed Dell ATI drivers. Rebooted, and Win7 loads MS drivers for 4870 (8.56.1.16). Device manager shows two video adapters, but one is not started. Obviously, the Microsoft drivers don't support CF. In any case, no rolling when running Batman.

4) Each step here, I run the built-in Batman benchmarking, and am starting to notice that my benchmarking numbers are the same, regardless of whether CF is enabled or not. When there is rolling, the "minimum" fps is really low, but overall the "maximum" and "average" are about the same regardless of driver, or whether CF is enabled or not. This tells me that the 2nd card is not working.

5) Reloaded the latest AMD driver again, and retested. Rolling with CF on, and no rolling with CF off. Either way, my Batman benchmark numbers are the same.

So, it seems to me the CF is NOT working, even though the ATI CCC sees both video cards. Does that point to a bad CF cable or a bad 2nd video card?

 

What does GPU-Z report? Under the clocks it should say crossfire enabled or disabled.
Have you tried running Vantage?

 

Haven't tried GPU-Z, but Vantage also rolled on occasion. I have some updated and changed information since my last post.

I removed both graphics cards, inspected the cable (it looks ok and the connectors inspected with a magnifying glass). I SWAPPED the cards, removing the heatsinks and reapplying paste then putting card #2 in slot #1 and vice versa.

Now, the rolling occurs LESS frequently. It still happens, but less often. There is still visible horizontal glitching (vertical lines are not smooth, they look glitchy).

RE: benchmarking in Batman Arkham City--I reran the tests with CF on and off. There IS a difference when CF is on or off, but only in the MAXIMUM fps category. Here are my results:

4870 CF off: 8-30-18 (min-max-avg fps)
4870 CF on: 9-57-22

then, as a comparison, a single AMD 6870 in my i7-desktop:

6870 (DX 11 off): 60-118-95 (V sync off)

So, it DOES appear that CF is working, as the max framerate is about twice as high with CF on. I get the highest fps during scenes with little action. The tests where there are moving people, lots of action, etc., show about the same framerate with CF on or OFF, therefore the overall avg fps is very similar with CF on or off.

Compared to my 6800, the 4870CF sucks. Bad. Does this seem right or is it way off? I'd think with CF 4870's my fps in scenes with lots going on would be higher, and just higher overall. The settings in Batman are set to very high.

I still don't know what is causing the vertical rolling and horizontal glitchiness. Apart from changing the cable, I don't know what else to try. Maybe install another game?? is there a demo/downloadable version of a game that supports Crossfire??

Thanks!

 

Hi again. I just installed and ran the latest GPU-Z. I have Crossfire enabled in the CCC (and reconfirmed by disabling, then re-enabling), yet GPU-Z shows "ATI Crossfire: Disabled (CrossFire available)".

That's not good, is it? Where do I start? Crossfire cable?

Now, I know the 4870M is no 7970M, but it's a fairly decent card, right? My frame rates are abysmally low. Running 3d Mark Vantage, the first test (Jane Nash) runs at <10fps. That's not right, is it? What (approx) should I be getting?

As a comparison, my newly received M18xR1 with CF 6970's get over 100fps in Batman Arkham City benchmarks. Night and day compared to the 4870. That's what makes me think something is wrong.

ps. I also reinstalled the Dell driver for the 4870 again, and so far the vertical rolling is gone. That could be because CF is not working, though.

 

Hi lancorp,

It does sound like it could be a bad crossfire cable. And probably where I would start. If both cards are being detected but you are unable to enable crossfire then that's where I'd look first.

If you try to enable crossfire via the ATI CCC utility does it go to enabled? or is it greyed out or stay disabled?

Also, in device manager are both cards showing up (no errors being reported)?

If both cards look to be installed correctly, and the drivers seem to be working, but you are unable to enable crossfire, then it would seem likely that the cable may be bad. That could also explain the scrolling you were seeing with it enabled

Good luck!

 

When I change the Crossfire status in CCC, it does show what I changed it to. I can quit CCC and restart it, and my change seems to hold. Nothing is greyed out.

Yes, in device manager is shows two 4870's with no errors.

I did find a video on youtube that exactly shows my vertical rolling. You can see it here. Just watch the first 10-15 seconds and you'll see what I mean.

Recall, too, that I did swap the 4870's (primary to secondary and vice versa), with no change. I assume the actual 4870 adapters are the same, just the heat pipes (which I swapped), are different, hence the different part numbers? I could put them back, but since nothing changed when I swapped them, I deduced they were identical.

 

Hello, Lancorp, what BIOS version are you on? If you don't have A09, flash that version.

I'm still 90% sure your problem is the CF ribbon.
Could be a card but if you already tried with the secondary one in the first slot..

 

If I recall correctly, this was an issue early one when the R2 released. I want to say the updated BIOS fixed it. I would update to A10 bios. Give that a shot.

 

Just checked and already running A10. Thanks, though!