ASUS A8R32(Crossfire) with a 7950 GFX Card

[Psychotic_savage]

Hey everyone This is my first post so here goes.
I got an asus A8R32 crossfire ready but i have an EVGA 7950 GX2 Superclock. I've been having problems with some games hanging on me and also some really poor performance issues. ie. Fear runs at about 13fps and CS:S, Driver4, C&C3, Call of Duty 2 and HL2 hangs at random time intervals. CS 1.6 runs fine and Infernal hangs for a few seconds then is fine.
Would the fact that I'm using this mobo and gfx combo cause these problems and how would I go about fixing them

Tanks in advance

[Mithosphere]

Well seeing as how youre using a video card, it really shouldnt matter with the whole crossfire issue, you just cant run sli. The only thing that i see odd is the 64bit XP, i dont think the drivers for any games are really up to snuff with the 64bit version. Although since that card is an SLi on a stick, it may be screwing something up. . .

[Quakindude]

Welcome to HardwareLogic!


That mobo appears to have a 33%, or there abouts, reduction in performance while running an Nvidia based video card. Check out this review of that mobo from March of 2006.

How long have you had this motherboard?

When was the last time you updated the mobo chipset drivers?

Does Nvidia even officially support the ATI RD480 chipset? Regardless, there's a new video card driver out for WinXP x64 that's dated July 31, 2007.

Running an Nvidia 7950GX2 card on an ATI Crossfire marketed mobo certainly wouldn't have been my first choice.

[Psychotic_savage]

It want my first choice, I ordered (from what i can remember) a Blizzard Liquid cooled XT1900, something like that it was a long time ago but they were sold out i had already waited 2 weeks so i just got the next best thing.

I got the Mobo last year november.

Where would i see the bios ver.

[Stormcrow]

Th GX2 isn't dual GPU as some people think, it's just two GPUs on two merged PCBs; linked through software based SLI using one PCI-E x16 slot. This means that unless the card is in it's native environment (a SLI capable nForce chipset board), your technically limited to a single 7950GT. However, the driver setup and design of the GX2 give it more of a performance issue when in non-SLI, same as with the 7900GX2. I heard this was corrected somewhat with the most recent driver versions so definitely pick up the newest drivers for the card if you haven't already.
Also, the GX2 line seems to be extremely sensitive to chipset drivers, in some cases installing newer drivers over stock ones can give an increase of performance with the GX2 of upwards 20%. Check the Asus website for the newest drivers and install them as well.
Then as Quakindude pointed out the board you're using also cuts the performance of nVidia cards. Even though the GX2 can be run in non-SLI mode, it tends to cut its performance even lower then a single 7950GT and give problems like those hangs you mentioned. This is due to the design being "SLi on a Stick", and it's better or worse for different people depending on their setups. That also adds up with your boards nVidia reduction, so it gets even worse.

Two solutions to completely solve the problem:

1: Sell the GX2 and go with a 1950XT or 2900XT if you can come up with the cash. Seems like a waste, because the 7950GX2 is just under the 8800GTS in DX9 games. However, you only get it's full power in games that support SLI, so you may be more pleased with a 1950XT or even a Crossfire setup of the two since Crossfire is capable on all games with varying degrees of performance increase.

2: Get a good S939 mobo that supports SLI. Since 939 is considered obsolete, you can get one cheap. The problem here is that you'll have to reinstall Windows, but the performance gains from the GX2 seem worth it too me as its a damn fast card when in the right environment and most of the popular games people play are SLI capable.

Otherwise update your drivers as the others above have said, be sure everything is running as it should, double check to be sure SLI isn't enabled in the nVidia Control Panel (shouldn't be possible but bugs happen) and see what that gets ya. You have an awesome card, just in the completely wrong setup

EDIT: Another thing I just thought of, double check the amps on the +12v rails of your PSU. The GX2 still draws the power of two 7950's even when not running in SLI as I recall, so if your PSU is under supplying it that may be another problem.

[Psychotic_savage]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

Th GX2 isn't dual GPU as some people think, it's just two GPUs on two merged PCBs; linked through software based SLI using one PCI-E x16 slot. This means that unless the card is in it's native environment (a SLI capable nForce chipset board), your technically limited to a single 7950GT. However, the driver setup and design of the GX2 give it more of a performance issue when in non-SLI, same as with the 7900GX2. I heard this was corrected somewhat with the most recent driver versions so definitely pick up the newest drivers for the card if you haven't already.
Also, the GX2 line seems to be extremely sensitive to chipset drivers, in some cases installing newer drivers over stock ones can give an increase of performance with the GX2 of upwards 20%. Check the Asus website for the newest drivers and install them as well.
Then as Quakindude pointed out the board you're using also cuts the performance of nVidia cards. Even though the GX2 can be run in non-SLI mode, it tends to cut its performance even lower then a single 7950GT and give problems like those hangs you mentioned. This is due to the design being "SLi on a Stick", and it's better or worse for different people depending on their setups. That also adds up with your boards nVidia reduction, so it gets even worse.

Two solutions to completely solve the problem:

1: Sell the GX2 and go with a 1950XT or 2900XT if you can come up with the cash. Seems like a waste, because the 7950GX2 is just under the 8800GTS in DX9 games. However, you only get it's full power in games that support SLI, so you may be more pleased with a 1950XT or even a Crossfire setup of the two since Crossfire is capable on all games with varying degrees of performance increase.

2: Get a good S939 mobo that supports SLI. Since 939 is considered obsolete, you can get one cheap. The problem here is that you'll have to reinstall Windows, but the performance gains from the GX2 seem worth it too me as its a damn fast card when in the right environment and most of the popular games people play are SLI capable.

Otherwise update your drivers as the others above have said, be sure everything is running as it should, double check to be sure SLI isn't enabled in the nVidia Control Panel (shouldn't be possible but bugs happen) and see what that gets ya. You have an awesome card, just in the completely wrong setup

EDIT: Another thing I just thought of, double check the amps on the +12v rails of your PSU. The GX2 still draws the power of two 7950's even when not running in SLI as I recall, so if your PSU is under supplying it that may be another problem.

Thanks for the info you have been the most correct sounding reply i've got on multiple forums.How would i go about checking the SLI properties. Also I just installed SP2 for win XP 64, and driver Parallel Lines now runs without hanging completely but at about 1Fps.Runs perfect for the first 20 seconds though so whatever I'm doing I'm heading in the correct direction
Thanks Again for the Info

[Yellowhello]

Maybe a new mobo..................


Oh yes, and WELCOME TO HL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!