Black64 Posted December 11, 2014 Posted December 11, 2014 My first gaming rig had a SLI setup and my second had a CF setup. By my third gaming rig, I realized that one high end card was far superior to any CF/SLI setup. I spent way more time gaming then troubleshooting my setup and saved tons of cash in the end, so ever since it's been single card rigs from then on. Just my 2 cents. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
technician Posted December 11, 2014 Posted December 11, 2014 My first gaming rig had a SLI setup and my second had a CF setup. By my third gaming rig, I realized that one high end card was far superior to any CF/SLI setup. I spent way more time gaming then troubleshooting my setup and saved tons of cash in the end, so ever since it's been single card rigs from then on. Just my 2 cents. Good point. After all I've been through I start agreeing with it. I only hope that my single card will work as intended otherwise I'll get back to square one and won't know what to blame, my graphics card or my motherboard. For now it seems it's just the idea of CrossFire that doesn't stick with them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
technician Posted December 11, 2014 Posted December 11, 2014 By the way, would I be able to achieve the same result by unplugging the power cable and CrossFire bridge from the second card as disconnecting from PCI-E slot? I did that and checked the speed of PCI-E x16 slot in GPU-Z utility - it was x8 v3.0. I'm not sure that motherboard doesn't detect the presence of another card in second PCI-E slot even if it's unpowered and without CrossFire bridge. Device Manager didn't list the second graphics adapter but in BIOS second PCi-E slot indicated that device is 'Not present'. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ir_cow Posted December 11, 2014 Posted December 11, 2014 No because the motherboard supplies some of the power so it would most likely give you a boot error. I would just disable the card in the device manager unless your willing to remove the card completely. Also I didn't check, but does that motherboard have a separate power connector for extra power to PCIE slots? That could very well be your problem. I know my asus board does and will not run two cards without it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braegnok Posted December 12, 2014 Posted December 12, 2014 (edited) I checked,.. no extra power connector to power PCIE slots,.. but that does not mean it's not a power supply or connector at fault. The BIOS in default settings will run both red slots at X8 when both slots are filled,.. you need to manually select NB PCI-E configurations to adjust operating speeds of PCI-EX16_1/2 lanes. Also if you install a new piece of hardware or modify the hardware configuration, the BIOS will automatically detect changes and reconfigure the ESCD. Therefore, there is no need to manually force BIOS to reconfigure the Extended System Configuration Data,.. but would not hurt to do so,.. just Enable Reset Configuration Data and reboot, the new ESCD should resolve any conflict, and automatically reset to default setting of Disabled after reconfiguring the new ESCD. Edited December 12, 2014 by Braegnok Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
technician Posted December 12, 2014 Posted December 12, 2014 Folks, you're not gonna believe what the problem was or how I found this out! I remember when I was installing my CPU waterblock that its metal back plate did not make a full contact with CPU socket's metal back plate because it was slightly CONVEXED. I was wondering that perhaps those three screws that hold it to the motherboard are tightened too much. At least one of them that holds the CPU retention bracket was protruding at the back of the motherboard more than others. I unscrewed it a bit and here it was, as soon as I turned the computer on I was presented with an option to activate CrossFire from Catalyst Control Center. So the problem was with CPU not making a full contact with some of the pins, I suppose. So much for factory's quality control... Thanks to all for your assistance! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braegnok Posted December 12, 2014 Posted December 12, 2014 Great, glad you got it figured out. I always tighten mine snug, then back off a smidge,.. over tightening causes lots of issues. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black64 Posted December 12, 2014 Posted December 12, 2014 Folks, you're not gonna believe what the problem was or how I found this out! I remember when I was installing my CPU waterblock that its metal back plate did not make a full contact with CPU socket's metal back plate because it was slightly CONVEXED. I was wondering that perhaps those three screws that hold it to the motherboard are tightened too much. At least one of them that holds the CPU retention bracket was protruding at the back of the motherboard more than others. I unscrewed it a bit and here it was, as soon as I turned the computer on I was presented with an option to activate CrossFire from Catalyst Control Center. So the problem was with CPU not making a full contact with some of the pins, I suppose. So much for factory's quality control... Thanks to all for your assistance! That....That seems far fetched to me. But at least its working. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ir_cow Posted December 12, 2014 Posted December 12, 2014 I'm glad it's working too but thats really hard to believe, but hey I've seen stranger things. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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