890GPA-UD3H (rev. 2.0 + bios FC) + HD 5450 1GB = no Hybrid CrossFire X

[IITravel]

Just spent most of this day trying to get this working without success.  I've got a new Gigabyte 890GX board (GA-890GPA-UD3H rev. 2.0) http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3420#ov with the current FC bios.  Also have a Gigabyte ATI HD 5450 1GB PCIe video card (GV-R545SC-1GI) http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3334#ov .  I should be able get ATI Hybrid CrossFire X working as both should be Hybrid CrossFire X compatible, but have tried Windows XP MCE new install (ATI Catalyst drivers enabled Hybrid CrossFire X with XP since 8.8) and no tab in CCC 10.6 for CrossFire.  Tried bios setting of UDA+SidePort, 256MB, Surround View Disabled and OnChipVGA (using the onboard port).  Then tried with Surround View Enabled.  Tried using PCI setting (using HD 5450 port).  Tried using PEG.  Still no tab in CCC for CrossFire.  Then updated to Vista Ultimate 32-bit and reinstalled Catalyst 10.6 for Vista 32-bit, tried ports/bios setting for both OnChipVGA and PCI.  Still no CrossFire tab in CCC.
Someone tell me that Hybrid CrossFire X does work, because it appears to me that I can't get it to work.

[absic]

Hi

To be honest it is a long time since I used crossfire with an On-Board GPU but, having read through the manuals for both the graphics card and your motherboard I can see no obvious reason why you can't get it to work.

However, reading through the mobo manual I did notice that it says under note 2 on page 20: You do not have to install the graphics card driver if the motherboard chipset driver has been installed and I am wondering if you have tried enabling Crossfire without installing the ATI Catalyst 10.6 drivers.

Another thing to consider would be trying one of the older Catalyst drivers (10.3 for example) as there are some issues being reported on the internet of glitches with the latest version and AMD are already planning to release 10.7.

I know that you have already done this but just in case, in your frustration you have forgotten, it is best to re-set BIOS as stated in the manual before trying again these are:.

Enter BIOS Setup to set the following items under the Advanced BIOS Features menu:
Set Internal Graphics Mode to UMA+SidePort. (Note 3)
Set UMA Frame Buffer Size to 256MB or 512MB. (Note 3)
Set Surround View to Disabled.
Set Init Display First to OnChip VGA.
(Note 1) For Windows XP, you must install AMD chipset driver version 8.51 or later.
(Note 2) You do not have to install the graphics card driver if the motherboard chipset driver has been installed.
(Note 3) To change the Internal Graphics Mode or UMA Frame Buffer Size setting in BIOS Setup, be sure to disable the CrossFire function in the operating system first.
And also remember that you need to use the On-board Graphics port, not one on the Graphics Card.

Hope this helps

[Dark Mantis]

Just to add to absic115's clear details I understood that the onboard graphics on this mothrboard was of the 4xxx series. You are trying to crossfire that with a 5xxx series so at best you would be bringing your performance down. This is just my understanding of the situation and please ignore it if I am wrong.

[Jakeman97]

Just spent most of this day trying to get this working without success.  I've got a new Gigabyte 890GX board (GA-890GPA-UD3H rev. 2.0) http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3420#ov with the current FC bios.  Also have a Gigabyte ATI HD 5450 1GB PCIe video card (GV-R545SC-1GI) http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3334#ov .  I should be able get ATI Hybrid CrossFire X working as both should be Hybrid CrossFire X compatible, but have tried Windows XP MCE new install (ATI Catalyst drivers enabled Hybrid CrossFire X with XP since 8. and no tab in CCC 10.6 for CrossFire.  Tried bios setting of UDA+SidePort, 256MB, Surround View Disabled and OnChipVGA (using the onboard port).  Then tried with Surround View Enabled.  Tried using PCI setting (using HD 5450 port).  Tried using PEG.  Still no tab in CCC for CrossFire.  Then updated to Vista Ultimate 32-bit and reinstalled Catalyst 10.6 for Vista 32-bit, tried ports/bios setting for both OnChipVGA and PCI.  Still no CrossFire tab in CCC.
Someone tell me that Hybrid CrossFire X does work, because it appears to me that I can't get it to work.

Not sure; but I don't see the 5450 listed? Unless they have some other way I don't know about.

[absic]

Hi and thanks.

here's a direct link for the full site chart at game.amd: http://game.amd.com/us-en/content/images/crossfirex/CF_combo_chart.jpg

[Dark Mantis]

Besides for the small, if any increase in performance, what would be the point?

[absic]

It's a challenge, getting it working properly, just like Nvidia's SLI.

I have a Sapphire ATI 4850 x2  which is easy to set up for CrossFire  as it is 2 4850's on one card, but I actually brought it as it had 4 DVI outputs rather than the standard two. It makes it so much easier for me as I am running 3 monitors but, if I want an extra little kick, (only for testing purposes, not games, you understand) then I click a box, wait a few seconds for the system to sort itself out and I have one monitor using all of the available resources. I have to be totally honest though, I haven't really seen many benefits but it does give pretty impressive figures in bench testing, especially if I add the extra card I got, that I didn't need, 3 x 4850's, a lot of heat, some impressive figures but never really used.

[Dark Mantis]

Yes, I understand and agree with what you are saying and in principle the cross-fire setup is good. The point I was trtying to get across was that one 5xxx series card on its own or crossfired with a 4xxx series card which would bring the performance of the 5xxx series down to the lower level. I wouldn't expect to see any performance increase.

[absic]

Sorry I misunderstood,

you are quite correct, of course. The faster card is bought down in speed so that it can work with the slower one.

However, I think that the idea is that, although the actually processing speed is slower the overall gains from increased amount of RAM available compensates for this, as more information can be processed at once albeit at a slower rate.

[Dark Mantis]

There is that side to the argument of course, I hadn't taken that into account as my card has 2Gb I tend to forget that some have a much smaller amount to call on.

[absic]

There is that side to the argument of course, I hadn't taken that into account as my card has 2Gb I tend to forget that some have a much smaller amount to call on.

Self, self, self! That's all you think about!

[Dark Mantis]

Sorry!