ATI's new HD3870X2 video card

[Kuky]

I got this card 2 days ago and I seem to have some issues with it and would like to know if anyone else got this card so I can compare some things to see weather my card is possibly faulty... so anyone got it? :helpsmilie:

[FA_Crazy-Canuck]

Kuky, I'll be picking my new rig up on Wednesday, with the 3870x2 in it. I will compare notes the weekend of the 16th and 17th. By the way, whats the issue?

[Kuky]

hm... issues are (and you might come assross them also)

 

When I first installed it I saw an unknown PCI Device in Device Manager and I couldn't get any driver for it. The thing is this an onboard (HD3870) sound device that tranferrs audio over the HDMI interface that should have normally have its drivers installed when I installed driver package that came on the CD with the card, but for some reason it didn't. I tried official Catalyst 8.1 afterwards and 8.1 Hotfix and even some BETA drivers that ATI was suplying to reviewers and same thing happend. I couldn't get this PCI Device to install. Only after I reinstalled O/S just to make sure it wasn't some driver conflict (since existing O/S installation had different hardware installed) I got this installed. The card seemed to work fine in LockOn and ArmA but I did get some bad stuttering in LockOn once when flying online so I thought it might have to do with this unknown PCI Device.

 

Anyway, this is solved now and fresh installation of Windows and driver package off the CD works fine now. Mind you I had to tweak more with BIOS PCI latency and PCI-E settings to reduce this stuttering, and last time before I reinstalled O/S again just a day ago stuttering was pretty much gone and LockOn run alright as before.

 

In ArmA I didn't get any issues that I could see and I saw nice improvement in framerate compared to X1950XTX I had in before. LockOn is still all CPU dependant when it comes to low framerates so not much improvement there. You can run bit more AA and AF and not worry about framerate there, heck even droping flares doesn't halt the system any more so there are some noticeable improvements.

 

One thing that got worse is this HD3870X2 (I hope ED reads and notices this) is that full shadows no longer works. X1950XTX was fine but HD3870X2 not. With full shadows I get same issue as with nVidia cards where whole aircraft is just grey. All Planar shadows are fine. I don't really care about this anyway since I never used full shadows anyway but it's worth mentioning.

 

Another possible issue is that one other utility called GPU-Z (similar to CPU-Z) reads 1 GPU core at default speed of 411MHz / 450MHz for GPU / Memory while for GPU 2 reads rated 825MHz / 901MHz. I thought they should both run the same so I don't know what gives. ATI CCC doesn't show 2 GPU settings like this even with Overdrive enabled, and shows only 825/901 for the card overall so I am bit confused. I am thinking it might just have to do with ATI not developing driver for full suport for this card yet (you can see the HD3870X2 is not even listed as suported for Cat 8.1, only up to single GPU card HD3870) so wait and see. I read on many forums Catalyst 8.3 should have full suport for Crossfire (and most likely this card too since it is technically built in Crossfire) and should be out in March.

 

So much for issues on this card... the card is very long and hevy (10.5" and just over 1Kg) so make sure you have really big case for it :D ) other than that the card is powerfull and as long as drivers are good I think the card will kick ass... at least untill next better one comes out in few months... you know how it is :)

[Groove]

Kuky, maybe the drivers are still "beta" and one core is running on 2D clocks and the other already as you would have a 3D program ( game ) running.

 

Did you checked the clocks in realtime while playing lockon or any other 3d game ? You can use PowerStrip for this. ( http://www.entechtaiwan.com )

[Kuky]

Hey thanks Groove, one question for you now since you're probably using this PwerStrip... even though LockOn or any other game runs in 3D, if you want to check the GPU clocks you have to ALT/TAB which brings you to 2D? How would that show 3D clocks then? If you can tell me bit more how this PowerStrip works that would be good since I just reinstalled O/S again and would like to keep it as "clean" as possible by not installing/trying out different software that I would just uninstall straight after and leave all kinds of registry entries (and what not else some software does) :D

 

Also do you mean 1 core is running alone when in 2D and when 3D is fired up 2nd core kicks in as well?

[FA_Crazy-Canuck]

Wow Kuky, constant reinstalls! I am getting the Thermaltake Armour case with three fans built in and someone else is putting it together.:thumbup: However, I am going to install XP for the very first time. Sounds like you are the guy to guide me through it.:lol: Fudd provided me with notes and a good looking install video. I will keep my fingers crossed that the machine works first time! I will watch for these issues in the near future.

[Groove]

Kuky when you are in 3D modus ( read: Game ) press CTRL+ALT+O.

 

There will be a OSD displayed.

 

you can change the hotkeys in the menu in PS: rightclick the PS icon, than Options -> Hot-Key Manager

 

What i meant about the cores is that probably when you are in 2D mode one core is still running in 3d mode ( higher frequencies ) because of a driver bug. But that just an idea, i dont have this card.

 

Im using PowerStrip for years now, its a very good ( if not the best ) VidCard tool.

[Kuky]

Thanks again Groove... I didn't actually use this software as I found a way to see what video card does when running 3D. Using ATI CCC and running AutoTune to to verclock the card to get 100% usage, then running GPU-Z in background monitoring 2nd GPU (one in the middle of the card and higher temps), I see the fan does speen up as the temps to go up but I also learned the card cooling is auto set for GPU to get up to 80-81°C max and the fan will speen slower/faster depending on temps. I saw the GPU get up to 81°C and fan was going maybe up to 60-70% speed. The card is really hot and right now I am getting random crashes/restarts and sometimes just at the begingin of the mission I see artifacts in game... seems to always appear to the rear of the cockpit where the cloud should be... then 1-2sec later as the mission starts it disapears. Very weird. Honestly I am not very happy about ATI driver suport. Very likely I could be switching to nVidia next time round if ATI doesn't sort this :noexpression:

[Wolfair]

Hello Kuky,

Be careful, the X3870x2 has problems with some chipset. You have to go on the AMD internet site to verify the compatibility with your mother board.

May be you'll need to flash your bios with the last version.

[Kuky]

Hey Wolfair, thanks for the info. I will be returning this card tomorrow and porbbaly swap it for another one because I still think it might be just a bad card. But you're possibly right and maybe this card simply isn't compatible with my motherboard. I did update the BIOS on the motherboard to latest before I installed the card and reinstalled O/S but ever since I got it I've been experiencing artifacts, game crashes, black screens and system restars so I'm not very happy about it. If at least the official drivers for it were out I would know that's not it but anyway... I have my "old" X1950XTX back in... I'm glad I kept it.

[Groove]

Artifacts are usually a overheating GPU ( if they occur after some time you play a game ). Or a faulty RAMDAC.

[Kuky]

I don't think it's overheating since those artifacts appear only straight at the begining and go away few seconds later. I think the card is either faulty, or drivers are simply rubish or maybe PSU is insuficient (although I doubt it) or mybe even simple incompatibilty with motherboard chipset... I think to many variables and possibilities... it's driving me nuts...

[FA_Crazy-Canuck]

The new machine is up and running. I have not played much yet. I have one issue thus far. With everything on high, in game, I am getting flickering or ghosting specifically over water. I had this issue with my other machine and I toned down the contrast and brightness of the monitor and it helped. This could be a monitor issue only, but any ideas what I can do to limit this in game? I have also notice, very infrequently, tearing of blue sky, it turns white. I will post other abnormalties as they arrise.

[Kuky]

Hey Canuck, I actually returned the card today, I went to the store and explained to the guys I was getting artifacts and freezes, restarts and black screens with this card and that I thought it was faulty. I asked them to give me another one (different brand also) and they tested my card in the system and this other (Powercolor) card and they both ran fine on their system (althought it was only for a short time). I then tried to run the automatic overclocking utility in ATI CCC and it crashed their system same as on my PC. The card is really hot with default fan speed settings (I think ATI engineers or who ever came up with such slow speeds, suck for this) as it bloody lets the card get hot to 80°-81°C which is what probably is making the card and motherboard unstable.

 

But on the story of artifacts I was also getting some flashing textures, althought very minimal and only happened few times, but every now and then just on the game begining when I spawn in cockpit, at the place where the cloud should be, looking towards the rear of the cockpit (strangely its always to the rear) I get big rectangle, almost white colour and some dots that look like artifacts. Mind you full shadows were also not working and for the sake of me I could not figure out how this card is suposed to show 1GB or RAM or same clock speeds for both cores.

 

So I decided to return the card and these guys gave me credit for when I buy something else they can take the new amount of it. Right now I feel bit sad I had to return the card as after all it's performance is very good... double the score in 3DMark06 compared to X1950XTX and much better framerate in ArmA... and even lockon benefited from it... flares no longer made such impact on framerate and I could have bit more AF with still very good performance, among few things. Anyway, some new card will come along, I just couldn't wait to sort this driver crap out two months after I buy the card... and I'm not even sure if drives would sort this instability issue on my system.

[f-18hornet]

Can you show me some screenshots of those artifacts, please? Of course if you made them before return.

[FA_Crazy-Canuck]

Thanks Kuky, I haven't played enough yet. The problem I am having in Lock On is it appears to be reflections over the water. Overland no issue. The water is shimmering all over the place at a distance. Down low and looking at the water it is rendered fine. I noticed in IL2 the waves have disappeared no matter what I try. Water rendering in IL2 is very good and I miss seeing the waves. You have me thinking I should return this card as well.

[Kuky]

Here's a screenshot I took few days ago showing the weird artifcting. I've reduced image size to save space.

The most weird thing is it disapears shortly after and never happens after that, only when I firstly load into cockpit when I start the mission.

[FA_Crazy-Canuck]

Thanks for posting Kuky. I can't say I have had that type of problem. I did some testing this evening. I found my problem with the water was the Antialiasing and the Anostropic Filtering. Once I set these to 4X and 8X visual was perfect! The shadow issue you spoke of for me shadow works but makes everything appear a bit dark. The F15 fuel tank by Tatti, latest version, worked fine along with Merlins hires as well. I did notice the skin tearing away around the edges on all objects while in full shadow. I will post a photo of this. Full shadow does appear to work but does not look as good as full planar. I am much happier since I got the water issue fixed. Mustang had me download the ATI Tray Tools utility. Works as well as the Catalyst software without the system hang ups.

 

Thats it for now.

[FA_Crazy-Canuck]

I have solved the water problem. It wants to be set on very high to remove the reflections. Now it looks fine. I am getting good frame rates in game. As you said Kuky it does not like Full Shadow for some reason. Objects come up dark and skins of objects become tattered. See photos.

 

Photo In All Planar No Issues

 

 

Photo In Full Shadow - Note How much darker aircraft is and discolouration at the edges of each object.

 

[Kuky]

yup, that's exactly what I got too.

[Mustang]

Over at Rage3D forums i read about these beta 3870X2 drivers, worth a shot? http://phyxion.net/cat_view/2-drivers/3-ati.html

[Kuky]

naaa... tried those, same crap

[FA_Crazy-Canuck]

Thanks Mustang. I will try that. Maybe those drivers will work with my motherboard & VC. I'll be glad when they get the real drivers out! However other than the Full Shadow, I am loving how the game looks and plays now. Interesting thing however I did notice some distortion on the cockipt canopy directly behind the pilots head. See my link in UBI IL2 forum and look at the picture of the cockpit canopy. I had this in a much smaller way in lock on. It was hardly noticable. Now that I see it in IL2 I now know what I was looking at when the lock on canopy was distorted.

 

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/49310655/m/7181078436

[FA_Crazy-Canuck]

Wow, I have this baby "a rockin now!" It likes everything turned up in game and with AAx4 and AFx8 and AI enabled. Its working great now. The next thing I will do is download Fudds test track and make a comparison. Bring on the new drivers!! I finally solved my IL2 issue as well. I am a happy pilot again.:D

[Kuky]

Update: Today I decided to get this card again (after I returned the first one). This times it seems to be running good and I am no longer experiencing any artifacts or stuttering.

 

What I did was install Catalyst 8.2 driver only (without CCC or WDM driver) and ATI Tray Tool. I flushed the two BIOS files on the card using ATIWinFlash (extracted the BIOS files with GPU-Z and modified it with ATIBiosEditor) and set 3D low power clocks and voltage same as 3D high power clock and voltage (I think this was giving me stuttering).

 

My 3DMark06 score is up from roughly 14950 before (card I retuned) to aound 15490. LockOn now runs very nice... CPU still being the bottle neck over large cities :)

 

The only thing left to figure out and set is this fan on the card. I believe RivaTuner can be used to do it, just didn't figure it out yet (worked on X1950XTX) maybe bit more google search will help.

 

So this is heads up for people thinking of getting this card... I think newer drivers will be better for this card (Catalyst 8.3 really sucks by the way) but so far Catalyst 8.2 seems alright.