Can we get an official ED response about SLI/Crossfire support?

[GregP]

This issue has been discussed to no end in these forums, and lots of DCS users have tried to contact AMD to ask if Crossfire support will ever be added to their drivers, but have never received a response. Could we get an official ED response to this question, as in all my searching through these forums I don't think I've ever seen one?

 

Does Crossfire support of the DCS series depend on AMD updating their drivers accordingly (i.e. creating profiles for DCS), or is it the game developer that must work to enable Crossfire?

 

Is there a specific technical reason why CF does not work in DCS? Or is the DCS engine basically "CF-ready" but the DCS series is just lacking proper recognition from AMD?

 

I'm not looking to point any fingers, I'd just like to know how the process works and who we need to lobby to get this finally working. DCS users generally spend a lot more money on computer hardware than your average gamer, especially on video cards (there are already 46, at last count, DCS users who really want to be able to use Crossfire, as tabulated in this poll), and it's really frustrating that we can't get the maximum utility out of these expensive multiple-GPU setups in our favorite flight sim.

Edited February 3, 2012 by GregP

[scheffchen]

huh?

sli works fine with dcs-a10.

and ever has since the first beta

[Haggart]

I can confirm that, I'm running BS2, BS1, LOMAC and A-10 on two GTX480 and it worked nice'n'smooth from the dust on.

[GregP]

Really? I didn't realize that. OK, will update original post.

[scheffchen]

I can confirm that, I'm running BS2, BS1, LOMAC and A-10 on two GTX480 and it worked nice'n'smooth from the dust on.

 

well, as far as i remember flaming cliffs 2 did not profit at all by my sli system, but that was long ago ^^

[wtfisgoingon]

I use 2 x 5770's and it works far better in crossfire than single card, pretty much always has.

[GregP]

I use 2 x 5770's and it works far better in crossfire than single card, pretty much always has.

 

Yeah you seem to be the luckiest DCS/AMD fan ever :) -- to my knowledge, you are the only person who has ever gotten Crossfire to work in DCS. I tried your suggestion about shutting off Catalyst AI, by the way, but it didn't work for me.

 

Are you absolutely certain that both of your 5770's are being used? Have you used something like MSI Afterburner to verify it?

[wtfisgoingon]

Yeah you seem to be the luckiest DCS/AMD fan ever :) -- to my knowledge, you are the only person who has ever gotten Crossfire to work in DCS. I tried your suggestion about shutting off Catalyst AI, by the way, but it didn't work for me.

 

Are you absolutely certain that both of your 5770's are being used? Have you used something like MSI Afterburner to verify it?

 

The framerate change was very obvious. I haven't tried changing anything around in quite awhile but I'll test it out tonight and see.

 

I didn't know I was the only one I thought it was just a small group of people having issue with it.

[GregP]

Nope, you're the Chosen One, apparently. :)

 

But seriously though ... given all that I've read on this forum, very often people believe that Crossfire is working for them, because for whatever reason they get better results with it 'enabled' instead of 'disabled', but when they actually look at their GPU usage, in utilities like Afterburner, they discover that the second card was not in fact being used.

 

So yeah: I'm really, really curious to know what's going on with your cards. Clearly you're seeing some kind of advantage ... but the odds of it being a result of a true Crossfire setup are just incredibly low, at least based on everything else I've read.

 

Can you describe specifically what you mean when you say you have it working?

[metalnwood]

i was one of the lucky ones who got crossfire working. To clarify, I got it configured and I got the ati logo on the screen signifying that it was in crossfire mode.

 

I did not get a single extra frame of performance and have since moved my second 6970 in to another machine to get some use from it.

 

I have not seen anyone get extra performance from crossfire. I have seen a couple people think they have because they got the logo going but after evaluation there is no improvement.

[wtfisgoingon]

Prove crossfire works for BS2 and Warthog... Otherwise, I say your full of crap.

 

Before today I was going on my FPS, which I gathered from both the in-sim fps counter as well as fraps. With single card I can't break the teens. With 2 my average only goes up to 29-34 but thats a pretty large difference. With the only change being turning off/on crossfire.

 

I had never used afterburner until today, but it was suggested and I thought that maybe I'd better make sure. So I ran it, and flew around for 2 mins then alt-tabbed to see what my gpu usages were, and both of them were being used although nowhere near fully. #1 was 50% and #2 was 21.

 

So my frames are higher, sometimes nearly double and now I ran afterburner and it says both are being used.

 

Is that "proof" or ?

 

So you mean when you do the same thing (and anyone else having issues) that it shows no activity on gpu #2?

 

p.s: I'm using the latest drivers, I always do. Which happen to be 12.2's at least for today lol

[wtfisgoingon]

Here is from 10 minutes ago. Couple pics of my option settings, and then the desktop because it only uses 1 gpu, then flew for 2 mins and took another pic.

 

I always use the latest drivers out there.

[BIGNEWY]

My crossfire is working using the methods shown

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1392036&postcount=43

 

However I still get better performance with one card :cry:

[metalnwood]

My crossfire is working using the methods shown

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1392036&postcount=43

 

However I still get better performance with one card :cry:

 

 

 

That is the key issue, not thinking you have it running but actually getting better performance.

[GregP]

That is the key issue, not [just] thinking you have it running but actually getting better performance.

 

Exactly. Although I have to admit, it seems that wtfisgoingon has done the impossible ... he's got usage on both cards and better FPS with two cards than with one.

 

Well my friend, consider yourself lucky ... all the rest of us are quite sure you are the only person in the world who's gotten Crossfire to improve your FPS in DCS. I'll have to have you build me a computer sometime. :)

 

Bottom line though, is that 99.9999% of us cannot get it to work, and it seems to either be due to the DCS engine not really supporting it OR AMD not supporting the DCS engine. And I ask again my original question:

 

Can SOMEBODY from ED answer this question for us? Anyone?

[BIGNEWY]

Exactly. Although I have to admit, it seems that wtfisgoingon has done the impossible ... he's got usage on both cards and better FPS with two cards than with one.

 

Well my friend, consider yourself lucky ... all the rest of us are quite sure you are the only person in the world who's gotten Crossfire to improve your FPS in DCS. I'll have to have you build me a computer sometime. :)

 

Bottom line though, is that 99.9999% of us cannot get it to work, and it seems to either be due to the DCS engine not really supporting it OR AMD not supporting the DCS engine. And I ask again my original question:

 

Can SOMEBODY from ED answer this question for us? Anyone?

 

 

 

Its a little annoying not to get a official reply

 

even free falcon has a crossfire profile in the default ATI profiles.

 

I even tweet amd / ati daily to try and get some help, maybe after a while they will get bored of me asking and help ?

https://twitter.com/#!/bignewy/status/166172194811035649

Edited February 5, 2012 by BIGNEWY

[emenance]

I know this doesnt help much but I have almost always bought a ATI video card for most of my computers since 98. I got tired of the poor driver issues with multi monitors and I have gone Nvidia all the way Elexie. Dont feel I have to look back either. The 560ti I am running does just fine for me. I think its sad that ATI has the infinity thing but cant clean up the rest of the problems. I would hate to be in someone elses shoes running crossfire and multi displays like some of you.

 

I will add that using nvidia to run 3 monitors in a business application can be a pain and its better to use ati I am told and a Matrox box. ( non crossfire set up ) I work with someone that feels that way. But in regards to DCS, and a home office im using nvidia from now on.

[blackbelter]

I for one would like to hear something official from the Ed team regarding sli/cfx compatibility of lo and Dcs series (maybe we can have a petition or sth?) . I am assembling my desktop right now. Having not decided which gpu to go with, I intend to buy a middle rang card (gtx570 or amd6970) for the best bang of bucks, and go sli/cfx by buying a second copy of the same card when prices go down. A confirmation that this will improve my gaming experience will most certainly reenforce my decision. Otherwise I would rather go with a copy of gtx580 or amd7950, both of which in my opinion are overly priced.

 

By the way, lofc2 is the main game I play for the time-being. Looking forward to lofc3.

Edited February 5, 2012 by blackbelter

[blackbelter]

While we are still at it, I'd like to mention that multi-threading in cpu usage will a most welcomed feature, too. Come on, it's the 2nd decade of the 21st century. We can't stay in the 20th century forever.

[USSR_Rik]

This issue is well known and can't be solved in the current DCS engine. ATI Crossfire mode needs some "empty" cycles of CPU, and 3D performance increased due to some decreasing of CPU performance.

 

Looks like we can get more correct work of Crossfire in Nevada, but it's not tested yet.

[BIGNEWY]

This issue is well known and can't be solved in the current DCS engine. ATI Crossfire mode needs some "empty" cycles of CPU, and 3D performance increased due to some decreasing of CPU performance.

 

Looks like we can get more correct work of Crossfire in Nevada, but it's not tested yet.

 

Thanks for your reply USSR_Rik good to know the ED team are aware and hopeful for Nevada

[GregP]

Finally an answer, woo-hoo! Thanks for responding, USSR_Rik.

 

Well, at least we know that no amount of pestering AMD is going to change anything. :)

 

Looking forward to Nevada and other future DCS releases.

[Squid]

Its a little annoying not to get a official reply

 

even free falcon has a crossfire profile in the default ATI profiles.

 

I even tweet amd / ati daily to try and get some help, maybe after a while they will get bored of me asking and help ?

https://twitter.com/#!/bignewy/status/166172194811035649

 

keep buging them bro

[Slayer]

At least there was an official reply.

 

You would think SLI would work better considering Nvidia hired one of the people who was a programmer for LOMAC.......