Asus 7970 DC2T Crossfire Crash

[ryanhaver]

I didn't want to highjack someone else's thread so I'm starting my own. I initiated a technical inquiry with vip.asus.com, but all they told me to do was uninstall SmartDoctor or GamerOSD, which have nothing to do with this card. I've never even installed those apps. then I was told to use the self help options on Asus' website (sorry but that's horrid customer service).

I have two HD7970-DC2T-3GD5 that I am using in crossfire. Whenever I open a DX11
game and the game launches in full screen my system halts/freezes and I have to
hard reboot because it is completely unresponsive. I can replicate this issue every
time any game is opened that is run using Direct X 11. The strangest thing is that it
only occurs when the game is full-screened. So if I launch a DX11 game in windowed
mode, it runs just fine. I've also been able to verify the same things occur with bench
-marking suits like: Heaven DX11 Benchmark 3.0

When running the same games in Direct X 9 mode, with crossfire enabled the issue
is non existent. This issue only happens when Crossfire is enabled, with all Direct X
11 games, only when full-screened. Each card works fine when used independently (with
crossfire disabled). I've tested each card in separate PCI-E slots with no issues, so it
doesn't appear to be the motherboard.

I've tried with various drivers, but I am currently using the newest driver's provided on
AMD's website (CCC 8.95.5) and still not able to get it working. I've also tried 3 different crossfire
bridges to no avail. Any help would be much appreciated. You'll find my system specs below:

Graphic Card Model : (2x crossfire) HD7970-DC2T-3GD5

[Motherboard Specification]
*Motherboard Vendor : Asus
*Motherboard Revision : Rampage IV Extreme
*Motherboard BIOS Revision : BIOS 1101

[CPU Specification]
*CPU Vendor : Intel
*CPU Type : Intel Core i7-3930K
*CPU Speed : 3.2 Ghz

[Memory Specification]
*Memory Vendor : Corsair
*Memory Model : CMT16GX3M4X2133C9
*Memory Capacity : 16GB

[HDD Specification]
HDD Vendor : Corsair
HDD Model : CSSD-F120GBGT-BK SSD
HDD Capacity : 120GB

Operating System : Windows 7 64bit

[HiVizMan]

Hello my friend you are spot on. Asus support is really sucky at time and if it was not for forums like this one and the folks here it would be non existent in my view. So rant on and maybe someone will actually hear and do something about it.

Moving to your problem.

I have no idea what motherboard you are using so it makes it rather difficult to work out any fix with certainty if it is a hardware issue from the ASUS side of things and not as I suspect it is a AMD crossfire driver issue.

Have you installed the latest AMD CAP profiles? Those have fixed most of the crossfire issues with the card as far as I know.

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/pages/crossfirex-app-profiles.aspx

Description:
This release of AMD Catalyst™ delivers support for the latest AMD CrossFireX™ profiles. A separate executable file ensures users have access to the latest set of profiles installed on their PC.

New profiles added to this release:
- Mass Effect 3: Improves CrossFire performance
- Path of Exile – Improves CrossFire performance
- Darkness 2 – Resolves flickering issues on single GPU configurations when Anti-Aliasing is forced on in the Catalyst Control Center
- Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – Resolves character texture corruption seen using single GPU configurations when Anti-Aliasing is forced on in the Catalyst Control Center
- Wargame: European Escalation(DirectX 9 version): Improves CrossFire performance
- Wargame: European Escalation(DirectX 11 version): Resolves flickering observed when running in CrossFire mode
- Mount Blade: Disables CrossFire to avoid corruption as the title has a capped Frame Rate
- L.A. Noire (DirectX 11 Version): Improves CrossFire performance, and resolves flickering seen in shadows

[ryanhaver]

HiVizMan wrote:
Have you installed the latest AMD CAP profiles? Those have fixed most of the crossfire issues with the card as far as I know.

My motherboard is listed in the lower part of my post under my system specs. I have the Rampage IV Extreme. I do have the most recent CAP profiles installed. I just installed BIOS 1201 for the RIVE last night hoping that it might resolve any issue, but i'm still having the same issues with running in crossfire on all DX11 titles.

I really think that this is a crossfire driver issue. Mainly because I can run benchmarks in crossfire at 2560x1440 in windowed mode just fine, but when full-screened my computer freezes and i have to hard boot because it won't respond to any input. I've run the Unigine Heaven DX11 Benchmark in crossfire with all settings maxed at 2560x1440 and had no issues until I put it in full screen. Further supporting evidence is that I can run any title in DX9 mode full-screened with no issues at all. Each card independently has no issues playing any games with any settings full-screened or windowed using DX9 or DX11.

The cards aren't overheating because the issue occurs within seconds of being full-screened. So perhaps there is an increase in voltage when full-screened that is creating the problem (could an increase in voltage be that great between running a game in windowed mode at the same resolution as fullscreen mode)? Are there any Motherboard drivers that others have had issues with when using crossfire and DX11 titles? I've installed the newest versions of all driver's from Asus' suport site. I run the X.M.P profile for my ram which runs it at 2133MHz, but I've also tried it at 1333MHz and the issues still happen. I've also tried a fresh install of Windows 7 with nothing but updates and basic drivers, but the result is the same. Hmm...so frustrating. I really don't want to RMA these cards, but I might have to because there is no guarantee that the issue I'm having will be fixed.

[HiVizMan]

I only have reference cards and not the DCII that you own so I can not test or try to duplicate.

Oh sorry for the blonde moment about the motherboard, no idea how I missed seeing that. Guess I need more coffee in the morning.

If you try with one card what is the outcome? If no problem then the card is working fine. If problem then the card is not working fine, obvious I know but important. Test both cards. If both work as they should then it is indeed the crossfire issue. Now it is not a given that the problem lies with the drivers. You might find that you need to increase some voltage to the PCIe lanes (hmm do you have the extra power connector fitted?)

I assume you have Gen3 enabled in the bios or that you have played with the Gen 2 and 3 settings?

[ryanhaver]

I have tested each card alone and they work fine. I tested this by disabling each PCI-E slot respectively and then used the card who's slot was still enabled. Each card performs well alone.

One thing I haven't done is swap the physical location of each card and then test crossfire or test them alone. I will do this.

I've also got the extra 6-pin conector fitted to provide extra power to the PCI-E slots. I've never changed the settings for the PCI-E slots because the just defaulted to Gen3 in the UEFI.

By the way I've had a few blond moments troubleshooting this issue 🙂

[ryanhaver]

I decided to retest each card alone and found out that one of them is the cause of the issue. Under any stress the card causes my system to become unresponsive. I figured out that when the card switches from 2D to 3D mode is when the issue occurs, or at least that's what it appears to be.

I'm going to RMA the second card. Thanks for the assistance in troubleshooting the issue.

[HiVizMan]

No problem my friend it was all about isolating potential fault areas. Remove all the factors that are working and what you have left is most likely the area to investigate for the fault.

Let me know how it goes with the SLi when the cards are both up and running again please.