Motherboard for Crossfire?

Portlawslim

Any recommendations for a Motherboard for crossfire. I know the Asrock Z77 Pro4 supports Xfire but not fully it only has 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 Slot...so I'd like to upgrade without breaking the bank, preferably a mobo with 2 x PCIe 3.0 x16 Slots.
Reckon about €150...
Another reason is the cards are fairly close together and I reckon I'd get better temps with a slightly bigger gap between them.
Thanks in advance

Deano12345

Z77 has a limit of 8x/8x for PCI-E. The chipset only has 16 PCI-E lanes, so unless you find a board with a PLX chip, Your stuck with 8x/8x. It wont make any noticeable difference to performance though. Same goes for the actual PCI-E slot placement, the Asrock uses a standard spacing that all boards have adopted (with the exception of one or two, nothing for around €150 unfortunately)

EoinHef

What temps are you getting? I saw your build in the builds thread, you have 2 vapor x 7950's?
Are you using the boost bios on both cards?

The cooler is very big which makes the card almost 2.5 slots where most cards with big coolers are 2 slot, which means with normal spacing your not gonna get much of a gap. I have the same card and have been wondering what the crossfire temps would be.

Portlawslim

Getting vrm temps of 60-65 highest the gpu went was 69.
Yeah 2 vapor x 7950:D

EoinHef

Was that 69C when you had them overclocked or just at stock?
Weirdly ive found the temps to be better in the boost bios.

In the normal bios the gpu at 850 core 1250 memory gets the same temp the gpu does when in the boost bios at 1050/1400,tested using Arma 2 and Battlefield 3,60C-62C.

I think the problem is the way the card uses voltage(excuse me if thats a dumb statement:pac:),at load the voltage is always 1.242v no matter what clock speeds you have the card running at,overclocked or stock. Ive got mine to 1150/1500 on that same load voltage that it use for 850/1250. Ive checked this using Gpu-z.

I think thats why people are getting good overclocks on these gpus without going near the voltage,its already set to use enough voltage for an overclock out of the box.

So i think thats where a lot of the heat is coming from. For me the temperature only incresed from 53C to 66C from 850/1250 to 1150/1500,that to me wasn much for a decent overclock,and i think thats because the voltage is the same for both,i could be wrong and hopefully one of the more experienced lads could shed some light on this.

I dont know if there is a way to use less volts to achieve stock or slightly above clock speeds. Cause it stands to reason that if a decent overclock can be got on the stock voltage the stock clock speeds shouldnt need as much?
I think theres a method called undervolting but i dont know enough about it to know if it would work for you,sorry:(

I want to get a second one of these cards aswell so if i find any relevant info ill post it in this thread for you

Deano12345

EoinHef wrote: »

I dont know if there is a way to use less volts to achieve stock or slightly above clock speeds. Cause it stands to reason that if a decent overclock can be got on the stock voltage the stock clock speeds shouldnt need as much?
I think theres a method called undervolting but i dont know enough about it to know if it would work for you,sorry:(

I want to get a second one of these cards aswell so if i find any relevant info ill post it in this thread for you

Trixx should let you undervolt. Most cards are fine with an undervolt in terms of stability, they just run cooler.

Portlawslim

EoinHef wrote: »

Was that 69C when you had them overclocked or just at stock?
Weirdly ive found the temps to be better in the boost bios.

In the normal bios the gpu at 850 core 1250 memory gets the same temp the gpu does when in the boost bios at 1050/1400,tested using Arma 2 and Battlefield 3,60C-62C.

I'll have to have a look and post up what I have them running at, I have them oc'd atm but not by much. Will use hardware monitor and post the temps later(in work atm)

Portlawslim

Just ran a 3D Mark test and the temps are...
GPU max 69c
VRM 1 max 67c
VRM 2 max 69c

[IMG][/img]

[IMG][/img]

Is this a good result? I only have the gpu's slightly oc'd
Funnily enough in an earlier test it scored above 94%...

BloodBath

What clock speeds have you got the cards at? It's a good result anyway but I'd be looking to push over 10k

Portlawslim

BloodBath wrote: »

What clock speeds have you got the cards at? It's a good result anyway but I'd be looking to push over 10k

GPU clock @ 1000,
Memory @5000,
VDDC @ 1250
Board pwr @ 0
Not great with the overclocking:o and I'm using Trixx:)

EoinHef

How are the cards performing at those clocks for you?
You a happy man?:)

I see the memory is at stock, the vrm temps are near about as high as id like to go but I would overclock the memory even just a very small bit just to see what it does to the temps in the same benchmarks. If it got to much higher id just leave them at stock.

Ive never used 3dmark as a test for an overclock(I use unigine) but id imagine everyday use and gaming might not push your rig as much so you may have a little headroom. If the cards are giving you all the performance you need though stick with what you have them at:)

BloodBath

I'd say you could get away with pushing the ram to 6000 assuming the cards have the Hynix memory they will easily do that with stock voltage and it shouldn't bring temps up much.

EoinHef

Alright dude,i did take a few pics for ye:)

The gap will most likely be the same as yours though,the spacing is standard.

Heres a few anyway:








Im about to start a run of 3dmark at stock to what temps i get,ill throw the results up later and gonna do an overclocked run of it and see what i get.

That is gonna be noisy as hell!!! Had to ramp up fan speeds to keep everything chilly! With the fan profile i just threw together the fan goes up to about 63%,can tweak it later though. First run will be fans on auto though,no fan profile for stock yet


Edit: Been messing with different drivers this morning and its definitely 13.9 thats causing the gpu usage at 99% on the second gpu. Updated to 13.11 beta and it dissappeared but the performance dropped also on 13.11. Something to be careful of if your updating your drivers.

glynf

Portlawslim, if your cards have poor air flow, you can always use a PCI-e riser/extender on one of the cards. It will let you move a card to the farthest physical slot on your case, and still keep it connected to the x8/16 slot.

Portlawslim

glynf wrote: »

Portlawslim, if your cards have poor air flow, you can always use a PCI-e riser/extender on one of the cards. It will let you move a card to the farthest physical slot on your case, and still keep it connected to the x8/16 slot.

When I was buying the second GPU from amazon in the usa I actually had one of those in my basket and then took it out..:o
I've ordered 3 140mm fans and one of those will be on the side-panel, hopefully throwing bucket loads of air at my gpu's.plus I need to get it out of where I have the pc atm its a bit cramped for airflow. But I'll have to wait till xmas(new desk, pressie from the wife:)).
I'm also planning to go with a corsair h100i and free up some air in the case.

Yeah totally agree.
Just ordered 3 of these for intakes
http://goo.gl/ncGWAC
Silence
And all matching fans cause I'm becoming a PC OCD freak and its all because of you lot you bas***d's

Oh and while I'm at it my empty wallet says Hi.....

My god someone stop me.......:eek:

Portlawslim

EoinHef wrote: »

Alright dude,i did take a few pics for ye:)

The gap will most likely be the same as yours though,the spacing is standard.

Heres a few anyway:

[


Im about to start a run of 3dmark at stock to what temps i get,ill throw the results up later and gonna do an overclocked run of it and see what i get.

That is gonna be noisy as hell!!! Had to ramp up fan speeds to keep everything chilly! With the fan profile i just threw together the fan goes up to about 63%,can tweak it later though. First run will be fans on auto though,no fan profile for stock yet


Edit: Been messing with different drivers this morning and its definitely 13.9 thats causing the gpu usage at 99% on the second gpu. Updated to 13.11 beta and it dissappeared but the performance dropped also on 13.11. Something to be careful of if your updating your drivers.

Nice :cool:

EoinHef

A few results,stock ones first then overclocks. Think the fact i havent overclocked the cpu more is holding me back:( The CPU is at 4.0GHz for all these results,i have a 3570k


Stock score and temps for stock 3dmark run:

Score:


Temps GPU 1 @stock:


Temps GPU 2 @stock:



Score and temps for OC @ 1050/1400 3dmark run:

Score:


Temps GPU 1 @1050/1400:


Ive rached the limit of uploads so ill put the rest in a new post:(

EoinHef

Continued....

Temps GPU 2 @1050/1400:



These are the overclock setting in msiafterburner:

Overclock:


Custom fan profile setting:





The custom fan profile helped loads with temps,if you havent got one setup you should look into it. Its definitely louder but really helps with temps:)

God dam drivers,gonna have to update to the besta drivers again,this 99% usuage at idle thing is really annoying with 13.9:(

dwighet

EoinHef wrote: »

Continued....



God dam drivers,gonna have to update to the besta drivers again,this 99% usuage at idle thing is really annoying with 13.9:(

13:10 driver is working well for me

BloodBath

Would you not put the card power limit to +20? If the cards need the power at least they will be able to draw it.

It's not going to use extra power if it doesn't need to.

EoinHef

BloodBath wrote: »

Would you not put the card power limit to +20? If the cards need the power at least they will be able to draw it.

It's not going to use extra power if it doesn't need to.

That was an oversight by me,only noticed i had it left at 5% after doing the benchmark. Ill set it to max from now on. Cheers

EoinHef

Was finally able to get a stable overclock on the gpus and cpu with acceptable temps:)

Have to say im delighted with the results:)

Used Sapphire Trixx instead of MSIAfterburner and had much better results for the GPU's. I reckon thats more about my ability than afterburners settings though:( Disabling ULPS made a real difference for me,also cleared up second gpu being stuck at 99% usage at idle,and also helped with temps. Its in the settings section of Trixx. The option to disable it didnt appear in afterburner for me for some reason.

Finally got a stable 4.4GHz with a max vcore of 1.272v on my i5 3570k and have to say it made a real difference with with fps in benches and games. Thats about as high a voltage as id want really,max temps in prime of 82C so reckon it'll be fine for gaming.

Heres a few bench results anyway,i dont think im massively pushing things so these clocks should hopefully be achievable for you,thats if you havent already achieved them already:)

3DMark Score:


Heaven score:


GPU 1:


GPU 2:



Took me awhile to get this all stable,there was a lot of tweeking and reading involved,the missus says she doent know me anymore.....her loss:D

Gumbi

Lookin good man . Are you sure you can't get 4.5ghz on that CPU voltage? If not, you've probably been a bit unlucky with your chip. No worries, though, 4.4 is more than enough for gaming .

What model cards you have? Your temps look good, I'd shoot for 50-100mhz higher really. VRMs are good til 90 degrees (aim to keep them under 85), you are well within your limits

EoinHef

Gumbi wrote: »

Lookin good man . Are you sure you can't get 4.5ghz on that CPU voltage? If not, you've probably been a bit unlucky with your chip. No worries, though, 4.4 is more than enough for gaming .

What model cards you have? Your temps look good, I'd shoot for 50-100mhz higher really. VRMs are good til 90 degrees (aim to keep them under 85), you are well within your limits

Cheers man,ive really put in the hours so far trying to really nail down a nice and stable overclock for the system,have to say im fairly happy with things so far:)

Have to admit,did/am struggling a little with the cpu overclock so i really would like to get that totally nailed down before i really push the cards. Not sure if i have it as tweaked as much as i could. 4.5GHz is achievable but it would require more volts, 1.270-1.290v,prime temps max out at that voltage at 84C after an hour at 4.5GHz. Ive read that 1.3v should be safe. The temps max out a 68C for gaming benchs at that vcore,heaven and 3dmark. Heaven ive found particularly harsh at 1440p with max settings,kicks the p%$p out of the cards!!

I know you've got a haswell i7 but do you reckon id still be in the safe area pushing for 4.5Ghz at those voltages if you can remember your ivy bridge days?:P

Ive got Vapor X 7950's,really nice cards but i reckon the coolers may be a little big for crossfire,especially in a mid tower,not much room for airflow:(

I also plan to try and undervolt the cards a little more,stock was 1.250v and at those clocks using 1.190v didnt cause any issue so might see if i can lower it a little more to help temps

Gumbi

EoinHef wrote: »

Cheers man,ive really put in the hours so far trying to really nail down a nice and stable overclock for the system,have to say im fairly happy with things so far:)

Have to admit,did/am struggling a little with the cpu overclock so i really would like to get that totally nailed down before i really push the cards. Not sure if i have it as tweaked as much as i could. 4.5GHz is achievable but it would require more volts, 1.270-1.290v,prime temps max out at that voltage at 84C after an hour at 4.5GHz. Ive read that 1.3v should be safe. The temps max out a 68C for gaming benchs at that vcore,heaven and 3dmark. Heaven ive found particularly harsh at 1440p with max settings,kicks the p%$p out of the cards!!

I know you've got a haswell i7 but do you reckon id still be in the safe area pushing for 4.5Ghz at those voltages if you can remember your ivy bridge days?:P

Ive got Vapor X 7950's,really nice cards but i reckon the coolers may be a little big for crossfire,especially in a mid tower,not much room for airflow:(

I also plan to try and undervolt the cards a little more,stock was 1.250v and at those clocks using 1.190v didnt cause any issue so might see if i can lower it a little more to help temps

I had my 3570k at 4.6ghz with just under 1.3v (1.295 maybe?) on a Hyper 212. Reached 88 ~ degrees in Prime after a long bench, which I find more than acceptable considering gaming temps are a lot less punishing.

Use an offset voltage, you wouldn't want 1.3v pumped into the cards all the time if avoidable, but Ivy is well capable of it with an offset.

Your temps at the moment for your cards are fine, I'd be pushing the clocks higher before dropping the voltages :P

EoinHef

Gumbi wrote: »

I had my 3570k at 4.6ghz with just under 1.3v (1.295 maybe?) on a Hyper 212. Reached 88 ~ degrees in Prime after a long bench, which I find more than acceptable considering gaming temps are a lot less punishing.

Use an offset voltage, you wouldn't want 1.3v pumped into the cards all the time if avoidable, but Ivy is well capable of it with an offset.

Your temps at the moment for your cards are fine, I'd be pushing the clocks higher before dropping the voltages :P

Cheers gumbi, I reckon I might be able to get 4.5ghz stable with just under 1.3v. Im using an offset for 4.4 aswell, its actually an offset of -0.020v its stable at so I have a little room to increase that.

I wanna make a good custom fan profile for the cards aswell,I reckon I could get 1100 on the core and with a custom fan profile hooefully wont be too loud either. Not sure about pushing the memory anymore though, top cards vrms temps in the mid 70's.

Havent been able to do much since the other day, my qnix has started to give me some issues. The screen just started displaying horizontal black lines on a white backround almost like static the other night so turned it off for awhile and when I turned it back on it displayed ok but theres a flicker thats developed since on the screen. Havent had much time to investigate it yet as ive been workin. Kept my 1080p monitor incase in ran into issues like this thank god.

If the qnix does crap out on me I rackon ill send it back and start saving for the asus 1440 monitor