Setting up an 7950x2 and system compatability.

[smiley73]

hello all... haven't been on here for a while.

im in process of setting up my first gaming system and could use some advice setting up the gpu... its the first card i have set-up myself and its a little tricky'er than i thought it would be.

spent two days setting up vista ultimate, only to find no driver support for the gpu or mobo, but luckily it was added the day after vista release! lots of cussing before though.

anyways... i could really do with some "general" settings for the gpu, an xfx 7950x2. im reading up as much as possible at the mo, but the info is a little sparce and some of its over my head at the mo... ive tried ghost recon and its pausing, juddering, running like a bag of monkeys.

the system i plugged it into fore a quick browse is a 3500+ with a gig of non-branded Ram and an asus a8n-csm. benchmark 06, 3945 : /

the one it will be settled in is an asus a8n32-sli deluxe, 2 gig of corsair xms pro 2.2.2.5 and an opty 152 with raptor 150gig... im hoping the components work well together.


grateful for any and all advice, from a gpu noooob! al

 

[jonny_uk]

well im no expert but ive installed a few GPU's in my own pc and put my whole pc into a new case recently................... anyway i would say the reason your not getting the performance expected is the system you installed it in for a "quick browse", the cpu and lack of ram would be "bottle necking" the GPU somewhat (i.e not letting the gpu unleash the power)
I think what ive said here is backed up by your very low 3Dmark06 score( i get 5250 with mine and thats with no overclocking).

Id stick it in your other system and hopefully it will perform better although im not sure what power an "opty 152" has? i thought that was a processor for servers? also what did you mean by 7950x2? GX2 or x2 as in you have 2 7950 cards together?

 

[smiley73]

cheers jonny_uk, my typo's sorry, just got back from double shift before posting...

the (non-sli) card's a 7950 GX2, the opteron is a single core 64 running @ 2.6Ghz and are fairly well used for o'cing, or a cheaper alternative from the fx55's or similar.

as said, its my first proper build and its all kind of new to me, just been trolling and reading to find the bits i want.

ill wait until i install it in the full system before i know better. its just the settings of the gpu im a little unsure of... so im trying to get some advice before hand on adjustments/settings that should give me a usable platform to start with, maybe it will all fall into place with better components as you said.

the install guide is based around another card (7900), so its pretty usless and settings info for the GX2 seems pretty hard to come by.

might drop xfx a mail.

thanks for the reply, al

 

[jonny_uk]

Ahh GX2 thats a great card that is, it should play most new games at max settings with no problems. As i said i reckon it was just the cpu/low ram that wasnt doing the gpu any favours.

Another thing, have you got the lastest forceware drivers from nvidia? ive had version 93.71 for some time now and they have worked spot on, so id check to see if you have those aswell.

What temp is the gpu running at aswell? if the pc was cramped/small it may have been overheating(dout your that daft though!)

 

[smiley73]

hi mate... ive simply installed the Gpu, and tried GRAW (free with card) so far. ive used the vista 32bit drives from XFX and everthing seems to be fine other than low quality graphics.

i dont have the facility to monitor the card temps at the mo but the fan has been on idle and dosent seem to kick in (speed up) on benchmark 06, so im guessing its not being over-strained so far... it is working o.k as the fan go's high speed on the boot, then settles back down.

i have all the other fans on full speed whilst testing... pumping around 45cft a min. i am also monitoring the cpu/mobo/volts ect on p.c probe via the asus software. its in a suprano case (tsunami) with all ther wiring out the way.

i think its just a case of tweaking the settings and using better components, everything esle is stable with no errors.

my new mobo should be here on monday, all the rest is waiting.

could i ask you a favour mate (if you dont mind?) could you post your settings for 3D if you get time... just what you have on or off and filter settings ect.

the manual i got with the card is for seeing up a 7900 so it dosent cover and of the larger specs of the GX2


thanks for the help so far! al

 

[<[MaTT]>]

I wish i could afford that...

 

[jonny_uk]

well try those drivers that i have (93.71) you can google it, its worth a shot.
About the temps, you can see them on Nvidia control panel, you dont need a standalone programme to do that.
When you say 3D settings im not exactly sure what you after but i think its the following..................

I havent changed any of those myself so providing you havent touched yours either i cant see there being a problem there.
P.s look on the left and you can see "monitor temperature levels"

 

[smiley73]

cheers jonny! just the ticket.... ill check the settings tommorow and run a few demo's.

thanks for your help and ill see how it go's on the install. its probably the lower spec components holding things back.

post how it go's... all the best, al

IceKoldKilla, save the pennies and treat yourself!

 

[jonny_uk]

No worries mate, thats what were all here for to help each other.

Report back when your done

 

[smiley73]

well... the last bits have arrived and i installed them on friday.

system is an an832x sli deluxe fitted with an opty 152@2.6 Ghz and a gig of XMS pro (2x512) 2.2.2.5, with another gig to follow. 650w p.s

cooling-wise an evo 120 is keeping the cpu around 40deg idle and 47 under load without running in arctic 5 silver in yet, was hoping for a little lower but it seems o.k. may do watercooling if the cpu overclocks well.

temps for the GX2 are around 50 deg idle and 60 loaded.

i only had time to intall and run 3D mark 06. no gameplay yet but its hitting around the 6500 score. the card is the slightly o.c'd version sitting at 520mhz and 1.3 ghz.

the only downside i can see with the choice of components is (as i found out later in the manual for the mobo) the pci set-up.

apparetly the on board nforce4 chip will only allow 16x from one platform and 8x from the other on a dual gpu, and does not support quad, but ive seen people running with the same mobo and dual GX2's?

its not a huge problem as i may just stick with the one dual gpu for a while, but id be grateful if anyone has info on "fixes" or similar to allow quad.

all in all it seems pretty good so far and i cant wait to give
F.E.A.R and ghost recon good thrashing on max settings

one bit i am confused about is on install, when adding the o.c'ing software that came with the XFX card, it asked me to re-insert XP SP2 and installed something?

cant seem to find the o'cing software on the card settings/contols though, but ive yet to try and install coolbits 2.

give it a go on monday as i wouldn't mind checking the card it running at the facoty setting and both cards are being utalised.

smiley73