I'm at my wit's end. I've called, written, and sent smoke signals in every direction. Currently I'm COMPLETELY underwhelmed by dual 5970 cards. One would imagine that spending that much money on a card would be the end all card. It isn't. I have an extended return through newegg and I'm running out of time. I'm going to send these puppies back if I can't get some answers.
Quick Run Down:
CPU i950
Ram: Corsair Dominator 2gbX6 DDR3 (12 g total)
HD: 256 gb Crucial C300 SSD Sata 6gb
2x5970 Crossfire
Asus Rampage III Formula
1200w Gold PS Cooler Master
I spared NO expense when I purchased the parts to build this PC. This would be my fourth or fifth build over the years. I researched it all and made sure it all worked - and so far it has.
The primary game i play is WOW and Starcraft 2 currently. In Fullscreen mode on a single monitor Crossfire works (I've monitored the GPUs so I'm sure it's working). It handles pretty well but still stutters here and there. This can easily be attributed to lag or player loading.
In eyefinity everything works (and crossfire is working in eyefinity also) and runs relatively smoothly on "NORMAL" video settings. When you bump it up to Ultra settings things begin to change. It's impossible to pan and zoom in and out because it is extremely delayed and choppy. It renders the game unplayable at ultra settings.
I've tried everything - I've removed cards, changed slots, disabled eyefinity, disabled catalyst AI, turned all settings down, turned all settings up, stood on one foot, sacrificed the neighbors cat, overclocked the cards, overclocked my computer - NOTHING.
The games perform BETTER running in windows mode. I can't explain that, either. Wow crashes with an insufficient memory error when I crank up the resolution. I can also see a little stutter in starcraft 2 when running on fullscreen mode with eyefinity (one monitor). Windows mode - no stutter at all.
I've updated my BIOS to 5050 (latest rampage drivers) and nothing has changed. I've downloaded the intel drivers and updated - nothing.
I currently have a support ticket open with ATI regarding this matter. I've submitted belarc and dxdiag reports for them to review and attempt to recreate the issue in the lab. I was forwarded to a level 2 tech pretty quickly which made me happy. I'm still pressed against time and the holidays for my $1000 return to newegg.
Shouldn't a 5970 be able to run wow on three 23" monitors? I mean really. And shouldn't 2 5970s be able to run ANYTHING IN THE WORLD, especially a game like wow?
I've read a thousand articles and many suggest the downfall of the 5970 is the dual core design and memory (1g per gpu) limitation. Am i better off saying EFF It with the 5970s and ordering two 5870s? Or perhaps going back to Nvidia? I ran dual 8800gtx's in SLI when SLI was the hot stuff but barely supported. Now it's almost mainstream and my old PC is howling while my new big baddie is buckling from noobs standing around in STORMWIND.
If you, or anyone you know, has had or is having similar issues and has either found a resolution or knows of a resolution please send them my way. If you, or anyone you know, is missing a cat please remind them that people drive too fast on rural streets.
Thanks guys - I really look forward to some help here!! :)
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