Graphics Cards

[McArcher]

Hello.

I have problems with AMD CrossFire in games.

Video card driver is the latest stable -- 20.11.2.
Graphic cards: dual AMD Radeon RX 570 8GB.
O.S. is Windows 10 64 bit Professional with all latest patches.
All DirectX libraries, games and so on are up to date.

CrossFire mode was tested by me in 3DMark using all possible CrossFire modes and it really doubles the framerate in the Time Spy test. But in the games I see another picture.

GTA V is not using the second card in any possible C.F. mode.

Project Cars 2 shows 55 FPS with C.F. enabled using the default mode, while the single card mode (C.F. disabled) shows 80 FPS. This is very strange.

Both cards are in PCIe x8 3.0 mode, as GPU-Z shows.

GTA V does not use the second GPU at all, Project Cars 2 tries to use it, but the second card is cold and its GPU load is very weak and episodical.

I saw many videos in YouTube showing working CrossFire in GTA V and Project Cars 2, so this makes me think that something is wrong somewhere, I do not know yet where. Is it an operating system's bug, or is it a driver's bug, or is it game developers changing their game engine suddenly (can not imagine it really).

Please help. Thank you.

[Thanny]

At this point, multi-GPU game rendering is effectively obsolescent.

You might get better results by using older drivers, not newer ones.  Most of the games that will make good use of CF are going to be fairly old at this point, so wouldn't benefit from newer drivers anyway. 

[colesdav]

1. Need your full system specifications. 
2. Adrenalin 2020 support for DX12 MultiGPU / DX11 CrossFire is pants. If you look there is no selection of Which GPU to pair or DX11 Crossfire Profiles. 
3. AMD dropped all support for DX11 Crossfire issues on games a long time ago. 
4. That means updates / modifications to games that may cause problems for DX11 Crossfire will not get fixed. One such example if BF1. DX11 Crossfire used to work great on a pair of RX Vega 64 Liquid GPU. Last time I tested it it was completely broken, with visual corruption. That game has DX12 though, and DX12 MultiGPU still worked fine. 
5. One thing you need to account for is turning DX11 Crossfire on incurs a processor overhead. 
If you run a game at 1080p and turn on DX11 Crossfire, you may well get a lower framerate because the CPU is loaded due to Crossfire overhead. Often games are limited by CPU at 1080p, not the GPU. 
6. You will see more benefit in DX11 Crossfire going from 1080p -> 2K -> 4K resolution. 
7. In other words, if primary GPU Utilization is high (90-100%) then turning DX11 Crossfire on should help performance on supported games at higher resolutions and visual quality settings. Some Nvidia Gameworks options such as Godrays cause problems with DX11 Crossfire. 
8. I hope that helps. I could take a look at DX11 Crossfire easily on a pair of R9 Fury X on an  i7-4790K PC if you really want. 
    I think I have a copy of Project Cars 2 somewhere - I will check. 
9. Adrenalin 2019. 19.12.1 Driver using the better QT based GUI/UI still has full Crossfire Support. 
    You could use that interface to get the CrossFire interface but run with 2020 20.12.1 Drivers - a Hybrid Driver install. 
10. Do this: https://community.amd.com/t5/drivers-software/amd-driver-fix-and-install-using-ddu/m-p/426238
11.  Install Adrenalin 2019 19.12.1 and see if Crossfire performance is o.k. with that driver. 
12. If that works and you are happy with it, then fine. If you want to keep the Adrenalin 19.12.1 User Interface but install the Adrenalin 2020 20.12.1 drivers I will tell you how to do that later. 
I have to go now. 

[McArcher]

1. System specifications. 

Cougar MX310 MidiTower ATX Case, main side is open
CHIEFTEC GPM-1000C
ASUS Prime Z490-A (BIOS ver. 0901)
Crucial Ballastix BL8G36C16U4B (2 pcs., XMPII Mode)
Intel Core i5-10400F
DeepCool Assassin III
ASRock Radeon RX 570 8GB (GPU@1270MHz, MEM@1750MHz) (In top PCIe x16 slot)
PowerColor Radeon RX 570 8GB (GPU@1250MHz, MEM@1750MHz) (In second PCIe x16 slot)
Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 5/Rx
Iiyama ProLite X2483HSU-B3 (x2, connected to top card)
Disk Drive ST4000VX007-2DT166 (4 TB, 5900 RPM, SATA-III)
Disk Drive Patriot Burst (SATA-III)
Disk Drive PLEXTOR PX-128M8VC (128 GB, SATA-III)
Disk Drive SSD Smartbuy 512GB (476 GB)
Disk Drive SSD Smartbuy 960GB (894 GB)
Optical Drive HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NSD1 (2 pcs., 1 offline now)
USB Keyboard
USB Mouse

No overclocking anywhere, all timings and clocks at auto;
Video card fans in manual mode to decrease the temperatures;
Video Driver 20.11.2.
Global Graphics:
Radeon Chill Disabled
Radeon Boost Disabled
Radeon Enhanced Sync Disabled
Wait for Vertical Refresh On, unless application specifies
AMD Crossfire Enabled
Show AMD Crossfire Logo Disabled
Frame Pacing Enabled
Anti-Aliasing Use application settings
Anti-Aliasing Method Multisampling
Morphological Anti-Aliasing Disabled
Anisotropic Filtering Enabled
Anisotropic Filtering Level 16x
Texture Filtering Quality High
Surface Format Optimization Enabled
Tessellation Mode AMD optimized
OpenGL Triple Buffering Enabled
10-Bit Pixel Format Disabled
GPU Workload Graphics

OS Windows 10 64 bit Professional, all updates installed
Power Options High performance
Paging file is 'System managed' on ST4000VX007-2DT166 (Currently allocated 20480 MB)
Seems that Arma 3 is a huge paging file eater.

[McArcher]

Thank you for the information.
https://community.amd.com/t5/drivers-software/amd-driver-fix-and-install-using-ddu/m-p/426238

Will try an Adrenalin 2019 19.12.1 first and a Hybrid Driver install afterwards.

[McArcher]

Adrenalin 2019 19.12.1 has not helped.

The built-in AMD CrossFire profile for Project CARS 2 does the same thing as the latest stable driver with the default mode for CrossFire. 55 FPS at the sunny Brands Hatch start straight with all high settings and low GPU usage on the second card.

Adrenalin 2019 19.12.1 has no built-in C.F. profile for GTA V.

The CPU is not always loaded in PCARS2. The most loaded core is the first core and its load varies from about 40% to 90% according to the FPS Monitor. The maximum load of the most loaded core can be seen only in about 25% of the time, so it seems to me that the CPU is not a bottleneck here.

This is very disappoining.

[colesdav]

If you turn on Show Crossfire Logo, does it appear in the top RHS of the screen?

[colesdav]

What resolution settings are you running with? 
I am downloading Project Cars 2 on Steam now. 
If you are running it on Steam, turn off Steam Overlay. 
Turn on the CrossFire logo oto make sure Crossfire is engaging. 

I already have GTAV . 

I will let you know what I see on an i74790K with a pair of R9 Fury X. 

[colesdav]

I have a pair of Gigabyte RX590s. 
I could fit those on the same machine, but performance on a pair of R9 Fury X 4GB HBM should be similar to a pair of RX 580 8GB cards. 
Lets see how the R9 Fury X do first though. 
OK? 

[colesdav]

Testing a pair of R9 Fury X now on GTAV

[colesdav]

DX11 Crossfire is definitely working on GTAV.

Adrenalin 2019 19.12.1 Drivers.
Dual R9 Fury X.
Turned on Virtual Super Resolution with 1080p monitor. Set resolution to 4K Full Screen. 
Make sure VSync is off.
Ran the 5 GTAV Benchmark sequences.
Recorded start - end FPS of benchmark sequences as best I could.

Crossfire off.    Crossfire on.      Scaling.

55 - 48.7              76 - 93               1.68 - 1.9
49 - 50.8              89 - 103.4          1.8 -  2.0
51 - 51.4              106 - 73             2.0 -  1.42
59 - 55.3              100 - 89             1.7 -  1.61
46 - 60.9              94 - 115             2.0 -  1.89

Scaling of 2.0 is high so likely a bit of measurement error for those figures.
However Crossfire DX11 is definitely working and showing good scaling on GTAV at 4K.

I have not looked at 1080p in detail.
Hope that helps.

[McArcher]

4K ?
Hm... I use full HD (1920x1080) resolution and am not planning to change monitors in the near future.
Is C.F. working in GTA V in the native full HD resolution without upscaling to 2K or 4K ?
Which settings did you use in GTA V ? There are a lot of them in game.
Which CrossFire mode did you use ? I haven't found a preset for GTA V.

[colesdav]

RE: Hm... I use full HD (1920x1080) resolution and am not planning to change monitors in the near future.

Fine, so turn on Virtual Super Resolution in the AMD Driver. 
You should then be able to set your Desktop Resolution to 2K or 4K in Windows. 

RE: Is C.F. working in GTA V in the native full HD resolution without upscaling to 2K or 4K ?
Yes it is "working" but because it is only running at 1080p I am getting ~ same performance with Crossfire on or off. 
RE: Which settings did you use in GTA V ? There are a lot of them in game.

I will go back and take a look. I cannot post any more photos on this new forum. AMD limited the number of screenshots and I have hit the limit. 

You should set the highest possible Graphics settings you can that will reduce the FPS with single GPU
I could upload videos that I recorded to YouTube if you really want.

I used "Default" Crossfire profile for GTAV. 
I used the specific custom crossfire profile for Project Cars 2. 
Make sure you are running both games in DX11.

[colesdav]

Read this: 
https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/vsr

[colesdav]

If you just want higher frame rate at 1080p then forget crossfire, switch it off , use a single card  and lower your graphics settings on the game you are playing. 

[colesdav]

I just replied to you response, which you have now deleted... 

[McArcher]

This is strange, because I did not delete it. I think, the moderator of this site did not like it.

OK. I have tested my GPUs in the "Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation" game's benchmark. Seems that CrossFire in DX11 is completely broken. DX12 version of the engine shows a 75% FPS gain using the custom settings (DX12, Fullscreen, 1920x1080, 2 GPUs, MSAA=off, all the settings at high, FX=on, CC=on). The same settings with a single GPU show 44 FPS in a GPU focused benchmark. Changing to 2 GPUs increases the framerate to 77 FPS. FPS Monitor shows that both GPUs are loaded at 99..100% and this is great.

[colesdav]

Repost what you said. 

I think you were telling me you do not want to use VSR and that other games supposedly work great at 1080p  DX11 CrossFire according to YouTube videos. 

They may well do. 
I only looked at the two games you asked me to. 

GTAV and Project Cars 2. 

I really do not understand why you would not want to turn on VSR and utilise both GPU at 2K/4K  downscaled to your 1080p screen. You may be able to turn off in game AA, and get better image quality and better frame rate on your 1080p monitor.

I think you mentioned "The Witcher" - is that 1 2 3 ?
I can easily take a look at those again. 
Also Ashes of the Singularity - which benchmark - Original or Escalation?

There has never been a "Golden Age of AMD DX11 CrossFire FYI". 
Games that supposed to support it at launch rarely did, often took lots of effort from people like me to post problems on this forum and even then sometimes it never worked after AMD worked with Game Devs to try. 

Mass Effect Andromeda was a perfect example. 

[Thanny]

Ashes of the Singularity does not use Crossfire.  Crossfire isn't a thing in DX12.  Using multiple GPU's is the responsibility of the application developer with DX12, which is why it's hardly ever done.  Ashes is one of the exceptions, which is why it scales with multiple GPU's.

Crossfire worked in nearly every game before DX11, because there wasn't much of anything a game could do to sabotage it.  With DX11 is when it became more troublesome.  And with DX12, impossible.  That's why it's difficult to get working well today with any modern games.  Using much older drivers for older games will probably work OK, but they might not work as well with a single card in modern games. 

There are no one-size-fits-all solutions here.

[McArcher]

Framerate in 2K and 4K will be lower than in full HD. That is why I don't want to use VSR.

OK. Thank you for opening my eyes. If DX11 is so difficult to work with, then I will play only games supporting DX12 and multi GPU feature.

[colesdav]

RE: Framerate in 2K and 4K will be lower than in full HD. That is why I don't want to use VSR.

I have already shown the DX11 games with Crossfire you asked about such as Project cars and GTAV are actually working very well at higher resolution (2k/4k)  using VSR on a Pair of R9 Fury X driving a 1080p monitor. 

If you run a single GPU with DX11 Crossfire off with a particular AA Setting, you could set VSR to 2K or 4K, get higher quality of image, use both GPU and get good crossfire scaling. You could improve framerate futher by tuning down AA settings that you would use on a single GPU to get the same image quality. That should improve frame rates further.  I did not do that in the results I provided.  

Just because DX11 Crossfire does not provide benefit on those two games at 1080p  DOES NOT MEAN that DX11 Crossfire will not give some additional performance boost on other old games that still support it at 1080p. 

DX12 MultiGPU is completely different to DX11 Crossfire. 
They are not "Both Crossfire", despite the fact that AMD have a "Crossfire" button that can be used to control DX12 MultiGPU on or off in some games. In others you are told to use the Game interface to control it and make sure to leave the "Crossfire button" off. 

As for your Ashes of the Singularity benchmark data - and the subsequent comments about it. I will take a look.
Last time I rememnber testing it, that game supports the following API: 

DX11
DX12
Vulkan.  

I am going to go look at "The Witcher 3", Crysis 2/3, and Ashes to see how they perform. 

RE: If DX11 is so difficult to work with.
That is just not true. 

RE: Then I will play only games supporting DX12 and multi GPU feature.

That will leave you about 5 games of about 10 that support DX12 MultiGPU and provide any benefit to choose from. 
I tested them all at the end of 2011 / start of 2012 on a pair of RX Vega 64 Liquid.

[colesdav]

Adrenalin 2019 19.12.1 driver. 
Set AMD Crossfire on, set Show Crossfire Logo on. 
Ashes of the Singularity Escalation.
You can turn Crossfire on, if you use AFR Friendly, Optimize 1x1, AFR Compatible.
Default = Crossfire off. 
There is no Crossfire profile for it. 

Tested at 1080p high. 

Severe on screen banding with  AFR Friendly
Optimize 1x1, AFR Compatible worked, but there is a bit of flicker around a few vehicles. 
Similar performance to Crossfire off with Optimize 1x1
Slightly worse performance with AFR Compatible
GPU activity is on both GPUs with these crossfire modes enabled. 
Focus for Ashes was to demo DX12, DX12 MultiGPU and then later, Vulkan. 
Since AMD dropped support for DX11 Crossfire, not surprised Default = off and no specific Crossfire profile. 
I did not bother to test at 2K or 4K DX11 Crossfire, because of the flicker around vehicles. 

Witcher 3 tested at 1080p Maxed out graphics settings and 4K maxed out graphics settings. 
I pointed directly to the Witcher3 profile. 
1080p performance is ~ same with Crossfire on or off at 1080p. 
4K performance is showing about 1.9x performance scaling. I see ~75 FPS at 4K maxed out grapics settings using VSR on a 1080p monitor with a pair of R9 Fury X. I see ~ 40FPS with a single R9 Fury X with DX11 Crossfire off. 

DX11 Crossfire is working as I would expect on a pair of R9 Fury X. 
I have not updated the driver to Adrenalin 2020 20.12.1 to test how that compared. 

AMD Dropped DX11 Crossfire support for old  games with bugs or new games.
The promise of DX12 MultiGPU was rarely implemented. 
You would probably be better to sell those GPUs of yours, take the money and buy a more modern GPU. 
Even a second hand RX Vega 64 Liquid or RX5700XT would be an improvement versus two RX570.

[colesdav]

Try Crysis 3, Very High, 1080p DX11 Crossfire on versus off. 
It is showing scaling of about 1.35x versus single GPU with VSR off. 

The performance gain you get will depend on the resolution, CPU, GPU , game, settings etc etc. 
Again 1.35x at 1080p for Crysis 3 is similar to what I have seen in the past. 

4K performance improvement is much better at ~ 1.85-1.9x.

I am done. 
Cannot spend any more time on this. 
DX11 Crossfire seems to be working as well as it ever has on these games I have tested, using the Adrenalin 19.12.1 driver.
 

[colesdav]

Please let me know if you tried Crysis 3 on your GPUs in DX11 Crossfire at 1080p very high settings. 
Another game to look at is TitanFall /2.

If you now see that DX11 Crossfire is still working o.k. on old games with the Adrenalin 2019 19.12.1 driver at least.
If you now understand you will see beter benefit of DX11 Crossfire at 2K / 4K resolution using VSR on 1080p monitor or real 2K/4K monitor.
If you understand that DX11 Crossfire is no longer supported on new or old games by AMD. If something breaks, no fix.
Many old games still work and some show some positive scaling at 1080p.
Please close the thread by marking something as the solution if you find one.

Thanks.

[McArcher · Accepted solution]

I saw old games in full HD resolution showing good FPS scaling with CrossFireX. But now all this is history.
Thank you for the information. I have found a solution -- to sell a computer and go for a walk. Seriously.

[colesdav]

I can tell you that scaling of  ~1.35x at 1080p, ~1.65x at 2K and ~1.85x at 4K is about the best I would ever get with DX11 Crossfire since ~ 2013.

Good luck selling your at least one of your RX570 8GB.

Since you don't want to do any more than 1080p gaming, one should be enough. 

No one can get a new AMD GPU right now, so you might get something for a second hand RX570 8GB, especially if you sell the secondary GPU as it will have sat doing nothing for most of its life in your case. 

Enjoy your walk. 

So glad I bothered replying. 

Seriously.

[colesdav]

Project cards 2 tested.

You need to explicitly select the Project Cars 2 profile from the Crossfire Profiles list in Adrenalin 2019 19.12.1 other wise no Crossfire Logo appears (the easy way to see if DX 11 Crossfire is actually on). 
However monitoring second GPU activity also shows no activity on GPU 2 unless DX 11 Crossfire profile for Project Cars 2 is selected. Just using Default shows no Crossfire Logo and no GPU 2 activity.

I set Virtual Super Resolution non and set my 1080p FreeSync monitor to 4K resolution and tested the game with Project Cars 2 Game Profile Disabled versus with the DX 11 Crossfire profile for Project Cars 2 selected.

In that case I am seeing a crossfire scaling of 1.65 - 1.85

From ~54 FPS with Crossfire off to ~100 FPS with Crossfire on at 4K.

100% GPU activity on both cards.

In summary.

DX11 Crossfire is still workinng on BOTH

Project Cars 2

and

GTAV

and showing good scaling at 4K Resolution.

No flicker or texture issues seen.

An RX480/580 should show similar performance uplift.

Hope this helps.

If you only have a 1080p monitor then maybe upgrading to a 2K or 4K monitor might be worth it if you intend keeping both GPU and have enough games you want to play in DX11 Crossfire or DX12 MultiGPU. You could just turn Virtual Super Resolution on in the Display section of the Driver and set to 4K in Windows display settings. If you use Virtual Super Resolution you should be able to turn down in game AA settings for similar quality. 

Might be best to sell both your cards and buy a single more powerful GPU though.
Unlesss you need them for Blender MultiGPU Rendering or OpenCL Compute.

Bye.