This is why im over AMD

[ChenAU]

My wifes 980 has seen as low as 38 fps max at 58 standing still. 43 on her horse full sprint.
My 290x has dropped to 34 fps and about 52 standing still. Hairworks

Gtx980 starts at $600~ USD and a 290x starts at $400~ USD for 10 FPS difference got to love mai value.(newegg)
Also stop listening to the shills. They'll talk about reference 290's all day, while ignoring the fact than TitanX uses 350watts and hits 101c.
Don't buy a reference 290x.

 

[Wolf Lord Caldersson]

Gtx980 starts at $600~ USD and a 290x starts at $400~ USD for 10 FPS difference got to love mai value.(newegg)
Also stop listening to the shills. They'll talk about reference 290's all day, while ignoring the fact than TitanX uses 350watts and hits 101c.
Don't buy a reference 290x.

My 290x o forgot to mention does have a mild OC buf not much maybe 2-3 fps at most. The 980 was claimed as only 10% better than 780ti and 290x, which it is. They biggest advantage of maxwell was performance per watt.

Now that it is confirmed that 390x is hawaii and the amd fury is fiji that will be probably be closer to price of a titan than the 980 and 980ti, I guess Ill wait for artic island/400 series. Really dissapointed in that.

 

[Midge]

 

[ChenAU]

 

[Eiyron]

Ever since I became a gamer way back when, ive been an Nvidia man, right back to the first graphics card i ever bought. When it came to my current build about 6 months ago, i thought, Oh look! the bang for buck is so much better with AMD and bought 2 R9270X's.

Now i deal with shit like this every day, the above pic is in game in Witcher 3 (and is not unique to it), and whatever settings i try to use i simply cannot get crossfire to kick in. My graphics drivers die *regularly* (seriously, it doesnt surprise me when my game crashes completely 3-4 times an hour.) About 3 in every 4 reboots my graphics drivers have reset all my graphics settings (and i have to set everything up again.)
Also roughly 3 in every 4 boots (but not necessarily the same boots) I have simply abysmal performace (like getting 5 fps in the menu of a game, and no im not kidding, that* bad) Im getting roughly 1 in 6 boot ups that result in my computer working properly.

I cant wait till i can sell these cards, and buy a replacement card with GTX written on it.

/rant

Running HD 7870 x2 's on my end... Runs.... Runs Perfect... Sounds like you need to do some Tweaking... you are running crossfire after all.

nVidia Has the same issue with SLI and even more "DXGI and Kernel" Crashes that are rare on AMD cards.
nVidia has alot of problems with witcher 3 atm with Kernel Crashes, Run it with SLI and i guarantee your gonna get it twice the rate as well.

Also... you dont need to Run MSI Afterburner all the time just to know if your Crossfire is working.

There's a built in feature that you need to turn ON in Catalyst Control Center that will give you a Verification on the upper right of your screen IF crossfire is engaged, unlike nVidia.

And Finally... The Fix:

Go to Catalyst Control Center under Gaming Tab.
Set a Specific Profile for Witcher 3
Under Crossfire settings - Set it To Framepacing off and Crossfire mode to "AFR Friendly"

you probably know this already but ill up it in just in case.
MAKE SURE THAT YOUR RUNNING A FULLSCREEN RENDER AND NOT WINDOWED OR WINDOWED-FULLSCREEN.

PS: don't expect multi Gfx Card systems to work 100% of the time. They are not perfect Systems and the more cards you use, the more diminishing returns you get for performance.

I hope you knew what you were getting yourself into when you decided on making a Crossfire/SLI System.

Why I went With AMD:

I don't support companies that do false advertising, make you pay for more, and get less of what your actually getting.

 

[Krystal LeChuck]

Gtx980 starts at $600~ USD and a 290x starts at $400~ USD for 10 FPS difference got to love mai value.(newegg)
Also stop listening to the shills. They'll talk about reference 290's all day, while ignoring the fact than TitanX uses 350watts and hits 101c.
Don't buy a reference 290x.

I see some retarded benchmarks and reviews of the 290 claiming usage up to 384Watts on stock clocks. I am overclocking my reference 290 and at 100% load I've never seen usage above 240Watts. As a matter of fact, running Star Citizen last night with settings on Very High, I had this logged:

 

[Eiyron]

I see some retarded benchmarks and reviews of the 290 claiming usage up to 384Watts on stock clocks. I am overclocking my reference 290 and at 100% load I've never seen usage above 240Watts. As a matter of fact, running Star Citizen last night with settings on Very High, I had this logged:

They Use non 80 Certified PSU's - lol
extremely inefficient PSU's

Prolly went cheap on budget like those 700 Watt $40 PSU's
They prolly also measuring the Outlet Wattage and wondering why their lights are dimming due to power drain LOL

 

[o-BHG-o]

Have you increase the resolution yet? So you can try to gain the "old school" AA.
Also Hairworks runs just as bad on Nvida cards if not then slightly better.

View attachment 735

If only I could, unfortunately my max res is 1920x1080 on this monitor...I'll probably hold out until squadron 42 and pick up a 2/4K screen then. To be honest it makes little difference visually. For a triple A title having on/off AA and no other options is somewhat disappointing.

 

[Krystal LeChuck]

Nvidia should change their motto to "NVIDIA, THE WAY YOU'RE MEANT TO BE PLAYED"

 

[Wolf Lord Caldersson]

okay let me clear up a few things that are incorrect.

first the titan x and it running at 101C, this is slightly incorrect. The VRAM on the backhalf of the Titan X runs at 101C, the GPU itself does not. This is because there is only 512MB GDRR5, soon Samsung will make 1GB GDRR5 which will resolve this issue. So they must put VRAM blocks on the back half of the PCB that do not have heatsinks. VRAM/RAM are pretty heat resistant though.

Second, the 290x is rated at 300W, as in that is the most it can pull from the PSU due to their cable restrictions. That does not mean it uses 300W, just that it can. Games, even SC, do not always utilize all this power usually its heavy OC'ers are the ones to push that wattage. I have actually pushed a 980 with custom bios to near 220W, but I couldn't keep it stable I think it was pushing near 1600-1700 mhz can't remember was when they first came out. So just because it's rated at a wattage does not mean it uses that wattage.



On a side note, what is the EVGA of the AMD world? someone who makes the best custom PCB and has good customer support? I need this info for a thing.

 

[ChenAU]

On a side note, what is the EVGA of the AMD world? someone who makes the best custom PCB and has good customer support? I need this info for a thing.

Sapphire

 

[o-BHG-o]

Running HD 7870 x2 's on my end... Runs.... Runs Perfect...

Go to Catalyst Control Center under Gaming Tab.
Set a Specific Profile for Witcher 3
Under Crossfire settings - Set it To Framepacing off and Crossfire mode to "AFR Friendly"
.

Everyone is going to have a different experience, I tried the settings you suggested and didn't manage to improve anything. Frame Pacing off has no visual effect or performance hit. I left it on. AFR friendly mode kills it whether frame pacing is on or off (black scan lines, flashing and over the top bloom). I tried optimize 1x1 mode as well. It doesn't seem to make any difference except to the frames which are worse. I've left this at default.

No matter what I do I cannot use hairworks.
Tried lowering tessellation and turning it on but there's a reason it's set to x64, it looks bad otherwise. Like my horse had moulted and was half bald lol. I'm fine with that, is silly anyway :D

No matter what combination of post processing or graphics settings, AA only makes it look bad (jittery and weird specular effects on roofs and reflections). So I have left that off. I tried forcing AA settings through the Application Profile but it just turns it on in game and does the same thing (didn't try every combo).

Finale' (HD7070 x2)
X-Fire on
1080p
AA off
Hair off
veg render distance high
Everything else set to Ultra/Max (no ini/config changes)

Frames:
No drops below 60
Average 70
High 100

Anyway, it's an awesome games and really enjoying it. Hope you all do too, AMD or nVidia fans PCMasterrace unite!

 

[Eiyron]

Everyone is going to have a different experience, I tried the settings you suggested and didn't manage to improve anything. Frame Pacing off has no visual effect or performance hit. I left it on. AFR friendly mode kills it whether frame pacing is on or off (black scan lines, flashing and over the top bloom). I tried optimize 1x1 mode as well. It doesn't seem to make any difference except to the frames which are worse. I've left this at default.

No matter what I do I cannot use hairworks.
Tried lowering tessellation and turning it on but there's a reason it's set to x64, it looks bad otherwise. Like my horse had moulted and was half bald lol. I'm fine with that, is silly anyway :D

No matter what combination of post processing or graphics settings, AA only makes it look bad (jittery and weird specular effects on roofs and reflections). So I have left that off. I tried forcing AA settings through the Application Profile but it just turns it on in game and does the same thing (didn't try every combo).

Finale' (HD7070 x2)
X-Fire on
1080p
AA off
Hair off
veg render distance high
Everything else set to Ultra/Max (no ini/config changes)

Frames:
No drops below 60
Average 70
High 100

Anyway, it's an awesome games and really enjoying it. Hope you all do too, AMD or nVidia fans PCMasterrace unite!

Ok to start,
the instructions I provided were meant for OP and his problem was that he could not get Crossfire to work.

2nd, I have never heard of an HD7070 from AMD... do you have a link? you got me here... I believe the starting Model number for HD 7000 Series was 7700's not 7000's

3rd, I agree it will be a different experience for each user, no quarrel on that.
My point was:
-you need to find and tweak your systems and tailor them according to your system specs and identify your bottlenecks and for multi-Gfx Card Users "VERIFY THAT IT WORKS EVERYTIME YOU START YOUR GAME/PROGRAM"

Multicard Gfx Card systems will not just work for you 100% of the time. You need to verify if they engage everytime you start a game.

You say there is no difference in performance. Did you check to see if Xfire was engaged?
And By Engaged I mean ACTUALLY WORKING.

You checking that "Enable Crossfire" on Catalyst Control Center does not make it just Magically work 100% of the time.

Why it does not engage 100% of the time? There are numerous reasons. too many to go about.

Theoretical Loss for HD 7000 Series by doing crossfire is -10% to 20% loss on the first card added.

If you experience NO PERFORMANCE increase at all, is the result of either you are doing something wrong OR you have a system bottleneck somewhere. Still even with a system bottleneck somewhere, the performance boost is still there, you just don't get the full potential boost.

 

[Wolf Lord Caldersson]

Sapphire

Vapor-x is their custom pcb branding isnt it?

 

[o-BHG-o]

Ok to start,
the instructions I provided were meant for OP and his problem was that he could not get Crossfire to work.

2nd, I have never heard of an HD7070 from AMD... do you have a link? you got me here... I believe the starting Model number for HD 7000 Series was 7700's not 7000's

3rd, I agree it will be a different experience for each user, no quarrel on that.
My point was:
-you need to find and tweak your systems and tailor them according to your system specs and identify your bottlenecks and for multi-Gfx Card Users "VERIFY THAT IT WORKS EVERYTIME YOU START YOUR GAME/PROGRAM"

Multicard Gfx Card systems will not just work for you 100% of the time. You need to verify if they engage everytime you start a game.

You say there is no difference in performance. Did you check to see if Xfire was engaged?
And By Engaged I mean ACTUALLY WORKING.

You checking that "Enable Crossfire" on Catalyst Control Center does not make it just Magically work 100% of the time.

Why it does not engage 100% of the time? There are numerous reasons. too many to go about.

Theoretical Loss for HD 7000 Series by doing crossfire is -10% to 20% loss on the first card added.

If you experience NO PERFORMANCE increase at all, is the result of either you are doing something wrong OR you have a system bottleneck somewhere. Still even with a system bottleneck somewhere, the performance boost is still there, you just don't get the full potential boost.

I know you were aiming your post at OP, I presume that is why you quoted him.

I have added my experience so OP knows what other people go through and because that's what I've been doing throughout the thread here. As I said 'different experience for each system', so here's my experience.
I had crossfire issues so it's not unreasonable for me to want to try and improve things with your suggestions.

Obviously HD7970 as stated multiple times in this thread. Pretty obvious from my previous posts. Unless that was supposed to be sarcasm. In which case...pffft.

I know tweaks are required, that's why I was trying yours!

I've already mentioned about AMD crossfire in this thread and I'm aware of when it's running, not only because the frame rates make it obvious. I have the AMD x-fire icon enabled whilst testing.

What loss are you talking about, as mentioned I double my frame rates or are you talking about someone else?

I experience no performance increase from your suggestions but I have no bottleneck on my system I assure you. I am getting 80-100 fps since the patch, with the settings I mention earlier.

Just letting OP know that it's not necessarily going to change anything by following your suggestions and all without unnecessary CAPS!

 

[Eiyron]

I know you were aiming your post at OP, I presume that is why you quoted him.

I have added my experience so OP knows what other people go through and because that's what I've been doing throughout the thread here. As I said 'different experience for each system', so here's my experience.
I had crossfire issues so it's not unreasonable for me to want to try and improve things with your suggestions.

Obviously HD7970 as stated multiple times in this thread. Pretty obvious you knew that. Sarcasm is one way to make your point I suppose.

I know tweaks are required, that's why I was trying yours!

I've already mentioned about AMD crossfire in this thread and I'm aware of when it's running, Not only because the frame rates make it obvious. I have the AMD x-fire icon enabled whilst testing.

What loss are you talking about, as mentioned I double my frame rates or are you talking about someone else?

I experience no performance increase from your suggestions but I have no bottleneck on my system I assure you. I am getting 80-100 fps since the patch, with the settings I mention earlier.

Just letting OP know that it's not necessarily going to change anything by following your suggestions.

I just read OP's post last night and just posted straight, I did not go through the whole thread, my bad, seems we were talking about the same thing except for loss.

bout the sarcasm - no, I was tired and was bored at work lol

Loss is always present in multi Gfx card setups ei 7870's x2 will not necessarily yield x2 of the performance.
That sort of loss.

-Just Finished reading the thread... 5 FPS gain.... oh wow.... did'nt know...

 

[Wolf Lord Caldersson]

FRIENDSHIPALITY!!

 

[o-BHG-o]

I just read OP's post last night and just posted straight, I did not go through the whole thread, my bad, seems we were talking about the same thing except for loss.

bout the sarcasm - no, I was tired and was bored at work lol

Loss is always present in multi Gfx card setups ei 7870's x2 will not necessarily yield x2 of the performance.
That sort of loss.

-Just Finished reading the thread... 5 FPS gain.... oh wow.... did'nt know...

Fair enough, sorry about the snarkyness.

I understand bored at work :)

R.E. loss, I get it now.

Thankfully the 5fps gain was fixed and I can enjoy a good rate now.

Spehs friends!

 

[Krystal LeChuck]

okay let me clear up a few things that are incorrect.

first the titan x and it running at 101C, this is slightly incorrect. The VRAM on the backhalf of the Titan X runs at 101C, the GPU itself does not. This is because there is only 512MB GDRR5, soon Samsung will make 1GB GDRR5 which will resolve this issue. So they must put VRAM blocks on the back half of the PCB that do not have heatsinks. VRAM/RAM are pretty heat resistant though.

Second, the 290x is rated at 300W, as in that is the most it can pull from the PSU due to their cable restrictions. That does not mean it uses 300W, just that it can. Games, even SC, do not always utilize all this power usually its heavy OC'ers are the ones to push that wattage. I have actually pushed a 980 with custom bios to near 220W, but I couldn't keep it stable I think it was pushing near 1600-1700 mhz can't remember was when they first came out. So just because it's rated at a wattage does not mean it uses that wattage.



On a side note, what is the EVGA of the AMD world? someone who makes the best custom PCB and has good customer support? I need this info for a thing.

Well I just ran Furmark and I got this (270W)

However it you look at reviews such as this http://www.techspot.com/review/736-amd-radeon-r9-290/page8.html

or this

you can see consumptions over 300Watts. Keep in mind that my card is overclocked above those cards in the reviews.

This is why I consider ALL benchmarks and reviews published unreliable. I haven't seen a single benchmark showing anything remotely close to the actual numbers. As for the idle values, those are just a joke.

 

[Eiyron]

Fair enough, sorry about the snarkyness.

I understand bored at work :)

R.E. loss, I get it now.

Thankfully the 5fps gain was fixed and I can enjoy a good rate now.

Spehs friends!

Nah dude, was my fault. work Stress got to me.
Hope I did'nt ruin your day , Apologies