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Crossfire or Independent

Moderator: MiRai

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sgtpain

Posts: 15

Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:41 pm

Post Fri Oct 24, 2014 1:35 am

Crossfire or Independent

Hey guys this is something that has my questioning my set-up for sometime now but since in trying to do a very specific set-up I realize I need the help of you IS veterans.

My Hardware

Motherboard Asus X79 Deluxe
CPU Intel i7-4930k
RAM Kingston 32g @ 2133
HDD Asus Raidr
GX Card SAPPHIRE HD 7970 GHz Edition 6GB GDDR5 VAPOR-X
SAPPHIRE HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB GDDR5 VAPOR-X

I have been running a generic 3 screen with switching set-up for some time & have been running my 3 screens in crossfire mode, after some reading in the forums I now know that crossfire doesn't work with windowed games.

I have found I get better result with my cards running in independent mode when switching isn't used but using this method isn't ideal.
Since I want to run 3 screens with the main client overlap onto screen 1&3 like a mini surround set-up with 6 client each side should i use crossfire, & would an eyefinity setup help with performance.
also eve has the option to run in window, fixed & full screen will this impact performance also.

Last question when doing custom resolutions is there some method to ensure they are scaled correctly as mouse broad casting works fine as i have done the aspect ratios correctly but the game resolution looks off, It must the matter of having the client window a particular size/ resolution & wanted to know if there is a correct method as I have been just dividing the screen rez into 10ths & doing calculations based upon how many parts of the screen im using. does that make sense as its hard to explain.

THX SgtPin
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bob

User avatar

League of Extraordinary Multiboxers

Posts: 4587

Joined: Sat Feb 15, 2014 11:14 am

Location: In the dining room, with the lead pipe.

Post Fri Oct 24, 2014 2:39 am

Re: Crossfire or Independent

sgtpain wrote:I have been running a generic 3 screen with switching set-up for some time & have been running my 3 screens in crossfire mode, after some reading in the forums I now know that crossfire doesn't work with windowed games.

Good, that's the first bit out of the way already

sgtpain wrote:
I have found I get better result with my cards running in independent mode when switching isn't used but using this method isn't ideal.
Since I want to run 3 screens with the main client overlap onto screen 1&3 like a mini surround set-up with 6 client each side should i use crossfire, & would an eyefinity setup help with performance.
also eve has the option to run in window, fixed & full screen will this impact performance also.

Seeing as you already know that crossfire wont work in Windowed mode, I don't understand why you're asking if you can then use it? If you are going to run the games in Windowed mode, which ISBoxer/Innerspace will force, because that's how it works, then CROSSFIRE WONT WORK, and you've effectively got a GPU doing nothing (although it's limitations may still be in play).
Sadly because of the way that CrossFire and SLI work, Crossfire will be limiting you to only 3GB of vRAM (per GPU) across both cards. This is because both cards will have the same textures and other info in memory (the vRAM hold mirror copies of data), so because you have 1 card with 3GB and one with 6GB the lowest amount wins, and the 6GB card has 3GB never used.

As for Eyefinity, it might help you with setting up your surround configuration. In fact you can't run a Window Layout region across multiple independent monitors - the mouse positioning gets all weird so it will probably be necessary. The danger of this of course is that your reset region will be bigger and thus each game instance will need more vRAM, unless you are not using instant swapping and so the regions are sizing each game individually, which leads on to number 3.

sgtpain wrote:Last question when doing custom resolutions is there some method to ensure they are scaled correctly as mouse broad casting works fine as i have done the aspect ratios correctly but the game resolution looks off, It must the matter of having the client window a particular size/ resolution & wanted to know if there is a correct method as I have been just dividing the screen rez into 10ths & doing calculations based upon how many parts of the screen im using. does that make sense as its hard to explain.


As long as you are using instant swapping and the reset region is sizing the game, and the in game setting is "Windowed Fullscreen" setting, then the the aspect/sizing should look normal if you have the regions correct.
You do get the odd game which will work better with a different in game setting. I think EVE needs to be set to Fullscreen despite the fact it is running in a window (fixes weird positioning issues - there are some posts in the forums about it). LOTRO and STO work well with a custom resolution.
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sgtpain

Posts: 15

Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:41 pm

Post Fri Oct 24, 2014 6:11 am

Re: Crossfire or Independent

thx for replying, but after your response I need to add to it

as you where saying why would i consider using crossfire again oppose to independent is because i have once client across 3 screens which would be rendering on 2 independent cards screen & i remember reading that swapping on independent cards can result on a higher performance hit. would you consider using just the one 6gb card for more ram.
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sgtpain

Posts: 15

Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:41 pm

Post Fri Oct 24, 2014 6:21 am

Re: Crossfire or Independent

I have a second computer i could put thesecond card into hmm the gears a turning
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bob

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League of Extraordinary Multiboxers

Posts: 4587

Joined: Sat Feb 15, 2014 11:14 am

Location: In the dining room, with the lead pipe.

Post Fri Oct 24, 2014 7:23 am

Re: Crossfire or Independent

sgtpain wrote:thx for replying, but after your response I need to add to it
as you where saying why would i consider using crossfire again oppose to independent is because i have once client across 3 screens which would be rendering on 2 independent cards screen & i remember reading that swapping on independent cards can result on a higher performance hit. would you consider using just the one 6gb card for more ram.


1. If you generate a window layout which puts a region across multiple monitors (not Eyefinity) then the window will effectively be located on the left most monitor, i.e. whichever monitor the top left corner is located on, and the associated graphics card which is driving that monitor, regardless of the fact that some of the game may actually be displayed on another monitor. This will obviously cause a performance hit if the other monitors receiving some of the game visuals happen to be driven by a different video card. Crossfire wont help you on this because it will only work when you are in exclusive mode (or Full screen if you like), which it wont be if running via Innerspace/ISBoxer, although it will force you to effectively run all the screens from a single graphics card, which will in turn prevent the performance hit, but you will end up only running on a single card!. Also this setup will likely not work (with a region spanning separate monitors) based on some previous testing I have done as the mouse positioning is always scaled relative to the home monitor (where-ever the top/left is).

2. Eyefinity would help you generate a layout which would work where the game visuals are shown in a surround type view and the window crosses multiple monitors. This is mainly because of the way the mouse positioning works and the rendering per display. Eyefinity effectively creates a single display and the game does not know that the visuals are on multiple monitors. Eyefinity does not use Crossfire, unless the application is running in FullScreen mode, and, again, it will not be if you are using Innerspace/ISBoxer regardless of what the in game settings say.

3. Yes. I didn't put this before, although I started writing it. I would recommend you use the single 6GB card because it will give you more vRAM which will be important, but you may end up running out of GPU juice depending on the number of clients you are running - but this is game specific. Monitoring the GPU usage would be useful to find out what your limits are. Personally I use a stock 3GB 7970 to run 3 2560x1440 screens, no Eyefinity, with no issues, and could run more than the clients I do because of the games efficiency and the settings I use - this is game subjective.

Sadly a CrossFire system is not the desired choice when it comes to multiboxing.
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sgtpain

Posts: 15

Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:41 pm

Post Fri Oct 24, 2014 10:26 pm

Re: Crossfire or Independent

thx bob you have painted a clear picture for me to better understand my circumstances & how is-boxer works 'on the hardware level'

i have added the 3g card to my old pc and i'll try using the dual pc option, i was able to run 12 clients with low - med settings i'm just trying to achieve med - high without hitting the 80-90 degree mark.
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Ualaa

Grandmaster Guidesmith

Posts: 714

Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2009 8:36 pm

Post Wed Oct 29, 2014 8:15 am

Re: Crossfire or Independent

You could run some of your clients on one PC and the rest on another PC.
Split the load.

IS Boxer does support multiple computers.
There is a sub-forum specific to that.

I don't think you'll be able to swap region, with a character who is on another computer.

But that other computer will be running its own load, which will allow you to run more total clients than whatever the cap is on your first machine.
I ran 5 clients on a 1GB video card, and later 10 clients on a 4GB video card, playing World of Warcraft both times.
Streaming in 720p HD: www.twitch.tv/ualaa

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