ATI Crossfire Info

In case anyone is using Crossfire or is considering it, there is a problem if you have more than 4GB of RAM. Chances are, this would lead to you having a BSOD that recognized the problem as atikmdag.sys and will proceed with a physical memory dump.

If anyone needs further guidance on this, please feel free to let me know. I spent 2 days working with this problem, only to find that the solution was a simple as removing some RAM.

I spent 2 days working with this problem, only to find that the solution was a simple as removing some RAM.

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Is the problem affecting Vista 64 Bit or 32 or both?

Have you tried SP1 RC to see if that will fix the issue?

I've only experienced it on 64-bit. Obviously, >4GB RAM on 32-bit is rather pointless anyway. I haven't tried SP1 RC. It seems to be more a driver issue than a Vista problem; I say this based on it's limit to Crossfire functionality. ATI is aware of the issue. Once the full release of SP1 is out, I'll install and give it a go, but don't bet on it helping.

It seems to be more a driver issue than a Vista problem;

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You are aware of the Vista 64 issue with over 3 GB of RAM installed, right?

I've only experienced it on 64-bit. Obviously, >4GB RAM on 32-bit is rather pointless anyway.

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What do you mean? You can support more than 4GB of addressable memory space on a 32 bit OS.

You are aware of the Vista 64 issue with over 3 GB of RAM installed, right?

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What issue do you speak of? I installed Vista 64 Ultimate on this machine (4 GB of RAM) without any issues what so ever. Rock solid.

What issue do you speak of? I installed Vista 64 Ultimate on this machine (4 GB of RAM) without any issues what so ever. Rock solid.

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Did you have all 4GB of RAM installed during the formatting process?

djt said:

What issue do you speak of? I installed Vista 64 Ultimate on this machine (4 GB of RAM) without any issues what so ever. Rock solid.

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Did you have all 4GB of RAM installed during the formatting process?

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i have 4gb of ram and have had since the format and install of x64

and i have never had a problem either

so my question is the same... what problem do you speak of??

RellikZephyr

In fact, I had 6GB of RAM in during the formatting process. There were no issues with anything until I enabled Crossfire. The second Crossfire enabled, the computer went a little haywire. Safe mode worked because it does not have Crossfire support. I am quite sure it is a driver issue. Something in the way ATI did its coding does not square with the additional RAM.

And Richard, I'm pretty sure the maximum supportable is about 4GB, but that includes your video card and sound card (if you've got memory there) and one or two other things. So, realistically, they toss the limit to around 3.5GB. Unless you know something everyone else doesn't.

FightingScallion said:

In fact, I had 6GB of RAM in during the formatting process. There were no issues with anything until I enabled Crossfire. The second Crossfire enabled, the computer went a little haywire. Safe mode worked because it does not have Crossfire support. I am quite sure it is a driver issue. Something in the way ATI did its coding does not square with the additional RAM.

And Richard, I'm pretty sure the maximum supportable is about 4GB, but that includes your video card and sound card (if you've got memory there) and one or two other things. So, realistically, they toss the limit to around 3.5GB. Unless you know something everyone else doesn't.

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Maybe I do ...

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/pae/default.mspx

Not all Msft products will push support beyond 4GB, you can get up to 128 GB of addressable memory support in some 32 Bit products.

Oh, and to answer your original question... Yes. I had all 4GB in from the start of the install process.

I’ve had getting Vista 64 to install with 4 GB of RAM with three different motherboards that used the 680i SLI, X38 and G35 chipsets. All of them are using the latest BIOS. A quick Google search will show that the problem is well known.

Slip streaming the MS “over 3GB hot fix” did not help the problem either, I have not tried slip streaming SP1/RC yet.

If you are having luck with the Intel 965 chipset that’s a good sign that this might be corrected with future BIOS revisions on certain motherboards.

It looks like there might be a solution to this problem after all. The 1.1 RC version of vLite can force the MS update (KB929777) during the install process so that you do not have remove memory.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929777

http://www.vlite.net/

So let me recap things? Does crossfire work on a rig with vista x64 and 4gb ram?and if it doesnt, what workarounds are there?

With 4GB RAM, yes. With more than 4GB, no. It seems to be an ATI issue, not an MS issue.

Well I can't boot into windows with the current set of drivers (the latest ones). I install them succesfully then I reboot, and it says no drivers installed and reinstall and all the crap. No matter how many times i do that I get the same thing, not to mention a blue screen now and then - I think i traced the BSOD to OC. I installed the asus drivers (i have 2 asus 3870) and now it works perfectly. They are older, dunno exactly what version but it works fine now. Even ran a 3dmark 06. Dunno what I'm gonna do, I was kinda hoping to use latest drivers. Any sugestions to what I could try out more?

Thybalt said:

Well I can't boot into windows with the current set of drivers (the latest ones). I install them succesfully then I reboot, and it says no drivers installed and reinstall and all the crap. No matter how many times i do that I get the same thing, not to mention a blue screen now and then - I think i traced the BSOD to OC. I installed the asus drivers (i have 2 asus 3870) and now it works perfectly. They are older, dunno exactly what version but it works fine now. Even ran a 3dmark 06. Dunno what I'm gonna do, I was kinda hoping to use latest drivers. Any sugestions to what I could try out more?

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Try pulling 2GB of RAM just to see if that's the problem or if it's a driver thing. At least, give it a go if it won't annoy you too much to give it a go. If not, I guess work with what you have.

Wanna know what I did? I installed Vista Business. I was running a not so legit copy of vista ultimate and i noticed I was getting bsods asnd crashes and not recognized drivers only when I was running that silly dreamscene. So I tried that business retail kit I have and wonders wonders, it does work with latest drivers, 4gb ram (planning to upgrade to 8gb in about a month).

Re: ATI Crossfire Info HELP?!?!?!?

I am also having a crossfire issue, I just purchased 2 ati 3870hd gddr4 cards and i can't get windows to boot with both installed. I have a msi k9a platinum ati crossfire 580x mobo and 4 gigs of crossfire certified ram installed with visat 64. i can get each card to work find individualy but when i install both cards with the bridge i can't get windows to load. it hangs and doesn't even show the windows logo. The computer boots up to that point and the display works but vista hangs. I tried safe mode and it freezes on a file called crc???.sys sorry i'm at work and can't remember. it comes after atipcie.sys when i choose safe mode. i have all the latest drivers and bios update, i've tried catalyst 7.11 and 7.12. can anybody help me, i'm very frustrated. supposed to be plug and play....

Streetbiker,

I haven't actually played with the 3870, but the issue in safe mode surprises me, as Crossfire is automatically disabled in safe mode. Do you have both bridges installed? Also, do you have your monitor attached to the right card?

When I installed mine, I started with one card in the primary PCI-E slot. I then booted the computer and installed everything and made sure I liked how it was all set up. There are some good hotfixes that aren't necessarily in your update at this thread: http://www.vistax64.com/gaming/120997-new-ms-hotfixes-gamers-single-sli-cpu-memory.html. At this point, you can't enable Crossfire, because there is only one card.

After all of that is in, turn off the computer and install your second card. Make sure you use both bridges. Turn on the computer. It should start up normally. You can enable Crossfire at this point in Catalyst Control Center. If it crashes at this point, there might be some other issues at play that I'll have to research a little more. There may also be an issue in the BIOS settings, though it seems unlikely. I do not have experience with MSI motherboards, so I can't point you to any settings there.

Good luck, and let us know if there is more we can do to help,

FightingScallion

Thank you for you info. When i went in to ati CCC i looked at the hardware tab and it was blank maybe the driver was getting installed with errors, i wiped everything rebooted and installed 7.12 rebooted again and hooked up both cards everything works YAY.


I have one more questions i sound like such a noob but well i am when it comes to crossfire. I get slightly worse performance in crysis v1.1 and lord of the rings online when crossfire is enabled. all my other games run great but its hard to tell since i was able to run everything else on max with my x1950xtx before i upgraded. Do you think those hotfix's will help. What can cause the drop in performance or no performance gain???


P.S. My mobo was a ati xpress 3200 which was renamed to current 580x from all the info i can find it's supposed to be crossfire X capable, it's the same board ati uses in there animation thing for explaining how crossfire works. so my point is..... shouldn't i be getting the most performance possible from these two cards???