Radeon HD3870 X2

[x96merrill3]

Just picked up this video card with the expectation that I would be gaming like a rock star in minutes. So far, I have been unable to boot my system using only this card. The 3870 hardware is installed in the Primary PCI slot with my 8500 gt in the secondary. I can boot up normally if the 8500 is installed, but when I remove it and try to operate on only the 3870, I get a Video Card error beep code. Any ideas? I've been messing with the bios, installing an insane amount of drivers and updates and have had NO luck.

Thanks a ton for any help you may be able to offer!

Chris

AMD Phenom 9500\4G DDRII 800\MA790FX-DS5\Visiontek Radeon HD 3870 X2\Echo MIDI\Linksys 54G WLAN

 

[FightingScallion]

Something to try:

1) Uninstall both cards in Hardware Manager (remove software/drivers if prompted).
2) Remove any other software you installed that is associated with either card.
2) Turn off computer
3) Plug the 3870 x2 into your slot (leave the 8500 out).
4) Start the computer. This should load generic drivers for the video card.

Let me know if that works. If not, you may need to uninstall all those drivers from the nVidia card. If it does work, you can install the 8.2 drivers at will, and you'll be on your way.

Do you, by chance, have another computer to try this in? There is a chance that the card is bad, though I'd like to avoid that conclusion as far as possible.

 

[Scotteq]

Also - Use a program like drivercleaner.net to make sure you get the whole thing off your comp.

 

[mashakos]

videocard error beep? Did you connect the power cables for the card?

 

[gazz496]

8500 gt nvidia
hd 3870 ati
spot the difference its a great game for children in primary school

am i the only one who thinks it odd that running an ati card alongside an nvidia card is a stupid idea and is not supposed to work as you would get motherboard errors on top of the simple fact that sli and crossfire are just a wee bitty different from each other and lets not forget my favourite that they are from different manufacturers running different gpu's and ram and have different no's of stream processors????? are you all mad

 

[FightingScallion]

8500 gt nvidia
hd 3870 ati
spot the difference its a great game for children in primary school

am i the only one who thinks it odd that running an ati card alongside an nvidia card is a stupid idea and is not supposed to work as you would get motherboard errors on top of the simple fact that sli and crossfire are just a wee bitty different from each other and lets not forget my favourite that they are from different manufacturers running different gpu's and ram and have different no's of stream processors????? are you all mad

I think if you look at his first post, you'll see that he is having an issue not running them both at the same time. I don't believe he necessarily wants them both at the same time.

Really, we're trying to be helpful here. You don't need to take potshots at the guy, just because he may not be as experienced with these things as you. There was a time when you didn't know those things, I'm sure.

 

[gazz496]

8500 gt nvidia
hd 3870 ati
spot the difference its a great game for children in primary school

am i the only one who thinks it odd that running an ati card alongside an nvidia card is a stupid idea and is not supposed to work as you would get motherboard errors on top of the simple fact that sli and crossfire are just a wee bitty different from each other and lets not forget my favourite that they are from different manufacturers running different gpu's and ram and have different no's of stream processors????? are you all mad

I think if you look at his first post, you'll see that he is having an issue not running them both at the same time. I don't believe he necessarily wants them both at the same time.

Really, we're trying to be helpful here. You don't need to take potshots at the guy, just because he may not be as experienced with these things as you. There was a time when you didn't know those things, I'm sure.

well why are you all not asking the simple questions like why he is trying to use an ati and nvidia card in the same motherboard which it clearly states and for the record my post wasn't aimed at him but at you lot for not sorting out the obvious which is the point of using an ati and nvidia on the same motherboard you should read the post before offering out advice as this guy is going to get tons of errors on his current motherboard as it is for crossfire ati cards not a mix of nvidia and ati
and if you can point me in the direction of a motherboard that does that without some serious memory conflictsand countless other errors feel free.
i appreciate that we make mistakes and i forgive you but getting that wrong is pretty major.

ATI AND NVIDIA ARE NOT COMPATIBALE ON THE SAME MOTHERBOARD DON'T LET PEOPLE TELL YOU OTHERWISE

 

[FightingScallion]

The following information (in red) was posted by me earlier. I have done some further research and determined that what I said has been over-taken by modernity. It appears that Vista's driver system is different and no longer allows different display drivers to work simultaneously. While an option in previous versions of Windows (in somewhat limited set-ups), that should no longer be a possibility. The conflict should not actually cause a physical issue, except that the only card that would work would be the one whose drivers loaded. My previous experience was both lucky and dated. My apologies to gazz496 on this.

I don't want to get into an argument with you gazz, but just to let you know, you can run incompatible cards seperately on the same MOBO. I don't know what it was that I did it on (it was an HP that I had purchased before I knew much about computers), but it had an nVidia chipset with onboard video. After I bought my Radeon 9550, I ran a primary off of that and a secondary off the nVidia a couple of times (weird little things that I needed an extra screen for). So, it can be done (though maybe it was exceptional and I was very lucky; I don't know). The difference is, they can't be run together in SLi or Crossfire. Those are sensitive to the point of requiring identical series cards, so we would never recommend different brands in conjunction.

That stated, however, we await clarification of things from Chris to enable us to better fix his problem.

Chris, any additional feedback you can provide us on things would be great.

 

[gazz496]

neither do i and i agree you can get lucky just curious now as i done more research into his board why the ati card is not working as it's an ati board
may have to uninstall any nvidia drivers before you install the ati card just check there are no residual drivers on the system as they may cause errors
oh and one for you do you get any problems from the hd2600 xt cards from saphire as i get loads of crashes and the like and noticed a few others did too ??

 

[FightingScallion]

neither do i and i agree you can get lucky just curious now as i done more research into his board why the ati card is not working as it's an ati board
may have to uninstall any nvidia drivers before you install the ati card just check there are no residual drivers on the system as they may cause errors
oh and one for you do you get any problems from the hd2600 xt cards from saphire as i get loads of crashes and the like and noticed a few others did too ??

I've had no problems that I didn't cause. Crossfire doesn't seem to like more than 4GB of memory. But, that aside, no issues. In COD4, I get some white tiles (the Crossfire mode is super-tiling, so that's how I'm referring to them). But, these don't appear to be tied to a specific card, and are definitely recreatable in limited locations on maps (always the same tiles, always the same location). This leads me to believe this issue is software related, and not card related. Either PM me or start another thread if you think it's something we can work out for you. I'm starting to worry that this one is getting hijacked a bit by us. :D

WRT above, please see the correction to my post. I guess I could have just deleted it and made everyone look silly, but the information could come in handy later. I personally don't mind admitting I was wrong about that; I should know better than to assume things stay the same from OS to OS.

 

[gazz496]

there is a post running on that card.
we are all learning new things with vista and the addition to your post will be of great benifit to the thread starter now he can explain how he got an nvidia card onto that board and working???? more info for the gura above please.

 

[x96merrill3]

O.k....hopefully, all this hullaballoo will result in some info that may be able to help others.
I solved the video card issue. After a whole bunch of fiddling and fussing, and returning a card for a new one, I discovered that BOTH additional power inputs on the Radeon HD3870 X2 cards MUST be completed. Originally, I had just the 6-pin connector in place as my PSU does not have a GPU 8-pin option. However, as I'm sure many of you know, a 6-pin will fit the 8-pin female connector and will work adequately for single card usage. Halleluiah! It seems simple to many, I'm sure, but hopefully, my experience can help others just starting with the gaming experience.

As for the Nvidia card, I plugged it into the 2nd PCIe slot to start with, it all booted fine. During the trial and error process, I dropped the card into the first PCIe slot. I didn't have any issues at all, and why it worked when so many of you insist that it can't work is beyond me.

As a personal aside, I took the response to my original posting as a socially maladjusted individual lashing out at others in an attempt to make him/herself feel intellectually superior. As was stated by another, this is a forum for people to come together and share experiences. It is an educational tool, and a good one at that. Without my mistakes, you may not have known that the Nvidia card would work with the ATI chipset. Now you do. We are all wiser for sharing.

I’d like to say thank you to all those who took the time to read this. And thank you especially to those of you who lent me your support. Please feel free to contact me with any further questions

Chris

 

[FightingScallion]

Thanks for sharing your solution. It's very helpful, and will serve as guidance to many in the future who see it. Your thoroughness is fantastic, and I hope to see you post more in the future. A welcome addition to the forum. I hope you'll join in assisting others as you see fit.

 

[Rob Redbeard]

Just adding my two cents -- but the HD 3870 X2 is no lightweight on wattage.. It's sporting two GPUs, an extra PCI-X bridge (15-20 watts) and a gig of gddr4. Minimum recommended power supply for a system with just one of these is 550 watts. Not to mention the Nvidia card, your quad core cpu, 4gb ram... I hope you've got at least 600-650watts in there.

AMD Phenom 9500\4G DDRII 800\MA790FX-DS5\Visiontek Radeon HD 3870 X2\Echo MIDI\Linksys 54G WLAN

Which of these is your mighty PSU?

Cheers,
Rob

 

[hclarkjr]

Just adding my two cents -- but the HD 3870 X2 is no lightweight on wattage.. It's sporting two GPUs, an extra PCI-X bridge (15-20 watts) and a gig of gddr4. Minimum recommended power supply for a system with just one of these is 550 watts. Not to mention the Nvidia card, your quad core cpu, 4gb ram... I hope you've got at least 600-650watts in there.

you are mistaken on the memory for the 3870 X2 it has GDDR3 not GDDR4

 

[Rob Redbeard]

you are mistaken on the memory for the 3870 X2 it has GDDR3 not GDDR4

Thanks for the correction. I forgot that. I have a 3870 (x1?) so I'm always thinking gddr4. Either way, when supported, it's a beautiful beast of a card. But it eats for two (at least under load).

AMD's Radeon HD 3870 X2 video card - The Tech Report - Page 10

 

[Matthew Willemsen]

SOS. Have the config listed below. Every time I load game I get about 30 sec and computer locks up. Black screen, sound keeps going in a loop. Got the propblem to reoccur on SH4, Cryisis, and Bio Shock.

"You got a help us doc, we tried nothing and were all out a ideas"
Name that quote.

 

[Rob Redbeard]

I had exactly the same problem in with Bioshock back when I was using my HD 2600xt card. If you go to the Vista->Games menu and right click Bioshock, use Directx 9, does the program load correctly? If so then you have the same situation. ATi was never able to figure out the problem. We ended up racking it up to a crappy quality card. I was using a Colorful (a really popular but very half-ass quality brand here in China). Now I'm using 2x (not x2) Sapphire HD 3870's. All my Directx 10 stuff runs fine and I get 160+ fps with UT3 maxed at 1680x1050.

Good luck, but it might just be your card,
Rob

 

[NiTaS]

Yeah, its probably a power problem.

Stick with one card for now, till you can upgrade.. then try so Srosslire.. or whatever you're doing :P