BF2S Forums x1900 Crossfire Problem

nice system,

what monitor do you have?

Snipe=UKLF= wrote:

Just wondering if anyone has come across this before or can suggest a fix.

I've recently built a new system with x1900xt crossfire and everything is working fine except for this 1 really annoying issue!

- When i load BF2 it is too dark and i need to increase the brightness/gamma.
- So i go into Catalyst Control Center and increase the brightness/gamma for Full Screen 3D.
- When i load BF2 i get what i can only describe as a "flicker".. its like its constantly changing (4-5 times per second) from the default settings to the new values i have just changed.

If i disable crossfire, it seems to work ok and i can also run BF2 windowed (uses the desktop brightness/gamma settings) with no problem.

I am currently using v6.6 Catalyst drivers, had same problem with v6.5... any suggestions would be much appreciated


PC Spec
Thermaltake Tai Chi Case
620W Liberty PSU
Asus PSWD2-E Premium
Pentium 4 805D (@ 3.8ghz)
OCZ 2GB  PC8000 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
ATI Radeon X1900 Crossfire Edition
ATI Radeon X1900 XT
2 x 74Gb Raptor

nice setup, also i get artifacts using 6.6 in bf2 : (  but i only hve 1 x1900xtx,   have you tried older drivers?

i just googled around a bit. It seems that this flicker is a well known problem under CF when brightness/gamma/contrast is changed in CCC.

Only advice i can give, apart from in-game controls and possibly trying a different cf mode is to use different drivers & control software (but they possibly dont work with CF) or the ATI drivers with CCC disabled (including the respective services). Note when you disable them the card does not automatically change to 3d mode, you need to manually "oc" and "overvolt" the card. The default voltage for 3d is 1.4 for the xt, clocks i dont know (something like 625/730) but you should be able to reach something like 670/790 easily (use the scan for problems in ATiTool to stess test the cards for problems).

I also suggest if you are using the stock cooler to step up the fan speed for each temp slightly. Card stays much cooler.

sorry to not be a bigger help, but it seems that this problem cannot be fixed with CCC. I'll google around a bit more and look for a possible solution.
EDIT: did that. no solution. Get rid of CCC if CF allowes and use ATT or ATiTool

janus67 wrote:

what monitor do you have?

interesting question. What insane resolution are you running, so you need CF? I feel so cheap with my crappy 1280x1024.

EDIT: try changing the screen detection. might fix it (doubt it though)

Last edited by max (2006-06-29 00:15:35)

Snipe=UKLF= wrote:

Monitor
I have just this week purchased a Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24" (i won a 13 match accumulator on the World Cup ) which is awesome, however i had the same issue with my old NEC FE770 17" CRT.

sweet - i'd love one of those

In-Game Option
This is the first place i looked when trying to increase the brightness.. as far as i know there is no In-Game Option for increasing brightness etc. I couldn't see 1 anyway

sry didnt know ... i was away from my gaming pc so i couldnt check

Drivers & CCC
This is a new build and so far i have only tried versions 6.5 and 6.6 of the catalyst drivers.. I have downloaded the Omega drivers but not given them a try yet.. I assume the Omega drivers support Crossfire?..i've not tried ATiTool so i will take a look at that!

i think they do, but from googleing the problem seems to come from CCC: ie. if you dont use CCC (i'll check later for which services you need to kill) and use ATItool you should be all set.

max wrote:

Only advice i can give, apart from in-game controls and possibly trying a different cf mode

Different CF mode?..not sure i know what you mean here, there are different CF modes? lol

i remember when cf came out ATI talked about how superior their tech was because it could use different modes. If you look caefully in CCC you should find it somewhere (dont know where since i am only able to afford 1 card)

Frames
On my old monitor using 1152*864 resolution, everything on Max (accept i think terrain is on medium) i was pretty much constantly @ 80-102fps ... i believe my cards are Connect3d, im at work so i cant check!

On my new monitor i have obviously upped the res, but have been tweaking so much trying to fix this issue i can't really comment on the fps. Running windowed @ 1280*1024 averages 40-50fps but i've seen it drop as low as 17fps. Cant play full screen without it being annoyingly dark (its playable im just fussy) or flickering so much i have a fit every 2 mins lol


Edit: Just out of interest, what sort of fps do you get with 1x1900xt @ 1280*1024 maxed out?

because FRAPS due to some reason is not able to measure more than 100fps on my pc (dont ask me why) i dont wnow any max. values. But @ 680/800 i get about 90fps usually when normal walking and fighting. The minimum i recorded was about 60 when 64 people were in the palace in warlord with smoke & ganades & stuff. when i run @ 2d clocks (500/600) i get about 30-65-90 (min-avg-max).

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what i would do in your position now is to install ATiTool. It will give you a warning that it will kill a process and therefore the card will stay @ 2d clocks. Say dont show me again. say run on startup via registry. Make a profile that is activated when 3d is detected @ as fast as it can go at 1.4V core. add a hotkey to your gamma control, so that you get your incerased light or add it to your oc profile.

EDIT: The service i am talking about is "ATI hotkey poller". Some people also state the default V for the xt to be 1.425V (this iis the default V for the xtx) and not 1.4V. So if you cant reach 625/750 (checked: those are the standard speeds for 3d on a xt) @ 1.4 try upping to 1.425. I run stable up to 685/803 @ 1.4V/2.086V (some people also claim the default V for mem to be 2.089V).

Take a look at this too: http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=gethow … howtoID=61

Last edited by max (2006-06-29 04:29:10)

_j5689_ wrote:

You guys have all the big monitors, I have a 15.7" Toshiba Plug-and-Play CRT monitor.

not exactly ... i have an old old old samsung 17'' TFT

_j5689_ wrote:

max wrote:

_j5689_ wrote:

You guys have all the big monitors, I have a 15.7" Toshiba Plug-and-Play CRT monitor.

not exactly ... i have an old old old samsung 17'' TFT

It's still bigger than mine.

but mine is really old (from 1999 i think)

Cheers 4 the tips max i will be trying all that out over the next few days once i've taken it all in!

I still love my 17" (16" Viewable) CRT, its served me well over the years and the picture is very good. Not sure i could cope with 15.7" ..wanna buy my old monitor?

_j5689_ wrote:

max wrote:

_j5689_ wrote:

It's still bigger than mine.

but mine is really old (from 1999 i think)

Mine is from like 96 or 97 or something.

ok you win. my monitor is better than yours

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Snipe=UKLF= wrote:

Cheers 4 the tips max i will be trying all that out over the next few days once i've taken it all in!

if you have any questions (or i wrote something that is incomprehensible) post back or write me a PM (even better)

Last edited by max (2006-06-29 08:51:32)

Hey, I never said "Cheers!".  lol

Plus you still win anyway because you have a job and can therefore buy any monitor you want, i'm stuck with this.

Snipe=UKLF= wrote:

_j5689_ wrote:

Snipe=UKLF= wrote:

Cheers 4 the tips max i will be trying all that out over the next few days once i've taken it all in!

I still love my 17" (16" Viewable) CRT, its served me well over the years and the picture is very good. Not sure i could cope with 15.7" ..wanna buy my old monitor?

How much?

As you're in USA i think shipping would be very expensive, especially for a big heavy 17" CRT.. i would only want £40 for it

Will you take American greenbacks instead?  How much would £40 be in $?  How much would the shipping be?

_j5689_ wrote:

Hey, I never said "Cheers!".  lol

Plus you still win anyway because you have a job and can therefore buy any monitor you want, i'm stuck with this.

whoops ... fixed it. And i dont have a job. i go to university. If i want something i need to bug my parents (so that at least i can use their cedit card - even if i use "my" money)

_j5689_ wrote:

max wrote:

_j5689_ wrote:

Hey, I never said "Cheers!".  lol

Plus you still win anyway because you have a job and can therefore buy any monitor you want, i'm stuck with this.

whoops ... fixed it. And i dont have a job. i go to university. If i want something i need to bug my parents (so that at least i can use their cedit card - even if i use "my" money)

So you can still do that.  My parents never buy me stuff no matter how much I nag them.

ok ... i hereby officially proclaim you the poorer of us two