Multi-graphics cards

[Stupify]

Few questions in regards with using multiple graphics cards in a system. Here is what my uncle's configuration looks like:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955
Mobo: Asus M4A79 Deluxe
RAM: 4x2GB
PSU: Thermaltake TR2 600W
GPU: 2x Sapphire 5750 700mhz 1GB (with no crossfire bridge connector attached)
HDD: Intel 40GB SSD + a standard 500GB
Case: CoolerMaster CAC-T05 Centurion 5
Monitor: 4x 27" LCDs 1920x1200 (I forget the brand)

1) The system is used for stock market viewings, no gaming or any sort. Hence, I don't feel there is a need for the crossfire bridge connector. Is that okay?
2) The system gives BSOD quite a lot on start up only and once it starts up there are no problems. Any guesses why? My money is on PSU or the mobo cap. I have given him a wattage meter to check if too much fluctuation may be the cause.
3) If he wanted to add another set of monitors (bringing the total to 6xLCDs) can he just add AMD 7750 card to hook the monitors to in there without any issues? Does it have to be Sapphire or any brand is fine? What about the drivers? NOTE: 5750 vs 7750.

Thanks guys.

[Sauron_Daz]

That PSU is not in AMD's certified power supplies list.
http://support.amd.com/us/certified/pow ... sting.aspx

[Stupify]

i have almost never ever looked up that table and have never had such issues. i doubt PSUs need to be certified for AMD cpus given the vast number of other variables. I can understand the relationship between ram and motherboard but can't phantom PSUs and CPUs aside from power requirements.

[DIREWOLF75]

can he just add AMD 7750 card to hook the monitors to in there without any issues?

Probably. But if the problem is the PSU then it will get worse.

Does it have to be Sapphire or any brand is fine?

Any should be fine.

What about the drivers? NOTE: 5750 vs 7750.

Just run latest drives unless there´s a problem with doing that.

2) The system gives BSOD quite a lot on start up only and once it starts up there are no problems. Any guesses why? My money is on PSU or the mobo cap.

Annoyingly odd problem... Is BIOS/etc set correctly to use the SSD?

If the system is halted for a while while booting(before place where BSODs happen), does the BSODs still happen? If this fixes anything, check if BIOS has a "Delay HDD" or "Delay boot" setting to make it a permanent fix.

Test if there´s any difference if the monitors are connected to a wall socket that goes through a different fuse(in case it´s the initial surge from turning it all on that is a problem).

[Sauron_Daz]

i have almost never ever looked up that table and have never had such issues. i doubt PSUs need to be certified for AMD cpus given the vast number of other variables. I can understand the relationship between ram and motherboard but can't phantom PSUs and CPUs aside from power requirements.

That list is for the use of two 5750 cards, not for the CPU, at least that's how I found it.

[Hammer_Time]

Regarding the SSD, it is in AHCI mode in mobo bios right?? I am sure you have already checked this, but if an SSD is not in AHCI mode on the SATA controller ( set in mobo BIOS of course ) , and is instead set to IDE/Compatibility mode, you will get BSOD's for sure... probably this is not the case, since you say once it finally gets into Windows it is stable, but has a lot of trouble booting properly into windows.

Is the cpu overclocked? If so remove the overclock till you get it stable of course...

Remove Java from the computer ( if installed ), remove Adobe Flash Player if installed, they are buggy and have caused me lots of grief in the past...not to mention the security risk of java... my machine is rock solid every since I got rid of those two things ( Google Chrome has its own OCX Flash Player component builtin to the browser so it automatically plays Youtube flash videos just fine, no need to have the full Adobe Flash Player installed separately anymore ). I realize this is most likely not the culprit since you say the machine is stable once Windows finally loads after BSODing numerous times during the startup procedure, but it can't hurt to get rid of extra crap till you get the machine stable...

I would recommend you install Windows Autoruns and see exactly what is launching on Windows startup, he may have a lot of unnecessary "crap" loading on startup that is causing the BSOD's.

http://autoruns.en.softonic.com/

Another cause of BSOD's can be defective or incompatible ram, so you might wanna run MemTest on it... or swap the ram for another brand and see if that fixes it...

This board can be a bit picky about ram, see this thread:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/ ... 64132.html

BSOD Memory Management
OS - Windows 7
· x64
· Original OS
· OEM
· Age of system Less than 2 years
· Age of OS installation - July 2009
· AMD Phenom II X4 940
· XFX HD 6970
· ASUS M4A79 Deluxe AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD
· Power Supply - ABS Tagan BZ Series BZ1100 1100W ATX12V

Have come home from work everyday for the last week to a BSOD stating
memory management error.

This thread shows that this board is picky about video cards and not perfect when it comes to Crossfired cards ( externally with two cards, or internally with the 4870X2 ( internal Xfire ) card mentioned below:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/25871 ... a79-deluxe

Hello,

I have all brand new:
- ASUS M4A79 Deluxe mobo
- Phenom II 940
- 8GB Corsair DDR2800
- Corsair 850W powers upply
- Diamond 4870X2 Video card
- 2 WD Velociraptors in RAID 0
- LG SATA DVD RW

80% of the times I reboot and/or shut off & power back on it starts to post, I hear the beep, but then just hangs on black screen & does not post any further. It is right before I see Motherboard Splash screen.

It happens at random, but over all most of the times. The few % of times it does work it does boot into Windows fine.

- Everything is out of the case on Foam
- I tried re-setting CMOS
- I updated to latest BIOS
- I tried different power supply (1200W)
- I tried with only 4GB Memory
- I tired Memory in different slots
- the CPU is not Overclocked
- I tried resetting CPU
- I tried re-applying Thermal paste
- I tried Video card in different PCIE slot
- I tried with No DVD RW & NO HDs plugged in

Is their something else I can try to solve this problem, is the motherboard bad

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Jeff

I was having a problem with this type of hang-up or freeze with a m4n72-e and the problem was the video card. The video card is one of the first things that kick on and if there are problems with it, the comp can freeze anywhere in the startup or booting of bios or windows . Run 3dmark06 and furmark. If the comp locks during these tests, swap out and try another video card. run 3dmark06 a couple of times even it it works sometimes a lock up of this program points to the video card or just swap it out and see what happens.

Hello,

Yes ! that was it ! If I changed the video card all is ok now.

Thank you bpnbm.

Just out of curiosity, what video card did you have that was causing the issues ?
Mine was the Diamond 4870X2.

Off to return it now....

Thank you !
Jeff

Looks like the video card might be the culprit here, yank one of the 5750's out and see if it boots okay with a single 5750 in it!!


The Thermaltake 600 W psu should be more than sufficient to power up that pc as listed, unless it is somehow faulty or defective... even though its not on "AMD's approved psu list" , it is not a "bad" brand and should have plenty of juice for a system like that... you could try swapping psu's though just to test, if none of the above tips helps...

A single 7750 card is the best way ( easiest and no need for Crossfire, uses less system power than having 2 cards etc etc ) to get him "6 monitor capability in one card" but that is only if his LCD Monitors have a DisplayPort v 1.2 connector on them.. else you have to buy active adapters and all sorts of nonsense to get that many monitors working on that card... just ask Fuzz about this, he has direct experience!

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/ ... 750.aspx#2

AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology1
Up to 6 displays supported with DisplayPort 1.2 Multi-Stream Transport
Independent resolutions, refresh rates, color controls, and video overlays
Display grouping
Combine multiple displays to behave like a single large display
Discrete Digital Multi-Point Audio (DDMA)

[Stupify]

Thanks guys, i will need to visit him for few hours to test/sort this out.

H_T, we looked into the active adapter thing and it just didn't make sense due to the cost involved at the time. now he has two 5750 and wants to add more monitors, ie another card potentially. i believe AMD only supports two monitors per card with DVI/HDMI and for more you have to use Displayport which isn't an option given his choice of monitor.

[Hammer_Time]

I see, yes that is true, good luck with it all!

[DIREWOLF75]

Thanks guys, i will need to visit him for few hours to test/sort this out.

H_T, we looked into the active adapter thing and it just didn't make sense due to the cost involved at the time. now he has two 5750 and wants to add more monitors, ie another card potentially. i believe AMD only supports two monitors per card with DVI/HDMI and for more you have to use Displayport which isn't an option given his choice of monitor.

IIRC, getting newer cards, like the 7750, to run 3 monitors isn´t nearly as troublesome as long as you get the right model.
I know my 6750 supports 3 screens(while the other version of the same card only supports 2 screens) without too much trouble(through a dual DVI and one HDMI or something like that).

Anything from 7750 and newer also runs with MUCH less power, so it might be a decent alternative to replace the 5750s with two 7750s. Wattage would roughly be halved and still allow adding two more screens.

No guarantees but it may be worth looking at at least.

[Sauron_Daz]

Regarding the SSD, it is in AHCI mode in mobo bios right?? I am sure you have already checked this, but if an SSD is not in AHCI mode on the SATA controller ( set in mobo BIOS of course ) , and is instead set to IDE/Compatibility mode, you will get BSOD's for sure... probably this is not the case, since you say once it finally gets into Windows it is stable, but has a lot of trouble booting properly into windows.

The SSD won't even be recognised when not in AHCI mode as far as I know..

[Sauron_Daz]

Found this: ( from here. )

How to Configure Multiple Monitors
Use the Displays Manager of the ATI Catalyst™ Control Center to enable multiple displays. The Displays Manager is available in both Standard and Advanced views of the ATI Catalyst™ Control Center. A secondary display device can be a flat panel LCD display, CRT monitor, projector, HDTV, TV, etc.
1.Click on the Display Manager in Advance View.
2.Click on the number "2" display icon in the right-hand box.
3.Click "Yes" to the Enable this display dialog.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 above for each additional connected device. The number on the display icon will increase as more displays are added.
•Multiple Monitors with ATI CrossFireX™ Configuration
◦When ATI CrossFireX™ is active other display devices other than the primary and secondary monitor connected to the Digital Video Interface (DVI) or Video Graphics Array (VGA) are rendered inactive.
◦It is possible to drive multiple monitors using the ATI CrossFireX™ configuration when ATI CrossFireX™ is not enabled through the ATI Catalyst™ Control Center software. Depending on the ATI CrossFireX™ configuration and ATI Radeon™ graphics cards used, it can support up to 8 independent displays and up to 4 independent displays for Hybrid ATI CrossfireX™ systems.
•Multiple Monitors Configuration Examples:
◦Up to 4 monitors can be connected with Hybrid CrossFireX™ configuration (ATI Radeon™ graphics card and a motherboard with an AMD 780G Chipset with integrated graphics processor).
◦4 monitors can be connected with 2 ATI Radeon™ graphics cards, each card having 2 output ports or 1 ATI Radeon™ graphics card with 4 output ports.
◦8 monitors can be connected with 4 ATI Radeon™ graphics cards, each card having 2 output ports or 2 ATI Radeon™ graphics cards with 4 output ports.

I'd say you need to connect that Crossfire bridge and disable Crossfire in the catalyst center.