Anyone install 2 ATI Radeon HD 3870 w/crossfire mode in 1st gen mac pro?

[stenackj]

As the title says, has anyone installed 2 of the ATI Radeon 3870 (mac edition) cards and get crossfire mode to work successfully in XP under bootcamp? I've been trying to for a few days now with no luck!

The drivers for bootcamp on ATI's site won't install on my machine for some reason and when I use the normal xp drivers (successfully) I can't get the crossfire option to show up in catalyst control center.

Also, in the catalyst control center, it only shows the primary card as enabled and says my other is disabled. However, they are both enabled and working just fine according to the device manager.

Cards are installed in 1st and 2nd slot. I'm totally stumped and getting very frustrated.

Any thoughts?

 

[MacVidCards]

If you are using a 1st Gen Mac Pro you will need to use the PCIE lane utility to set first & second lanes to 8X PCIE.

You need to have both cards powered and with both Crossfire cables connected.

 

[stenackj]

The PCIE lane utility, is it the one in OS X? System> Library> CoreServies> Expansion Slot Utility? Is that the one you are talking about? If that is the one you are talking about does this change how the slots work under XP as well? I did change them both already to 8x just before I made my original post. However, I haven't reinstalled drivers yet.

When you say both cards powered I am assuming you mean just make sure I have them plugged into the motherboard? If so, I've done that.

I am assuming you have done this setup then or know someone who has? What drivers did you use and where did you get them?

Thanks!

 

[MacVidCards]

The big difference between us is that I was using Vista 32 Bit.

And it most definitely didn't work until I set the lanes to 8X.

Double check it, mine sometimes seems to alter itself.

I had intstalled the standard Bootcamp drivers when I set up the drives.

Since then I just run whatever ATI offers up as latest drivers. Def need the Catalyst Control Center.

 

[stenackj]

Thanks a bunch. That worked. Now I only have to figure out why these things are sooooo loud. I'm not sure if they are running correctly because they are so loud. Even when I'm not using the computer they're as loud as my 1900 was when it was being pushed really hard. I don't know if I can stand how loud they are. I think I need to find a good passive cooling system.