Crossing Out the Fire

Alright, the new ATI Catalyst 7.11 drivers were released a few days ago. I was very hopeful that it would address my inconsistent Crossfire problems. Out of the box, I was really disappoint. Not much improvements, and Crossfire was still very incosistent. I re-opened my ATI support ticket in this issue and was given a thorough reinstallation of the ATI Catalyst drivers. Fine. It was reasonable and sensible, so I gave it a try.

But looking at support ticket 737-1695, it seemed inadequate that ATI only instructed me to remove some registry entries. Thankfully, Driver Cleaner Pro has always been there to do the job. I uninstalled Catalyst and combined the cleaning power of Driver Cleaner Pro and ATI’s instructions.

So far so good. Crossfire has been consistent, except when my system would encounter crashes in some programs, but only a re-activation of Crossfire were sufficient. I am still uncertain of the stability of Crossfire for now–not only if it enables or not, but also because of the games that need Crossfire.

Now that I’ve got Crossfire when I need it, I can’t get Crossfire where I need it! I currently have eight games installed on my system: Rainbow Six: Vegas, Brothers-in-Arms: Earned in Blood, Call of Duty 4 Demo, The Sims 2 Bon Voyage, Crysis Demo, GRAW 2, Medal of Honor: Airborne and Far Cry.  And the saddest thing about Crossfire is that it only works for two games: GRAW 2 and Medal of Honor. All the other games would simply refuse to run! Brothers in Arms gives me a general protection fault, resolved only by disabling Crossfire; Crysis, Rainbow Six and would simply crash upon running; The Sims 2 crashes in mid-game; Call of Duty would make my computer freeze when loading and Far Cry runs, but in Artifact Island.

It’s extremely frustrating me that Crossfire is not working properly, despite the good number of years ATI has had Crossfire. I know it’s a complex technology, but that doesn’t give ATI a reason to not make it work, especially since they are promoting it and even “dedicated” Catalyst 7.10 to Crossfire! What frustrates me further is that I have a good Crossfire-capable set-up. My motherboard and RAM are Crossfire certified, my video cards are Crossfire ready and my PSU can handle my system with 550 watts. I have an AMD motherboard, AMD processor, and AMD video cards and all of them are much more than capable of Crossfire. I really don’t understand why it seems like it’s only me with these problems. I’ve been Googling for similar cases, but results are only isolated to particular games, not 6 out of 8 games on a Crossfire-capable system!

First, I buy a pair of HD2600XTs hoping for software Crossfire with Catalyst 7.10. But nay! ATI sends my dad and I to a wild goose chase. And now I have hardware Crossfire, Crossfire won’t even work with my games! It’s so ironic that Brothers-in-Arms won’t work with Crossfire, while Brothers-in-Arms is advertised and promoted by ATI as a game that is meant to be played with Crossfire.

What makes me sad is the fact that I am now questioning whether the bragging rights and performance gains are all worth it after facing the problems that ATI is making me go through. If only I knew it was this complicated, then I would’ve settled with a humble X1950 Pro. With the way things are looking, I can just sell my HD2600XTs, save a little more money and get an HD3750. No, I’m not after the latest in cutting edge, but I just want a good deal.

The problem, however, is that the HD2600XTs are a really meaningful and sentimental pair for me. The HD2600s are a product of MONTHS (yes, months!) of watching the market, watching the industry, watching the prices–both local and foreign–and losing sleep over research and comparisons. I’m a gamer with a modest budget, so don’t blame me for doing my homework. Add to that the time I spent with my father during the weeks we were preparing two Mac Books at home, which was also the week I decided to buy video cards, and the hours we spent in Pantip Plaza for those damned Crossfire Bridges. Throughout those weeks, my relationship with my dad strengthened and he was also the one that helped me fund the HD2600XTs and look for the Bridges. I’ve associated the video cards with our frustrations, hopes, persistence, hard work and camaraderie.

In the end, the problems I am experiencing with my HD2600s are purely technical, and hopefully will be given a technical answer. In as much as I want out of the hassle and frustration in making Crossfire work, and selling them for a good buck to get an HD3750 instead is very tempting, such decision entirely misses what those HD2600XTs mean to me. It’s so much more than the mid-range-cards-that-will-never-be-as-good-in-Crossfire-as-the-8800-GTS. It’s the mid-range-card that I worked my ass off for. I’m not letting them go that easy. I’m not giving up without a fight.