Is there something wrong with my card, HD6970M

i have just got my m17x R3 a couple of days ago, i have tried 3dmarks 06 just to ensure that there were no issues with the cars.

With stock drivers get me 17135 3DMarks. driver 8 .800.6.0, dated 12/2/2010 (control panel).

is there something wrong with my card? if not, what should i do from here to get better score??

According to "http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6970M.43077.0.html" the scores are:

• min: 14047
• avg: 17485.7 (68%)
• max: 20155 Points

Upgrading to the "AMD_RADEON-HD-6970M_A01_R300041" driver (M18x display driver only without catalyst 11.6 suite) getme 15400 3dmarks 06 score. so i had to revert back to stock ones.

• i am running on "High-performance GPU" and plugged in
• windows graphics index is 7.6.
• GPU z shows the following: GPU core clock max reading in 680 and GPU memory clock is 900.
• running driver 8.800.6.0, dated 12/2/2010

Is my card defective? or its only a driver issue? i desperatly need your help guys, i am afraid that i got a faulty GPU.


my configuration is:

-Intel Core i7 2630QM 2.0GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
-6GB DDR3 at 1333MHz (2DIMMS)
-2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6970M
-640GB Raid 0 (2x 320GB 7,200RPM)

 

i have also downloaded these to try,(not installed yet) your feedback is also appriciated on them:

1.catalyst_mobility_64-bit_util
2.AMD_Catalyst_11.6_CAP1
3.11-6_mobility_vista_win7_32-64_ccc
4.DriverScanner (will this help me get better drivers???)
5.amd_catalyst_11.6_cap1_june15_1106141900
6.11-6_vista64_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl
7.AMD_RADEON-HD-6970M_A01_R300041

 

this is quite strange, i get on my configuration in signature (with stock 4GB 1333 RAM) with stock drivers 19+

 

is the card defective or its a software/driver issue? is it the processor as i have the Intel Core i7 2630QM 2.0GHz and the 3dmarks06 relies on the CPU also?

 

I personally don't think the stock driver 17,135 score is too bad. A tiny bit low. 3d mark 06 from what I have read is very CPU dependant. I have the 2820QM processor and with stock driver I get around 19,700 to 19,800 ish depending on which way the wind is blowing. I might be wrong but the 2.0 ghz is less than my 2.3 ghz. That difference could account for a couple thousand marks. Would probably expect yours to clock in at around 17,500 so your not too far shy.

Alot of the marks you see 20k+ are because people overclock and tweak like buggery. Sometimes the 3d marks are falsified. In games you get a greater impression of how good your card is doing. See how it runs with Crysis. In 1600 x 900 using 'high settings' my frames range from 35 - 60 depending on what's happening on screen. Do you have Crysis, how does it run with the stock drivers?

 

how can anyone justify a card being defective simply by judging from 3Dmarks?

 

i am getting the games to try soon. i am also downloading the following to get some scores for you guys to look at:

Futuremark 3DMark 11 v1.02
FurMark_1.9.0
Unigine_Heaven-2.5
3DMark_Vantage_v110

for updating drivers, will DriverScanner do the job better, or installing them manually each on its own is better. i am sorry if these are newbie questions, please bare with me .

 

I think 3d mark 11 will represent a truer value. It's newer.

With regards drivers, looks at the thread about AMD reference drivers 11.6 being released. I installed them and although it didn't make much difference to my machine's performance they did no harm and may yield an improvement for you. Do not uninstall your current dell stock drivers as you may lose ability to switch to integrated graphics. Just install over the top.

The reason I have reverted back to Dell stock is because I didn't see much gain in performance and the AMD drivers lose the functionality to control screen brightness via the FN keys.

To be safe I recommend creating a system image via windows backup onto a USB hard drive before doing so. I have done the same and this way it's easy to revert just in case.

 

i have tried to install the 11.6 (over old drivers) before i restored my system and CCC never showed 11.6, it showed only 11.5, even though i installed 11.6. Which files from the ones i posted above should you recommend installing regarding 11.6:

1.catalyst_mobility_64-bit_util
2.AMD_Catalyst_11.6_CAP1
3.11-6_mobility_vista_win7_32-64_ccc
4.amd_catalyst_11.6_cap1_june15_1106141900
5.11-6_vista64_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl

 

3dmark 06 is very cpu dependent. Instead of looking at your 6970 as the problem, I'd be taking a look to see if something is up with your cpu. Keep in mind, it is a lower end Sandybridge i7 and it is possible most of the benchmarks you are comparing your scores to were done using better cpu's than what you have.

 

Ya what he said.. an example of that would be airacutie's comments before. Hes got a better CPU, maybe better ram, and maybe better hard drive. That could easily give him a couple hundred points over you. He said his gets 19k+ thats not that far off. So sounds like you are getting what you should.
Benchmark progs are usually more synthetically sensitive to things like ram speed, hard drive transfer rates etc.

I personally dont see anything wrong based on the info you shared so far.

 

just do a vantage run, if your gpu is in the 11-12k range you are good.

 

My 3DMarks Vantage is P11689, Unigine Engine Heaven Benchmark v2.5 Basic =FPS:33.8, max is 73.5 and min is 17.1,and P2728 3DMarks 11.

both 3Dmarks say that i need to update the processor and GPU drivers.

What do you think guys???

 

I have the similar score with same specs.


But I have an issue, when i beggin to play i have a nice fps margins 40+ 50+ 60+ (it depends wich game im playing), but for some reason it drops down to 20-30 fps for about two minutes every 10-15 minutes or so in ALL games.What do do you think? Can somebody help me?