M17x r4 7970m is flickering when I OC. HELP.

Hello guys,

yesterday i tried to OC my 7970m for the first time, because i only got about 25-35 FPS in Planetside 2 on stock clocks (btw could you offer your opinion if that's normal... it seems a bit on the low side and left me quite disappointed). When I OCd to 950/1430 i got flickering whenever the GPU reported being in use (evidenced by the Afterburner graph). This happened on low power 2D clocks 150/300 (desktop). I tried to play a game to see if it went away (Spec ops: The Line... in which i also get poor performance about 30 FPS... indoors it's 45 with drops to 30... which is bothersome to say the least and damn well nearly breaks the game for me) but it didn't go away and i actually got a BSOD right in the menu. Could somebody please help me to get rid of this bother? I'm running on 12.10 drivers and i have tried to apply OC on start-up but NOT to my surprise, it didn't work.

Thnx, Pistino01

 

The flickering or tearing after applying the OC is normal immediately after, but once you run a program such as a game it should go away, but some games have distant flickering on items far away, this can be linked to driver issue for that particular game. Now for the BSOD your OC is to high for the voltage of the card in most cases, but again you could have a driver issue if all games experience this flickering and low FPS/BSOD. Also when you say OC does not stick upon start up, that's because it's only applied through MSI AB and not flashed to the VBios. (these are just some issue combinations).

what are the standard/avg FPS for both those games with your setup normally? First thing I would do is a clean wipe of all the AMD drivers and reinstall in the proper order first.

Here is a guide: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...all-amd-ati-not-have-rely-driver-sweeper.html

 

Try this. It works.

Enable Higher Clock Limits With -xcl + .dlls (not Unofficial Method) - Guru3D.com Forums

 

@mikecacho I can apply the OC on start-up but it keeps flickering just the same ( I've read somewhere that helps... it doesn't). Does this mean there is no fix for the freakin' screen flicker? And those are the average FPS values with stock clocks. You guys just don't get the flicker on your machines and i do by chance, that's it? ...In the meantime I'm going to try installing 12.11 beta drivers and then I'll do what leeshjnn suggested and will hope for the best...

 

If you use the latest 12.11 Beta or Enduro performance driver with enduro enabled, you should get rid of the flickering. I had the same issue. When I was running on descrete graphics I would toggle between "duplicate screen" and "computer only" using FN+F6. Using Enduro with the newest drivers seemed to be the best solution for me. Also, consider overvolting your vbios as stated below. Sounds like your BSOD is a result of your video card not liking your overclock at stock voltage.

 

Umm... there is a slight issue however. When I'm using Enduro, I don't seem to be able to OC... In other words, there is nothing to adjust in Afterburner with Enduro enabled.

 

You will not be able to set clocks with enduro on. Also some games just have not been optimized with even the most current drivers, so flickering will happen, until AMD address that particular issue in a future driver. As for your low FPS, i do not know the base like FPS for that game with your setup, maybe someone can chime in and add their FPS in regards to the game you play. If yours is low in comparison to everyone else with same or equivalent specs then first thing to do is the driver cleaning that I listed, and we can go from there.

 

So how should i OC using Enduro to get rid of the flicker then?

 

Just tried this yesterday. It's really easy, takes no time and it works great.

It even enabled AMD overdrive in my catalyst.

Thanks for sharing +1

 

I've just started having similar issues but I cant get the unlock to work using the -xcl. I just get an error saying the name in the target box is not valid.

Im also having issues with my card sticking at 300/150 regardless of what games I open when the default clocks are set in AB. When overclocked it works fine and the full clock speed is applied but I have the flickering issue.


Any ideas?