***M18x - AMD Crossfire (Driver Questions, Performance, Problems) Discussion Thread***

here is what I have

 

May seem a silly question, but I haven't bothered with modded drivers at all, still as it came from the factory. Do i still have to worry about uninstalling any old drivers? Thanks in advance.

 

That is what I would recommend if it was working good. I agree with DumbDumb. For me the 12.5 beta seems to be the best. However, our cards both have a different device ID that the 7970M in the R2. 12.5 beta may not be the best driver for the R2... not sure.

Awesome, that is good to hear. Those are both nice scores, Kaptain O.

Thank you for posting that, xmadror. I really do appreciate it. I may need to refer to that screen shot one day.

No, not at all. In fact, if your driver is working correct I would leave it be. Unless you have a particular game that requires a new video driver to work correctly, there is no need to update the driver. To borrow a phrase that BatBoy used to have in his NBR signature, "The latest driver is not always the greated driver" and that is very true. If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

 

My m18x r2 with 7970m cfx has lock up when I playing Mass Effect 3 with fullscreen(cfx mode)

1. Play Mass Effect 3
2. Press 'ESC' Key and pop up game menu
3. M18X lock up.
- I press m18x r2 power button about 5seconds and power off and reboot.

I've test 12.4,5,6beta and 12.6b cap1 has same issue.

but windowed mode(not cfx) is playing normally.

Any solution?

 

did you try with crossfire disabled ?
might be worth a shot and one 7970m should still do very well in ME3

 

Thank you. This is only cfx problem, ME3 working perfetct after disable cfx.

 

Mr. Fox on your gadgets which 7970m are you selecting, im selecting 1 & 5 to get them to display differently. Yes i have a total of 6 options when selecting GPU's in those gadgets. IDK why but selecting 1 & 5 gives me the data from each while 1 & 2 give the same data for the same gpu.

 

No, 1 and 6. It varies by driver for some reason. It was like that with 6990M as well. Now and then the sensor on 6 decides to not report anything for a bit, then start working again. Each card has multiple sensors. I compare the temps in the gadgets against my HWiNFO readings to know when I have identified the right ones. Sometimes the reading varies by 1 or 2°C.

 

Mine is looking like this if it still helps. If you tell me how to save vBios (I cant trough GPU-Z) I can post it as well.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

Have anyone sucessfully download the new dell driver came out yesterday? I can't download it, keep getting 404 error. I have tested both 12.5 and 12.6 and both give me problem playing games.

 

AMD Catalyst 12.x (9.00 June 12) Unofficial BETA

saw those this morning and installed them (no mod needed)
didnt had time to test them much but for ~2 min in diablo3 and a 3dmark11 run (scored the same then june 4 12.x) everything seemed fined

 

So, I tried to play League of Legends with Xfire enabled and those new drivers from the dell site. The play area looked fine but the entire UI Panel was flashing like a strobe light. I switched off xfire and it worked fine.

 

*** posted this in the wrong topic lol

 

More nightmares. Just had my system repaired by a local technician contracted with Dell. Replaced the GPUs and CFX cable. Did not come with new heatsinks.

My gpus now hit 90c and the fans constantly ramp up. This is such a joke. I'm probably not going to be buying Alienware again.

Problem after problem after problem....

 

Thanks for the heads-up. Reading here AMD Catalyst 12.x (9.00 June 12) Unofficial BETA - Guru3D.com Forums it seems they fixed a bunch of games on CFX.

 

How are the new drivers going in terms of gaming?

 

So after some time I tried to play some games and performence is really poor. From MSI overburn I see that GPU1 is not used at all and sometimes its at 99% for a second and GPU2 is constantly at about 23% ??? Only thing I did was that I installed 3d mark 11 and disabled and enabled crossfire. I will try modded drivers yesterday as I am in work and dont have bandwidth needed Cmon AMD give us some working drivers so we can unleash the beast!!!

 

I will be trying these now - the 4 June ones, and the default Dell drivers won't work with crossfire in the Witcher 2. Both GPUs MIGHT hit 50%, sometimes. I'll see if this is one of the games that it fixes!


EDIT: These drivers definitely work better for the Witcher 2, but they aren't perfect - still seeing at most 75-80% usage with VSYNC off. But at least now I get 50-60 FPS fairly consistently now with all settings maxed sans Uber Sampling.

 

warning about June 12 9.00 : they will crash firefox unless you disable hardware acceleration.
Others have reported the same on the guru3d forums.
The screen will eventually go black, seems to happen when a lot of scrolling is involved and after being minimized the screen comes back all white.

 

Thanks for info i was getting those crashes yesterday

 

Man I pray AMD will send the official drivers for Crossfire 7970m so we can unleash the true power of these cards.

 

Chrome FTW!

 

haha yeah I abandoned the firefox ship long ago.

 

With this current FPS issue, would I be right to presume that 7970m crossfire (and likewise when just the one card is in use / crossfire is disabled?) would typically have issues when trying to play old / low spec games that aren't particularly GPU demanding?

Sorry if it's a silly question, but I'm clueless and still learning about computer stuff.

 

Funny you should ask that - I was playing Batman Arkham Asylum a few hours ago, and had VSYNC on. I was pegged at 60 FPS, and the GPU utilization for both was around 15% to 24% each. That was at maximum settings, sans PhysX.

So, yes - it seems to me that older games can still make use of crossfire if driver/CAP allows.

 

I wish I could use chrome, since I've got my m18x I get the "aw snap" error a lot, so I had to go back to firefox

no clue why, I've tried the common fixes and no luck with those.


With these 9.00 driver I can play world of tank with 8x SSAA (from 4x SSAA before) with everything at the highest setting but flora density at high instead of very high and no post processing . Most of the time I'm at 60 fps but I still get some fps drop in the ~45 fps from time to time but I get them with 4x SSAA also.

Edit: I can even add edge detect and very high flora density without any impact on my fps which is at 60 like 95% of the time, big performance gain compared to 8.98!

 

Guys Im a little confused. I Know there is not a decent AMD driver release for my twin 7970s but when one does come does it come as a driver and then the seperate catalyst drivers. Or is it all in one package please so you just install one thing?

 

I'm having weird intermittent performance drop with the 9.00, I went back with the 4 June 8.98 for now. Not quite as fast but consistent at least.

edit: Dunno whats up but not matter what driver I use I cant play WoT with 4x SSAA anymore, only 2x SSAA... I tried all 3 12.6 driver so far and same thing.

 

I contacted AMD about the driver and this is what i got:
Its reverse order so bottom is the start and top is the last message.

You have drivers for the 6990m, so when i go to AMD.com and go to DRIVERS and SUPPORT and you have driver for many other GPU's yet you dont provide drivers.


Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2012 12:57:50 -0700
From: [email protected]
Subject: AMD Service Notice:{ticketno:[8200494021]}
To: *****@hotmail.com

Dear ****,
Your service request : SR #{ticketno:[8200494021]} has been reviewed and updated.
Response and Service Request History:

We at AMD only create the GPU chips for laptops. We then ship them out to companies like Dell and HP. They take these chips and integrated them into their system builds. These companies then take the reference drivers and modify them so that they work well with the system build of laptops that they provide to their customers. You would need to wait for your laptop manufacture to release the optimized drivers for your specific model.

Please be aware that if we do not hear back from you, we will assume that the issue has been resolved and the service request will be permanently closed after 10 days. If more time is needed to evaluate my suggestion please let me know and I will ensure this service request remains open for you.
In order to update this service request, please respond, leaving the service request reference intact.
Best regards,
AMD Global Customer Care
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
This email is a direct result of your contact with AMD Global Customer Care and not part of a campaign. There is no need to unsubscribe to this email as you will only be contacted again if you directly request another service from AMD Global Customer Care.
The contents of this message are provided for informational purposes only. AMD makes no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy of the contents of the information provided, and reserves the right to change such information at any time, with or without notice.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________


Original Text
From: *******[email protected]
To: [email protected]
CC:
Sent: 06/15/12 09:26:55
Subject: RE: AMD Service Notice:{ticketno:[8200494021]}


So your saying you do not provide drivers for a GPU that your company makes.




Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2012 07:15:00 -0700
From: [email protected]
Subject: FW: AMD Service Notice:{ticketno:[8200494021]}
To: **********@hotmail.com




Dear ****,
Your service request : SR #{ticketno:[8200494021]} has been reviewed and updated.
Response and Service Request History:
Thank you for contacting AMD

I understand you are looking for more optimized drivers for your 7970M chip. If I have missed any critical information please let me know as my suggestions may change.

Unfortunately we do not provide optimized drivers for laptops. The drivers we do have for laptops are reference drivers and designed for display purposes only. The best place to get optimized drivers is from the laptop manufactures website. They take the reference drivers and modify it to work for optimal performance for your specific laptop.

I believe that the information provided above will resolve the issue regarding getting optimized drivers for the 7970M. If we do not hear otherwise, we will assume that the issue has been resolved and the service request will be permanently closed after 10 days. If more time is needed to evaluate my suggestion please let me know and I will ensure this service request remains open for you.
In order to update this service request, please respond, leaving the service request reference intact.
Best regards,
AMD Global Customer Care
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
This email is a direct result of your contact with AMD Global Customer Care and not part of a campaign. There is no need to unsubscribe to this email as you will only be contacted again if you directly request another service from AMD Global Customer Care.
The contents of this message are provided for informational purposes only. AMD makes no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy of the contents of the information provided, and reserves the right to change such information at any time, with or without notice.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Original Text



From:
[email protected]

To:
Support, Tech

CC:


Sent:
06/13/12 17:41:13

Subject:
Performance
When will there be driver's released for the 7970m, because i am currently using 12.4 with cap 12.4 and i am surly not getting the performance that these cards are rated for. The 12.4 does not contain specific drivers for the 7970m, it works for the 7970m but the driver specifically does not have support for the 7970m. So when will a driver that is optimized for the 7970m be released?

 

1. I was told that going forward, all Alienware systems could use the retail WHQL drivers? We sent both Nvidia and AMD systems so they could test drivers on them before releasing the driver.

2. AMD CrossfireX internal bridge not connected message. Contact AW Support. Have them setup either a Parts Only Service or Onsite Service to replace the cable, RYVMN.

 

In reference to "1.", is that a statement or a question? Kind of lost on that one....

 

Im not sure what to make of my cards, I have no current issues.. though I want to download the new drivers but somewhat scared..

Currently getting 70-100 FPS in Crysis 2 ultra (patched) Dx11, with both cards being fully utilised. Rift has them both utilised too. Anyone else getting decent fps in crossfire on Crysis 2?

 

as far as I'm aware there is no WHQL driver from AMD yet that support the 7970m, only beta ...

 

Hey guys, I'm desperate for help regarding Skyrim's Crossfire flickering. I made a video you can watch ( Skyrim Crossfire Flickering - YouTube) which explains everything. GPU's are 6970m Crossfire.
I can't get rid of those issues except of turning off Crossfire which is not an acceptable solution!

If you experience something similar or have any help, please let me know.

 

That's some pretty bad flickering there but a very nice character to make up for it - is it just Skyrim or any other games? - any OC? - what video drivers are you using and do you have the latest CAP profiles installed?

 

Haha indeed
Its just Skyrim. Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2 for example are running flawlessly. Haven't overclocked anything! The video driver for this video was the 12.6 Beta, the game version 1.6.89. I've had this flickering and texture corruption since Catalyst 11.12 in december. No driver in between these 2 did sort out anything, the flickering was pretty much the same in all of them.

I also used various CAP's, but they did only change the "Standard" and "Predefined" TESV.exe profile, never fixed the flickering really. Latest CAP I've tried is the 12.6 CAP 1.

I also tried the unofficial 9.00 beta driver with its own CAP, but Skyrim's unchanged for me.

I always do a fresh install w/ ATIman uninstaller, so its no corrupt driver file!
I've also tried all sort of fixes, starting from deleting every mod to installing Win8 w/ fresh Skyrim install, but the same flickering is going on with AMD's Windows 8 drivers.

 

Very weird - I was gonna say crossfire cable or secondary gpu problem but as other games are fine, wont be that!

Have you verified the integrity of the Skyrim game in Steam? - probably.

Did you have the same Skyrim flicker with Windows 7?

 

That's what makes it that weird. The other games are perfectly fine after a bit of tweaking. Yeah did that twice, also deleted the Skyrim ini's in MyGames to have them re-created, nothing fixed it. After the release of Skyrim's 1.6 more users on Steam reported to have that flickering again, after it was fixed for them since Catalyst 12.1. I think AMD's gonna fix it again as it's getting more common amoung 5, 6 and 7k series cards and I really hope this time they include a fix for my setup too

It actually can only be driver caused as I tried everything known to me such as re-installing windows, trying windows 8, reinstalling the game and all game-related files, but its the weird same flickering everytimes

Also, thanks for taking care!

*Edit: Could it be an interference with my 64-bit Windows 7 on my hardware? I'm not entirely sure if every part supports it... Would be weird though since other games run fine

 

I'm kinda lost really as to what would be causing it. Initially, I thought hardware but then other games play fine with crossfire. Then thought of corrupt game files - you re-installed. Drivers - again, you have reinstalled along with latest CAP's - you're not OC-ing so its not that either....running the game without mods/tweaks brings the same problem....

Do you recall it working properly with any previous driver? - I dont think windows 7 would be causing any hardware conflicts that would result in crossfire flickering.

 

Yeah it did not flicker with the Cat 11.10... It had terrible scaling though, I think they forced the TESIV Oblivion profile up until 11.11c. This one was the first that had a "proper" scaling boost for Skyrim, but was also the one that initiated the flickering :/

 

Can anyone help me with this simple question?

Guys Im a little confused. I Know there is not a decent AMD driver release for my twin 7970s but when one does come does it come as a driver and then the seperate catalyst drivers. Or is it all in one package so you just install one thing?

 

you'll install one package for everything as you can see here :


You'll download a self extracting archive which will contain a setup.exe.
Note that you will not see this exact window unless you choose a custom install.


These are (at least for me) the best one so far:
AMD Catalyst 12.x (9.00 June 12) Unofficial BETA

 

It has been a few days since I noticed something weird.
When I'm connected to my external display I can only run (to get 60fps most of the time) 2x SSAA in world of tank but when on the m18x display I can run 4x SSAA (again to get 60 fps most of the time). 4x SSAA on the external monitor result in ~30 fps.

Anyone else see a performance drop when connected to an external display ? (At the moment I'm not playing anything else demanding enough to verify this with other games)
I'm thinking this might/must be due to the amd driver ...

-------
SSAA = super sampling anti aliasing

 

Thanks buddy that's great I shall try your driver suggestion and follow the uninstall procedure to the letter

 

Dell native drivers for M18x R2 works better for me than modded 12.6 (12 june)

 

Try 12.5 beta driver, which is better so far, if you are playin BF3 then 12.5 is more worth.

 

i don't play in BF3, i play only in D3 and i tried 12.5 beta didn't liked them.

 

Are you using V-Sync? If yes then this is perfectly normal..

 

Yes, I use v-sync.
But I really can't see why I'd get better frame per second on the m18x monitor with 4x SSAA then I do on the external one because of v-sync.

With the same setting I get and average close to 60 fps on the internal screen and ~25-30 with the external one. I have to get it down to 2x SSAA on the external monitor to get similar fps (and even then there its still somewhat lower)

Care to explain more ? (or I'm thinking maybe you misread something ? (no offense meant))

 

12.7 beta is out. Check it out.