7970M Problem or not? (Please read and move thread if required)

Hi guys,

I have the 7970M fitted into an Alienware M17x R4 which up until now performs pretty ace but recently it seems that it's performance is slipping.

An example is in Just Cause 2 - which by all outlets and accounts should be playable maxxed out at 1080p with weaker GPUs at over 50fps.

Recently, my fps have been dipping into the 20s with my 7970M (overclocked to 950/1450) surely this is not correct? This card (especially overclocked) should be able to tear this game a new one with not much effort, especially overclocked?

The same is happening in other games also, lower fps in the same scenarios than a few weeks ago.

Just to clarify, this is not a complaint thread as I think the card is really good. I just want to know why I'm suddenly getting fps drops in games.

I get around 63fps in Unigine and 6770p (give or take) in 3DMark11 still, so any explanation would be great.

Another thing is, a lot of the time CPUid reads that my 7970M card has 0.90V of power, rather than the 1.05V (I think) it should run off of continuously?

Mods feel free to move the thread wherever it is best suited, also.

 

Have you reset back to stock clocks and tried again?

 

Sure have, all synthetic benchmarks return to the average ballpark too at stock clocks (such as 5900p in 3DMark11); it's just gaming that is seemingly suffering and I'm wondering what is going on as I seemingly can't play games that should be easily playable with the 7970M at my desired settings.

I'm wondering if the 0.90V may be a contributor.

I don't know if the 0.90V is just the idle V though as CPUid has also displayed 1.05V at times - still, it's usually showing 0.90V.

 

dj, reinstall your driver

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

 

Have you used MSI Afterburner to check if your clocks are actually staying at those values? After I OC'ed my card, everything went haywire. I would generally get performance but some times, it would drop very low (just like yours). I ran MSI AB to see that the clocks had fallen to 300/150.

 

Did you check that you were running only on 7970m and enduro was disabled? because if it wasn't that answers a lot of questions for any notebook with 7970m.

But same thing with me, overclocked may keep it slightly more stable FPS but didn't really give me any higher FPS, just stayed longer in the 40-60 FPS range.

 

I reinstalled drivers but that messed my whole system up so I had to respawn lol! >.<

I reinstalled them again now though (12.5 Modded) but Afterburner sucks hard constantly resetting overclocks.

I haven't tried any games thus far (due to Afterburner frustrations) but will update when I have.

What I have noticed though is my temps are slowly increasing, previously I've never gone above 68C now its pushing 70C which I find odd given the laptop is new and barely used.

I find it odd though that games such as Just Cause 2 are suffering with FPS dips maxxed out given that the game is fully playable with weaker graphics cards... Odd, as I said.

@3Stars&ASun, yeah I never run it with Enduro on as (currently) Enduro is a hot load of monkey garbage haha.

 

Just want to make sure if ur card has throttle problem, you can use the afterburner's plotting to see what happened during ur gaming.
As to the volt, my card has at least three status: 300MHhz/150Mhz/0.82V 450Mhz/1200Mhz/0.9V and 900Mhz/1250Mhz/1.0V at full load(OCed of course, but not OVed) so i am not sure if you just saw the second status?
btw, by which mean did you overclock ur card? Afterburner or vBIOS?

 

Your enduro is disabled correct ?

 

Enduro is disabled for sure.

So, after Respawning my whole system and carefully reinstalling all drivers in their correct places, I am still getting these issues.

Crysis runs at barely 30fps whenever I move my character... Before these issues, I was playing the game at a 50 - 60 fps level with most settings at "Very High" (I downgrade shadows and post processing just to ensure a slightly better framerate and keep motion blur at medium). Now, it only utilises 45-55% of the gpu when I make my character move.

In the "Alienware Gaming Videos Thread" Quagmire shows that this system is more than capable of running this game: he has the 3610QM, I have 3820QM so it cant be processor bottleneck - especially as I have CPU turboboost enabled.

GPU only gets to 67-69C. What the fish is going on, is my card shot?

950/1450 OC btw.

 

^ Anybody?

 

I know it might sound silly, but have you looked at your windows power plan and made sure everything is on 'High performance' and no low percentage in the advanced settings of the power plan?

If you have a dedicated brand-based power scheme app, it might worth looking into that as well.

Have you checked the BIOS for any abnormalities? Also, try looking for certain lights on the keyboard plate, as it can be something with a certain fn-based shortcut that might cause an issue.

 

Before these issues, I didn't have to change power settings from "balanced" in order to get good gaming performance. I did change it to high performance yesterday and it hasn't made a blind bit of difference. I have since performed a 'roll back' to the Dell drivers but now getting the "no AMD graphics driver is installed" crap when I try to run CCC yet device manager shows it fine. This is stressful for fish sake.

I have no idea how to use/navigate BIOS stuff.

 

Nah, I was just trying some ideas, I seriously doubt this is something in the BIOS, especially since it worked fine before. And you've already tried different drivers.

I don't know what I would do. I would have tried sending it to the reseller, but unless they are extremely dedicated they would probably just say everything works as it should and shift the blame.

This is very disappointing. Sorry, man. Perhaps when the official drivers will be out already things might improve, but then again, this doesn't explain why others are running everything just fine with their 7970M... the whole situation sure sucks.

 

No dude, I sure appreciate the help you've given.

Anyone got suggestions?

 

I have feeling that all of this is related to Enduro, because I was having a similar issue where the GPU would not run at full speed. I posed about it few weeks ago and no one responded. The GPU runs at only like half speed 450 on the core and Vram clocked slower. Weird thing is that its not all the time. I think that there may be an issue in the drivers regarding core speed and the Vram speed. When running in 2d the core should be at 300 and the memory should be at 150. When you launch a 3d game it should ramp up to the stock 850 and 1200 but I have seen it in afterburner where it does not ramp up all the way. This is running dedicated graphics only and eveything set to maxium performance including power profiles.

 

hi i have the 7970m but my laptop isn't running it just using intel hd 4000 from my 17-3720qm. Have new drivers and such what do i do?

 

FN + F7 then reboot. Please try not to highjack threads though dude. Let me know if that sorts it for you.

 

My reseller told me the first 2 7970m's batches have enduro problems, i am getting mine from the third batch.(clevo gpus)

Another reseller said this is not true so it is up to you to check this out.

 

Mine is Alienware M17X-R4... I've tried updating the drivers and my machine is having none of it...

I've respawned it to factory setting three times today as using roll back/resource disc does not allow me to use the 7970M. It sees it, but CCC cannot utilise it. :/

 

I don't want to seem impatient... but can nobody help me? I've been trying to fix this issue for almost a week now and all I'm getting is "check Enduro is off" - its off.

Every time, EVERY TIME I attempt to update drivers CCC gives me the message "Catalyst Control Center cannot be started. There are currently no settings that can be configured using Catalyst Control Center.

Cloud was right, AMD are crap.

 

New threads about people struggling with 7970M every single day in this forum

 

Reformat dude... Do a clean install of windows. You clearly corrupted something

 

What could I have corrupted though? I just started randomly getting performance drops and since then, my system has repeatedly refused to install 7970M drivers.

It's severely annoying me, immensely so in fact. I currently have a £1,800 paperweight as I already have a media player in the shape of the Vaio I'm typing on right now...

Surely running AlienRespawn should be sufficient in restoring the system to the way it SHOULD be... :/

 

Respawn CAN corrupt files. Its just a fancy word for system restore. Fragments of data are always left behind. A clean install is the only solution IMHO

 

I agree with fenryr423, you should reformat and start from scratch. I installed the 12.7 betas over the dell drivers and mine is working fine. Once you get it back to how it was when you got it, test out some games and use MSI afterburner to see what your core clocks and Vram speeds are running at while playing the games.

 

And ONLY install the display driver!

 

i know this is dumb but are you playing with the force cable on right ?

if so i think your best solution is to format and reisntall a clean win 7 version.

If after that it still won't work please send it to your reseller.

Is it possible to install the 12.6 or 12.7 drivers whithout the stock drivers from dell ?

 

I'm on your side, but this crap can happen to any brand at one time or another.

DJStarscream, since you have an Alienware, contact their fancy shmancy support over the phone and complain about this whole situation. Ask if you can reformat from scratch and what can be done if that won't work, either.

 

Isn't BF3 sponsored by nv? This is going to happen in nv sponsored games. Give it some time. Trying to figure out algorithm structure with minimal information is extremely difficult. Even more difficult to change your software based on it.

 

So with Slickdude's and Mr. Foxes' help, I am able to fully update drivers...

However, gaming now sucks (still)...

Any example is JC 2 (and other games though) falling to what looks like 5 - 10 fps whilst maxed out but only 4xAA - this game is more than playable fully maxed out on weaker GPUS according to various sources. This is on stock clocks...

It's on stock clocks because currently absolutely no form of overclocking is consistently stable - EVER. Really starting to think that my card is dodgy - how though, I do not know as it has never been above 71C in temp...

All benchmarks are consistent with what I should expect at stock... but gaming wise FPS is ALWAYS nerfed, its like my card can't hack it.

 

DJ, there may be something wrong with your card. have you contacted support and tried to get them to do something about it?

 

Yeah, all I get is them say its probably "drivers"... Regardless what drivers I try, 5 fps on JC2 for the best (debatable) mobile GPU is utterly ridiculous, right?

I don't know if it's the language/cultural barrier (I'm an English Language Graduate, so I know it becomes critical in conversation) but it's very difficult to get them to take me seriously. I feel like saying "I demand a NEW card!" >.<

 

I dont understand why you're having a hard time getting them to replace this. Any issue ive had with Dell/AW over the past 5 years ive had replaced and fixed with an in home tech after a few days. My system was bottlenecking while gaming and 2 days later I had someone at the house fixing it on my m15x. Tell them something is wrong, you were playing the same game a week ago on full settings and now its not working, tell the you want someone to look at it. You spent 2 grand on this thing, make them fix it, thats what a warranty is for. Be mean.

Also I see you overclocked your card, well you could have damaged it. There is a reason why they set the clocks the way they do, but in any case, get them to replace it. Demand nothing less...

 

From all account's and outlets that I've read...overclocking in and of itself can do no harm to your GPU unless you do it far too aggressively and your cooling is poor (mine has never, ever been higher than 71C) - overvolting on the otherhand can damage your card. GPU manufacturers allow you to overclock your card from all sources I have looked at.

I'm not discrediting you and your credentials (far from it dude), but since you're located in the US I don't know if the customer services are different over there... but over here they seem reluctant to help except over the phone. Should I really just demand them change my GPU?

 

Obviously I have no way of knowing if the service is good in other countries but regardless, hell yea, I would demand a new GPU. You paid big money for that card to play the latest games and its not working right. You need to make sure they know that there has been a significant drop off in FPS since you purchased this machine so they know its not normal frames you're getting. Also, have you tried a clean install of windows? And how about other games? Are all games playing below normal FPS or just JC2?

 

All games I've played... but I use JC2 the most as it's a game that SHOULD be easy to play (console port) maxed out and IS playable at 57+ (average) fps with weaker GPUs whilst maxed out.

An example: yesterday I had to replay a level which I had already completed (steam cloud failed to upload the save game), before I had problems with my GPU it was playable fully maxxed with 8xAA at around 60fps (V-Sync: On) - upon replaying the same level (in a placid scene: we're talking two characters, two motorbikes set in a desert - so not taxing at all) with only 4x AA I get what appears to be roughly 5 - 10FPS.

Same with Crysis, was playable in intense scenes before at roughly 50fps in action packed scenes, now whenever I move my character it drops to at least 30fps (and lower) regardless of what happens, only get 60fps if I stand still: I don't even have everything maxxed either, lol.

 

I just had a similar problem with my 7970m so I thought I'd post to see if this helps you.

To cut a long story short, MSI Afterburner was somehow downclocking my card (even though I hadn't touched the sliders). It seemed to be doing it even when afterburner wasn't running.

So I uninstalled Afterburner and restarted my laptop everything went back to normal.

If you're using Afterburner it's worth a shot...

 

I'll give that a shot then.

Any one else have any ideas? Enabling Turbo Boost on my 3820QM through BIOS wouldn't cause any issues/damage would it?

 

Bump? ^

Also, I've tried absolutely loads of drivers now still no luck...

In fact, 12.6 AMD Mobility Driver cut my JC2 performance from an average of 52 fps (dell stock drivers) to 30 fps...

Still, isn't 52 fps still weak? Notebook check suggest that 57+ fps avg is attainable maxed for this game on a weaker GPU..

I have Dell elite customer service contacting me tomorrow for troubleshooting before deciding whether to replace the part. I'd rather them just replace it, rather than ask "what if" - I do understand that a faulty GPU isn't Dell's fault, however.

Is it just me, or is ANY form of overclocking on the 12.7 drivers near impossible (stability wise - such as artefacts on menus and on desktop)?

Thanks.

 

I had a similar problem with Borderlands, I fixed it by doing this:
Go into CCC -> Gaming -> 3D Application Settings, and click "Save" and find the .exe for your game, then select "Use application settings" under Anti-Aliasing, Anisotropic Filtering, Tessellation, and click "Apply". That should do it. Also if you haven't already, go to Switchable Graphics and select High Performance for your game .exe file. Good luck, hope this helped.

^- did this whilst using 12.7, by the way