7970m Crossfire real world?

Ok I wasnt considering the 7970 CF because I had read about issues with Enduro but I have been told this wont effect the laptop I am considering. I usually keep a laptop 3 or 4 years so I try and buy with the future in mind(IE something that wont run a new game reasonably ie lookin at you Crysis 3 and Star Citizen ). Who out there uses the 7970 CF. I know the 680 SLI and it are close in performance. I have a 6870 in my desktop that will be replaced over the summer but I havent been dissatisfied with it yet. I have had occasional driver issues with AMD, and I have with Nvidia too in the past. I just want some real world input from users. I just got for example FarCry 3 and my 6870 seems to run it just fine. I know desktop and laptop graphics arent near parity. Just wanting some opinions not many reviews to find on the Mobile parts for SLI and CF.

 

AMD fixed most of the issues with the crossfire 7970's. In the Beginning there were a lot of driver issues. The 680m in SLI has had no issues that I am aware of, but I have only experienced owning them for approximately 3 weeks before having to send my system back because of the screen and hard drive problems. I am now getting a replacement system and I will be with dual 680's again.

I'd say go for it. If you don't have a problem with AMD, get it. I haven't heard anything bad about them since the latest 12.11 drivers.

They will definitely be able to hold up any game for the next three years.

 

I have had a 6870 since new and its been a fine card. My main plan is longevity, I could do the 680 SLI but part of me gets cheap lol. I know the Clevo 9370 supposedly doesnt have the Enduro issues I have read about. I dont know about this Microstutter I keep hearing about. What exactly is it a visible defect like a mini freeze in games? One thing I have found is it seems some sites report better thermal and power usage on AMD and some say its nvidia. LOL what do owners of these systems think>

 

7970M CF has visibly improved since I got one about 8 months ago. Enduro does not work with CF setups and hence will not be an issue. As for the microstutter, it has recently received wide media coverage and is being specifically targeted in the next release of AMD drivers. When I played Skyrim I believe there was some microstuttering but with D3DOverrider and/or placebo effect I still enjoyed the game at ultra graphics quality.

If you're interested in the 7970M's, you could perhaps wait for a few more weeks to check out people's reviews of the upcoming 13.2 Beta drivers. I for one have high hopes for it. As far as longevity is concerned, I wouldn't think the 680M SLi has much of an upper hand. Now the only worry is AMD going kaput

 

Well thats something I hadnt considered AMD going up. I did see they are doing large layoffs after this year. But in general since you have 7970's in CF, how much headache have u had with them? Do you regret getting them instead of 680's? I keep reading differing opinions on heat some say 7970 runs cooler and others say the opposite? Is there any advice you would give as I am considering this?

 

I have to admit now after reading some older threads from earlier in the year I am concerned about 7970CF seems like alot of hardware problems?? Is this still the case on these? Also saw lots of complaints on Skyrim performance? That surprises me as that was a huge game and one I still play occasionally have those been fixed?

 

ive had my 7970's since june of 2012, and i have been pretty happy with them. You do hear alot of horror stories here, but not enough people like myself that have been happy with them.

I am not a driver junkie, although i do love new options, and i stick with one that works. I am a huge crysis fan with hundreds and hundreds of hours logged in MP, and i too am a little worried that ill have problems with C3 when the beta opens but we'll see.

 

There have certainly been disappointments where games had to be run by disabling crossfire or even downclocking but the resulting gameplay had been satisfactory. Some of the problems I've faced might simply be due to slightly underwelcoming ASIC qualities of my chips (~70%). Do I wish I had gone for 680's? Not really, since I get a kick out of making stuff work.

The temps will not be as low as 680M SLi from what I've seen. My cards (undervolted -0.025 V and overclocked +100/+50) can run into low 70's with the back of my laptop propped up. Having said that, this temperature is nowhere near the red zone that one should be worried about. Most of my laptop's noise comes from the CPU fans so the GPU temps are really not that critical to me.

 

How hard is it to disable crossfire on a laptop is it an option in CCC? It seems that most people that have CF7970's are Alienware buyers. I like the look but a bit to flashy I think to whip out in a meeting LOL. So it was all driver issues and not hardware? Reading here makes it sound like half the cards sent out have been dead or defective.

 

Crossfire can be disabled by configuring in the CCC on a per-application basis. Basically, I can start a game that runs in crossfire, close it, then immediately start another game that has been configured to play with a single graphics card.

The CCC also allows you to disable crossfire globally with no restart required.

The defective cards were prevalent in North America when first launched. I seem to get the impression that later batches of cards were not prone to be dead. If you hit the bad egg, just get warranty repair/ replacement?

As an aside, I bought the Alienware because of Clevo's failure to deliver on the P270WM which I had been awaiting for months. At the time when my old Sager died, the only high-end dual GPU laptop was the Alienware M18 so I wasn't spoilt for choice like you people

 

This will be my first Sager I have had Dell Gateway Asus and HP laptops. I really have heard lots of good things about them and hope it is true with the 9370 I am planning on ordering.