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    7970M Problems

    Discussion in 'Sager and Clevo' started by awakeN, May 31, 2012.

  1. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    all problem solved, scoring 5.7k in 3DMark 11, and 1080p gaming is no longer blurry, just needed to wipe + reinstall OS and everything else
     
    awakeN, May 31, 2012
    #1
  2. Kingpinzero

    Kingpinzero ROUND ONE,FIGHT! You Win!

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    maybe is the Enduro issue others have been talking about? it seems it cripples the performance in someway.
    I wish i could help you out in someway but im totally clueless. Definitely youre getting a low low score.
     
    Kingpinzero, May 31, 2012
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  3. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    Nah, other Clevo owners still are scoring in the 5600-5800 zone.
     
    awakeN, May 31, 2012
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  4. Burnin8or

    Burnin8or Notebook Enthusiast

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    It might help if you post some of your settings or screenshots of your settings. Someone might notice something wonky or at the very least it will make it easier for someone else with a 7970m and faster scores to compare . . .
     
    Burnin8or, May 31, 2012
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  5. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    good idea, i'll do that after i reinstall amd drivers.
     
    awakeN, May 31, 2012
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  6. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    awakeN, May 31, 2012
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  7. sha7bot

    sha7bot Company Representative

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    Go download and install GPU-Z and MSI afterburner. With those two you can monitor your clock speeds and GPU usage.

    If you can see that you're operating at Stock Core Clock (Say that ten times fast!) by going to AMDs website and looking at what stock frequencies are.

    If you determine that you're running at lower clock speeds, just bump them up with AfterBurner.

    If you are running at stock speeds but your GPU usage is limited to say 75% than there might be an issue with Enduro.

    Curse you! I typed for nothing! ;) Glad you got it resolved. I would still Overclock that beast were I you.
     
    sha7bot, May 31, 2012
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  8. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    Hahaha, not for nothing, I'll keep those ideas in mind. There's practically almost no need to even OC the 7970M anyway :D
     
    awakeN, May 31, 2012
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  9. Vergeofinsanity81

    Vergeofinsanity81 Notebook Consultant

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    What drivers did you have to reinstall?
     
    Vergeofinsanity81, May 31, 2012
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  10. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    Had to reinstall the AMD Drivers that the Clevo came with :p

    k, well now I have another problem >.>

    Whenever I'm in SC2, when I set it to Fullscreen 1080p, it's still a little blurry for some odd reason. When I set it to Windowed(Fullscreen), it's absolutely crystal clear. The problem is, the latter cuts my FPS in half (90 -> 45). What's going on? The same's happening to TF2, and both programs are annoying when it comes to taking screens of them.

    Skyrim and DE:HR have no problems, though.
     
    awakeN, May 31, 2012
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  11. Vahlen

    Vahlen Notebook Evangelist

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    :eek: Now you have me worrying about my 150em that is arriving in a few days.......... :(
     
    Vahlen, May 31, 2012
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  12. Nick11

    Nick11 Notebook Consultant

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    Wow...... I am seriously considering canceling my order. This whole situation is ridiculous....... *SIGH*
     
    Nick11, May 31, 2012
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  13. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    Why? There's nothing major wrong at all. It was a simple fix for me.
     
    awakeN, May 31, 2012
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  14. Burnin8or

    Burnin8or Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well, the question now is, why is your screen blurry with those games. . . .
     
    Burnin8or, Jun 1, 2012
    #14
  15. DEagleson

    DEagleson Gamer extraordinaire

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    MLAA would blur your screen, so might check if its turned on.
    Dont know if it works in windowed mode.

    Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
     
    DEagleson, Jun 1, 2012
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  16. arcticjoe

    arcticjoe Notebook Deity

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    dramatise much?
     
    arcticjoe, Jun 1, 2012
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  17. spectroplasm

    spectroplasm Notebook Consultant

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    Folks, this is newtech here. You need to give it time to mature, these problems are bound to crop up "UNTIL" the drivers get better.

    Heck if even you went with a GTX675m (like myself) you're still in for some setbacks, but as awakeN stated earlier it's a simple fix or a workaround.

    The more time the drivers makers have the more improvements you'll get out of the card. We all should be grateful we even have these monsters for our machines, literally we are talking desktop graphics on a portable machine. How cool is that! :)
     
    spectroplasm, Jun 1, 2012
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  18. pau1ow

    pau1ow Notebook Deity

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    Your 3dmark11 score looks a bit low indeed - could you run any other benchmark like Vantage?

    Another query as well: could you possibly dump the Clevo 7970M vbios please ? That would be super awesome if you could.

    Here is the procedure to follow:

    What we need is a bootable USB. To create this, you need:
    HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - v2.1.8 Download - EXTREME Overclocking
    and the files here:
    Windows 98 System Files Download - EXTREME Overclocking
    Extract that somewhere.

    And download this version of atiflash:
    Download ATIFlash 3.95 | techPowerUp
    The version above is for a DOS environment.

    Run the USB utility and point that to your USB drive. Check Quick Format and also check Create DOS startup disk and select the "from files located at" option. Point that to the folder in which you extracted the files from the second link. Hit go and it should create a bootable DOS drive.

    Now stick extract the atiflash files you downloaded to the newly formatted drive. Now keep that drive in and reboot. Hit F12 and boot from USB. You will see a Win98 splash for a split second. The command prompt will come up and type:

    Code: 
    atiflash -s backup.rom
    That should save the vbios rom to the memory stick. Afterwards just force shut down, restart and put the backup.rom file into a zip and uploaded in this thread.

    Thanks in advance ;)
     
    pau1ow, Jun 1, 2012
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  19. gkrules

    gkrules Notebook Consultant

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    gkrules, Jun 1, 2012
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  20. pau1ow

    pau1ow Notebook Deity

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    He should score at least 5800 with his setup, a 300 points difference in 3dmark11 is quite a lot...awakeN, have you set the power mode to High performances ?
     
    pau1ow, Jun 1, 2012
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  21. hexum23

    hexum23 Notebook Evangelist

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    Hey, I hear where you are coming from, as we should all be patient and wait for some sort of driver or bios update that might fix the problem. Afterall, this is brand new hardware and yes things like this happen when a product is new. That being said, the situation is pissing me off a bit. I'm waiting out for a 7970m too, and I will not be happy if this enduro problem is never solved. Some of the posts make it sound like the only fix is a motherboard revision! I find that hard to believe, there's gotta be some sort of bios or driver fix that can help. I really hope Clevo and AMD are workign together on this.
     
    hexum23, Jun 1, 2012
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  22. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    Yes I have. I'll run 3DMark 11 again, and I'll see what I get. I'll do the vbios dump whenever I can.

    EDIT: well this sucks. http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3560661

    doing the vbios dump now...

    EDIT 2: WINDOWS UPDATES, THE ENEMY OF HUMANKIND
     
    awakeN, Jun 1, 2012
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  23. Heihachi_1337

    Heihachi_1337 Notebook Deity

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    How far into your High performance settings did you go?

    Have you gone in to double check your advanced options for the high performance settings to see if anything could be holding you back?
     
    Heihachi_1337, Jun 1, 2012
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  24. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    Nope, nothing in advanced settings.

    +pau1ow, that doesn't seem to be saving the backup.rom file in my usb. there's just the atiflash.exe file.
     
    awakeN, Jun 1, 2012
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  25. jaug1337

    jaug1337 de_dust2

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    I laughed so hard!! Oh god, those random shutdowns always crack me up :D
    had 2 friends yesterday having their machine suddenly restarting all of a sudden in the middle of a D3, Nightmare Act IV :p laughed my off.. oh man.. :D excuse me
     
    jaug1337, Jun 1, 2012
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  26. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    LMAO i was shutting down my laptop to enter the USB, and then it spent 10 minutes installing 1 update
     
    awakeN, Jun 1, 2012
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  27. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    So now I'm hit by even more problems. I might just reinstall windows because right now I'm getting the feeling I did something wrong during install.

    So... anyone know how I can completely clear my hard drive so I can reinstall windows?
     
    awakeN, Jun 1, 2012
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  28. extide

    extide Notebook Deity

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    Just boot from the windows CD, and you can erase it when you do the install.
     
    extide, Jun 1, 2012
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  29. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    yup. hopefully when i reinstall i'll do everything right this time :p
     
    awakeN, Jun 1, 2012
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  30. Heihachi_1337

    Heihachi_1337 Notebook Deity

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    Just be sure when you get to the point where you have to re-install the drivers that you install the chipset first, then restart the system. Next, install the Intel graphics and restart again, then the AMD drivers, and restart again.

    After that, feel free to install the drivers in any order of your choosing, but it may be a good idea to just go down the list in order after those first three are installed.
     
    Heihachi_1337, Jun 1, 2012
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  31. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    For some reason, Clevo's driver says "Intel or AMD VGA" but there is no seperate one for both.

    Actually, that could've been my problem. I tried installing all the drivers at once because I was impatient but then had to hard boot my laptop again... could've hurt the performance. Hopefully with this clean install it'll work.
     
    awakeN, Jun 1, 2012
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  32. dasgnurgen

    dasgnurgen Notebook Guru

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    yeah we really need some new drivers for this, i really hope once they fix the issue that caused the back order they'll focus on drivers cause we need some REAL drivers that are RECOGNIZED by all programs.
     
    dasgnurgen, Jun 1, 2012
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  33. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    awakeN, Jun 1, 2012
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  34. ydaf

    ydaf Notebook Consultant

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    ^
    Much better score! How did you get it to rise? Just by reinstalling the drivers? I'm getting 5790 on mine.
     
    ydaf, Jun 1, 2012
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  35. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    I just reinstalled windows lol

    the blurry 1080p gaming problems also been resolved through this. it was user error, not the 7970M!
     
    awakeN, Jun 1, 2012
    #35
  36. joelectron

    joelectron Notebook Consultant

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    Not to sound really mean, but I'm very happy to hear this. :p
    The more I lurked this thread, the more worried I was becoming.

    I'm glad it seems to have worked out well for you!
     
    joelectron, Jun 1, 2012
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  37. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    Haha, I was glad to hear that it was my own fault, too! Wouldn't want to have a defective 7970M!
     
    awakeN, Jun 1, 2012
    #37
  38. spectroplasm

    spectroplasm Notebook Consultant

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    Hey Mate, those are some serious scores :D I love it! here's my GTX675m score, I wonder how much you'd hit with an overclock for sure it would be around just shy of 6000 if not higher. Just a note, it might well be in the drivers but I think your physics score should be much higher than that, since the GTX675m I got 7478points in physics where as yours is 6912. Can someone else with a 7970m post their 3D mark scores? I'd like to see how much is the 7970m score on varied systems :)

    **edit**
    Also why is 3D mark always saying HD3000 instead of nvidia GTX675m?? I even right clicked and selected run with nvidia High Performance card :( :( :(
     
    spectroplasm, Jun 2, 2012
    #38
  39. arcticjoe

    arcticjoe Notebook Deity

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    I too am curious if clevo 7970Ms overclock as high as alienware ones? care to see if you can reach 1ghz gpu / 1.5ghz memory? Should take your score up near 7k mark.
     
    arcticjoe, Jun 2, 2012
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  40. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    I think the reason why my physics score is much lower is because physics is all CPU-based, and you have a higher CPU than I do. Other people have scored around my range (5.6k-5.9k) with the 7970M.

    And I don't know why it say HD 3000, but that score is definitely a 675M's score.



    I don't feel like OCing my 7970M, don't want to risk breaking my newly acquired 7970M :p
     
    awakeN, Jun 2, 2012
    #40
  41. Heihachi_1337

    Heihachi_1337 Notebook Deity

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    I'm really glad to see that a complete wipe and re-install of your OS and drivers fixed your issues awakeN.

    I wouldn't recommend taking the risk of burning out your new card by overclocking it either.

    Go have fun playing your games!
     
    Heihachi_1337, Jun 2, 2012
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  42. jaug1337

    jaug1337 de_dust2

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    Was just going to ask how the problem as fixed, but Heichachi pointed it out, thanks :)

    Great news awakeN!
     
    jaug1337, Jun 2, 2012
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  43. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    awakeN, Jun 2, 2012
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  44. ydaf

    ydaf Notebook Consultant

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    ydaf, Jun 2, 2012
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  45. awakeN

    awakeN Notebook Deity

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    Whoa, are you sure it's set to high performance? an i7-3610QM shouldn't be running at 1995 MHz... if it is set to high performance, then idk how to solve your problem. But nevertheless your score is still around what you should get.
     
    awakeN, Jun 2, 2012
    #45
  46. ydaf

    ydaf Notebook Consultant

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    I ran it again and this time the CPU went up to 3093Mhz. I guess it didn't register the first time I had set it to High Performance mode.
     
    ydaf, Jun 2, 2012
    #46
  47. jaybee83

    jaybee83 Biotech-Doc

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    nah its just that when u check ur clocks with what 3dmark spits out for you,u shouldnt trust it wholeheartedly since it only gives u the clocks it measures at one specific moment in time. if at that point ur cpu just so happens to not have any load then it just shows u the downclocked non turbo boost frequency :) so better stick to monitoring programs such as hwinfo ;) besides, ur score is totally where id expect it to be so ure fine!

    one more thing: as long as u dont overvolt ur card u cannot destroy or damage it by OCing, so no reason to act all panicky here :D having bsods/crashes/driver resets when OCing doesnt really damage ur card when only testing for the highest stable clocks :) ud have to pretty much do so repeatedly for months on end to see any real damage happening :p

    Sent from my GT-I9001 using Tapatalk 2
     
    jaybee83, Jun 3, 2012
    #47
  48. gkrules

    gkrules Notebook Consultant

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    The damage would be a loss of longevity due to the extra heat produced by overclocking, wouldn't it?
     
    gkrules, Jun 3, 2012
    #48
  49. jaybee83

    jaybee83 Biotech-Doc

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    ummm....u do realize that the 7970M at stock reaches like 67C and goes to just 72C or so when OCed to the max right? those temps are wooooorlds away from being in the red zone :) anything below 90C for longer periods of time is fine, considering that gpus Tjmax is at over 100C.

    cheers

    Sent from my GT-I9001 using Tapatalk 2
     
    jaybee83, Jun 3, 2012
    #49
  50. DocOccam

    DocOccam Notebook Geek

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    I agree with jaybee. It has been a long time since I have read anything about it, but I believe the big problems begin at high temperatures and voltages, at which point electromigration becomes an issue and pathways in the chip degrade.
     
    DocOccam, Jun 3, 2012
    #50
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