7970M Still having issues?

Hey guys, I have decided that instead of the 680M the 7970M should do fine for me as I don't intend on overclocking however in saying this I'm only really talking about the 7970M with the assumption it has finally resolved its teething problems.

Any information from 7970M Clevo/Sager users would be great, if your having issues, let me know, if your bossing smooth and uninterrupted 60FPS in games, let me KNOW!

Cheers guys!

 

Nahh nothing fixed this have been going on for almost 3 months now, to be honest with you i dont think it will ever be fixed.

 

No progress so far, but its taken nearly three months to get sager / clevo to acknowledge that there is an issue with enduro. If I had a choice I'd go for 680m myself.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

In BF3 the fps drops below 25 at times, though the gameplay itself stays smooth (mp 64, op. Firestorm). Haven't tried that many games to be honest. D3 was running at 60fps< all the time. Civ5 had some fps drops as well, but the game felt much like on my 580 gtx (desktop). I'd say the Enduro problems are most of all very annoying, not necessarily game breaking. 7970m problems might be fixed in the near future, but since there has been no official acknowledgement from AMD or Clevo, one can't tell for sure. The 680m seems to offer a peace of mind to those worrying about the issue.

 

Cheers for the replies guys, I wonder, are there any 7970M users who have NO issues on BF3? Or is this something that affects people across the board?

 

Those with HM-series Clevos ?

 

**** there are thousands of threads just about this. Try reading one of them instead of making a new thread every single day

 

Hey Cloud, I don't intend on bugging anyone I merely wanted an updated view on the 7970M as many of the threads about the 7970M have either died or been brought to a halt.


...My most sincere apologies

 

It is actively being worked on, according to Sager.

 

i am ordered a 7970 since i dont mind going down to 25~ 30 frames from 60 as long as its a temporary (for 2 or 3 second) thing

 

Save yourself the frustration and go with a 680m.

 

'Save yourself the $300 and go with a 7970m.' is an equally retarded sentence just to keep the balance, I guess..

 

Hey guys, Cheers for all of the updates. It does seem a shame that even after all this time the 7970M still has these silly niggling issues. I really would get the 680M however if the re-seller I'm hoping to go with would let me buy the 7970M, see how it goes, and if I come across any issues, pay for an upgrade i'd probably do that. If on the other hand they DON'T let me do that then i'd just go with the 680M!

 

i feel saving the$200 allows you upgrade maybe next year or the year after ,which isnt a bad plan

 

7970M still runs games on max settings with a very respectable FPS. I get 40 FPS on ultra in BF3, which is phenomenal. Performance will only increase as the Enduro problems are fixed.

 

No logic there DaCM. It is called a market. More expensive cards run faster, and that is that. Owners of the HD 6850 didn't make a bad choice just because there are better/more expensive cards like the HD 6990. You get what you pay for. What is ironic is that the GTX 680m isn't worth the extra $300. Pay $300 more in the DESKTOP gaming market and you get a GPU loads more powerful. At the moment, there is no frustration with the 7970m if you just get past the fact that drivers are not completely developed yet. ALL games are still smooth enough to play, even if FPS can be improved greatly. I have no frustration as a 7970m owner. AMD and Sager will fix this, as they are both working together at the moment for the exact issue of utilization.

 

Of course there's no logic, we're talking about the same thing. I only meant that the 'save yourself the frustration' was a same meaningless sentence as 'save yourself the money'. No reasoning, just stupid random statements.
I definitely agree that the GTX 680m is more powerful, however if you buy a 7970m knowing the issues it has, you still get very respectable performance and no frustration as you don't get 'surprised' by Enduro.
I'm probably getting an NP9150 in September and I'll most likely go with the 7970m, because the GTX 680m would be a bit over my budget and because the performance of the AMD card is still enough for almost every game. Also the chance of a fix for the utilization issue is quite high now that Sager acknowledged it and started working on it.

 

7970 is not a cheap card by any means and the driver issues WILL be fixed, it just is a matter of time.

 

You will have the enduro issue. I hope you can live with it, but you will have it. If you like single player game or older game, go with the 7970M. If you like multiplayer online game and future game go with the 680M. Enduro prevents you for lowering your setting because if you lower your setting, your 7970M utilization get lower too and you dont gain much fps. This issue is very very annoying in game where you dont have 60 fps and you want 60 fps, like much multiplayer online games ( battlefield 3, ghost recon:future soldier, Gw2 ). 60 FPS in multiplayer games can give you a small edge over your opponents even if you play with medium setting. Right now you CANT do that with the 7970M. Beside the enduro issue i dont get any other issue, the 7970M is really amazing but not at all future proof if you cant lower your setting.

I have my 7970M for more than a month and i regret it. I really hope this issue can be fixed one day. In the bright side, most people dont care about this enduro issue. Maybe it's will be your case ! Good luck with your choice.

 

Not ALL games are smooth enough to play. YOURS might be. My experience with F1 2011 was several dips under 30fps no matter the setting, even at a measly 1600x900 res due to the utilization issue. Unplayable.

What if they can't fix this? I still stand behind what I've been saying to people, if you're buying today, why would you not just wait to see if it can be fixed. People are so concerned about best bang for the buck and spending wisely, but will then invest in a product that, while quite functional, is not at 100% yet. (Jim Norton voice) That don't make no sense!

 

Under 20? I had no idea the spikes were that bad. I guess I haven't played enough games yet.

 

Personally, I can pretty much say I will be purchasing a NP9170 with a 7970 within the next week. First of all, not everyone is having problems. The people who are having problems are usually the ones who come back to comment. Although it can be said that some people could be having problems, but just not notice it yet; it is obvious to me that the problems aren't significant enough to be noticed!

I do feel a little bit worried, but then again I always worry about stuff like this. Additionally, I am not willing to spend the money on the 680 for 'peace of mind'. It seems obvious to me that Nvidia, at least with laptops, is turning it's high end stuff into the computer equivalent of a bugatti. There are plenty of other cars for a fraction of the price with nearly equal, or sometimes even better performance. Granted, those cars are not bugattis, but who wants to spend their money like that anyways?

At least from what I have seen on the forums, the sales for the 7970 are far higher than those for the 680, thus AMD/ATI is highly committed to pleasing all of those new customers or to risk having a horde of people telling others not to buy from them thus making an exponential dent in the sales of their next product.

So, in conclusion, unless AMD/ATI intends for it's laptop chip business to be a sacrificial lamb for a few more sales this year, the problems will be fixed. Not only that, they will continue to attempt to meet or beat whatever progress Nvidia makes with the 680.

If you aren't comfortable getting a 7970 yet, there is currently a thread to collect data to put towards fixing this problem. It has been around for a while, so I have no doubt they are making progress. If you don't mind waiting a few weeks, there should be a fix out soon.

 

Just to be sure you understand, everyone with enduro have enduro issue. You can still enjoy your 7970M like i say in my other post, most peoples will not notice it. If you think you will be fine with the enduro issue go for it, the 7970M is amazing.

I'm not a nvidea fanboy or something. I really want to help new customer to do the right choice, and be sure they know what they buy.

 

I actually used to be a fanboy for nvidia, it is just the price scaring me away. In this sort of economy I don't really get what nvidia is thinking selling the 680 for so much, especially compared to the rest of their line. I am looking to get the laptop before September, so I still have time to sit on the fence myself...... the fence and I are becoming very good friends.

 

I bet if one day the problem with the enduro is fixed, the price of the 680m will fall considerably. I think that 300$ is a deliberate overpricing

 

I'm currently in the process of receiving my NP9170 with the 7970M and I ordered long after "the enduro issue" reared its head.

I'm not too worried because I don't like first person shooters and the games that seem to be most affected are games I don't play. I also have faith -God I hate using that word- that there will be some fix because this is their flagship mobile card and apart from Clevo based/AW laptops no one is supplying it, so that's roughly more than half the customer base.

I'm just annoyed at some of the members here, who you'd think after a few thousand posts on a technical forum would understand how to log a problem and test for variables properly instead of yet another whining thread about an fps drop in X game and nothing else.

"My 7970M stuttered in BF3!" is worthless. Try explaining your settings, what other progs were running in the background, BIOS ver, Driver ver, temps, CCC settings? Any OC? ...etc

And the 7970M doesn't offer just a "respectable" performance. Even with the reported Enduro issues in some scenarios it still stands as the second fastest single core GPU after the 680M, and marginally at that (last I checked anyway) for a whopping 300 dollars less. Even with no 7970M on the scene, getting the 680M instead of the 675M for a 400 USD difference either means your e-peen is REALLY important to you, or you have a big chunk of disposable income. Not dissing, just saying that the 680M's price is unjustifiable to many people.

Like others have said, I would rather stick with the 7970M, try to dodge/circumvent the issue -IF I'm one of the unlucky ones- with some DIY and tweaks till it gets fixed, and in the unlikely case that Sager/AMD do NOTHING about it, and you're one of the unlucky ones who also plays BF3, by that time get whatever upgrade GPU is on the scene for that 300 bucks and you will exceed both the 7970M and the 680M.

 

there are 4 or 5 threads discussing this issue specifically, full of detailed info... after a while it becomes irritating to have to repeat yourself and you stop elaborating. There are no workarounds or tweaks at the moment (save for CoD, which runs alright even with the issue), if you decrease your detail your fps stays the same utilization goes down, if you overclock your GPU, your fps stays the same and again utilization goes down..
t

 

Where have you been? The price have already fallen down to $245

 

Someone was saying something on another thread about the new batches of 7970M shipping from Sager not having any issues. Can anyone confirm?

 

Where did you read such thing? Would be a biggie if true.

 

Still expensive . you can buy ssd or you can gtx 580 desktop card

 

honestly if I could upgrade now I would even spend $300. 7970m experience has tainted for me an otherwise excellent laptop.

 

Well, why can't you?

 

Note that it is an additional 245 over the price of the 7970, not just 45 more than it. If it were only 45 more, I am sure there would be at least twice as many sales for the 680. I would sure go for it then.

 

Explain your drama in brief pls. Are you a BF3 player?

 

i dont think that option is available for me, ive had the laptop for 2 months now.

 

Yep I play BF3 multiplayer, and at this point I stopped playing the game altogether as its extremely frustrating to keep seeing your fps dip to 20-something mark. Lowering detail or overclocking only lowers utilization, I get no extra fps.
Same for other games as well, ARMA 2 runs like absolute e, fps even dips bellow 20 marks sometimes. Batman AC runs about the same as it did on my 6970m.
I've spend so many hours on troubleshooting that if this was work I could have earned myself enough money to buy another laptop..

 

I play league of legends and I BSOD every other game, leaving teammates to rage at me.

I get ATI driver BSOD. I have tried stock drivers and the drivers that Sager recommended but they both fail.

 

Do you get any slowdowns? For me the game feels smooth even when the FPS drops. There is no lag or jitter.

 

Well, its definitely playable but it feels significantly less smooth than it was with my GTX 480 or 6970m. The main problem is that I cannot get consistently smooth fps by lowering detail or increasing the clocks. One minute its nice and stable and then I will run into an open space and framerate halves - sniping especially becomes a lot harder..

 

I've had virtually no problems with my 7970M and BF3 runs perfectly for me. However, because of the large number of complaints about the card you might be better off going with the GTX680.

 

In multiplayer or single player? Only MP has the issue. I would love to be proved wrong here, but I think its unlikely your card doesnt have this problem, seeing as it affects all enduro enabled 7970m's exactly the same.

 

With the exception of Alienwares that can turn off the enduro of course. In fact, in those machines, the card is a beast.

 

i think it really depends if you are happy with mid 40 frames sometimes dropping down to low 30s, or you are anal enough to demand it to be at 60 constantly. for me i just want 30~40

 

I agree with you there. I'm not going to say the game runs ideally, but it is still playable. The drops into the 20's, for me, are very rare and are so short that they are barely noticeable. They only truly happen on the large maps as well. On the smaller, urban maps, I can easily hit 50-60 FPS without any drops.

 

I received my Sager N9170 with 7970m last Wednesday. I didn't see low frame rate as bad as most people had seen. However, it is not without issues. I didn't see any problems running Mass Effect 2 at max (with everything turn on). The game I ran the most is battlefield 3, which I played only on a daily basis. The game ran very smooth at Ultra settings. However, there is tearing in the graphics. To give a better description, will be the tearing you see when Vsync is off. Other than that, I don't see any lagging frame rates. I'm not sure if this is also part of the Enduro issue, but with the beast of the card as it is, the tearing should not be there at all. Just a FYI.....

 

Anyone remembered the Geforce 5XXX series cards? The infamous 5800GT and the 5900GT cards. I remembered Nvidia did come out and say the issues with those cards will be solved with drivers. However, in the end, those were badly designed cards and cannot be fixed with drivers. I had the Geforce 5900 GT and ended up selling the card and went with ATI.

Two points I'm trying to make here. First, ATI is not the only one who had this issue. Nvidia had the infamous GeForce 5XXX series plague which cannot be fixed. Not only that, Nvidia also had problems with Optimus which did take them quite a long time to fix. Second, I'm hoping this is not a dud card ATI produced, just like the GeForce 5XXX.

 

What amazes me is the seemingly lack of any form of QA process with AMD. It's not like it's a minor issue, the card is severely crippled until/if this issue is fixed.

 

It is especially annoying because for the vast majority of users, a computer with a high-end VGA card is not a computer where mobility is the major concern (ie; desktop replacement) so battery life is mostly irrelevant. For all of us to pay such a price for a little sh** gimmicky switching mechanism that doesn't work is infuriating. Even AFTER they fix it and God knows how long that will take, the vast majority of us will not really benefit from a fully and properly functional Enduro.

They should have a flame bar on this forum because I'm just about at wits' end. All my life I bought the second best last gen cards and made do, this is my FIRST high-end card which at the time of release was number 1 and even now is neck-to-neck (when not on a Clevo) with the 680 for almost half the price. I had to ship it from the US all the way to the Persian Gulf (meaning I'm stuck with it unless I want to pay half of its price in shipping back and forth) And I can't use it to the max for GAMING which is why most people get it. ARRGHHH.

Don't these IDIOTS test their systems/platforms before going commercial?

 

I feel ya, it's completely unacceptable releasing a product in the current state the 7970m is in. To take close to 3 months just to acknowledge an issue is beyond a joke.