Clevo EM series + 7970m Enduro problems. I sent ticket to Clevo HQ. Get yours in too.

After reading hundreds of complaints on Clevo EM series having utilization problems when equipped with 7970m I decided to send Clevo HQ an email to notify them of the problem.
Email of Clevo HQ representative in Taiwan: [email protected]

My original email reporting Clevo EM/7970m problem.

Clevo replied #1.

I replied #1.

Clevo replied #2

Strange he is asking me this since I told him in the original email I was still deciding between 7970m & 680m.
Anyway if anybody wants to give me what Johnny Li is asking I am willing to forward it to him so I contribute my share in fixing this problem.

I replied #2

Clevo replied #3

 

they cant possibly be unaware of the problem. they most likely just dont want to fix it (or dont know how to?) so they try to play dumb

 

this is what I was worried about. AMD say its up to Clevo to fix the drivers, whilst Clevo arent even fully aware of the problem. This is 3 months since the release of the card, so how long before they accept that there is an issue and actually start working on a fix?

 

The question is... Are resellers talking to clevo. To this date I did not see any of the resellers getting involved in this. And from clevo's point of view if the distributors and resellers are not complaining then there isn't a problem.

No impact on sales = no problem to fix.

I suspected this is how they are going to handle it, and I'm glad I sprung for the gtx680m.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

should be many reseller staffs reading here. why are they keeping quiet?

 

I would guess some have, but are getting stone walled. But they can't exactly talk about it here

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

i just sent email to fxxx johnny li in CHINESE
李先生你好，
得悉貴公司回應P170EM/P150EM用家查詢關於配備7970m於部份遊戲使用率問題時，表示找不到問題，假如是真的，那可能你們測試不足。
我的P170EM在玩crysis2跟need for speed the run時，都發現7970m使用率很低，crysis2約60-70%，need for speed the run只有不到50%，畫面每秒只有28-30FPS，這是一個嚴重問題，請貴公司嚴正處理問題，別扮無知，謝謝！

 

Hi Guys!

I have been following the clevo thread since may before I got my laptop. It's an NP 9150 from xoticpc with the 7970m. I would like to replicate these problems on my laptop. Because when I play games both in single player and multiplayer (BF3) I do get the full GPU utilization. I'm not sure why but I'm getting decent frame rates on Ultra/high settings. I do however get the micro stutter from time to time. I'm new to the forums but I would like to help. I may have done something that may have triggered this. I use the stock drivers from the cd but have reformatted about 3 times already.

What drivers are you using and any information will be very helpful. I may be an isolated case, or just nobody with problems are reading this. I hope I can help.

 

yes you actually can get full utilization even on bf3 mp on certain maps but try to play a largher map like operatin metr go into the center of a firefight and you will spot usage drops. Also on ultra you can achieve 30-50fps which is in my opinion not enought for a fast pace first person shooter where every millisecond matters.So when you lower your settings maybe to high or medium to get constant 60 fps you will see lower gpu usage and the same fps. Try it yourself and monitor everything with msi afterburner. If you dont spot anyu nderutilization and you can get 99% utilizaion on medium settings on bf3 I'm rmaing my laptop as it is from the second batch that maybe faulty..I'm aslo sending a ticket to clevo . thank for the iniciative to create another thread to solve this problem asap..

 

From a troubleshooting perspective I have not seen any threads that really provided enough detail on this problem. Granted some did have a lot of detail or quoted useful info from other forums but it really has not been comprehensive enough to narrow down the problem.

1. Is it GPU limited or CPU limited? I have seen some strong opinions on this but no proof and the evidence I have seen is not well supported.
2. Is it Enduro? The fact that AW systems can turn Enduro off should make this easy to prove or disprove but again I have not seen anything definitive.

A problem I have seen a lot here is not using the same parameters to test. The resellers should step in here and help out. They have the equipment to easily do some definitive testing.

Barring that everybody really needs to agree on what parameters to use to test.

 

It's Enduro limited

 

To be fair, you probably havent read the threads with all troubleshooting steps taken as there are at least 4 large threads relating to the problem, so to summarise:
Its definitely not a CPU issue because:
1. i had the same CPU in my previous laptop, had no problems with utilization and had higher fps in some games than with 7970m.
2. people with weaker CPUs and 680m are getting 99% utilization 99% of the time, there is a user with 2670qm here with 680m who confirmed this.
3. Alienware owners who turned off enduro and users with p170hm systems do not have this issue, again even with slower SB CPUs.
4. applications that have very little dependency on CPU (like furmark or kombustor) exhibit this under-utilization issue.

I dont think re-sellers will be too keen on publicly stating there is a problem with a product they are selling, especially when a lot of users are not aware that their 7970m is actually severely under performing. Imagine if you came from 9800M GTX generation then you would be impressed by the performance of 7970m even if its only giving you 60% of fps it should do. I only noticed this problem because I had GTX 480 and 6970M, both of which should be outperformed by 7970m but they arent.

 

There has been quite a few threads discussing this issue here is one especially talking about bf 3 multiplayer
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/676148-bf3-multiplayer-working-normal-anybody.html
It is deffinitely not cpu limited as the weakest cpu everybody have is 3610qm which is more than enought. Alieware with enduro off and the same cpu's don't experience this problem.
As I sad the best way to find yout is to go on a larger map with 64p and try to lower your settings to get constatn 60fps. You will get lower utilization and same fps.
For example this is a gameplay on a gtx680m with the 3610qm on the most demanding map.
Bf3 mp clevop170em 680m - YouTube
when he lowered the settings to medium he get constant 60 fps, so the problem isnt a CPU botleneck.
also here is a gameplay with an alienware 3610qm and 7970m
Alienware M17x-R4 Battlefield 3 BF3 SP & MP Gameplay 7970m OSD 1920x1080 OC 950x1550 - YouTube
99 %utilization all the time. Onllky clevos/sagers with 7970m are experiencing those issues.

 

wow you subdcribe all the threads regarding this?

 

I was just serching, checking and hoping that somedy came up with some kind of a fix but nothing Its just that I dont play that much now and when I do I play bf 3 multiplayer which was the main reason I bought the 7970m for. Other games actually ran pretty fine on my older 5870m. So I'm a bit anoyed with this whole situetion and now knowing that clevo dont know about this issue is even worse.

 

so have you emailed to johnny li yet?

 

Yop just sended him a mail with a short description of those problems. Hopeflly he'll reply with some kind of a possitive answer.

 

interesting

I'll be monitoring this thread, gj

 

Original post updated with Johnny Li's reply #2. He wants the following:

1) Laptop serial #
2) BIOS version
3) EC
4) VBIOS
5) VGA Driver Version.

Fellow readers with Clevo EM/7970m utilization problems plz forward me the above info so I can forward it to Li.

 

how to check vbios?

 

I'm assuming everyone has tried to turn off core parking?'

Maybe check your resource monitor to see if any cores are being parked/unparked when studdering (underutilization) happens.

 

How to check ATI vBIOS version for my MSI Notebook | MSI HQ User-to-User FAQ

 

It's nothing to do with CPU m8. People have tried Throttlestop, Turning off Core Parking etc and still the same.
It's Enduro!!!

Besides a good gaming laptop should not require the user to fiddle with this and that just to get 90%+ GPU Utilization/Usage in games.

 

GPU-Z fails to read this particular laptop model video card BIOS

 

what the hell , they are not aware of the problem caused by enduro due lack of their driver support. I am even surprised that resellers are not forwarding the problem to clevo and getting this issue fixed . I am starting to smell disappointment from clevo since my mainly purchase was because of the support of drivers , latest hardware, etc but in future it could not be next purchase for me if they kept like that.

 

Yep me disappointed too. I'm trying to get a good deal on Alienware's m17x r4 instead. I just hope I don't get envy/hateful looks when I carry it around it in uni, or even get robbed. Jeez AW's are flashy man. In uni I prefer to be low key.

 

ok i found out the vbios: 015.018.000.000.000000. i think everybody should be the same

it is from this thread
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...-cant-read-7970m-bios-but-acer-5935g-can.html

 

very interesting thread...

I´ll submit a ticket too..

Please inform where and how to get information needed (Laptop serial #, BIOS version, EC, VBIOS, VGA Driver Version)

 

Hey Guys,

We'll comment on it, yea we've seen these issues as directly related to the drivers. Thats why we've already committed to having regular driver updates for our customers, and in fact have already produced a driver update for our customers (12.6) that helps the performance. In addition we are already working on our next driver set update that also improves performance. We're doing this as we are direct AMD partners and maintain our own resources. We don't wait for someone else to fix it

We've also noticed:

- Turning off PROCHOT doesn't work
- OC'ing the CPU helps a little
- Installing those 9.xxx drivers in another thread doesn't help either, those are so old at this point they don't have a lot of fixes that were put into other drivers
- Turning down the settings doesn't help

Just to name a few.

 

thanks mythlogic, good to know there are people working on getting this sorted.

 

Hi,
That's rly good news Are you gonna share your drivers with everyone? Or just Mythlogic buyers? It would be good publicity to share your driver since you can put your name on it! (Don't mind having a popup at windows startup with your name if my 7970M works properly lool )

Just a thought...

Thank you,
Best Regards to all

 

Would be a great idea to publish the drivers for the external public, albeit with some delay in relation to consumers.

Certainly attract new consumers to the current and products and future releases

 

Exactly my point since more ppl would know that buying Mythlogic, would bring them great support for their machines.

 

Why don't you Tweet CatalystCreator? He is the person who handles the driver/software development for AMD GPUs.

 

Already done that a few days ago I even posted on your topic eheh

 

Sweetness. Keep doing it everyday until he is just swamped and can no longer deny mobile 7970M users demand satisfaction!

Because ultimately, it's AMD that makes the drivers. Clevo and Mythlogic can only do some edits, which aren't enough to fix this. Have to keep hammering AMD.

I'll post later my laptop vbios info as I do think it will be good to have Clevo asking AMD to address this problem.

 

We are still thinking about it, we might put it up for donations, as it costs us a lot in engineering time and human resources to do the ground work on these drivers, as we have to extensively test, and report back to AMD and keep working through issues that we find. Especially as we don't get the benefit of being able to change the laptop side of things, we can only change the AMD software portion of the equation. We have hundreds of man hours into this issue and a few others. And we have to pay for certification and other expenses too.

Now all that being said didn't say we weren't going to share :GEEK: :smile:

 

It's fair. I think the gaming community would certainly be generous in donations.
Usually in the collective works of collaboration, some contribute with expertise, and others with some money. Together we are stronger.

 

I don't even have my P170EM yet (and I couldn't afford to order from you guys, sorry ) but I can say without question that I'd be willing to pay you guys for updated drivers if they were that awesome!

 

I know I would donate!!

 

Donating is great idea. i am willing to donate too plus you will have a lot of people willing to donate too.

 

I can also donate So please work hard on your drivers eheh

Best Regards to all

 

1st post updated with Clevo's reply #3.

 

mr li's reply is funny. what programs support and what do not support “Optimus/Enduro function"?
we buy 7970m for playing games, not for runnung oc programs.

 

hear hear, they dont speak english too well either, so they probably dont really understand whats going on? i dont know

 

I can't seriously believe they are unaware if this issue. They would benefit from reading these forums to see what customers aren't happy with and what improvments can be made.

 

I explained the situation/issue quite clearly, stressing Enduro is the most probable cause of problem and that it needs to be disabled for Clevo EM series for users to further test out the 7970m to be 100% sure. (I mean we are 99% sure because when 7970m is disabled on AWs no problems exists.)

So having known Chinese & Taiwan is basically another Chinese country trying to be independent, I would say they are pretending not to understand. A well practised art used in many situations.

Bottomline is I am feeling no sincereness from Clevo that they are working on resolving this issue whatsoever.

 

Same here.Just recieved a email from Johnny. I also described the issue quite clearly and he just responded -
"It could be some of user using the wrong tool to do to test on this platform. You can test by AMD “GPU/APU Clock” you can get the correct full speed in there."
It really seems that they aren't aware of anything or they dont wanna be.
Btw Thanks mythologyc for hearing the community, and trying to solve the problem around 7970m. I would also donate if the driver would fix these issues.

 

i will donate for sure if the drivers prove to solve this Enduro issue, cause it s a real real big issue to me not being able to perform as it should be. We paid hundreds dollars for the GPU now we want it to work as intended, otherwise im ging to give my money to the other brands out there next time (nVidia for the right GPU and drivers support or Dell for being able to disable what i don t like/doesn t work in this case).

 

Judging from the reply #3 from Clevo, it seems like he still doesn't understand the problem is the GPU utilization not the Clock speed while gaming. You will have to push a bit more