Throwing in the 7970m Towel.

I'm fed up with AMD. I got my laptop last July, and since day one I've been having issues. BSOD's, black screens, you name it. I should have never relied on AMD to release better drivers. Honestly, it wouldn't be such a big deal if I used this laptop primarily for gaming, but I'm a Computer Science student so I need to rely on my system to be stable for work. The Enduro drivers, in any form, just can't deliver on that point for any system with switchable graphics, and the problems that the 7970m causes seem to spread to the rest of my system, forcing me to restore from a system image or re-install windows almost weekly. I've tried everything: Bios updates the battery-only restart/sleep, and more but nothing seems to keep my system stable long term (I've thoroughly tested all my other components. The only thing to blame at this point is the GPU drivers.)

TL;DR I'm done with the 7970m. Time to drop $740 on a 680m.

 

that's strange... i thought i was the person with the worst experience so far because i never got to OC my card.

if you need stability: just use the stock drivers. they have been working for everybody and if you're geeting BSODS or black screens i guess it's either your fault or you have received a damaged card.

 

im a CSCI major, never had to use my GPU, For games yes, not the best. Crashes games and BSOD once in a blue moon. nothing un-managable

 

Wait a few months for the next cycle (series) to come out? 8000M / GT700M.

Strong feeling you won't be picking up the 8000M series though.. Just saying, the latest BETA 11 drivers work fine for me. Random Hitman crashes, but fine for everything else.

 

That sucks man, my sympathies. I went with nvidia over amd in my sager np9170 just because of the issues i read about on these forums (including ones of satisfied customers)

So far my 675mx can handle everything i need, maybe you could save yourself some $ and go with that card while you wait for the next generation. Good luck, hope you can get back to gaming soon.

 

I would, but I don't think they're changing architecture so the the performance gains vs. wait isn't worth it for me. Trust me, when the 7970m works, it works great. I just need something that I can rely on to work all the time with good stability.

 

I've never considered myself a fanboy of either AMD or Nvdia; i usually just buy the best performance i can get and it has happened to be nvdia the past two times.

Beanwolf, i know there are a lot of forums here on nbr dedicated to the amd 7970m issues. Maybe it is worth giving it one more shot?

 

$583 for 680M
- $300 for selling 7970M (?)
= $283

Not so bad as $768
BTW: Welcome to the world of Nvidia. 680M is a beast and a great overclocker

 

I originally ordered my P170EM with a 7970m in April, but thanks to this forum I changed my order to a 680M, had to wait a month and a bit but boy am I glad I did, I haven't had any issues since the day of purchase, I am also free to change drivers back and forth without even thinking about it. Not bashing the 7970m or anything, It's an awesome card, just the drivers... some people have been successful, some haven't, personally I don't regret my choice whatsoever.

 

Hmm, I'd rather buy from my reseller where I get a good warranty and a guarantee. And I do plan on selling the 7970m. I know the card works, its just the enduro drivers. An HM/Crossfire user would love this thing.

 

Do you reinstall your system weekly ?! Something must be wrong.
Try to install the BETA-driver in this way:
Uninstall both all AMD-drivers and Intel-drivers.
Boot into safe-mode and use Driversweeeper to clean all the remaining AMD-stuff
Install the latest Intel-driver in safe-mode.
Boot normally and install the AMD-driver
Reboot. For me, I had to reboot two times before it worked for some reason.
Now, the latest AMD-driver should work, and you should not get blue screens.

 

Hooray, you're doing something about your issues rather than whine forever! Good luck with Nvidia. Glad I don't have any of your issues though. Haven't had BSOD since Windows 8 was released.

Next time, I recommend giving your money to Mythlogic, not those jokers at Origin.

 

i heard 7970m had throtlling issues too

 

I heard aliens lived on Mars.

 

The stock driver should be very stable. At least the stock Sager driver is extremely stable, but I'm not sure about Origin. If you want semi-stability with better performance, 12.11 beta is a good way to go.

And Hulawafu, acting like a child won't help you get your point across. Yes, we understand you aren't having any issues.

 

rofl

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

made me giggle, im not gonna lie.

 

Yep, I also switched about a week ago, and got exactly what I expected, huge DCS performance increase. So I'll be selling a 7970m as well.

Note to OP: The Clevo 7970m is also a drop in card to Dell Alienware systems. The market is pretty large
Also, best get the Clevo 680m, it's the 4GB version.

 

Why was hulawafu banned?

 

well, hes always been a bit.... "super active" when trying to explain stuff to newbies or affirming his opinion on something

 

I feel bad for him because he had over 2,600 posts and racked up rep. Yeah he may have been immature sometimes but I don't see how he ever broke any rules. I wonder if it happened behind the scenes in a PM conversation between him and a mod, and he lost it. His last few posts are clean so I really have no idea what could have pissed a mod off that bad.

 

I've generally agreed with everything the guy says, but yeah, he can be abrasive at times. Probably just a temporary ban.

I got permabanned from an old forum (clubrsx) that I had over 3k posts on because I cracked a joke about this 45 year old fascist moderator who spent all his time wielding the banhammer on a compact car forum filled with teenagers lol... I didn't really break any rules, but got banned anyway. Sometimes it doesn't take an "official" reason; people get banned for being impolite all the time lol.

 

its a mod's world i guess so better behave people!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

Because someone finally came to their senses.... he seams to work for AMD/ATI directly... and flame ANYONE who's opinion paints AMD/ATI in a bad light.... Thank god and good riddance!

 

hey now, he gave good advise and was firm in what he believed.

 

TRUTH. Well partly anyway. I found him to be extremely grating, dismissing anyone else that had an opinion different to his. Especially with regards to the 7970m. I recall a post he made where he confessed to being an AMD fanboi, from then on I took most things he said with a grain of salt. This is with my old account of course.

 

I don't know how much you have tried, but it is a shame you have given up. I've managed to "fix" my issues in a couple of weeks from my purchase (when the beta 12.11 came out). Made a clean install of just those beta drivers and have only been experiencing a BSOD or two at most in a week ONLY while booting (which can be fixed by unplugging a/c but I don't bother). Besides that, the card works fine. Furthermore, the new WQHL is rumored to be released in the next day or two which, if based on 12.11 with some extra tweaking should put all the ENDURO problems to rest!!! (hopes high)

The card is like a wild horse that takes time to tame, but once you mess around with it a bit, understand the nuances of what it likes and what it doesn't it does the job fine. LOL..

Not trying to convince you otherwise, it is just the amount that you are willing to pay for that upgrade is HUGE! I am that's like half of what I paid for my 150EM! But oh well, good luck with your choice.

 

Hulawafu77 used to be a great user until the past month. He turned into a passive aggressive monster, at least on this forum. He didn't deserve to be banned, but don't praise him for being such an a** about everything. There is a difference between being firm and being immature.

Juozias, I feel the same way. Stock drivers are 100% stable, and 12.11 beta offers much better performance in exchange for slight user tinkering to remain stable. I am still waiting for a driver that completely gets rid of the Enduro troubles while providing a smooth, care-free experience. That driver is probably months away though.

 

$745 is a lot of money for the video card. I hope you can sell your 7970m for a good price to balance out the cost. Personally, I spent about $300 for a "spec upgrade". If you can sell your card for $500, you are doing ok.

It is such a shame that such a powerful and awesome video card is being crippled by Enduro.

 

Well, I've restored my system to how it was shipped to me via an included system image since I started this thread. I'm now running the stock drivers again. I haven't tried gaming at all, but the power on/off BSOD's don't happen with the stock drivers thankfully, so I can at least get to class and complete my weekly assignments without worrying about losing them.

However, I have had a few that seemed to happen at random, thankfully not when I'm working. They're all memory management 0x1A's and seem to happen exclusively on battery power, typically whilst viewing video content on the web, and I've tested this RAM extensively (hours upon hours of prime95 and memtest86+) when I believed my RAM or mobo might have been the issue. This leads me to believe that the switchable AMD drivers are the issue, causing corruption through poor power management. Is there a way to just uninstall the 7970m completely until my 680m arrives? I'd like to do further testing while I'm still in talks with my reseller.

 

Well, I am no expert but I guess you could disable it through the device manager and just stick with the HD4000.

 

Yeah, just uninstall your ccc and run off the igpu.

 

as no one has mentioned it in here yet: amd will release 13.1 whql today, so i guess you should give it one last try before switching. for myself, i would hate myself for switching now if this driver will really solve something

 

@beanwolf: u could always go all out and take out the amd gpu completely inclusing the respective heatsink and fan that way ull have a lighter and much quieter laptop running only on IGP. ultrabook clevo style baby!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

Yes, but it's almost always the case that when you upgrade during the build of your system you save. For the OP and for someone like me, we are both going to be paying a little more now that it's too late to upgrade through reseller. What can you do, I guess take out vengeance on AMD

Yes it is a shame, they also just targeted the fixes to mainstream/popular titles initially, so people playing less popular or older games will be SOL even longer.

 

The second I can find a plug I'll be nuking all my 7970m drivers in an attempt to run completely off my iGPU. I'll let you know how it goes. I've put in my order though for the 680m, should be here by the end of the week hopefully.

 

I recall seeing an official AMD post that mentioned the BSOD's are a result of how the current driver interacts with the memory controller. Just wanted to make you aware, as its definitely not your RAM! Here's to hoping 13.1 WHQL which releases today will resolve the BSOD's.

 

You have no idea how much this sets my mind at ease my friend. I feared going through yet another arduous RAM-pulling test process. Still haven't got to a plug yet to uninstall drivers, but hey, that's college. I swear Pitt designed their campus for Macbooks.

 

Could you find the source for that info? And do you know if that is a software issue?

 

Well, if he can't, I'm now proudly driving on nothing but the iGPU. 680m is a few days out, and so I'll run my laptop as hard and fast as I can over the next few days and see if I BSOD. I'll report back with a WhoCrashed log the second any occur.

 

Unfortunately I don't have the source bookmarked and I'm at work currently. It is a software issue and the BSOD's are expected to be resolved with upcoming drivers. We'll just have to wait and see if AMD holds up their side of the bargain.

There are no hardware issues with Enduro that I'm aware of and I've been doing a lot of research since I'm buying a laptop in the coming weeks. AMD just needs to iron out the software side of things.

 

it definitely isnt a hardware issue since the only difference between enduro and optimus is the software/drivers. hardware-wise they have the exact same base

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

It's been so far so good with just running the iGPU. Shame I can't put my laptop in sleep mode so long as I leave the 7970m in there, but I'm holding off on open-heart laptop surgery until Friday when the 680m train pulls in. I can deal with hibernate.

 

680m, that's quite the train to hope on. Wish I could join you

 

After two full days of running on the iGPU, I can say that I'm confident the 7970m drivers were the issue. I haven't had a BSOD since I uninstalled them. 680m should be in by mid-day today, so I'll update again here should anything go sour.

 

I'm a little fuzzy on this, but I do recall having occasional blue screens while watching videos with the stock driver.

First of all, 12.11 will not and should not give you BSODs at any time besides startup. That issue is fixed by starting up unplugged though.

Great news: it seems 13.1 WHQL may be completely BSOD free. We will see as time goes on. I hate to say it, but I think if you had waited for 13.1 WHQL before ordering, you would not have ordered.

Still, the 7970M is a work in progress and I believe the 680M is a good choice even now.

 

That's just it. I can't take "seems" from AMD any more. I need more concrete driver support and I'm willing to pay the premium. When I install that 680m later today, it will hopefully be the final chapter in a long series of headaches.

 

I like amd. They seem to have it backwards. Make good hardware but don't have the support for it and make it run right. The 7970 has been out how long and try are just now trying to get it working right.

 

He also gave a lot of bad advice and spewed near constant stream of fanboi bs which made it quite difficult to troubleshoot genuine problems. He's the guy that for several months insisted that there were no problem with Enduro and that it must be a configuration issue on other users' laptops. He was also quite aggressively dismissive of anyone posting info about 7970m enduro issues, injecting a lot of doubt about whether reported problems actually existed - which isnt what you really want when you are trying to convince a company like AMD that their product is a little faulty. I honestly wouldnt be surprised if he worked for amd's P.R. dept.

 

680m has arrived! Install went flawlessly. Had one BSOD immediately after install that happened right after Hotkey crashed, but on reboot everything appears fine. Will update if further problems arise, but I doubt that will be the case.