Update on Radeon 7970m (Sager/Resellers)

What kind of problem is enduro giving you?

 

Incorrect. You added to the topic of a delay of the 7970ms by stating a source that spoke of delay of a Chassis to a European reseller.

A) That does not apply to the rest of the world so do not generalize (which means you said a LOT more)

B) The Chassis delay would apply to any GPUs, not necessarily the 7970m (so there you said a lot LESS).

LOL. You don't need to be up to doing anything. Just don't fuel rumors by trying to add incorrect/irrelevant sources.

 

Well... Bear in mind I've never used any AMD product/driver/software or anything before. Initially it seemed pretty straightforward - in the Catalyst control center program under the "switchable graphics" tab, you manually set different programs to "power saving" or "high performance", and I am just *assuming* that "power saving" means the program is using Intel HD 4000 and "high performance" means the program is using the AMD 7970m, although it does not state explicitly which anywhere that I can see.

However, when I go to the 3d application settings part of the gaming tab, where it allows you to set a custom profile for a single game, adjusting stuff like AA, anisotropic filtering, texture filtering, etc... Well, you choose your settings, save the profile, save it, and then it moves itself over to your "application profiles" the default GPU it is set to, in bold right on top, is Intel HD 4000. Even though there was never a place to make that choice. So that is confusing me somewhat. I am not using that feature at the moment and am currently hoping that just having it set to "high performance" in the power settings part of the catalyst control center means it's set to the right GPU, but I'm still not completely sure what is going on. Very annoying and unclear software, at times.

 

^ Have you been gaming on that? What is the performance for a graphic intensive game?

 

there you are AMD Radeon HD 7970M - Notebookcheck.net Tech
games benchmarks, blah-blah, stuff, things, etc.

 

I've barely had time to do much intensive gaming at all, I just got Starcraft 2 installed which is a bit of an acid test for me since I play it a fair amount on all my systems, and if the 7970 is working I know EXACTLY what I should be getting on the in-game FPS monitor.

And success! at 1920x1080 resolution with all the settings on ultra (max all around) I get approximately ~100 FPS which is exactly what the benchmark on notebookcheck for the 7970 says I should be getting! That's in a fairly normal-sized battle against the AI so that's not accounting for lag or anything, obviously. In any case, it's a good sign that the GPU and drivers seem to be up to scratch and doing what they're supposed to be doing.

 

Actually I asked him that question because he said he saw the HD 4000 as his GPU. If that were the case, frame rates on games like BF3 would be terrible. I did not ask him because I wanted to know about the performance of the GPU itself. Thanks for the link though.

 

So then you are not on the Intel HD.

 

According to notebookcheck, battlefield 3 is only playable on 34.7 fps. Is this test on every thing max include vsync AA and other stuff? Am I going to see choppiness with 34.7 fps?

 

That's on Ultra setting @ 1080p. You'd want to run high for ~70 FPS. 60 FPS minimum is my personal preference. Perhaps you're fine with 30 FPS...in that case you can jack it up.

Running BF3 at ultra is a privilege not a right. I struggle to maintain 60-70 FPS at 5760x1080 at home. It's a beast of a game.

 

Unless you have a 120Hz screen, you cannot go over 60fps even though the card churns out more frames.

 

You can go over 60 FPS but it just won't add any benefit. And you always have external monitors, etc.

I run 120hz at home. Can't wait until Clevo offers 120hz. Next year I bet. Although I saw that their high-end one (P2xx or whatever) will offer 120hz with Nvidia parts. At least from the Sager ad I saw in PC Gamer.

 

You have a point.

I rest my case.

 

Anyone else have their laptops "in production"?

 

From Sager:

"I want to inform you of a minor delay we have experienced with the 2nd shipment of the AMD 7970M GPU cards. Clevo has found a minor issues in the second shipment of the GPUs from AMD, and as a result our 2nd shipment has been held back. Clevo has already setup emergency meetings with AMD Asia HQ. Both parties are working together closely to rapidly resolve the issue.

We will be receiving daily updates from Clevo regarding this setback. We will keep you informed of any new information as soon as we receive it."

 

So then it was true.

 

Yes, I received this email message five days ago; haven't heard anything since:

"New status: Phase 2 (Sent for Custom Building / Testing / Burn In & Final QA)"

 

My laptop is in production from last Wednesday. I have no idea when it will ship

 

So if my laptop is with the first shipment, then it should be fine right?

 

Thanks for the info paladin44. So, does that bolded part mean that the defective parts are limited to only the second batch? Or do the issues extend to the initial batch as well?

 

and this is very frustrating

 

I guess things are still in the air with the 7970. We do know someone has received theirs from the first shipment, I wonder all of us who's laptops are in production are part of the first batch.

 

I'm in no rush to get my notebook. But this is still frustrating news. Nothing like anticipation of a new product being held back from delays. As long as I get a working computer I will be happy.

 

Yes well it looks like AMD tries very hard to push potential customers towards nVidia. It seems counter-intuitive to me.

 

To be fair - they're both very guilty of "paper launches" - even in the past few months with their desktop parts...

 

Is this bad news for us first batch people?

 

When we sent out emails it was based on allocation of both shipments. Sager advised us there were xxxx amount of cards allocated to our orders and we sent out updates accordingly based on both shipments allocation. The 2nd shipment was expected to arrive within days after the first shipment and a 3rd shipment was expected shortly after. Unfortunately some of you that were allocated cards were part of the 2nd shipment which AMD has issues with. Once we are through all cards on the initial shipment we will be sending out updates to remaining customers awaiting the remedy from AMD. For our customers in Phase 2 it unfortunately doesn't guarantee you are in the initial shipment it was that you were allocated a card based on allocation we were told for the 1st and 2nd shipments that was expected to have been problem free from AMD and going into systems and out the door. Several systems are in the production queue awaiting the 7970's.

I know most of you are going to be frustrated with this delay. I apologize we have to break such disappointing news. Please understand this is out of any of our control and a problem with AMD to fix. There is nothing wrong with the first shipments cards. Until testing was being done on the 2nd shipment there was no indication there were problems since the first shipment was issue free. We expected continuing through orders just like the first batch as part of the entire allocation we updated on.

 

Time for you first shipment people to sell your laptops on eBay for profit.

 

This really sucks.

God damn AMD!! did you buy ATI for!! You have ruined a perfectly good tech company!

*goes into the corner angry*

 

Have you heard anything from Myth? The only thing I have heard is they have no idea about when they are getting the cards. Even the first batch. It is a bit annoying that others have had laptops delivered to customers while Myth is still waiting for its first batch.

 

No way of knowing if we are in the first batch . That right there sucks but having the 7970 is a privilege not a right so I'll be patient

 

I hope I'm first batch, I ordered April 24th :/ although I didn't pay until a few days ago

 

Last I heard was next week (as of yesterday). But who knows with this latest delay. The good thing is they're probably receiving cards on their own and not chassis with cards. So maybe it does not affect them? I dunno.

 

Well considering it's a problem specific to the GFX you could be impacted too.

 

Gotta love AMD.
6990M had also a lot of problems going behind the scenes that most people were not aware of...
AMD: Drivers that cause problems, lack of driver support where Nvidia is directly involved with the team developers in the big game studios, Enduro problems that cause a lot less FPS with the dedicated GPU, and now this....

No wonder why some OEMs have ditched AMD and only use Nvidia GPUs instead for stability. Thats why I`m waiting for GTX 680M

 

I haven't had the best experience (reliability-wise) from 6990Ms. Can you elaborate on this? Thanks.

 

wow this is suck... my payment didn't go through till may 18, so I'm sure I'm in it for the long haul. :-\

 

Damn, this is depressing...

 

wow this sucks, I'm very close to switching to alienware m17xR4 since sager hasn't even charged my credit card yet even though its been "processing" for a week.

are there any issues with m17xR4 7970m owners yet? overheating? crashing?


My summer classes are starting in a week and need my new laptop fast.

 

Someone hold me...

*breaks down crying*

 

No it is a right. A right which I paid my hard earned money for.

 

Well, at least they found it prior to shipping them out. Better to find out now rather than after everyone has their laptops with 2nd batch 7970ms in them . . .

 

Agreed.. That's a relief, especially for us international customers!

 

Dear Sager,

 

*sniff, sniff* yeah, I guess that's a bright side.. :-(

 

Justin, what showed up on testing that indicated the the second batch of 7970m cards were bad? What did they do (or not do)?

 

Yes but this is just ridiculous. AMD screws things up everywhere, every time. Their drivers are usually inferior or buggy. Someone mentioned about Enduro (which they obviously had to come up with coz nVidia had it) giving problems. And I am okay living with that. But if I want to purchase their flagship GPU and they expect me to pay top dollar for it then they need to make sure stuff like this does not happen. I am trying so very hard to not cancel my order and go buy an older AW with a 580 in SLI off of eBay. Better performance, same price. Sure it is a couple of months older but so what? I care about performance. And AMD doesn't seem to be heavily inclined on it. No wonder they always play second fiddle to Intel in CPUs and nVidia in GPUs. You produce a bunch of second best stuff and do not do even that correctly and that is where you will be.

 

I thought the 7970m was the first card out with Enduro? Have there been problems reported with it already?

 

Apart from the NVidia 8000/9000 series. Buggy drivers, overheating to meltdown. I know, I had one. On the other hand I've had no problems with the 6970m. NVidia isn't necessarily better or more stable.

 

Guess this is the price I pay for being on the bleeding edge. And just when I finally got around to upgrading my 4 year old laptop too. I emailed Xotic over the weekend to find out if they got my check and when they would start processing my order, but looks like I better hunker down for the long haul.