Radeon HD 7970 DC2 TOP - Issues

[stitch]

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to post my experiences with my first iteration of this card just so that others were aware of some signs that they may have a defective card.

Windows 8:
Yes, I know this card doesn't even have preview drivers yet, but oddly it worked best under Windows 8. The issues I encountered were limited to random BSOD after the system sat idle for long periods of time (even with power saving features turned off like turning of the monitors and sleep). It seemed to run games just fine. The only odd-ball thing I noticed off the hop was the factory set clock when I opened up Overdrive was the 3D clock was set to 600 MHz. Even after that things were okay except for the random BSOD.

Windows 7:
This is where things went south fast. Running a game like Battlefield 3 or Mass Effect 3 at 1 GHz (factory overclock) resulted in a crash (3 screens, 1 different colour per screen) as soon as the GPU's 3D clock kicked in and the game was going to go full screen. I checked voltages, I checked card temperatures, everything seemed okay (except for the well documented VRM issue) with the card. My system voltages are stable, temperatures are nice and cool (my CPU generally only hits 40c if it is really hot in the room.) I disconnected devices, tried with only one monitor, no banana. So I downclocked the GPU to 925 MHz. Battlefield 3 now loads as does Mass Effect 3. Battlefield 3 does crash after 15-20 minutes with a black screen crash, but I was expecting that to no doubt be another issue un-related to the card itself.

So what am I doing? I'm taking it back to the place of purchase and praying that they have a newer revision of the card with the VRM cutout on the backplate and will see if the store will test it before I take it home.

[Spoony]

todays issues continue.

ANYTHING i start using a video crashes my PC with a Black screen and the fan at 100% and on reboot i get one long beep and 3 short beep.

changed the ram cpu on another board but the card doesnt.

tip top card is ****ed

[Tennobanzai]

I reformatted and used te beta drives. Only played 1 game of SC2 but no crashes at stock. That is a first but that's far from being
100% stable

[Johan1981]

Keep us (me) informed! Hope the best!!
Still going strong here 🙂

[Tennobanzai]

Johan1981 wrote:
Keep us (me) informed! Hope the best!!
Still going strong here 🙂

I had to reinstall the drivers because CCC wasn't responding. After I installed te driver without CCC and used GPU Tweak instead, now I'm getting black screens in 3D apps.....

[Johan1981]

Under reformatted you mean a clean install?
Maybe stupid, but already got your most up to date BIOS for your mobo?
On a Dutch forum I read from a guy who got it (with an HD6990) solved with a update of his BIOS
and a clean install.

[Tennobanzai]

Johan1981 wrote:
Under reformatted you mean a clean install?
Maybe stupid, but already got your most up to date BIOS for your mobo?
On a Dutch forum I read from a guy who got it (with an HD6990) solved with a update of his BIOS
and a clean install.

Yes I did a clean install and I'm on the newest Bios. I made sure I cleared CMOS as well

[Johan1981]

Darn it mate! 😞 After some day's still got the same problems?
I still haven't encountered any problems, besides some jitches in my taskbar when running
CCC and GPU-tweak at the same time.

[Tennobanzai]

Johan1981 wrote:
Darn it mate! 😞 After some day's still got the same problems?
I still haven't encountered any problems, besides some jitches in my taskbar when running
CCC and GPU-tweak at the same time.

Yep, I reformatted again and still the same problems. CCC doesn't respond so I reinstalled the driver without CCC and used GPU Tweak and MSI Afterburner. Both crashing at stock 1000mhz..

I ended up emailing Asus support and they didn't have any good suggestions. Just told me to start another RMA...

[Sarg_Scorpio]

Hey guys, I got word from ASUS Australia Graphics Card Manager

"Thanks for your time today regarding the issues you have had with the 7970.
As we discussed, if you can highlight and detail the problems you have been having I would like to escalate and report these problems to our HQ. "

Ok guys he wants me to email him a list of ALL the problems we have been having and what you have tried to do and if you have fixed it or NOT ? Please leave a message below in 1 topic each so i can use this instead of trying to put things together from the forums already posted.
Please don't make it too complicated as he told me this would be read by many people who English is not first language.

Eg:

Error:
More than 1 screens make the card blue screen very often.
Details:
Getting 116 error whenever more than 1 screen is used. Causes memory dump blue screen, happens anytime within 1mins-12hours. Windows freezes then goes to a black screen and then crashes.
Tried:
Fresh install of windows with 12.1,12.2,12.3,12.4,12.5 and 12.6 drivers all still cause the same issue, when only 1 screen plugged into the card wont blue screen for alot longer but will still do it at some stage before 72 hours.
Fixed:
not that im aware but did not get to try 12.7 drivers cause got 680 now

[Johan1981]

Finaly I'm back with a clear awnser, atleast, for my problems (black screens with a total freeze).
Since yesterday my problems returned for no reason (didn't change anything in the meantime).
Tried every driver from 12.1 onward to 12.7 beta. This last one did fine for a week and suddenly
also freezed once in an hour. Unchecked hardware acceleration in Flash and in Firefox (advanced)
to no luck. Now deleted all my drivers, cleaned it with driversweeper and no driver present and guess
what..... for 2 full day's I can internet, watch movies, play flash-based (browser)games and no freezes.

so definatelly a driverissue which AMD should adress!