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.

[bit1der]

Havn't used my 7970T for a long time(
Is the voltage lock on GPU tweak fixed for now, or Asus still doesn't give a ^&*( about owners of this card?

[HiVizMan]

bit1der wrote:
Havn't used my 7970T for a long time(
Is the voltage lock on GPU tweak fixed for now, or Asus still doesn't give a ^&*( about owners of this card?

They do give a sh1t about the owners of that I am sure off. We all would hope that a simple fix would be available and that ASUS would release it sooner rather than later of course. I am just not sure if it is possible to fix via a BIOS flash for the vga, or if that bios fix will not cause other problems down the line that make it impossible for ASUS to resolve quickly. But I can assure all folks waiting for said fix that ASUS are aware, and your concerns have been made know to the powers that be many many times.

[lenehan]

Nope. It still no fixed for now. Being waiting since the day I have the card.

[bit1der]

THNX HiVizMan. Hope Asus customer service were working as good as ROG moderators of this forum.

[stitch]

Well, since I've now found out that I can run DirectX11 games at default Radeon 7970 clocks ONLY and can actually then run games at 1920x1080 without the system completely locking up (now it just stutters occasionally), I believe I've got reproducible results to take back to my retailer to request a replacement-non Radeon card.

As it stands, I'm fairly certain that this is a voltage issue. Using all of the diagnostic software I could find, GPU Tweak, AfterBurner, etc. the voltage simply does not increase enough for the card to use DX11 at 1GHz GPU. The default GPU voltage on my card for example is much higher than that on other 7970s I've read about and that same research shows that certain 7970s can hit 1 GHz at close to stock voltage.

I'm also pretty sure though that even with quality binning, the 7970 GPUs are all over the map when it comes to voltage so really, ASUS was in for a world of hurt with factory overclocked GPUs from the factory-since it is likely AMD couldn't produce consistent wafer results at the fab which would also likely mean that using specific settings across a range of cards is also very problematic.

[Nilti]

Hello I have a similar problem.

When running a heavy game on the HD 7970 DC2 not the top one. I get my screens with some nice colors and the Computer commences a shutdown.

This happens like playing games as Planetside2, Saint rows 3 and Guild wars 2.
When I put the games on a higher graphics fidelity this crashes the computer. for instance when I run Saints row 3 with the lowest graphics it runs when I run it with anything mentioning directx11 it crashes.

Directx 11 is installed and I confirmed there where no problems on the other side of my rig.

I have the following setup:
Sabertooth FX990
AMD FX-8150
Corsair Vengeance 16 GB DDR 3 RAM
HD 7970 DC2

This is running on windows 7 ultimate
I have a dual monitor setup with the DVI cables connected.

I re-installed the Drivers multiple times this helped in that I could start saints row (but only low graphics).

I can play very low demanding games but this still flashes on my screen.

Any ideas?
I will try to downclock the CPU later this week.

All the best for the rest

[stitch]

Hi Nilti,

Underclock the GPU and RAM using Catalyst Control Center's Overdrive tab. It sounds like the exact same issue I have. I had to explain repeatedly to the store I bought mine from how to test as their methods weren't stressing the card enough and yesterday they have finally confirmed that "there is something odd" about my card.

Go figure.

If the card does work at 925 MHz GPU and 1325 RAM, the answer is that your card also suffers from what I believe is a voltage issue (or binning issue) with the 7970 DC2Ts.

[Nilti]

Hi Stitch,

Sadly downclocking did not help either.
I will try contacting my supplier and complain about this.

Will see what my next step is.

And will let you know about this.

Greets Nilti

[regujohn]

stitch wrote:
Hi Nilti,

Underclock the GPU and RAM using Catalyst Control Center's Overdrive tab. It sounds like the exact same issue I have. I had to explain repeatedly to the store I bought mine from how to test as their methods weren't stressing the card enough and yesterday they have finally confirmed that "there is something odd" about my card.

Go figure.

If the card does work at 925 MHz GPU and 1325 RAM, the answer is that your card also suffers from what I believe is a voltage issue (or binning issue) with the 7970 DC2Ts.

i had same problem and i try to billion ways to fix this problem.only can solve this way:
cpu clock;925
mem clock:1375
no other way.i dont think it is solve with drivers.this cards completely wrong about voltage value.and always locked this value!!
anyone solve this problem witohut underclock?

[stitch]

Good luck!