R7 260X always runs at 2D Clock (300Mhz)

[Blín D'ñero]

I have accessed to the BIOS but found no option to disable the iGPU

Which motherboard exactly do you have?

 

[BSim500]

Hi guys, I've bought HIS R7 260X IceQ X2 1GB for a week and I'm suffering a really annoying problem. When I played some games (like AC4,FC3,..), the fps was very low, although I had choosed medium settings ( AA off at res 1366x768). I was so disappointed when my card should play those games smoothly at even much higher settings. Then I discovered that my GPU Core Clock stuck at 2D Clock 300Mhz and it never changed. I tried so many ways to fix the problem (reinstalling the Windows, reinstalling many versions of AMD Drivers) but it didnt come to the solution. Can you guys help me to solve this? Thank you very much!

Hi bigbanghuy, if it's any consolation I had exactly the same problem with a 7790 (virtually the same card). I can't remember which driver it was (13.8 / 13.9 - something like that) would randomly lock in my card at 300Mhz. My only "solution" was to downgrade to 13.4 - been working fine ever since.

Others have found the same thing:-

"the windows score drops because the gpu clock get stuck at 300mhz, it happened to me too. With the 13.4, my 7790 scored 7.7, and with the 13.9 scored 6.9 , then i noticed the gpu clock issue, I immediately went back to the 13.4"
http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=454&threadid=167993
http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=454&threadid=170118

Try the older 13.4 drivers and see if it still happens.

 

[erocker]

Which motherboard exactly do you have?

^Yes, this.

 

[xvi]

Try the older 13.4 drivers and see if it still happens.

I agree.

My first suspicion would be drivers. Second suspicion would be an issue with GPU BIOS (whether or not OP wants to flash is a separate issue).
I think we can rule out heat since we're not seeing so much as a blip above 300 mhz, but I'd still be interested in seeing a screenshot of the sensors tab in GPU-Z during/after a stress test. I think that should give us some clues.
It might be worth trying to manually "overclock" the card (to stock speeds) in CCC if it gives you that option.

 

[Blín D'ñero]

I have accessed to the BIOS but found no option to disable the iGPU

Which motherboard exactly do you have?

Some boards might not give the option of disabling the IGP in BIOS. Although disabling it in BIOS is the best option, not to worry: you can disable it in Device Manager as well.

1. Control Panel -> Device Manager.
2. On the left expand "Display Adapter". One of the two (probably the first, its name will be obvious) is the IGP (integrated graphics processor) /iGPU (integrated graphics processing unit). Right-click on it -> Disable -> OK.
3. Reboot the PC.

 

[kn00tcn]

the 13.4 drivers are unlikely to support the 260x

my idea was also to disable the intel integrated gpu in device manager, curious if that works everywhere such as switchable laptops

also started wondering if the i5 cpu could be holding the card back, but that cant be if gpuz test didnt do anything

what motherboard is this?

there is a possibility to force any clocks you want with a modified CCC XML profile

 

[bigbanghuy]

Which motherboard exactly do you have?

It's Asus P8H61-M LE

Some boards might not give the option of disabling the IGP in BIOS. Although disabling it in BIOS is the best option, not to worry: you can disable it in Device Manager as well.

1. Control Panel -> Device Manager.
2. On the left expand "Display Adapter". One of the two (probably the first, its name will be obvious) is the IGP (integrated graphics processor) /iGPU (integrated graphics processing unit). Right-click on it -> Disable -> OK.
3. Reboot the PC.

I've done that. But the problem still happens!

the 13.4 drivers are unlikely to support the 260x

my idea was also to disable the intel integrated gpu in device manager, curious if that works everywhere such as switchable laptops

also started wondering if the i5 cpu could be holding the card back, but that cant be if gpuz test didnt do anything

what motherboard is this?

there is a possibility to force any clocks you want with a modified CCC XML profile

Can you show me how to do that?

 

[Blín D'ñero]

It's Asus P8H61-M LE

I've done that. But the problem still happens!
[...]

After you disabled the IGP, you have to reinstall the Catalyst 13.12 driver set (but first clean your PC from the previous AMD drivers, see below).

Try disabling it in BIOS; it is better anyway for several reasons. The P8H61-M LE has an UEFI BIOS. If your BIOS is similar to the boards i know look for:

• Advanced Mode, ->
  System Agent Configuration
  • Initiate Graphic Adapter: PCIE
  • [...]
  • Initiate iGPU: Disabled

If you have successfully installed Catalyst 13.12 WHQL, you could navigate to C:\Users\*YOU*\AppData\Local\ATI\ACE and open the Profiles.xml. You could edit it with your xml editor or with Notepad++. (Note: that is not the standard Notepad!)
It contains the settings for the card. But don't do anything with it if you don't know what you're doing.

Again:

• after you have disabled the IGP, you should
• uninstall all previous ati/amd software (following these steps exactly)
• reinstall Catalyst 13.12 WHQL
• Your problem should be solved now.

 

[bigbanghuy]

After you disabled the IGP, you have to reinstall the Catalyst 13.12 driver set (but first clean your PC from the previous AMD drivers, see below).

Try disabling it in BIOS; it is better anyway for several reasons. The P8H61-M LE has an UEFI BIOS. If your BIOS is similar to the boards i know look for:

• Advanced Mode, ->
  System Agent Configuration
  • Initiate Graphic Adapter: PCIE
  • [...]
  • Initiate iGPU: Disabled

If you have successfully installed Catalyst 13.12 WHQL, you could navigate to C:\Users\*YOU*\AppData\Local\ATI\ACE and open the Profiles.xml. You could edit it with your xml editor or with Notepad++. (Note: that is not the standard Notepad!)
It contains the settings for the card. But don't do anything with it if you don't know what you're doing.

Again:

• after you have disabled the IGP, you should
• uninstall all previous ati/amd software (following these steps exactly)
• reinstall Catalyst 13.12 WHQL
• Your problem should be solved now.

I've followed very carefully all your steps. But here is the result:

This is when I run the test from GPU Z.

 

[Blín D'ñero]

[...]
This is when I run the test from GPU Z.

Which test are you runing there? Because that is not a test. That is just idle mode showing in GPU-Z.

Your mem clock goes up and down though.

 

[bigbanghuy]

Which test are you runing there? Because that is not a test. That is just idle mode showing in GPU-Z.

Your mem clock goes up and down though.

I ran the Render Test of GPU Z.
Here is the screenshot of Furmark test:
The GPU Core Clock still stuck!

 

[de.das.dude]

Which test are you runing there? Because that is not a test. That is just idle mode showing in GPU-Z.

Your mem clock goes up and down though.

i cant ignore this.....

have you ever run the GPU-z test? i dont think so.
if you hover the move over the PCIe link, it will pop up a mini stress test that will stress the system.

even a layman can look at the GPU load graph and say that its actually at 100% load.
still you say its not stressing....

 

[Steve-007UK]

It might show 100% load but the core is still showing as 300mhz and 15fps in furmark at 1366x768 seems rather low to me even for that gpu so i say there is something not quite right here.

 

[BSim500]

I ran the Render Test of GPU Z.
Here is the screenshot of Furmark test:
The GPU Core Clock still stuck!

As explained in earlier post, that's exactly the same bug I had in AMD drivers that seems to affects Bonaire cards (7790 & R7 260X). AMD Forums are useless for any official reply, so your best bet is to file an official bug below and hope they do something fairly quickly:-
http://www.amdsurveys.com/se.ashx?s=5A1E27D25AD12B4F

Or failing that, AMD support lines:-
http://support.amd.com/en-us/contact

The 7790 card can be easily fixed by rolling it back to 13.4 but that probably won't work on the rebadged R7 260X as it wasn't supported until later drivers. Try unticking Enable Graphics Overdrive in CCC and see if that makes any difference as there was one driver version I tried where it froze the GPU clock at 300MHz even under load (in Furmark same as you) only whenever OCing was enabled? I can't think of anything else to suggest. I don't think it's a hardware fault, just flaky drivers. I remember reporting it as a bug for the 7790, but I haven't tested later versions and have stuck with 13.4, as I've honestly reached the stage where "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"!

 

[Blín D'ñero]

onscreen display)

I ran the Render Test of GPU Z.
Here is the screenshot of Furmark test:
The GPU Core Clock still stuck!

As your screenshot shows, you have Furmark running in windowed mode. Why?
In windowed mode your clocks will keep running in 2D speeds.
You need to run videocard tests and benchmarks in full screen. [Note: Full screen is NOT the same as maximising the window!]


Besides that... what you outlined in the picture, is GPU-Z's OSD (on screen display) of its last memory of info on the background (it is not working right now because you are benching and GPU-Z is really dumb), whereas the bottom line (below what you outlined) is saying that your card (GPU1) is running 1000 Mhz core / 1500 mem / usage: 100%. So that's allright, isn't it? Although i would not expect it to be fullspeed in Furmark windowed mode but it is long ago i saw that test myself;... and your fan maybe should also go up normally.... howeverr... only 54 °C so that is excellent heat transfer; no fanspeed increase necessary.

So... what was the problem again?

 

[Blín D'ñero]

For monitoring i would advise you to stop using GPU-Z. Instead use MSI Afterburner (added link. Take the latest beta [second downloadbutton from above], it is absolutely fine).
Stay away from the advanced parts (they are disabled by default anyway), but use the monitoring part.

Amongst the most useful monitoring options also enable the framerate monitoring. Then run a game, and quit. Then Pause the monitor and see the framerates you just had in your game. So you could compare to similar systems and determine if yours seems to be performing as expected, if you doubt that.

 

[kn00tcn]

As your screenshot shows, you have Furmark running in windowed mode. Why?
In windowed mode your clocks will keep running in 2D speeds.
You need to run videocard tests and benchmarks in full screen. [Note: Fullscreen is NOT the same as maximising the window!]

uh, fullscreen is only required for crossfire 3d clocks & older generations of cards

 

[Blín D'ñero]

uh, fullscreen is only required for crossfire 3d clocks & older generations of cards

Oh that would explain it for me: i'm running crossfire on all my pc's; in fact since my 4870X2 in 2008.

 

[kn00tcn]

Oh that would explain it for me: i'm running crossfire on all my pc's; in fact since my 4870X2 in 2008.

i actually wonder about your 7970s in CF, i would expect it to run the same as a single card windowed... it would be unfortunate that you get worse performance than if you removed the 2nd card (it matters since not all games let you go fullscreen, along with 3d tools, etc)

 

[de.das.dude]

As explained in earlier post, that's exactly the same bug I had in AMD drivers that seems to affects Bonaire cards (7790 & R7 260X). AMD Forums are useless for any official reply, so your best bet is to file an official bug below and hope they do something fairly quickly:-
http://www.amdsurveys.com/se.ashx?s=5A1E27D25AD12B4F

Or failing that, AMD support lines:-
http://support.amd.com/en-us/contact

The 7790 card can be easily fixed by rolling it back to 13.4 but that probably won't work on the rebadged R7 260X as it wasn't supported until later drivers. Try unticking Enable Graphics Overdrive in CCC and see if that makes any difference as there was one driver version I tried where it froze the GPU clock at 300MHz even under load (in Furmark same as you) only whenever OCing was enabled? I can't think of anything else to suggest. I don't think it's a hardware fault, just flaky drivers. I remember reporting it as a bug for the 7790, but I haven't tested later versions and have stuck with 13.4, as I've honestly reached the stage where "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"!

i already told OP but he wont listen and all the other people are saying that i am wrong. even when no one else has used the bonaire chip. finally someone like me comes along who has ACTUAL experience not some vague idea like the rest on this thread.
you cant do anything even amd didnt fix it after i mailed them. just reinstall os and move along ffs.

no one can help you. i knew more than the rest here, which is why i got straight to the point. having experience i dont need to follow "procedures". procedures are when u cant figure out whats wrong and what needs to be done.

i right away knew whats wrong and what needs to be done. (you can see in first post i stated this after requesting some prelim checks)

google will show you how bad the thing is that no one has been able to solve. only option OS reinstall or reset.


this is one of the reasons i went from windows 7 to 8.1 on my desktop aswell. windows 8.1 allows you to reset the whole os so no need to reinstal.


i think its been two weeks since i had said what needs to be done, but the others said no there is a way... i dont see any answers from them.



/rant

 

[bigbanghuy]

i already told OP but he wont listen and all the other people are saying that i am wrong. even when no one else has used the bonaire chip. finally someone like me comes along who has ACTUAL experience not some vague idea like the rest on this thread.
you cant do anything even amd didnt fix it after i mailed them. just reinstall os and move along ffs.

no one can help you. i knew more than the rest here, which is why i got straight to the point. having experience i dont need to follow "procedures". procedures are when u cant figure out whats wrong and what needs to be done.

i right away knew whats wrong and what needs to be done. (you can see in first post i stated this after requesting some prelim checks)

google will show you how bad the thing is that no one has been able to solve. only option OS reinstall or reset.


this is one of the reasons i went from windows 7 to 8.1 on my desktop aswell. windows 8.1 allows you to reset the whole os so no need to reinstal.


i think its been two weeks since i had said what needs to be done, but the others said no there is a way... i dont see any answers from them.



/rant

I've just reinstalled my OS for several days and with the CCC 13.12, it still stuck!

 

[de.das.dude]

dude..... try the latest one the 14.1 with the MANTLE.

 

[Blín D'ñero]

I've just reinstalled my OS for several days and with the CCC 13.12, it still stuck!

Your card is not stuck.

Quoting from my previous post:

what you outlined in the picture, is GPU-Z's OSD (on screen display) of its last memory of info on the background (it is not working right now because you are benching and GPU-Z is really dumb), whereas the bottom line (below what you outlined) is saying that your card (GPU1) is running 1000 Mhz core / 1500 mem / usage: 100%. So that's allright, isn't it?
[...]
So... what was the problem again?

[EDIT: Ah.. i see you get only 15 FPS... you receive contradicitng info from the application. /EDIT]
Run a normal benchmark like 3DMark 2013 (and stop staring at gpu-z). You will soon see more obvious proof whether your card operates as it should or not.

 

[Steve-007UK]

I agree with the above post, You should really run a proper benchmark and then check your score agaist the same card.

Furmark just sucks and is not what i class as a real benchmark or idication of real performance.

 

[de.das.dude]

this is weird, when i had this problem it was fixed after i reinstalled my OS, and got new drivers for the chipset and the gpu.
is ur chipset updated?