XFX 6950 2GB stuck at 500MHz core??

[BlackOmega]

Hey guys,

So I just got a non reference XFX 6950 2GB. Installed it, installed 11.11 driver, go to check it, and the card wont go above 500MHz core clock, while the mem clock goes all the way to 1250 --where it's supposed to be.

So I uninstall the driver, and install 11.9, no change.

While checking the card with GPU shark, it shows the different performance states of the card.

Performance state 0:
GPU: 250MHz
Mem:150MHz
VDDC: 0.900v

Performance state 1:
GPU: 500MHz
Mem:1250
VDDC: 1.000v

Performance state 2:
GPU:800MHz
Mem:1250MHz
VDDC: 1.100v

So as far as I can tell, the card is getting stuck in performance state 1. Has anyone run across this? What was your fix?

FWIW, I noticed with my old 5870 that it too would get stuck in performance state 1 if I had any browsers open with flash animation. Closing the browser would remedy this. However, with the 6950, it does not.

Any ideas?

[_ALB_R3D X]

Did you try it while playin?
Install MSI Afterburner,activate memory monitor and start a game of choice!Now check the core clock and see if it hits 800!
I say its normal that a 6950 would only go to state 1 while browsing...these b1tches are made for gaming....

[BlackOmega]

Thanks man. Yeah I've tried playing with it and doing all sorts of stuff. When browsing or just on the desktop, it stays in performance mode 0 (250 core/ 150 mem). Then when firing up a game or 3Dmark11, it only goes into performance state 1 (500 core, 1250 mem). While surely still playable, it's performing worse than a 560Ti I have. Where it should be performing better.

I've tried uninstalling the device through device manager; uninstalling through the driver. Nothing seems to change. I've tried the 11.7, 11.9 and 11.11 drivers --all do the exact same thing. I've tried disabling Aero, turning off all monitoring software except for GPUz, still no change.

My old 5870 would get stuck in performance state 1 if I had any browsers open with flash animation. But even in-game, if you alt+tabbed out, closed the browser, the clocks would jump to performance state 2.
Not the case with this 6950 I'm afraid.
I've contacted AMD and XFX, we'll see if they have a solution.

[EarthDog]

I would say it is a driver issues still... Have you gone in to safe mode an uninstalled (all) the drivers? There may be a piece from a previous install still holding on that is causing the issue.

[BlackOmega]

Originally Posted by EarthDog

I would say it is a driver issues still... Have you gone in to safe mode an uninstalled (all) the drivers? There may be a piece from a previous install still holding on that is causing the issue.

I'd have to agree that it's something to do with the driver. I'd imagine if it was hardware related then it wouldn't switch modes at all. Haven't tried safe mode yet, but I'll give that a go in a little while. I'll be sure to delete the registry folders as well just for good measure.

And I'm fairly sure I got all of the old drivers/CCC suite out but, I suppose, you can never be too sure.

FWIW, I had a 5870 and a 5850 installed (not at the same time) not too long ago and it worked just fine.

[Jetster]

Run a benchmark

http://www.3dmark.com/3dmark11/download/

[_ALB_R3D X]

Originally Posted by BlackOmega

I'd have to agree that it's something to do with the driver. I'd imagine if it was hardware related then it wouldn't switch modes at all. Haven't tried safe mode yet, but I'll give that a go in a little while. I'll be sure to delete the registry folders as well just for good measure.

And I'm fairly sure I got all of the old drivers/CCC suite out but, I suppose, you can never be too sure.

FWIW, I had a 5870 and a 5850 installed (not at the same time) not too long ago and it worked just fine.

Follow this guide to the letter and hopefully it'll help...or anyway at least you'll clear the drivers
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=52502

[BlackOmega]

Originally Posted by Jetster

Run a benchmark

http://www.3dmark.com/3dmark11/download/

Ok so in 3Dm11, I scored a whopping P3342. Which is absolutely horrible. A PH II with a 6790 scored only 300 points less than me.

Originally Posted by _ALB_R3D X

Follow this guide to the letter and hopefully it'll help...or anyway at least you'll clear the drivers
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=52502

May sound like a silly question, but how do you stop it in windows 7? Whenever I put new hardware in, it just automatically installs the driver and there's no option to stop it.

[_ALB_R3D X]

Don't worry about that I've never got that either!!!
Anyway follow the other sreps to the letter and you'll be fine(driver side)...