HD 5970 issue with drivers / PCI-E 2.0 only 4x/2x mode

[Kanan]

A few days ago I noticed crossfire mode is off and PCI-E is down to 4x/2x mode (from 4x4x I think) in GPU-Z. I then tried the 15.8 (coming from 15.7) and all other drivers, all would have disabled Crossfire with "disabled adapter" showing in CCC. The best driver with enabled Crossfire is the 14.3 Beta 1.0 now. It's okay but GTA 5 performance with it is worse since I use custom profile for CF now. CCC shows 16x/16x 2.0 modes, GPU-Z only 4x/2x still.

I tried a different PCI-E slot on my motherboard, didn't change anything. I don't think Windows is the problem. I deleted and installed the drivers many times and used DDU, so that's not it. Crysis 3 works normal, perf in 3Dmark11 is normal, I play or bench with high overclocks, np. Just I can't use current drivers anymore (having CF-profile issues in games, basically game issues in some newer games then) and the 4x/2x in GPU-Z is disturbing me a bit. First it was at 16x8x, then 8x/8x, then 8x4x, then 4x4x and now its down to 4x/2x.

Question: is my HD 5970 slowly going broken or is it just a driver/software issue with CCC/Windows 8.1 and/or even false alarm?

 

[Batou1986]

Its crossfire + current drivers, when I had 6870 x 2 I had the same issues and just gave up on it.

 

[Kanan]

Its crossfire + current drivers, when I had 6870 x 2 I had the same issues and just gave up on it.

That's bad. You think AMD sabotaged the drivers so you need to buy something new? It's just wild speculation I admit, might just as well be partially broken.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Have you ever cleaned its Heat sink out. Try disabling ulps with Oc software like saphire trixx

 

[Kanan]

Have you ever cleaned its Heat sink out. Try disabling ulps with Oc software like saphire trixx

ULPS is disabled because the 14.3 Beta I use right now has a bug, but I tried it with 15.7 - no changes.
No, never cleaned heat sink, you think dirt changes PCI-E - Bus and driver compatibility? No irony/sarcasm intended.

 

[bromanbro2]

I HAD THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM ON MY DIAMOND 5970!

First I noticed performance issues in EVERYTHING (including Flash/HTML5 videos), and probably spent hours upon hours switching GPU drivers, formatting, and even trying Linux, as I was hoping it was a software problem.

However, eventually my 5970 just broke one day, and completely bricked =(. I still have that broken 5970 sitting in my closet.

Your 5970's on limited time .

 

[Kanan]

Thats bad. Well you enjoyed that card for many years I guess.
I think I have a few days or weeks left till it snaps out. I'm trying to get a new card soon though. Not entirely sure if its a 970 or 290X at this point.

 

[Batou1986]

That's bad. You think AMD sabotaged the drivers so you need to buy something new? It's just wild speculation I admit, might just as well be partially broken.

I would lean more towards incompetence and not testing changes with old hardware to see if it breaks anything.

I would just use old working drivers.
I haven't updated past the Omega drivers for my 7950, any changes they make to the driver are not going to make it work any better and stand a high chance of making it not work right at all.

 

[Kanan]

Hmm, yeah maybe you're right.

But sometimes you NEED to upgrade to new drivers, because you want to play GTA 5 for example. GTA 5 needs 15.4 and I think 7950 works fine with any driver, I mean even my HD 5970 worked fine with 15.7 until it got strange.

 

[kn00tcn]

Hmm, yeah maybe you're right.

But sometimes you NEED to upgrade to new drivers, because you want to play GTA 5 for example. GTA 5 needs 15.4 and I think 7950 works fine with any driver, I mean even my HD 5970 worked fine with 15.7 until it got strange.

& whenever you need mixed driver versions, just do it per game

you didnt make it clear if you're staring at gpuz during an idle desktop, it is not supposed to show full speed pcie unless there is a fullscreen gpu accelerated application running (that's why that render test next to the pcie speed has a fullscreen button)

now, the first post is a bit confusing, it sounded like CF stopped being enabled, but then you say it's only specific games & GTA5 is fine, so which is it?

i would just use the latest driver that has working CF for games known to not be broken (if you had GTA5 working, battlefield, some older ones, etc), then you can say any NEW games with issues are just lacking new/updated profiles (you are free to force other profiles to try to improve such a game)

i could get into more detail about the CAP files (sometimes the per game dll trick isnt enough), but you should tell me which games are problematic first

 

[bromanbro2]

& whenever you need mixed driver versions, just do it per game

you didnt make it clear if you're staring at gpuz during an idle desktop, it is not supposed to show full speed pcie unless there is a fullscreen gpu accelerated application running (that's why that render test next to the pcie speed has a fullscreen button)

now, the first post is a bit confusing, it sounded like CF stopped being enabled, but then you say it's only specific games & GTA5 is fine, so which is it?

i would just use the latest driver that has working CF for games known to not be broken (if you had GTA5 working, battlefield, some older ones, etc), then you can say any NEW games with issues are just lacking new/updated profiles (you are free to force other profiles to try to improve such a game)

i could get into more detail about the CAP files (sometimes the per game dll trick isnt enough), but you should tell me which games are problematic first

It's probably the same as it was for me - the newer drivers worked (showed CF as enabled, but still 4x PCIE no matter what, via CCC and GPUz while it was doing a render test), along with stuttering in everything.

Older drivers show Xfire as disabled (and drivers that 7/8 install by default).

There's no solution. His card's in its final death throes.

 

[Kanan]

& whenever you need mixed driver versions, just do it per game

you didnt make it clear if you're staring at gpuz during an idle desktop, it is not supposed to show full speed pcie unless there is a fullscreen gpu accelerated application running (that's why that render test next to the pcie speed has a fullscreen button)

Yes I did, HD 5970 always shows full speed in GPU-Z (and you can conclude that from the context too), it doesn't work like later Cards that can decrease PCI-E speed.

now, the first post is a bit confusing, it sounded like CF stopped being enabled, but then you say it's only specific games & GTA5 is fine, so which is it?

Read the post again? I clearly stated it was fine after installing a old driver that have CF enabled, but not the newer ones I used before.

i could get into more detail about the CAP files (sometimes the per game dll trick isnt enough), but you should tell me which games are problematic first

Thanks, I appreciate your help, but I'll get a new card soon, it's not worth it. For the time being, it's working like "okay".

It's probably the same as it was for me - the newer drivers worked (showed CF as enabled, but still 4x PCIE no matter what, via CCC and GPUz while it was doing a render test), along with stuttering in everything.

Man, you guys really need to read! I mentioned already the old driver has CF enabled for me, the newer ones past 14.3, not. So its (sadly) the opposite - I'd never open a thread if I could use the newest drivers. Stuttering I have maybe in GTA 5 but thats only because I'm forced to use a custom profile due to no profile being included in 14.3 drivers.

There's no solution. His card's in its final death throes.

Sad but 98% true. Other option would be, it's my Windows 8.1 thats hindering the card, but I dont think so. The card decreased over time, slowly. First it worked fine, then less and less Bus speed, to the point that the newer drivers shut off CF entirely and forced me to use old drivers.

Thanks people I think we're at an end here, I'll probably get a 970/290X soon.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

ULPS is disabled because the 14.3 Beta I use right now has a bug, but I tried it with 15.7 - no changes.
No, never cleaned heat sink, you think dirt changes PCI-E - Bus and driver compatibility? No irony/sarcasm intended.

I think heat damage over time can show in weird ways , as some say it may be too late already but id try a reflow or at the very least a re tim.

I had dual 58xx cards and 1 new gen R9 390 X ,let alone fury would definitely make you smile my 7970 bested my xfire setup and my new R9 390 non beats both and was cheap ,good times.

 

[Kanan]

I think heat damage over time can show in weird ways , as some say it may be too late already but id try a reflow or at the very least a re tim.

I had dual 58xx cards and 1 new gen R9 390 X ,let alone fury would definitely make you smile my 7970 bested my xfire setup and my new R9 390 non beats both and was cheap ,good times.

Maybe you're right, but honestly I never opened a card before, what advise would you have for me doing it the first time?

Edit: you edited too, saw it now after post. Yeah, I think I don't touch CF/SLI anytime again, it's just too much hazzle with pretty much anything. HD 5970 just was a coincidence because I got it cheap 2 years ago (I wanted to go HD 5850 CF but ended buying a 5970 instead and sold my HD 5850).

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Maybe you're right, but honestly I never opened a card before, what advise would you have for me doing it the first time?

It would take some prepping and equipment to do it could cost between 20-,40 quid for thermal transfer paste a reflow pen and soldering iron but it sounds like the pciex chip on the card might revive with a reflow to me in that it sounds like that chips failing when stressed but if you have the free cash buy new nows a good time cos its not easy if you get the stuff and a small head phillip pozi screwdriver shout me out.

Xfire is better on newer gen cards but i agree single gpu is easier, most gpus ive had in 1 rig is 5, in this rig too but totally pointless physx hybrid experiments aside 1 card rules.

 

[Kanan]

It would take some prepping and equipment to do it could cost between 20-,40 quid for thermal transfer paste a reflow pen and soldering iron but it sounds like the pciex chip on the card might revive with a reflow to me in that it sounds like that chips failing when stressed but if you have the free cash buy new nows a good time cos its not easy if you get the stuff and a small head phillip pozi screwdriver shout me out.

Yeah I'm pretty gifted, but that sounds too much for me.

Xfire is better on newer gen cards but i agree single gpu is easier, most gpus ive had in 1 rig is 5, in this rig too but totally pointless physx hybrid experiments aside 1 card rules.

5? Wow, thats a lot. 4 CF/SLI + 1 IGP? Well 2x 980 Ti + 1x 960 for Physx and 4K highend gaming would be nice. Would play on that any day. lol

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Likewise but I lead a lifevof compromise till that lotto win anyway , i used an odd mix of sli and xfire plus a seperate physx card mostly trying to fold@home on them the at the same time but i also considered it a reasonable plan to play all games with all features inc physx ultra'd but it wouldn't fold without issues and the evga 460x2win i had was a straight pain in the ass all round i sold it on in a rig.
Pciex risers were required though too which doesn't aid stability oh well nowt ventured.

 

[Kanan]

Likewise but I lead a lifevof compromise till that lotto win anyway , i used an odd mix of sli and xfire plus a seperate physx card mostly trying to fold@home on them the at the same time but i also considered it a reasonable plan to play all games with all features inc physx ultra'd but it wouldn't fold without issues and the evga 460x2win i had was a straight pain in the ass all round i sold it on in a rig.
Pciex risers were required though too which doesn't aid stability oh well nowt ventured.

Yeah, I know what a life of compromise is, I can tell you that. Fermi is a problematic GPU design yeah, especially 1st gen, though it sounds interesting with that mix. Best Fermi I know of is of my Dads, its a redesigned GTX 570, thats a lot smaller than the original design and lot less power hungry. Got it cheap for him on ebay.

Btw. I'll get a 290X, 970 is bad in DX12 It seems, Fable DX12 benchmark newly released clearly points towards GCN, and oh well, 980 Ti. 970/980 have too few amount of shaders I guess.