Ati HD 5970 running slower than ussual?

[chaseace]

Hello again,

Previously I had issues with my XFX HD 5970 BE and had a thread open on here. From the suggestions received I figured it was faulty and sent it off for repairs. XFX happily replaced the card and I received a refurbished HD 5970.

Now here comes the issue, I have done a complete format and fresh install of Windows 7 64 bit. I find that its not as fast as my GTX 460 and stutters a lot more.

Stuttering in games such as NFS Most Wanted (2012) and Assassins Creed III both on highest settings 1920x1200. In NFS MW the HD 5970 was not capable of handling the Super Sampling and left that on off.

My config:
Intel i5 2400 @ Stock
16GB Corsair DDR3 Ram @ Stock
GA-Z68X-UD3-B3 Motherboard
XFX HD 5970 Black Edition 2GB
2x 120GB SSD OCZ VERTEX3 in RAID0
Corsair TX850

I have attached a 3DMark 11 results tested on "Extreme(X) 1920 x 1080p ..."

Also attached GPU-Z screenshots

If anyone can confirm these are normal?

Thanks in advance

 

[erocker]

Are all drivers updated/installed? Check your device manager.

Is Windows completely up to date via Windows Update?

Is DirectX completely installed? http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35

 

[Dent1]

Has this issue just recently occurred. When did it first occur?

The GTX 460 is not even in the 5970s league, it's up to 116% slower.

According to this http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_460_1_GB/31.html

Something has gone wrong, whether drivers or a faulty/dying card. I'm not sure.

Judging by your 3D Mark 2011 score in extreme settings, it looks healthy. Found two links running the same card (similar CPU) and are scoring significantly less than you. So my money is on drivers, or missing DLL files or Direct X or some conflict.


http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5415117
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/1758503

 

[erocker]

Has this issue just recently occurred. When did it first occur?

Says that it's a new/fresh Windows install, that's why I suggested new installation things.

 

[chaseace]

I just wanted confirmation of my 3D Mark results, atleast I know the cards working to expectations.

I find it that NFS MW and Assassins Creed stutters randomly, normally when changing the view fast, I know it can be HD reading as I get over 800mb read speeds. Or is it just me asking for too much from the HD 5970? I have 3x 1920 x 1200 monitors will be doing eyefinity soon when I get my active cable. Worried that it will be crappy and wont be able to handle it..what do you guys think?

Anyone have any suggestions

 

[Dent1]

I just wanted confirmation of my 3D Mark results, atleast I know the cards working to expectations.

I find it that NFS MW and Assassins Creed stutters randomly, normally when changing the view fast, I know it can be HD reading as I get over 800mb read speeds. Or is it just me asking for too much from the HD 5970? I have 3x 1920 x 1200 monitors will be doing eyefinity soon when I get my active cable. Worried that it will be crappy and wont be able to handle it..what do you guys think?

Anyone have any suggestions

TBH 3x 1920 x 1200 is asking too much for pretty much any video card.

Was your old XFX 5970 stuttering in the same games before it became faulty?

If you're just reinstalled Windows, make sure it's completed all of the Windows Updates to 100%. Manually scan and make sure there are no pending updates. Sometimes Windows Update silently runs in the background which can cause strain on CPU usage and internet connection, thus causing sluggish performance in games.

 

[chaseace]

Yeah I kinda figured as the card cant even handle one screen properly lol..

No it was smooth, just one GPU died some how then was being funny..with drivers and all sorts.

I have updated all the windows updates. Other than the stutter its pretty smooth, on my GTX 460 I had a setting to do with pre buffer frames, does ATI offer anything like that?

Thanks for all your help

 

[Dent1]

Yeah I kinda figured as the card cant even handle one screen properly lol..

No it was smooth, just one GPU died some how then was being funny..with drivers and all sorts.

I have updated all the windows updates. Other than the stutter its pretty smooth, on my GTX 460 I had a setting to do with pre buffer frames, does ATI offer anything like that?

Thanks for all your help

In addition to installing Catalyst drivers, did you install the latest Crossfire Application Profiles?

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/crossfirex-app-profiles.aspx

 

[Grnfinger]

my 5970 ( when I had it) was smooth as butter.
I found 12.11 beta was the best for my setup and gave the best frames and bench scores.

Also flashing the cards bios helped a great deal with a lot of 5970 issues.

 

[Dent1]

Give this a try,

AMD new beta driver fixes any CF related stutter. (assuming your issue is CF related)


http://www.techpowerup.com/188254/a...a-fixes-crossfire-frame-latency.html#comments

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/AMDCatalyst13-8WINBetaDriver.aspx


Worth a try!

 

[chaseace]

What bios would you say flash it to..I think it has the latest XFX stock bios (Posted in post #1)

I am just downloading and installing the beta drivers hopefully give me better performance.

Thanks

 

[Dent1]

What bios would you say flash it to..I think it has the latest XFX stock bios (Posted in post #1)

I am just downloading and installing the beta drivers hopefully give me better performance.

Thanks

XFX stock bios should work, keep in mind XFX might have numerous 5970 variants so make sure its the right one first! And always back up your old bios before doing anything!

Your issue is most likely driver related so I doubt a bios will help. Flashing the bios is risky and you can brick your video card so its the absolutely last resort.

Let us know if you manage to solve the issue.

 

[chaseace]

Just to give an update yeah the beta drivers did help, given slight performance enhancement. I purchased a HD 6990 recently for £220 but later was gifted another HD 5970 from a friend. CrossfireX would be great however drivers are not that great lol. What are your views should I upgrade to the HD 6990 or add the HD 5970 (Making it 2x HD 5970's)

Thanks

 

[Law-II]

Hi

Try the system with single HD 6990 should have less issues, crossfired hd 5970 will not give great returns above 3 GPU's and has 1Gb less memory;
try both configs ~ *unless you have to purchase another PSU for 5970's in xfire will draw at peak 588 Watts.

Note: Max power consumption of the HD 6990 is 375 Watts, has bios switch for higher core and mem settings and mem bandwidth of 320000 MB/sec

Specs on paper - here [not in game] would have to run some real world test's

nb: If get a chance next time when logged in to the forum; go to UserCP at top of the page and fill in system specs; hardware, brandnames and OS [saves having to type them out again if start a new post]

atb (all the best)

Law-II

 

[maksic87]

Man... I read this post and remember the hell i had with once mine 6870. Man did that card gave me trouble. It worked for like 3 weeks when i bought it. Then it crashed once. Crashed twice. After that i got hieroglyphs on my screen. I RMA-ed it 3 times, after that, and a 2 month waiting and hoping for a good sample of the card i gave up and asked for my money back. There was an issue with those cards, till the today's day i don't know what was it.

My buddy thinks that the faulty part is the maintenance chip on the cards, on the whole series of 5800 and 6800. And i give a +1 to that claim. I tried my friends good 6870 and it worked perfectly on my rig. So i guess my buddy is right.

 

[chaseace]

Hi,

Thanks for your help in the previous thread and this current one. I have updated my system specification for you.

I have a corsair TX850W will that be enough for the HD 5970 Xfire?

All I want to do is to be able to play on 3600x1920 resolution, not on high settings but not too crappy. I find that on games such as Mass Effect I get a lot of tearing, crysis (the first release) can be played however on medium.

I can understand its a high resolution which is why I am asking whether a HD 6990 will perform better than a HD 5970 at that resolution or which would be the better choice? I have also thought about considering a HD 7970 as it seems to outperform both of these cards in most benchmarks.

Thanks

 

[FreedomEclipse]

you need at least a 1kw PSU to be on the safe side if you have high end and overclocked hardware, As it is, I dont think its worth getting another 5970 to crossfire - there are even single GPU cards that perform better, run cooler and drink less juice from mains that make going 5970 crossfire such a ridiculously bad idea at this stage. Its really not worth it.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Hi,

Thanks for your help in the previous thread and this current one. I have updated my system specification for you.

I have a corsair TX850W will that be enough for the HD 5970 Xfire?

All I want to do is to be able to play on 3600x1920 resolution, not on high settings but not too crappy. I find that on games such as Mass Effect I get a lot of tearing, crysis (the first release) can be played however on medium.

I can understand its a high resolution which is why I am asking whether a HD 6990 will perform better than a HD 5970 at that resolution or which would be the better choice? I have also thought about considering a HD 7970 as it seems to outperform both of these cards in most benchmarks.

Thanks

The 7970 performs better at that kind of resolution due to it's vram 3gb , I doubt a 6990 beats it at that res plus another 7970 could be added later.

 

[chaseace]

Well I paid £100 for one and £70 for the other..I got them cheap from a local retailer that closed down..

 

[maksic87]

The 7970 performs better at that kind of resolution due to it's vram 3gb , I doubt a 6990 beats it at that res plus another 7970 could be added later.

+1 to this reply. IMO you are better of with one 7970 now and another one latter then with Xfired models of the previously mentioned GPU-s.

Only to add you should get a 1kW PSU when you do get a secondary 7970.

 

[chaseace]

Yeah I probably get try to get rid of these and buy 2x 7970's?

I did try the HD 5970 in Xfire it worked fine but I didnt notice that much of a difference. I found that in games like Mass Effect 3 its smooth but when I look the other way it takes lags then becomes smooth. I know its not my hard drives as I have 120GB OCZ Vertex3 in RAID0. Must be the vram maybe limited to how much it can store?

Thanks guys

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

if your running a 5970 and having stutters at 1920x1080 max settings I can almost 100% Guarantee its due to the 1GB frame buffer.

You are also playing 2 games that tend to favor Nvidia on top of both already being pretty much Utterly terrible PC ports. Both games have been constantly plagued by performance issues since there release.

AC3 tends to hate crossfire as well from what i remember since your card is two GPUs that kind of explains alot as well.

From the 7990 review older cards crossfire may work but judgeing from the review here I think Xfire is broken for AC3 so your 5970 is only really a 5870 in that title from the looks. Thus why your GTX 460 looks faster AC3 is optimized for Nvidia GTX 460 would be roughly equivalent in that game due to this. NFS thats just a rough port.

 

[Law-II]

I have updated my system specification for you.

Nice one thank you

I have a corsair TX850W will that be enough for the HD 5970 Xfire?

I see from later post #21 that this worked; not much difference due to Quad/CrossfireX profiles being optimised for few game engines, only game that I know off hand that AMD pushed quad GPU support is Aliens vs. Predator [some games benefit from using other game profiles; but it is hit and miss.

All I want to do is to be able to play on 3600x1920 resolution, not on high settings but not too crappy. Mass Effect, *crysis (the first release)

+1 crazyeyesreaper [*crossfire support was an afterthought]

I have also thought about considering a HD 7970 as it seems to outperform both of these cards in most benchmarks.

This is the direction to look toward and consider offerings from both camps AMD & NV as the GA-Z68X-UD3-B3 supports Crossfire and or SLi

atb

Law-II

 

[Dent1]

The 6990 is faster than a single 5970 but only slightly. With the exception of a couple of games, Anandtech shows a 10-20FPS separation. If the 5970 was CF it would annihilate the 6990.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/515?vs=587

Saying that, if you feel your stutter issue is a hardware fault, it wouldn't be wise to pair a working 5970 with a faulty one in CF.

As far as the 6990 vs 7990, the 7990 is consistently upto 30-50% faster. Is PSU constrains isn't an issue 6990 in CF would be as fast or faster than a 7990. I would only go down this route if you can obtain a 6990 for cheap otherwise a single 7990 is best.

Whichever card you buy performance will always be a struggle gaming @ 3600x1920 resolution.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/976?vs=813
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7990/25.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7990/26.html

 

[chaseace]

Iv decided on not getting the HD 6990 as its not worth it. I have purchased a HD 7970, but its going to take upto 3 weeks to arrive.

The HD 5970 are working fine, I think its driver issues mainly as Crysis seems to work perfectly just some games that give stutter. But lowering the graphics quality does help but looks crappy lol..

I think ill wait for the HD 7970 and see how that goes.

The HD 7990 is 2x HD 7970's right? So crossfiring it later would be a good route to go?

Thanks