Black screen and screen tearing with Radeon 6870

[Kementiri]

Ok so my boyfriend purchased a new graphics card (AMD Radeon HD 6870) for me so that I could play Skyrim with maxed settings. Or so I thought after 5 minutes of play I get screen tearing and black screen. Sometimes even a white screen and an error messge (Display driver AMD has stopped responding and has recovered). This card is WORSE than my old Nvida GTS 250...

My specs: Operating System: MS Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit SP1
Graphics: SyncMaster (1920x1200@60Hz)
AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series (XFX Pine Group)
Ram: 4.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 401MHz (5-5-5-18)
Hard Drive: 488GB Seagate ST3500320AS ATA Device (SATA)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-MA790FX-DS5 (Socket M2)
Processor: AMD Phenom Quad Core Processor 9550 Agena 65nm Technology 2.2 GHz
Power Supply: Antec 650W NeoHE650 50/60 Hrz

I'm not a computer expert and my other half is even WORSE so I am trying to figure this out on my own. Is the card being restricted due to the power supply? Or is it the Processor? I can run the game SORT OF on low settings but as soon as I try and up the settings I get the crashing. I ran an OCCT power supply test at 1920x1200 setting for 10 minutes and it stopped after 3.5 minutes with a display saying GPU core over maximum value! 86 was reached, Max value: 85. But no errors came up other than that message.

I can't afford a new computer hence me getting a new graphics card ( I was told from the sales person that my rig could run this but he also asked me if I had a 900 watt PSU???) I am pretty sure from looking online that a 650 Watt PSU could run this card. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[geekapproved]

A 500w psu would be fine. You'll never see the full capability of that video card though because it's being held back by your slow cpu.

As for the error, that's a common error with numerous forums dedicated to that one problem. It happens with nvidia cards too but the error is nvllkdm display driver has stopped responding.

I would remove all nvidia and amd drivers and start over with fresh driver install. If that doesn't work maybe a fresh Windows install will do it.

Not sure about the tearing, could be a bad card, have to asked XFX tech support about the error and what to do about it?

 

[Kementiri]

I used Driver Sweeper and cleaned out some old Nvidia files I found in there. I also started fresh with AMD drivers and removed and reinstalled them. I'll try the game now and see what happens. OK I don't how many different resolutions I have tried and on almost all of them there is screen tearing. It doesn't crash as much on medium graphics with a screen resolution of 1140x900 but the game looks like crap.

 

[geekapproved]

You always run your monitors native resolution. Are you doing that?

Are you sure your monitor isn't 1080p? (1920x1080)

Are you sure 1920x1200 is supported?

 

[Kementiri]

I checked online and 1900x1200 is supported and when I try and change my resolution it is the one that windows recommends as well.

 

[geekapproved]

Have you tried 1080P?

 

[Kementiri]

I'll give it a try. I am so used to running things on the highest resolution that I have become a bit spoiled. Thanks for actually taking the time to respond to my rants.

 

[uglynerdman]

Heres my solve for a similar problem.

First set your desktop to a lower resolution that your monitor supports

Then control panel. uninstall your drivers for your old videocard. (check if there is a repair drivers option for old videocard suite software in control panel>install programs. Repair it and then uninstall it.)

Uninstall all drivers for your current videocard.


usually old drivers are still there messing with your current ones. usually requires a drive sweeper for etc and some other complicated nonsense you dont need to get.

Do this. Reinstall your drivers. Go to Control panel's install uninstall manage.

Go to the catalyst or ati whatever it is now. it should have an option that says this .
Change

From change you will get an install manager. Select "repair"

It gets rid of old registry entries, corrupt files. Basically it just makes shure the old crap thats there is gone. my issues were resolved that way when changing videocards.


that did the trick for me. Your issues are with your drivers concretely. consider using the newest or and older install. i went back to a older driver the newest ones were causing me problems. dont forget to use teh repair option in the amd/ati install manager. Yes it repairs the driver. it actually works. i believe this will resolve your problem.

 

[Kementiri]

Best answer selected by Kementiri.