HD7970 not working well

[shaunnybrad]

I have purchased an Asus HD7970 and im not so happy, I am running 3x 23” monitors and I don’t know if it’s a driver problem or something else.

1 week ago I upgraded from a 6970 to the 7970 and am not seeing any difference, actually its been average.

I play LOTRO and BF3 mainly and when I play BF3 I am using 3 screens, and that seems to be ok, but even when I set it to single screen I am not getting the greatest fps.
And In lotro am not getting great fps either.

As it stands I have the best internet u can get in Australia, 30-50mbs on Telstra cable, and here are my pc specs

Amd fx-8150 (OC’d 4.2ghz)
Asrock fatality mboard
16gb ddr3 ram (at 1600)
SSD x2 (one for windows, one for games)
Asus HD7970
H100 water cooler
850w Gold corsair psu

Oh p.s my drivers are brand new!

Plz give me some advice on how to make this monster card work for me

also out of interest what temp does eveyone bulldozer run at when playin BF3?

 

[dalauder]

You may not "see" a difference--try benchmarking. We'll be able to help you more after you post repeatable benchmark results (maybe take average of 3 or 5 runs?).

If you're playing on the highest settings, you should see about a 50% fps boost: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7970-benchmark-tahiti-gcn,3104-7.html

I recommend benching "Going Hunting": http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-3-graphics-performance,3063-2.html

If you get the same fps with both, then it's likely something else bottlenecking. Check your CPU usage. That Bulldozer should be plenty for Single-Player, but might get bogged down on multi-player (although I doubt it at 4.2GHz).

 

[welshmousepk]

Did you do a clean removal of the old drivers before installing the new ones?

do you know what frames you were getting before and after?

 

[shaunnybrad]

yer i did a brand new install 2 nights ago, i formated the PC and reinstalled everything fresh..

i also notice its starts pixelating on high details sometimes in lotro when i am looking at the character.. this has never happened with any of my old cards.

as for fps not to sure, what is a good tool to monitor this in bf3?


btw even when i go to single screen for bf3 its still not as smooth as the 6970 was.

 

[dalauder]

I use Fraps for most benchmarking. You can set it up to output to Excel.

That's strange that it's that clearly not smooth though...could be the card. Try Kombustor (or similar) w/ MSI Afterburner to see if it's artifacting. OC Scanner apparently can do that too. If it artifacts, then you maybe the card has problems.

 

[welshmousepk]

If its artifacting i would imagine there is a problem with voltages or heat. download GPUz and log a file while playing. it might be that its over heating and throttling the chip.

 

[johnsonma]

Uninstall CCC and use MSI afterburner. I am using the beta MSI afterburner with my 7970 and it crushes anything I throw at it. Also check the temp on MSI if it keeps artifacting on you.

 

[shaunnybrad]

I had a look last night, and it seems with 3x 23" monitors in it is idling at 56 Degrees Celsius. and that is after my computer has been on for only 5mins.. with a cool temp in the room.

 

[johnsonma]

What kind of temps are you getting under load? Also what driver version you using? Also by CCC I was referring to catalyst control center, it installs with your drivers usually. Its pretty spotty too, uninstalling it and using MSI is much better.

 

[shaunnybrad]

even tho i am not using an msi card is it cool to use msi afterburner? also not too sure about temps under load, i actually am taking the card to get checked today from the guys at scorpion technology... and they said they have been having loads of issues with the card, alot of people are getting warranty swap overs.

oh but btw, when my gpu was ideling at 56 degrees, the gpu was running at 500mhz, and from what i have been reading it seems that that is about 10-15 degrees hotter than it should be

 

[dalauder]

How's your case airflow? And you'll need load temps before we can really know anything.

If you use MSI Afterburner (beta), you'll be able to set a custom fan profile. My friend's GTX 470 got pretty hot idling until he figured out his default fan setting was ridiculously low. You can adjust the fans however you see fit, with a focus on noise.

 

[shaunnybrad]

even tho i am not using an msi card is it cool to use msi afterburner? also not too sure about temps under load, i actually am taking the card to get checked today from the guys at scorpion technology... and they said they have been having loads of issues with the card, alot of people are getting warranty swap overs.

oh but btw, when my gpu was ideling at 56 degrees, the gpu was running at 500mhz, and from what i have been reading it seems that that is about 10-15 degrees hotter than it should be

 

[dalauder]

MSI Afterburner is the best, regardless of the manufacturer...oh, and repost.

 

[dalauder]

OP, I'm closing this tab in my browser since you're not replying. Send me a PM if you come back.

 

[shaunnybrad]

Best answer selected by shaunnybrad.