7970 Screen flicker issue

[mpavao81]

So i got myself a Sapphire 7970 OC and at first i thought it was great. That is until I changed my monitors refresh rate from 60hz to 120hz i found that i get screen flicker issue at the top and bottom of the screen. After using it for awhile longer i noticed that even when set back to 60hz i still get screen flicker once in awhile but not nearly as much as when its at 120hz.

I tried changing to hdmi cable and still get screen flicker. Tried using a Display port to DVI adapter and connect to the DP on the card, doing this eliminates the screen flicker all together but doing this also does not allow me to go to 120hz on my monitor.

After reading posts online i have seen this seems to be a common issue, now my question is, is this a hardware issue or is this a driver issue. Should I wait for a new driver release or should I RMA this card.

I should also note that the screen flicker only occurs when opening and closing windows on the desktop or scrolling on page, or between levels or maps loading in games. It does not happen when the card is at full load, only seems to happen when its at idle.

Thanks

 

[Kari]

might be caused by too low idle memory clocks... have youtube (uses flash) open on one tab to make the card use slightly elevated clocks and see if it fixes it. Use GPU-Z or somthing similar to monitor the clock rates.

 

[omega21xx]

So i got myself a Sapphire 7970 OC and at first i thought it was great. That is until I changed my monitors refresh rate from 60hz to 120hz i found that i get screen flicker issue at the top and bottom of the screen. After using it for awhile longer i noticed that even when set back to 60hz i still get screen flicker once in awhile but not nearly as much as when its at 120hz.

I tried changing to hdmi cable and still get screen flicker. Tried using a Display port to DVI adapter and connect to the DP on the card, doing this eliminates the screen flicker all together but doing this also does not allow me to go to 120hz on my monitor.

After reading posts online i have seen this seems to be a common issue, now my question is, is this a hardware issue or is this a driver issue. Should I wait for a new driver release or should I RMA this card.

I should also note that the screen flicker only occurs when opening and closing windows on the desktop or scrolling on page, or between levels or maps loading in games. It does not happen when the card is at full load, only seems to happen when its at idle. Also, you should try using the Dual Link DVI on your gfx card to get your 120 hz.

Thanks

This is an issue with HDMI in general. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#Version_1.4
As far as I know, I have not found any HDMI cables supporting 1080p at 120hz.

 

[Kari]

This is an issue with HDMI in general. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#Version_1.4
As far as I know, I have not found any HDMI cables supporting 1080p at 120hz.

well it's a good thing op isn't using hdmi then...

 

[omega21xx]

well it's a good thing op isn't using hdmi then...

"I tried changing to hdmi cable and still get screen flicker."

Re-read their post. They are using HDMI when they have the problem, DVI/DP they don't have the problem but can't "use" 120hz. Which is likely fault of needing to use the dual link slot for DVI vs the DP adapter.

 

[Kari]

well yeah, but he used dvi to begin with and gets the problem... said he changed to hdmi, from where, obvious choice would be dvi...

dp/dvi converter needs to be active to support dual-link dvi properly.

maybe i need more coffee....

 

[omega21xx]

well yeah, but he used dvi to begin with and gets the problem... said he changed to hdmi, from where, obvious choice would be dvi...

dp/dvi converter needs to be active to support dual-link dvi properly.

maybe i need more coffee....

OP didn't state exactly what they used to start with so I see your point and what you say is true.
I'm in need of coffee too -_- I should have at least went to sleep last night lol

 

[mpavao81]

Sorry forgot to say i started with dvi at 120hz lowered to 60hz and when it was at 60hz on dvi the screen flicker was greatly reduced but not entirely gone. Higher the frequency the more i get the screen flicker.

And on hdmi it flickers no matter what, and then switched to the mini display port using the dvi to display port adapter and with that i get no screen flicker what so ever. Which is what im using atm.

 

[mpavao81]

So i ran a video on youtube while connected via DVI and the screen flicker goes away as soon as i close it and the speeds drop down to idle it comes back. So i guess this may be a driver issue.

 

[mpavao81]

and the screen flicker only happens when i open windows, scroll on a page, loading between levels in game, its really weird

 

[Kari]

the clocks are also defined in the vga bios, I suppose you could try Radeon Bios Editor
and tweak them high enough to fix the flickering. Though looks like the 7900 series isn't yet officially supported... So umm yeah, be extra carefull and read the instructions
http://www.techpowerup.com/rbe/
Does the 7900 series still have dual biosses? One of them should be write protected but you should be able mess with the other one...

but first check the manufacturers website for updated bios. Might be a safer option.

or just wait for a driver update...

 

[cizewsmn]

So i got myself a Sapphire 7970 OC and at first i thought it was great. That is until I changed my monitors refresh rate from 60hz to 120hz i found that i get screen flicker issue at the top and bottom of the screen. After using it for awhile longer i noticed that even when set back to 60hz i still get screen flicker once in awhile but not nearly as much as when its at 120hz.

I tried changing to hdmi cable and still get screen flicker. Tried using a Display port to DVI adapter and connect to the DP on the card, doing this eliminates the screen flicker all together but doing this also does not allow me to go to 120hz on my monitor.

After reading posts online i have seen this seems to be a common issue, now my question is, is this a hardware issue or is this a driver issue. Should I wait for a new driver release or should I RMA this card.

I should also note that the screen flicker only occurs when opening and closing windows on the desktop or scrolling on page, or between levels or maps loading in games. It does not happen when the card is at full load, only seems to happen when its at idle.

Thanks

I am hoping to revive this issue because I am having the same problem and have not yet found solution that works across the board. The difference is that I have a 7950. I get the screen flicker as well only in the upper left cornor of my monitor.

I have read about raising the idle clock speeds but that did not work for me. The screen flicker even happens during instense gaming and when my GPU is at full load such as running furmark.

I have tried on two different 7950s (both sapphire though) and still get the same problem

Has anyone found a solution to this problem?