Losing my patience

[Fawkon]

Here's the deal. Bought a Vortex III Elite with crossfired 7970m's last month. Issues so far

- Bigfoot killer Lan card does not work correctly. Internet connection drops out every few minutes for no discernible reason. This is now a well documented issue on their forum which they do not appear to care about repairing

- I have had constant issue with the 7970m's, one minute they work alright, the next one won't kick in, stays at idle speeds during game etc. Tried all manner of driver combinations etc. no luck

- My laptop Gpu's reaching 97oC is not normal or ok. I have a laptop cooler under it running at full rpm and it still reaches these temps. It is ridiculous.

-Dead pixel. Frustrating but took out year warranty so that's not a huge issue

To be honest i was hugely excited with getting a Laptop custom built from PC specialist but am getting more and more frustrated when i cannot get my laptop to wok as it should.

I paid the equivalent of 2,300 euros for this piece of hardware. I slowly beginning to regret it. All i want is for it to run correctly and no amount of tinkering is working. And i also do not want to have to pull apart a 1 month old laptop to see if the heatsinks are lined up or if their is thermal paste applied which i paid extra for.

 

[Raptor]

1. That my be software related rather than a fault by PCS, try checking if the card has similar problems online, there's an extremely low chance the card is faulty

"Edit" Windows 8 is still an early piece of operating system, so some software such as wireless may not fully work together till the manufacturer patches it up.

2/1. Could you elaborate more? also, check your options on how much the graphics cards are allowed to use (power wise) and are you connected to power all the time.
2/2. You mentioned heat. If a laptop reaches a certain degree per say if mine reached 90oC, it would use only 70% of my gpu and cpu, if it reached 100oC it would use 50% and if higher it would automatically shut off, it's built in in every laptop, so high chance the heat is stopping it from using the full potential


3/1. If indoors is 20oC the laptop will automatically be 20oC, add 70oC from the actual cpu and gpu and you'll get 90,
3/2. You're also meant to clean the vents, get an air can and spray it out
3/3. check if the laptop is same heat with the cooler and without, if it is then there might be a vent which is blocked out by dust or something else.
3/4. verdict, clean out the vents, check if there's an actual difference with and without the cooler, at worst point contect PCS support


4. Well for dead pixel, i'm sure your warranty will fix it, in mean time whilst they do it they can check the "3/4" point if the problem persists

 

[Fawkon]

1. That my be software related rather than a fault by PCS, try checking if the card has similar problems online, there's an extremely low chance the card is faulty

"Edit" Windows 8 is still an early piece of operating system, so some software such as wireless may not fully work together till the manufacturer patches it up.

2/1. Could you elaborate more? also, check your options on how much the graphics cards are allowed to use (power wise) and are you connected to power all the time.
2/2. You mentioned heat. If a laptop reaches a certain degree per say if mine reached 90oC, it would use only 70% of my gpu and cpu, if it reached 100oC it would use 50% and if higher it would automatically shut off, it's built in in every laptop, so high chance the heat is stopping it from using the full potential.

As for the high temps, they should not be that high whether the GPU has a built in throttle or not especially after only 1 month. It is winter and i don't have heating in the room i use the laptop.


3/1. If indoors is 20oC the laptop will automatically be 20oC, add 70oC from the actual cpu and gpu and you'll get 90,
3/2. You're also meant to clean the vents, get an air can and spray it out
3/3. check if the laptop is same heat with the cooler and without, if it is then there might be a vent which is blocked out by dust or something else.
3/4. verdict, clean out the vents, check if there's an actual difference with and without the cooler, at worst point contect PCS support


4. Well for dead pixel, i'm sure your warranty will fix it, in mean time whilst they do it they can check the "3/4" point if the problem persists

Don't have windows 8. Using windows 7.

Elaborate: My GPU 1 under afterburner stays underclocked at 300mhz and 150mhz respectively. 3D Mark gets a 5000 score!? Borderlands barely gets 30 frame a second etc. Tried 12.11 drivers 12.10 etc. Reinstalled windows everything fresh no change.... I don't feel that a blocked vent should be occuring after one month of use do you? I understand that if these are software related they're not really PC specialists fault but it still is very frustrating buying such an expensive piece of hardware from them and struggling to get it running at any sort of acceptable level.

 

[Raptor]

Don't have windows 8. Using windows 7.

Elaborate: My GPU 1 under afterburner stays underclocked at 300mhz and 150mhz respectively. 3D Mark gets a 5000 score!? Borderlands barely gets 30 frame a second etc. Tried 12.11 drivers 12.10 etc. Reinstalled windows everything fresh no change.... I don't feel that a blocked vent should be occuring after one month of use do you? I understand that if these are software related they're not really PC specialists fault but it still is very frustrating buying such an expensive piece of hardware from them and struggling to get it running at any sort of acceptable level.

I know that at some point ATI tried to mimic nvidias optimus technology, i can't remember to which cards did it apply to (i think it was the 6000 series but it might have been implemented in some 7000 series as i've seen people speaking about using it.).
There used to be a problem where the game would use the intel HD graphics instead of the dedicated graphics card for gaming, this would put the graphics card on idle whilst burning up the cpu (metaphorically speaking) to high temps.

I think that this may be the problem in your case, the games might be using the intel hd graphics rather than the 7970s though i'm not sure how to check it.

Im pretty sure certain games allow you to choose which graphic cards to use, for example skyirm.
before launching it up in advanced options you would be able to choose which graphics card to use.


Edit: the 6000s series had it, which was based by ati, the 7000s series had it which was based on sandybridge, they'd come with a program called "switchable graphics card", i'm sure there are more, but i can't find at the moment.

 

[Raptor]

http://alienwarearena.com/forums/topic/16676/hardware/wireless-keeps-disconnecting/

http://www.killergaming.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-4986.html?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-solve-wireless-connection-problems-m17x.html

Here are some things that may help you with the wireless problem.

I'd also see if it's not your router that keeps blocking you out every now and then, mine does that every few days which makes me restart my wireless, however it works fine everywhere else.

So take it to your friends house and see if the problem persists before taking any action.

 

[Fawkon]

http://alienwarearena.com/forums/topic/16676/hardware/wireless-keeps-disconnecting/

http://www.killergaming.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-4986.html?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-solve-wireless-connection-problems-m17x.html

Here are some things that may help you with the wireless problem.

I'd also see if it's not your router that keeps blocking you out every now and then, mine does that every few days which makes me restart my wireless, however it works fine everywhere else.

So take it to your friends house and see if the problem persists before taking any action.

No disrespect Raptor, I appreciate you're trying to help but I do know a thing or two about computers and have done plenty of research on both my Graphics card issue and Wireless.

The wireless issue is software side and although I have found a way around the disconnecting issue it required me to disable the Bigfoot Network software which is supposed to optimize a wireless connection, the only reason I chose it over the cheaper Intel card. It is not router related.

I have also looked deep into my graphics issue and am still coming up stumped.

 

[Raptor]

No disrespect Raptor, I appreciate you're trying to help but I do know a thing or two about computers and have done plenty of research on both my Graphics card issue and Wireless.

The wireless issue is software side and although I have found a way around the disconnecting issue it required me to disable the Bigfoot Network software which is supposed to optimize a wireless connection, the only reason I chose it over the cheaper Intel card. It is not router related.

I have also looked deep into my graphics issue and am still coming up stumped.

None taken

And fair enough, now i'm stumped to, hmm is it just the gpu that heats up or the cpu to ?
Cause if its just the cpu then as i said, the games/everything else uses intel hd graphics cards, so there may be something wrong with the settings (80%) or the 7970 isn't activated(10%)... which i do say, shouldn't be the case. and if not then i have no idea. unkown (10%)

Sorry for not being able to be helpful

 

[Fawkon]

None taken

And fair enough, now i'm stumped to, hmm is it just the gpu that heats up or the cpu to ?
Cause if its just the cpu then as i said, the games/everything else uses intel hd graphics cards, so there may be something wrong with the settings (80%) or the 7970 isn't activated(10%)... which i do say, shouldn't be the case. and if not then i have no idea. unkown (10%)

Sorry for not being able to be helpful

No need to apologize. Thanks for the effort.

 

[Gazzafaegreenock]

Do you have bf3? Just thought you could observer the fps/utilisation in game and we could compare. Just to make sure it's not an ati game conflict.

 

[Gazzafaegreenock]

Also found this.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...70m-catalyst-12-10-idle-powermizer-issue.html

Does seem to be an ati issue. Even when not on 12.10.

 

[IDR15]

join the club

 

[edgez]

Hi Fawkon,

I have the same laptop as you and I can also say that my GPU's are running at around the same temp as yours. When i use Afterburner to see the stats I can see that they only reach this temperature when both cards are 100% utilized.

I'm not quite sure how or why the second card isn't running, Did you install the graphics drivers in the right sequence? using driver sweeper etc? I had the same issue for a while and then I relised that crossfire wasn't enabled in the Catalyst Control Centre Then the beast really kicked in

 

[LiddleP]

Hi again Fawkon,

I have not used any utilities to monitor my temps but will try go look for Afterburner and provide feedback.

Have you tried using the Clevo drivers ? -> http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/e-services/download/ftpout_download.asp?sno=5276&no=3

*Feedback*
Well, what can I say !! ... I'll let my report speak for itself.

First off, as regards the one GPU not kicking in, this might be Afterburner not reporting correctly, you might want to tab out of the game, close it down and restart it before tabbing back into game - if the game is Windowed and not Fullscreen when you tab back in, crossfire will not be in effect until it goes fullscreen and afterburner will again wrongly report the GPU being active - when you tab back in, the game should be in fullscreen mode for Afterburner to properly report.

I found that out when I tried switching from using DX9 to DX11 as before, when I tabbed back into game after loading/reloading up AfterBurner, it was always at Fullscreen and both GPU's were being reported correctly - but since trying DX11, in attempt at assisting with providing a report on the temps, even though I have now switched back to DX9 it goes into Windowed mode and afterburner does not pick up on the GPU coming back online when I go Fullscreen, so I will now have to look into that - hope that helps.


***** Edit *****

Switching back to DX9 solved my problem as I can tab in and out of the game and restart Aft-Burn if it wrongly reports onle 1 active GPU

***** End Edit *****


Vortex Elite 17.3":- i7-3630QM, 16GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 8GB), 2 x AMD® Radeon® HD 7970M, ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME TC COMPOUND, Genuine Windows 8 Professional 64 Bit

Afterburner v 2.3.0 monitoring Far Cry 3 " 1920 x 1080 running ULTRA and using DX9, setup with the Clevo Drivers for my OS.

After setting up and ensuring Aft-burn OSD was running ok, which took a few tweaks to get going, I tabbed out and started monitoring, Idle temps where at 47oC & 53oC (Master & Slave) at this point. At 54oC the fans stepped up and cooled the GPU's down to 39oC & 46oC after which the fans stepped back down and they both stabilised at around 51oC.

Tabbed back into game and mucked around a bit then lit it idle, average temps at idle were 59oC and 76oC. Moving about unhurriedly in-game took temps to 64oC & 88oC and in the heat of battle they went up to 65oC and 90oC. I probably need to monitor things for a lot longer than I did and I will but for I think this should suffice for now.

While 90oC is apparently ok
I am not using a cooler but had made adjustments to the rear end height of the Laptop, prior to acquiring AfterBurner, to allow for adequate airflow.
This was necessitated by what I feel is a design flaw in the chassis which Clevo really should address - by having so little clearance they have in effect restricted airflow if, what they are trying to do is avoid having feet that stick out too much then they should redesign it to have feet that push the rear end up when the laptop screen is raised, that would go some way to justify the high costs for these laptops and also presents other benefits - at the very least they need to increase the clearance below to allow for airflow and better accommodate such heat generating monsters as the HD7970m,

My mod came about as I realised that overheating had caused the system to crash on 2 occasions prior while playing and that this was due to the lack of airflow though the laptop was on a wooden tray - all in all, the adjustment works fine for me [2 x upturned bottle caps from 2 litre bottles of 7Up placed under rear feet] and the system has been relatively stable ever since with nothing occurring that I can attribute to overheating - what a modder I am - I did try using a cooler but the difference in temps is more or less the same and I prefer my wooden tray to the metal cooler - the only problem I found with my mod was with the lack of grip, so I glued the upturned caps down onto the flat tray I use to have the laptop sitting on my laps, this further helps to ensure the laptop sits in place when I lean forward or to the side to reach for a cuppa or anything else - yeah, I know, a sad mod for such an expensive system and a waste of a good tray but that's the way to get the best out of a bad situation, could be worse and I am unaware of any other whitebox that allows me to have a relatively future proof laptop - but I digress.

In conclusion, I do not have much choice but to accept that the temps are normal for these cards given that PCS have time and again assured me that my elected build, especially as regarded the 7970m, had no overheating problems, and this is in writing - as such, though I have taken the additional precaution of allowing for the increased airflow, I will be running with the system as is, a system ideal for Extreme Gaming - I will however also be writing in yet again to PCS to inform them of my findings.

If I were you I would contact PCS by email and phone to just for the reassurance that it is ok to to run with things as they are, and then just get on with gaming and if it is crashing all over the place as a result of overheating then I would return it for remedial action.