7950GX2 Compatibility Concerns.

[imported_Silverturtle]

OK, I just ran 3D Mark 06 again and only got 4600 marks. I ran it again just to be safe, changing absolutely nothing, and got 7700. What would cause it to change if I did nothing in between the tests? It just doesn't make sense.

 

[imported_Silverturtle]

Guys, I need your help please. I just ran the HL2:LC demo and only got a fps score of about 65, and the bechmarks of other 7950GX2's were 100+ at my settings. Does this for sure mean my card is defective?

 

[FireChicken]

hey silver

What did you do to fix the 3dmark scores in the beginning. You said that you changed some settings and downloaded some drivers. I have the same card with the same p5b board and am also getting low 3d mark scores. Can you tell me specifically what drivers you got and what setting you changed. Thanks silver.

I have the G5 too. you have to go into setpoint and under the advance game settings make sure the sensitivity at the top says 2000 (all the way up). If you dont change sensitivity while gaming i would just disable the lower sensitivity settings.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Something is borked up for sure.

Not to harp on ya after the fact, and my Conroe experience is nil at this point, but with all that new tech (Conroe processor, SLI board), I would have gone for a P5W (975X chipset) rather than the P5B (965). New CPU's on boards that "support" them but weren't designed for them from the ground up is always iffy. Especially when you then complicate it with a SLI-in-one video card.

It sounds like you're having a number of issues. The heat on the video card(s) suggests poor case ventilation. How many fans do you have running in that P180? Are you using that (terrible) fan shroud thingy on the side? If so take that off immediately. Do you have a 120mm fan at least on the back and top of the case?

--------------

As for the wonky 3dmark results, it sounds like SLI is working and then stops working for the card -- as others have suggested, a fresh reformat and then clean install of the drivers would make the most sense for a card like that.

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Regarding your first card (X1900XT) - it does sound like it was defective - heating up to 100C after minutes, but sometimes issues like that can be fixed by simply reinstalling the heatsink and using better thermal paste (eg. Arctic Silver 5). Sometimes heatsinks can become loose in transit. Another option is buying aftermarket cooling - a ~$25 ish Accelero X1 (Nvidia) or X2 (ATI) works wonders!

 

[FireChicken]

Maybe the 7950 has problems wiorking with the P5b. I DO NOT think the card is faulty. I would think that if the card is faulty it would not work at all.

 

[FireChicken]

I have been reading some tinhg in other threads that a beta bios seems to help. Anybody have any luck locating any beta bios foe the P5B.

 

[FireChicken]

bumpy

 

[Madellga]

From all I have read here, this points to a PSU problem. It is not getting the juice, that's why performance is inconsistent. It seems to be throttling down.

Did you plug all the power cords to the mobo and video card?

Which brand is your PSU? Can you borrow a high quality PSU from the store (like Enermax) ?

Which CPU cooler do you use? Did you applied thermal paste?

Are you:
1) Overclocking the CPU?
2) Using the thermal crap throttle in the BIOS (EIST, etc)?

I'm using a 7950GX2 with a Gigabyte board and they run perfectly well together. But again, it is Gigabyte, not ASUS.

 

[FireChicken]

I am have the problem as silver with the P5b and I have a 600w ocz PS. I dont think it is a power problem.

 

[Madellga]

Originally posted by: FireChicken
I am have the problem as silver with the P5b and I have a 600w ocz PS. I dont think it is a power problem.

I suggest that you both guys page Wesley....afterall, they are praising the Asus P5B on the front page since Friday....

Due to my bad past with Asus (sudden death, cold boot issues, etc), even if Anand himself recommends it, I will pick another brand (DFI, Gigabyte, etc)...

 

[imported_Silverturtle]

You know, I think I am going to just RMA the card and buy an eVGA 7900GTX and use the step-up program to get one the of the DX10 cards. Do you think it is a safe bet that nVidia's DX10 cards will be out within 90 days?

Thanks.

 

[Nightmare225]

Originally posted by: Silverturtle
You know, I think I am going to just RMA the card and buy an eVGA 7900GTX and use the step-up program to get one the of the DX10 cards. Do you think it is a safe bet that nVidia's DX10 cards will be out within 90 days?

Thanks.

I think they are. My purchase hinges on it and I'm not one to throw money away...

 

[imported_Silverturtle]

OK, then I think I will just order one of those 7900GTX's and get the 8800GTX (if that is what it will be called) in a few months, and that should cream even the 7950GX2.

The only bad thing is, Newegg doesn't carry them anymore.

 

[Madellga]

Originally posted by: Silverturtle
You know, I think I am going to just RMA the card and buy an eVGA 7900GTX and use the step-up program to get one the of the DX10 cards. Do you think it is a safe bet that nVidia's DX10 cards will be out within 90 days?

Thanks.

MY 7950 is from EVGA and I don't think the next gen will come within the next 3 months.

I will be happy if I'm wrong wrong on this one

 

[FireChicken]

Silver I am pretty sure your card is OK. I think it might be the mobo compatibilty. I had the 570 and it ran great. When it died I got the p5b and it is running like crap. Even if you do get the DX10 card you are going to be running into the same problems. No games will be programed for DX10 for a while(crysis is the only game so far i know of), you will have to use vista, which means a complete OS install, and then you have to worry about your mobo again being compatible. If you have the money, I would just go get another mobo. I am waiting for the 590 sieries to come out later this week, hopefully.

 

[imported_Silverturtle]

Originally posted by: FireChicken
Silver I am pretty sure your card is OK. I think it might be the mobo compatibilty. I had the 570 and it ran great. When it died I got the p5b and it is running like crap. Even if you do get the DX10 card you are going to be running into the same problems. No games will be programed for DX10 for a while(crysis is the only game so far i know of), you will have to use vista, which means a complete OS install, and then you have to worry about your mobo again being compatible. If you have the money, I would just go get another mobo. I am waiting for the 590 sieries to come out later this week, hopefully.

What same problems would I be running into when I get a DX10 card?

 

[FireChicken]

well, since dx10 cards and vista will be brand new you will have to worry about mobo compability and all the early performance problems we are experiencing now. And who knows what else...

 

[Madellga]

Some 3DMark numbers on the Gigabyte DQ6 and 7950GX2
(C2D E6400 @3.2GHz, 8x400 4-4-4 and 7950GX2@600GPU/700RAM)

3DMark2005: 15759
http://img140.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3dmark2005795032gc2doy6.jpg

3DMark2006: 9402
http://img85.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3dmark2006795032gc2dre6.jpg

Don't forget, drivers at Default Quality

No compatibility issues here

I will run tomorrow the same on my second rig - ATI x1900 based

 

[FireChicken]

Silver I really hope you didnt RMA your 7950...Cause all of your problems have just been solved. Asus just release new bios for the P5B NON-deluxe version (0309) and i just ran 3dmark 06 and just got my highest score ever 8941.
get it here. This bios is like the deluxe version in that it unlocks mutipliers.

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

I might just keep this board after all.

 

[imported_Silverturtle]

Where did you see those new BIOS? I can't find any newer than the ones from July.

 

[FireChicken]

That is soo wierd. it was up there last night. I wonder why they took it down. Ill look around

 

[FireChicken]

Silver if you want the bios, PM me with your email address ans i can email it to you. Its only like 0.5MB. Let me know. I dont know why its not on the asus DL site anymore....Other prople saw it there also.


http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...&STARTPAGE=6&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

 

[FireChicken]

it seems to be back up I tried looking all day but it was not there. Try looking for it a night

P5B Bios 0309

P5B Release BIOS version 0309
1. Fix SATA configuration select disable and compatible mode will show SATA3 and SATA4
2. Show some memory spd items to improve overclocking ability.
3. Enhance overclock capability above FSB 500
4. Support jumperfree FSB to 650
5. Add auto calculate DDR frequency rule to display DRAM frequency
6. Support Conroe CPU ratio adjustment
7. Fix system fail to POST after crash free or EZFlash when using particular XE CPU. (Note: System will still boot after performing clear CMOS)
8. Fix some ODDs fail to read files from CD under EZFlash2
9. Enhance performance with NVDIA VGA cards
10. Support AiGear for Presler 3200 c1 stepping CPU
11. Revise NOS table for conroe B2 stepping
12. Support FSB533 CPU over 3.4GHz frequency under AIbooster
13. Fix AI Gear fan speed too low sometimes under normal mode

 

[pkrush]

I think that you're having heat problems and your GPUs are throttling. Try removing the PCI slot covers above and below the card from the back of the case and install a fan blowing directly on the card. Also, how many case fans do you have installed? The other problem you might be having is remnants of the ATI drivers. To fix this, uninstall the nVidia video drivers from Add/Remove Programs (and the ATI ones if they're still showing up). Run Driver Cleaner Pro with both the ATI filter and the nVidia filter. Reboot, download the latest nVidia beta drivers (should be 91.37), and install those. Also, make sure you've downloaded and installed the dual core hotfix from Microsoft.

 

[imported_Silverturtle]

Originally posted by: pkrush
I think that you're having heat problems and your GPUs are throttling. Try removing the PCI slot covers above and below the card from the back of the case and install a fan blowing directly on the card. Also, how many case fans do you have installed? The other problem you might be having is remnants of the ATI drivers. To fix this, uninstall the nVidia video drivers from Add/Remove Programs (and the ATI ones if they're still showing up). Run Driver Cleaner Pro with both the ATI filter and the nVidia filter. Reboot, download the latest nVidia beta drivers (should be 91.37), and install those. Also, make sure you've downloaded and installed the dual core hotfix from Microsoft.

I think you may be right about the overheating problems. After a long episode of Counter Strike I started getting a ton of artifacting (almost whole screen covered in green and purple) and when I checked the GPU temps about 2 minutes later (after the game had been shut) is was still around 86 degrees C. This seems too hot for a 7950.

The artifacting in games seems present almost all the time recently actually, though not like it was as described above. Every shadar heavy item has a mild to moderate green shade to it that is very noticable even after only a few minutes.

I have 4 case fans installed, the standard three and another one that I installed to blow on the video card, not a video card dedicated fan though. What is a dual core hotfix? I've never heard of it.

Thanks for the help!