***M18x - AMD Crossfire (Driver Questions, Performance, Problems) Discussion Thread***

[TheMacs]

Hi,

A tech came and replaced both my 560m's with 6970's. Great upgrade im sure. They show up at 6900 series in windows and catalyst.

Is there anything i should do or check? i'm using Dell's latest driver and Crossfire is enabled. So at least the cards were installed correctly.

Not sure what you're asking. If they seem to be working, there's nothing to do but enjoy them really. Just make sure you test the hell out of them to make sure they won't fail down the road. I would read up on the recent ATI threads just to get up to date on the driver woes we've been having recently. The Dell drivers to seem to be best right now though, so stick with them.

If you're asking whether or not they're really 6970s, fear not since if they aren't, they're 6990s!

[Aranthira]

im sure they are 6970's but aw tech didnt connect the fan for the right one. i thought something was up and called aw. the tech was not helpful. he said everything was normal but turned out the fan wasnt connected. I reconnected but the system has had 2 spontaneous "off" events. I'm now concerned that while the CF is working the one card may have overheated and caused damage to something else which is causing the new spontaneous shutting off of the laptop.

i didnt realize the amd cards had so many issues. I just need a working m18x thats reliable.

[SMOKE_SKULL]

SO what drivers is a person supposed to run? I cant get the Dell drivers anywhere. Just 404 at every single Dell site. .

[steviejones133]

SO what drivers is a person supposed to run? I cant get the Dell drivers anywhere. Just 404 at every single Dell site. .

You should be able to download 'em simply by using Dell Download Manager instead of downloading via your internet browser. Give it a go, you might be suprised!

[vzachari]

SO what drivers is a person supposed to run? I cant get the Dell drivers anywhere. Just 404 at every single Dell site. .

Here are some benchmarks to help you chose:

From zero AMD drivers we went to 4 different drivers now that we can use with the M18x (Dell beta, 12.1 preview, 11.12 Beta 18 Nov, 11.12 WHQL)

Here are some benchmarks on some of the above drivers:

AMD Catalyst 11.12 WHQL Driver Benchmark - Benchmark3D

AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview Driver Benchmark - BenchmarK3D

AMD Catalyst All November Drivers 11.11 and 11.12 Beta Benchmark - BenchmarK3D

I am using 12.1 preview, directly from AMD, and they work great. The Dell Beta drivers also work great (I can initiate the Dell download, using chrome, directly from dell.com/support, no errors for me).

[Joce21]

Hi all! I installed the new Dell driver for 6970 and I saw with GPU-Z that one of my card at idle is constantly at 250 mhz Core clock and 900 mhz Memory clock. So this card is at 55C while my second is at 45C.

With previous driver (11.10 from amd) it was at 100/150 mhz.

Anyone can help me?

[steviejones133]

Hi all! I installed the new Dell driver for 6970 and I saw with GPU-Z that one of my card at idle is constantly at 250 mhz Core clock and 900 mhz Memory clock. So this card is at 55C while my second is at 45C.

With previous driver (11.10 from amd) it was at 100/150 mhz.

Anyone can help me?

Are you using an external monitor? - clocks whilst using an external tend to be a bit higher on the primary gpu - temps sound kinda normal too....one should cool down and then the other wshould creep up before it then cooling back down. Normal behaviour, As far as I know.

[Joce21]

Are you using an external monitor?

Yes I am.

I just unplugged it and it goes back to 100/150.

Thank you stevie!

[steviejones133]

No probs. I noticed the same when using my U2410 when I had AMD cards. Temps were aslo similar to yours also when using the external monitor, so completely fine!.

[30something]

Having a major issue that I am not sure about.

Was playing BF3 with 60 fps constantly with the Dell driver. Out of the blue some stuttering started whcih made the game unplayable. So I ran 3dV and my score was down from 23k to 11k!.

After many reboots and reinstalls same problem.

I then clean installed the 12.1 drivers. The stuttering seems to be gone in BF3 but the fps is down to 10-12 and the 3dV score is still 11k.

I'm wondering if one of my cards is bust?

Any ideas? How can I diagnose if the cards are working correctly?

Thanks in advance