Have these AMD issues been resolved?

Hi, I'm a long time Nvidia user though I've tried to make the switch a couple of times... I ended up frustrated by the driver issues and always switched back to green.

Now with all the hype surrounding the R9 series of cards, added with the fact that they're so much cheaper, I can't help but look over again trying to decide whether I should roll the dice one more time.

My issues last time were:

1) Flickering lines on screen with 7970/7950 at desktop/browsing - This might have been because I have a 120hz monitor. Googling the issue just turns up threads with people asking about it and not getting any satisfactory answers

2) Stutter/microstutter (?) - I'm not really sure how else to describe this, but I remember a lot of games giving me more fps but some weird jitteriness compared to the older nvidia card I was replacing (Crysis, Battlefield 3, Tomb Raider, Civ 5). I hear there's frame pacing drivers to fix this -- do they work?

3) Force V-sync with Catalyst/Control Panel - This is not as much an issue with AMD as it is a personal quirk of mine. I like to use V-sync and triple buffering on everything because I'll trade whatever the hangups of V-sync and lag are for zero tear any day (fps limiter doesn't 100% eliminate tearing for me). If I remember correctly, nvidia control panel allows you to force the setting globally; Catalyst does not. Is that still true, and if so, is there a way around it?

Thanks in advance!

Running two 7950's in xfire, I get that same line flickering while browsing. It also does it with just one card. All games I've played up to this point lately have been smooth as butter with no sign of the flicker, but it would be nice to fix that at the desktop/browsing level. I also use a 120hz panel.

I haven't had any flickering problems so it's hard to say whether it has been addressed or whether it was ever even a problem.

2: micro stutter has been much improved because of frame pacing driver updates. However, this is only for a single monitor so far. Multi monitor setups will still have problems until AMD addresses it with a future driver. See this review: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013..._frame_pacing_crossfire_driver/2#.UmLlg_nOkpg

I believe micro-stuttering has only been fixed for single gpu - single card set ups. Single cards with dual GPUs and crossfire setups still have micro-stuttering issues.

PcZac said:

I believe micro-stuttering has only been fixed for single gpu - single card set ups. Single cards with dual GPUs and crossfire setups still have micro-stuttering issues.

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Incorrect. Crossfire has been fixed. Only eyefinity - CF hasn't been fixed. Single screen resolution crossfire is fine and has been benchmarked to be on par with NV SLI.

I use Radeon Pro to force Dynamic Vsync and inject SMAA. No stuttering, no tearing. Don't get the line flicker thing so I don't know if that's fixed.

Flickering browsing I don't get but is usually related to flash player hardware acceleration being crappy.

Christobevii3 said:

Flickering browsing I don't get but is usually related to flash player hardware acceleration being crappy.

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It's actually related to the memory clocks in 2D mode (150Mhz) being too low..After reading this several different places, I decided to test it out..Since I run F@H 24/7, I don't see it since my GPU is fully loaded...So what I did was downclock the GPU core/mem to 300/150mhz (in 3D mode), and sure enough it was still there..So I raised the memory to ~300mhz, and no more flickering. It's definitely tied to the insanely low memory clock that AMD chose in order to keep idle power usage down.

ccityinstaller said:

It's actually related to the memory clocks in 2D mode (150Mhz) being too low..After reading this several different places, I decided to test it out..Since I run F@H 24/7, I don't see it since my GPU is fully loaded...So what I did was downclock the GPU core/mem to 300/150mhz (in 3D mode), and sure enough it was still there..So I raised the memory to ~300mhz, and no more flickering. It's definitely tied to the insanely low memory clock that AMD chose in order to keep idle power usage down.

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Yep, that definitely sounds consistent with what I remember happening. Gameplay was never affected, it was always just doing relatively low load stuff like browsing, flash and youtube, and watching movies. Thanks for the clarification!

So what you're saying is that it still happens on your card, even with updated drivers?

I vaguely remember a tool you can use to force the minimum clocks higher, so it never goes that low.
Riva Tuner? Can't remember. It's on guru3d.com
I use MSI Afterburner, but I have an Nvidia card, I'm not sure if it works with AMD cards.

Afterburner works with AMD cards. Supposedly RadeonPro is a better solution for them (since it can force vsync and do some other things, too), but Afterburner does work okay.

The flicker should only happen if you have multiple monitors. What happens with AMD cards is when memory clocks change the images flicker. So anything like flash or H.264 gpu acceleration caused it. It drove me crazy, i don't know if its gone in the beyond the 6000 series.

The catalyst control panel does have a Force V-sync option in the gaming section. Its worked for me for the most part. The only issue I had was on my HTPC connected to HDMI, the setting would reset whenever I would turn off the TV. But when I had a 5870 on my desktop using DVI I don't remember having any issues of v-sync not staying on.

qbanb8582 said:

The flicker should only happen if you have multiple monitors. What happens with AMD cards is when memory clocks change the images flicker. So anything like flash or H.264 gpu acceleration caused it. It drove me crazy, i don't know if its gone in the beyond the 6000 series.

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It's "fixed" in a work around kind of way. What happens is if the you using monitors which require different timings from the TMDS on board the GPU now will not down clock the memory at all. From what I understand this is strictly only due to issues handling multiple monitors requiring different timings, the current symptom is now power/clocl state restrictions.

There are some annoying issues due to my dual monitor setup with different timings that I'm currently addressing with "patchwork" kind of workarounds. Going to see if switching one of the monitors to using displayport will address these.

I only use one 120hz monitor. I've been browsing for about 1/2hr, and no flickering today thus far. But it's bound to happen again I'm sure. It's never been bad enough to drive me nuts, but I did find it a little weird.

Two 7950's for now, and I get the flicker at desktop.

Thanks for the responses all!

What I really want to know now is whether the actual new cards (290/290x) will behave the same way when it comes to the clocks causing flickering. I guess we'll have to wait and see. If things stay the same, I'll probably stick with whatever nvidia's high end is.

Fooshnik said:

I use Radeon Pro to force Dynamic Vsync and inject SMAA. No stuttering, no tearing. Don't get the line flicker thing so I don't know if that's fixed.

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Does Radeon Pro force V-sync in OpenGL programs too?

The flicker should only happen if you have multiple monitors. What happens with AMD cards is when memory clocks change the images flicker. So anything like flash or H.264 gpu acceleration caused it. It drove me crazy, i don't know if its gone in the beyond the 6000 series.

The catalyst control panel does have a Force V-sync option in the gaming section. Its worked for me for the most part. The only issue I had was on my HTPC connected to HDMI, the setting would reset whenever I would turn off the TV. But when I had a 5870 on my desktop using DVI I don't remember having any issues of v-sync not staying on.

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This happens with a single LCD connected via HDMI, and there are tons of reports of people having it happen with single LCDs, connected via VGA, HDMI, DVI, and even DisplayPort..

noobthegreat said:

Thanks for the responses all!

What I really want to know now is whether the actual new cards (290/290x) will behave the same way when it comes to the clocks causing flickering. I guess we'll have to wait and see. If things stay the same, I'll probably stick with whatever nvidia's high end is.

Does Radeon Pro force V-sync in OpenGL programs too?

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I wanted to chime back in with my experience with AMD's 13.11V1 drivers..My privous comments were centered around the CAT 13.8/13.10 BETA drivers...

With the 13.11 Beta drivers, I haven't had any of the flickering issue..As I mentioned, my card is usually running 100% 24/7 since I Fold, but yesterday I had paused the client for a solid ~5 hours and didn't see a single flash, and I have used it for 2 hours today without the issue as well..

As far as V-Sync goes, the latest CCC has 4 options: Always OFF| OFF, unless application specifies| ON, unless application specifies| ALWAYS ON..

Below that is an option for OpenGL Triple Buffering On/OFF, for which the description reads "Improves the frame rate of games when V-Sync is enabled and the frame rate is less then the refresh rate."

On the topic of switching from Team Green to Red, I have been extremely happy with my 7950..The drivers seem plently stable, despite being a BETA, and I have been playing FarCry 3 and BF4 Beta a lot recently without any issues..What I love about AMD is that I can have my GPU Folding away and still have smooth hardware accelerated Blu-Ray Rip playback..With every Nvidia driver (I tried 6) I would have to pause the client in order for their friggin H.264 decoder to function properly..If I didn't a movie was unwatchable..

ccityinstaller said:

This happens with a single LCD connected via HDMI, and there are tons of reports of people having it happen with single LCDs, connected via VGA, HDMI, DVI, and even DisplayPort..

I wanted to chime back in with my experience with AMD's 13.11V1 drivers..My privous comments were centered around the CAT 13.8/13.10 BETA drivers...

With the 13.11 Beta drivers, I haven't had any of the flickering issue..As I mentioned, my card is usually running 100% 24/7 since I Fold, but yesterday I had paused the client for a solid ~5 hours and didn't see a single flash, and I have used it for 2 hours today without the issue as well..

As far as V-Sync goes, the latest CCC has 4 options: Always OFF| OFF, unless application specifies| ON, unless application specifies| ALWAYS ON..

Below that is an option for OpenGL Triple Buffering On/OFF, for which the description reads "Improves the frame rate of games when V-Sync is enabled and the frame rate is less then the refresh rate."

On the topic of switching from Team Green to Red, I have been extremely happy with my 7950..The drivers seem plently stable, despite being a BETA, and I have been playing FarCry 3 and BF4 Beta a lot recently without any issues..What I love about AMD is that I can have my GPU Folding away and still have smooth hardware accelerated Blu-Ray Rip playback..With every Nvidia driver (I tried 6) I would have to pause the client in order for their friggin H.264 decoder to function properly..If I didn't a movie was unwatchable..

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Wow, you're really winning me over here lol.

Now I'm more anxious than ever to see what the 290x will cost and how the reviews score it.

Are they less TDP and cooler? I know last gen was hot and powerhungry.. the only reason I didn't get 4 of them, is I would have needed to spend all the money I would have saved on a PSU.... Ibuypower or one of them had them for a ridiculous sale last black friday

What's your budget for your next card? If you're looking at midrange, that's an easier question to answer than high end, where the specs of the R9 290x/290 have not been made official, other than they're on the way at some point.

As it stands with MSRP's and current selling prices, AMD is winning price vs performance right now. I've used both sides extensively and they work satisfactorily to me. AMD has not yet implemented frame pacing on multi-display, multi-monitor configurations, but it is allegedly in the pipeline.

mdp said:

Running two 7950's in xfire, I get that same line flickering while browsing. It also does it with just one card. All games I've played up to this point lately have been smooth as butter with no sign of the flicker, but it would be nice to fix that at the desktop/browsing level. I also use a 120hz panel.

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I just put a 7970 on my 120hz monitor and get flickering on the desktop... maybe it is a driver thing, but my games run great.
Edit: I should have read the thread more...I'll try raising my memory clocks and see if that fixes it for me.

Soo...

I'm looking at the 280x (rebadged 7970) right now, considering it's right in my budget and performance level... (plus I want the new display output configuration instead of the old stinky one on the 7970)

But should I wait for it to get a game bundle? I'm itching to check out this cart right now xD

Disregard the above post.

So, now that the 290 is out, and people have had a chance to try out the 290x, can anyone confirm or disprove whether the flickering lines are present in the new cards as well?