AMD issue / Flickering using multi 1440p monitors and drivers 15.7 and up

[Micrornd]

Karlitos,
I don't know if this is any help to you or not, but maybe it will give you something to compare to/eliminate -

My current setup is 2x MSI Lightning 7970s driving 5x NEC 2490WUXi's in Portrait mode.
2 via DVI and 3 via mini-DP to DVI Monoprice active adapters.
I run in either 6000 x1920 or 8000x2560 (with VSR turned on) both @60hz in both eyefinity and in std. Windows.

Prior to this I used 3x NEC 2490WUXi's in landscape mode @ 5760x1200 or 7680x1600 (with VSR on), again @ 60hz in both eyefinity and in std. Windows.
I have been using the MSI 7970 Lightnings and 3 monitors since about 6 months after MSI released them.
I just changed to the 5 monitor setup in the last week.

Windows does require the AMD driver to be installed before it will properly handle 3+ monitors in Windows (this is without eyefinity being enabled)

Most of my gameplay is the Borderlands series and the Darksiders series.
Nothing real stressful there.
I tried Fallout 4 and it doesn't exhibit any real display issues, but was never designed to use CF or MM, so it is a hack to get it to display well enough to see all the HUD stuff.

The most important part is I don't and haven't experienced any of the issues you have outlined (ever) and am currently using the 15.12 Crimson drivers, have steped incrementally with each new non-beta release.
My OS is Windows 2012R2, which is based on Windows 8.1.

Both cards are identical and are set for 1100/1600 under load and 500/1400 at idle on the primary card and the secondary card shuts down at idle (I leave ULPS active).

Maybe there are some clues/hope in this for you

 

[KaRLiToS]

I apologize if I missed where you already answered this, but have you contacted AMD about this issue? To see if you can work with them in resolving it? I remember you talking to them about the issue you had when you first got your 4k display and your 290Xs.

This is not the situation I was experiencing. I had issue with the setup I was using since HD 6970 and they couldn't resolve it and I actually never knew if they fixed it. I was so tired that I went to buy a native Display Port monitor instead and sold one of my previous monitors.

I remember in 2012 when we had a big issue with CrossFire/Trifire/Quadfire HD 7970 and we were a group in contact with AMD and it took them 5 months to solve the issue.

My faith is close to non-existent when it comes to AMD fixing the complicated issue I get. :'(

SNIP*

Maybe there are some clues/hope in this for you

Thanks man for the detailed post but unfortunately, there is no clue about my issue.

 

[PhonakV30]

now any temporary solution ? overclocking mem/Core in 2D?

 

[KaRLiToS]

now any temporary solution ? overclocking mem/Core in 2D?

GPU Tweak for 2d: 2d clocks on the first card set at 300mhz/1250mhz instead of 300/150mhz.

It's the 3d issue that is annoying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgCBw4zgfXQ

 

[Micrornd]

Both cards are identical and are set for 1100/1600 under load and 500/1400 at idle on the primary card and the secondary card shuts down at idle (I leave ULPS active).

I'll admit that while I have read your posts, I have only skimmed the posts of the others with drivers issues so please bear with me.
It's not my intention to offend you, but try to help by looking at the problem from a different perspective.
Hopefully with things that you might not have thought of checking.

Just a couple of clarifications for my above quote.
That's 1100/1600 in 3D for both cards, 500/1400 for the primary card in 2D and 300/150 and off for the secondary card in 2D.
I too use a LEPA G1600, but mine has been trouble free.

I dare say I am pushing more pixels than you and many of the others, but without the problems.
So what I am looking for is differences, since my hardware is (considered) actually of lesser quality.

I have also run, with the 3 monitor landscape setup, tri and quad 7970s in this rig.
When doing so I tried them with 1xminiDP->DVI and 2xDVI, but also with 3xminiDP->DVI.
This was to see if there was a performance difference in benchmarks.
(There wasn't any beyond a margin of error)

Since the gains I saw in tri and quad were not what I considered worthwhile for the dollars, in both hardware and electric consumption, for the games I play, I settled on just the dual 7970 Lightnings

I have always used USB powered active adapters from Monoprice.
Not the cheapest, but I think the best.
One thing I noticed when using 3xminiDP->DVI was that the USB rail was dragged down lower than it should be, and the adapters felt warm.
So ever since then, I have always powered the USB portion of the convertors from a power strip with an AC to USB convertor (Ebay, $1 a piece) and the adapters feel like room temp.
Could this be something to check? (how they are powered, and maybe an interaction of the adapters with the card and driver)

As you know my 7970 Lightnings use bridges, but they are also in x16 (real x16, not multiplexed) slots.
The same is true for when I tested tri and quadfire.
I am lucky enough to have CPUs and a board that allows 4x (real, not multiplexed) x16 slots, since I have 80 lanes available.
I have noticed that many "gamer" boards multiplex the secondary card slot to get it to x16.
Could this be an issue or interaction?

When I look for solutions to a problem when something works for one and not another, I look for differences and eliminate those first.
I know this is extremely frustrating for you, but if some things can be eliminated as possible causes or interactions, it might be easier to get AMD to correct the issues if we can tell them what isn't the problem.

Then we can start on Bethesda to make Fallout 4 work properly with CF, SLI and MM. :biggrin:
I mean really, who releases a flagship game that doesn't work with CF, SLI and MM these days?

If you're not interested, I understand and good luck to you.

 

[KaRLiToS]

Hi Micrornd.

Your 6000*1920 setup is 11.5 megapixels and my 7680*1440 is 11.1 megapixels.So it is very similar.

But I appreciate your inputs. Just to let you know, I didn't have issues with my monitors when I was using my Quad HD 7970 with the miniDP to DVI usb powered. In fact, none of the users experiencing the issue I have are using HD 7970 or tahiti based GPUs. They are all using Hawaii, R9 290 or 390 and some fury users too. I have seen zero report with 7970 in the equation. Check the links in the first post.

I know you are trying to help but the fact that if I revert back to 15.6 Catalyst, the issue is gone, pretty much explain that it is a driver issue.

 

[thesmokingman]

I am lucky enough to have CPUs and a board that allows 4x (real, not multiplexed) x16 slots, since I have 80 lanes available.
I have noticed that many "gamer" boards multiplex the secondary card slot to get it to x16.
Could this be an issue or interaction?

What the...? :hmm:

 

[KaRLiToS]

I installed Windows 10 and decided to go ahead and upgrade to Crimson 15.12 even though bezel correction is not available for me using it and I too experience the flicker issue. All of my monitors are 1920x1200 2x DVI-D 1xDP. No issues with drivers older that 15.5 for sure.

I can play a game or use eyefinity for a few hours before it starts. If I turn off my DP monitor and then turn it back on the issue will subside for another few hours. Pretty ridiculous.

Sorry I didn't reply to your post but I read it.

Did you do some Bug reports?

 

[Micrornd]

What the...? :hmm:

You're right.
This is not general practice or as prevalent as it used to be and doesn't affect present MBs.
Sorry. :wub:

 

[OafBoaster]

I have this issue as well with a single MSI r9 290 gaming card. Additionally, something quirky and related to it is present in their linux drivers (at least the fglrx drivers with Mint 17.1), which is frustrating. There's flickering/tearing when scrolling text documents in certain software that is not present when using 2 DVI-driven monitors.

I'm only running two monitors right now. An Acer XF270HU? I think is the model - freesync DP and an Achieva Shimian 27" DL-DVI only. Both are 1440p. Switching the card out to an HD7850 with the same connections (but mini-dp to DP adapter) resolves the flickering issue so it is absolutely card and driver-specific. However, I don't want to run my old 7850 on this machine. With the 290 the same problem exists when the primary monitor is a BenQ 1440p monitor rather than the Acer. I've tried the card in two entirely different machines with the same results. Both have way more available power than needed.

The flickering issue described in this thread is present in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. It coincides with 2d-mode. One solution I tried is to use an HD6450 to drive the secondary monitor. This works slightly in windows (with some bugs related to hardware acceleration) and badly/not at all in linux which makes it unworkable for me.

It's likely something related to display port timings or clocking. I submitted a report to AMD and have heard nothing back. I'm following threads on the AMD community forums. The amount of time I've spent trying to resolve this is frustrating. Freesync is great, but I can't use it now since the 7850 doesn't support it.

 

[KaRLiToS]

I have this issue as well with a single MSI r9 290 gaming card. Additionally, something quirky and related to it is present in their linux drivers (at least the fglrx drivers with Mint 17.1), which is frustrating. There's flickering/tearing when scrolling text documents in certain software that is not present when using 2 DVI-driven monitors.

I'm only running two monitors right now. An Acer XF270HU? I think is the model - freesync DP and an Achieva Shimian 27" DL-DVI only. Both are 1440p. Switching the card out to an HD7850 with the same connections (but mini-dp to DP adapter) resolves the flickering issue so it is absolutely card and driver-specific. However, I don't want to run my old 7850 on this machine. With the 290 the same problem exists when the primary monitor is a BenQ 1440p monitor rather than the Acer. I've tried the card in two entirely different machines with the same results. Both have way more available power than needed.

The flickering issue described in this thread is present in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. It coincides with 2d-mode. One solution I tried is to use an HD6450 to drive the secondary monitor. This works slightly in windows (with some bugs related to hardware acceleration) and badly/not at all in linux which makes it unworkable for me.

It's likely something related to display port timings or clocking. I submitted a report to AMD and have heard nothing back. I'm following threads on the AMD community forums. The amount of time I've spent trying to resolve this is frustrating. Freesync is great, but I can't use it now since the 7850 doesn't support it.

I'm glad you did a bug report my friend, actually I will do another one myself just right now so they can acknowledge the problem faster.

 

[digitaldurandal]

Sorry I didn't reply to your post but I read it.

Did you do some Bug reports?

I will submit a report today.

 

[3DVagabond]

I'm glad you did a bug report my friend, actually I will do another one myself just right now so they can acknowledge the problem faster.

Without looking for it, I thought they mentioned it in the last driver update as a known issue?

 

[KaRLiToS]

http://www.overclock.net/t/1584720/...o-monitors-problem-edit-flickering-issue/0_30

This is a thread I just found by browsing the main page of OCN, started date: 2 weeks 3 days ago

EDIT: Setup resolved, but now I have a screen flickering problem. After I log in to my computer. After about 20 minutes or so, both screens start flickering. It seems the more that is being done, the more severe the flickering, but the system is stable otherwise. So, I'm not sure what is causing this problem... Any ideas?

I saw this thread because someone joined and posted 7 minutes ago on the thread:

A new user by the way

I have the same monitors (dual monitor setup) and a similar video card (Radeon R9 290). I'm not doing Crossfire, though. It's just the one video card. I just got the monitors today and I'm having this EXACT problem. After 20 minutes or so, I get horrible flickering that corresponds with movement on either screen. Rebooting fixes it temporarily. I tried changing the primary monitor from DisplayPort 1.2 to 1.1 and that also temporarily fixed it, but it always comes back.

I'm using DisplayPort for the primary and HDMI for the secondary (only one DP port on my video card).

Please tell me you've found a solution...

 

[ZGR]

@Karlitos, have you tried 16.1 to see if your issue is resolved?

 

[PhonakV30]

Resolved Issues:
Elite: Dangerous - Poor performance may be experienced in Supercruise mode under Windows® 10
Fallout 4 – The compass flickers during gameplay on AMD Radeon™ R9 290 and AMD Radeon™ R9 295X2
Frame Rate Target Control (FRTC) setting do not apply consistently to all games. In order for FRTC to function properly, Vertical Refresh/VSync must be turned off
The driver installer appears to hang at various stages of the install process
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 – random frame freezes may be observed during gameplay
DiRT Rally – A crash may occur when starting a new race with AMD Crossfire™ and AMD FreeSync™ enabled
The AMD Gaming Evolved overlay may cause a black screen, or introduce game stutter
Assassins Creed Syndicate - Using “Very High” graphics settings in 3x1 Eyefinity mode may cause displays to switch off
Star Wars™: Battlefront - Some flickering may be experienced in shaded areas of the screen while game levels are loading
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 - Frame freezing during gameplay may be experienced
Just Cause 3 - The system may hang when task switching on systems with AMD CPUs and GPUs
Just Cause 3 - Application profile setting added for laptops with Switchable Graphics
Fallout 4 - Gameplay may be choppy in AMD FreeSync™ mode in Ultra mode at 1440p resolution
Fallout 4 - Brightness flickering observed with AMD FreeSync™ enabled on certain displays
cnext.exe intermittently crashes during Windows® shutdown
A crash may be experienced if an HDMI™ display is a cloned display device on an HP Envy 15 notebook
Failed to create OpenGL context" error message may appear after installation
Cannot find RadeonSettings.exe" error message may appear during installation
AMD Install Manager has stopped working" error message may appear during installation
Cannot find cncmd.exe" error message may appear during installation
Display may flicker on certain laptops after prolonged gameplay with AMD FreeSync™ enabled
Unable to create 4x1 or 2x1 portrait mode SLS with 4K displays
Video corruption may appear in Movies & TV app when is VSR enabled and scaling mode is set to "Full panel"
Portrait Eyefinity mode may not be configured correctly using Radeon Additional Settings
No display on certain laptops when toggling display mode or connecting an HDMI™ display
Flickering may be experienced on some monitors when AMD FreeSync™ is enabled
Notifications reverting back to English on non-English systems after reboot
Misaligned UI may be observed on the Bezel Compensation screen
Launching a game from the Game Manager may launch on a single display after enabling and disabling AMD CrossFire™ in a 3x1 AMD Eyefinity™ setup
Marginally increased power consumption may be observed during video playback

Maybe you had this problem ?

 

[KaRLiToS]

@Karlitos, have you tried 16.1 to see if your issue is resolved?

Thanks for mentionning I was ignoring they released a new driver. They must have released it just hours ago because I surf tech forums all day,

Maybe you had this problem ?

I don't have freesync monitors but I think the issue might be related to it.

I also mentionned it in this post, we are on the same path I think
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37926313&postcount=96

EDIT: Just realized it is in the Resolved issues in new drivers Will try right away.

 

[PhonakV30]

ok we're watiting for you!

 

[KaRLiToS]

Ok, driver installed.

I was previously on CCC 15.11 because Crimson was causing some trouble:

• when restarting after installation, now solved
• hang while installation (took 5 minutes to install instead of 2 minutes), now solved
• was taking over 5 minutes to set eyefinity, now solved

Resolved Issues
[82887] The driver installer appears to hang at various stages of the install process

Now to test 2d idle bug, which I think isn't solved because something seem in the known issue list, will leave the compute on for 30 minutes and see if the flickering is still appearing...will report back

Known issues: This seem to be my 2d idle clock issue(which is easily fixable using GPU Tweak to set the idle (2d) memory of the first card at 1250mhz)

[82892] Display corruption may occur on multiple display systems when it has been running idle for some time

 

[KaRLiToS]

2D bug is still present but at least it is on the known issue list

[82892] Display corruption may occur on multiple display systems when it has been running idle for some time

Next is 3d bug test, I'll be right back in 40 minutes.

 

[KaRLiToS]

FAIL: Another type of issue

Crimson 16.1 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfC1xzXIvMA

Tried Mad Max too, same thing except the middle screen didn't flicker like that, but the computer hanged and sound going on.

 

[flopper]

they are getting there, slowly albait

 

[PhonakV30]

Ok ,For AMD Catalyst 15.6 , Mem/Core of your card was on 300/1250Mhz (2D Mode) ?

 

[KaRLiToS]

Ok ,For AMD Catalyst 15.6 , Mem/Core of your card was on 300/1250Mhz (2D Mode) ?

No, it was always 300/150mhz.

 

[KaRLiToS]

I just reinstalled Windows 8.1 and drivers 15.6 and tested games all night, absolutely 0 issue. I have lost tremendous amount of time troubleshooting this. I would say over 100 hours

With AMD, you are not a gamer anymore, you are a troubleshooter.