Hi I wonder if anyone can help me before I raise an RMA.

Currently I have a 6990 + 6970 in Crossfire works no problem. I wanted to change to 2 x 7970s as I run 3 x 30" monitors and wanted the extra VRAM.

I bought 2 x http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-150-MS as they where on offer.

They arrived today I installed the cards booted up and it just does nothing the screen stays blank. The PC seems to boot up OK my G19 Keyboard goes through and displays the clock which it only does when it gets to Windows.

But no matter what I use the display stays blank. Its like the graphics card is not sending the signal to the monitor. I have tried 3 monitors and I have tried Mini Display Port also tried DVI but all the same result.

Figured it might be 1 faulty card so I tried each card individually and same result with both cards.

The one thing that was constant with both cards. My Motherboard is an Asus P8P67 Pro it has a red light that comes on when it tests the CPU, Mem & Graphics card. That light when I used either 7970 stayed lit. Which in the manual it says there is a problem with the graphics card.

Its not the PSU as it runs a 6990 & 6970 no problem at all its this one http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-040-BQ

Also made sure I plugged in the 8 pin and 6 pin power to the card.

Just can not believe I would be so unlucky to get 2 faulty cards in one go. I have built PCs for years and never had this problem before.

Just need a sanity check before I RMA them back to OCUK. There is nothing special you need to do to install a 7970 ?

this sounds familiar - pretty sure someone else had the same problem - can't remember the solution - maybe someone else will

Does your cpu have onboard gfx? If so connect to that, check 7970 shows up in device manager. If not check power cables, do not use adapters if you can. Uninstall CCC completely, remove all traces with driver sweeper or similar. Reinstall drivers/ccc.
Have you tried just one monitor?
In your bios whats your vga output set too?

possibly need to disable cpu's gpu - no idea how you do that or if it's necessary - but sounds familiar

P67...no onboard options what so ever so can't be that.

The only way to 100% confirm is to try the cards on another motherboard...

I'd try one card at a time first and defiantly try in another computer.

I've heard of this before when someone on here had to connect it to different outs to get a signal but you've tried that so it cant be that.

I wonder if just giving the pciE slots a quick hoover or blast with compressed air from a can might help, Just something to rule out.

Also try putting your 6970 in the top slot then the 7970 but don't crossfire them power them both on etc and see if windows shows the device in device manager, do this for both of them and tell us what you see or don't see.

maybe a dual link dvi thing?

Thank you for all the replies.

Its very odd it will work with my old cards no problem. But as soon as I try either 7970 its just does nothing total blank. Its like the screen is not even being picked up by the graphics card.

I have tried swapping the power over as the PSU has a few different feeds for 6 pin and 8 pin. But my guess is if it handles the 6990 and 6970 then it can not be power related.

Yeah I did try just 1 monitor stripped it back to basics. Was the first thing I tried 1 monitor with Mini DP and then I tried Dual link DVI which I know works as I had that on my 6990 set up. None of those helped.

Even tried to reset the Bios just in case something was holding it back there.

Really can not think of anything I have not tried. Its a pain to put them in as there water cooled so not easy to pull in and out if you see what I mean.

All I know is it worked with my 6990 and 6970. As soon as I tried 1 or both of the 7970s they never did a thing.

I tried one card on its own then switched them tried different PCIE slots. Tried 2 cards together lol. But nothing worked. Tried each card individually to in case 1 card was dead.

Think I am going to RMA them back on Monday.

Did you try all the display ports? iirc on my lightning I can only get a display output from one MDP port (must be a primary or something?). Plugging into one of the other MDP ports results in nothingness, much as what you are experiencing.

remove cards, reboot see if screen appears and goto bios and set pci express slot as 1st boot choice, reboot and shutdown and then install 1 card and see if it works.

Yes tried both the Mini DP ports on both cards using 1 card at at time. Also tried the Dual DVI on both cards again using 1 card at at time, also tried that with 2 different monitors. Plus different monitor cables.

The boot pref should be fine. As it works with my old cards no problem at all.

Need to have a think about it today. I may go with Plan B. Which was in my mind from the start. Just buy another motherboard that has more PCIE slots. As I was half thinking in the future I would have gone Tri-Fire anyway.

So going to check out which motherboard will take 4 graphics cards. As I need a PCIE slot for my Ibis SSD.

So did you try seeing if the were coming up in Device Manager?? By using a 6970 in slot one as your monitor output and testing one card at a time below it.?

No never did that as it means pulling it all apart again. Draining the loop etc. If it come up with some life when I booted it I would have given that a go. But it just does nothing.

As its just lifeless and it has a red light on the motherboard for the graphics card which means a problem apparently.

I really dont want to spend an hour or more draining putting in the card to test it. I am sure it will not come up lol. Its currently back to how it was with my 6990 & 6970 working no issues at all.

As I say I think I will just get a new Motherboard see if that works if not. I can RMA them back and change them. Either way a new Motherboard I would have bought some point soon so its not the end of the world

This is a long shot....tried updating your motherboards BIOS?

A friend recently built a Z77 system, it threw out black screens, no post etc... with his GPU in, updated the BIOS and all is well...

When you boot are the fans on the 7970's spinning?

flash bios on motherboard first.
some need vga adjustment.

Yes all fans are spinning it goes through its set up etc just never displays anything.

The Bios is probably a good call I never thought of that.

But its a bit late I always figured the 6990 + 6970 to 2 x 7970 in some was a sideways move. I always did plan on upgrading to 3 x 7970 at some point.

Maybe this was a sign to do it now while the cards are on sale. They do look incredible with the waterblocks mounted.

The money was not the issue as I had it ready for a big upgrade. Just planned on going 2 x 7970 first. But what they hey means I can play with some new gear lol.

Ended up buying a 3rd 7970 watercooled. Plus this motherboard http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-387-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2261

When I build it I will test each card individually as I install them.

If the cards are not being recognised then it's highly unlikely that both are bricked, and it points towards a setting/bios issue on your motherboard being the culprit.

3 7970....WHY? Why not I suppose. Powercolor aren't bad either. My x800 is still going in my mum's pc. Single slot graphics, must be nice. Got any pics of this build? Interested to see your watercooling setup. Please post some when done. Good luck.

Well I have always been that way I know if I had 2 I would want 3 it would have happened probably a week after I got the 2 installed. At least I saved some cash by there on sale lol.

As for why 3 well I like to game at 7680x1600 where I can. I figured 2 will not have enough power to drive that resolution. Plus I liked my tri fire with the 6990 and 6970. I know a lot of people moan about Tri fire but it worked for me specially at high resolution.

Plus hey I get to play with a new build which is always good. I will try to do a build log never done one before. But I have a nice TJ07 case I use I have sprayed black the inside and did some mods to it as well..