5870 2nd monitor flicker

[tommythetim]

Is anyone having screen flickering issues when using a dual screen setup? I have a samsung 37" 1080 tv on monitor 1 using a 1920 x 1080 resolution with a samsung syncmaster 204BW on a 1680 x 1050. The problem i'm having is the Syncmaster which is the main monitor, seems to flicker a lot and corrupts. I changed the monitor to see if it was the monitor but the other monitor did it too. Then I changed the DVI cable and it stopped for a day but it is doing it again although not as bad. The 1080 Tv however does not flicker at all. Anyone else having simillar problems?

 

[Parsley]

Have you overclocked the card at all or enabled ATI Overdive?

I am fairly sure it is due to the cards power saving feature.

When you enable the overdrive feature the card downclocks itself to 157 core / 300 memory when it is idling which is, as far as im aware, the downclock the card should use when one monitor is present. Unfortunately this isn't enough to power two monitors so the result is the flickering.

With overdrive disabled and the card running entirely at stock the card downclocks itself to 400 core / 1200 memory with two monitors attached and the flickering issue doesn't occur.

The solution would be to either wait for ATI to fix this with drivers and leave the card at stock (I am doing this as to be honest the card is plenty fast), disable the power saving function by editing an XML file / flashing the bios (bad idea flashing really)... or use one monitor. Not ideal I know .

I found it quite amusing that a card which sports eyefinity and brags about it doesnt function properly overclocked with 2 monitors, but heyho.

For editing the XML file, look here.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1033022803

As a side note the problem doesnt occur when gaming as the card returns to its full clock / memory settings then.

 

[Omega]

I had this problem, however i had my card overclocked. Once I set the card back to stock speeds the flickering stopped.

 

[tommythetim]

I have enabled ATI Overdive as I like to know what the temps and fan speeds are, although I have not used any OC. Glad to know though that there is no problem with the card apart from driver issues, looking forward to ATI to fix the problem though. Thanks for your help guys.

 

[unknownsock]

I'm using 3 Dell p2210's with eyefinity and its perfectly fine.
No issues what so ever.

 

[grumpybeard]

Thanks for this thread guys, this just sorted out the flickering problem I experienced upon hooking upmy second display today. You can get around the flickering by grouping the two monitors into one group in the CCC, but having one massive desktop and maximising windows was just confusing the hell out of me! Put back to two desktops in the control panel as per above, and switched off Ati Overdrive, sorted.