Sapphire HD 7970 - Possibly 2 Issues?

[Tillian]

Hey OCUK,

I recently purchased a Sapphire HD 7970 (Normal, not GHz or OC edition) and may have one or two issues with it which I hope any one of you can assist me with.

Issue 1: My screen will flicker (less than a second) as if refreshing, then back to what I'm doing, I've only ever noticed this when browsing the internet though.

Issue 2: I have a very annoying "coil whine" emitting from my graphics card, especially loud when playing Tomb Raider, Sims 3 and Saints Row: IV.

Just wondering what you guys think of this? I'm not too confident in the card right now since I bought it on Saturday and it's not on the website anymore since Tuesday?

Now, I also had a similar whining issue with my old graphics card an MSI HD 6970 OC edition, but only rarely with games such as Sims 3 so I'm just curious of this.


Specifications if it matters:
CPU: AMD FX-8350 @ Oc'd, 4.3Ghz
MOBO: Gigabyte 990XA-UD3
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RAM @ Stock, 1600mhz
PSU: 750W OCZ ZS
GRAPHICS: Sapphire HD 7970 (11197-11-40G)


Kind Regards,
- Ryan

 

[Tillian]

Just a quick bump.

 

[zuludawn]

Just got my wife a Asus 7970 Matrix Platinum and she says it does a random screen flicker (black lines flash across the screen), i have not seen it yet but its a bit weird.
She has i7 930 @4Ghz

 

[Rackerz]

My Sapphire 7950 did all those things, I've never heard coil whine like it (although after 5 minutes it would decrease in severity).

I assume your card is not overclocked at all and you are using 60Hz refresh rate?

 

[Tillian]

Just got my wife a Asus 7970 Matrix Platinum and she says it does a random screen flicker (black lines flash across the screen), i have not seen it yet but its a bit weird.
She has i7 930 @4Ghz

It really is, it happens completely randomly. Unable to predict when it'll happen, which is why I want to stray away from an RMA (plus I spent every last penny I had buying the card. )

My Sapphire 7950 did all those things, I've never heard coil whine like it (although after 5 minutes it would decrease in severity).

I assume your card is not overclocked at all and you are using 60Hz refresh rate?

Yeah, the coil whine are quieted down now, I must've just needed to 'break it in' so to speak, and yes it's not overclocked, I did put it to 1Ghz to see if I experienced the issue more frequently when overclocked but it was the same. And yes, I'm at 60Hz.

 

[Commala]

I've had my Sapphire 7970 OC Boost for about a week and a half now and have only noticed slight coil whine when on certain game menu screens, probably related to the card drawing hundreds of FPS. I actually think that it's quietened down a little since I first noticed, so maybe it will burn in over time. Like I said, I'm lucky enough that it's minor for me but I have read on forums that some are awful.

As for the flickering,. I noticed this only once when I first installed the card to check it was working (when browsing with IE10). Since I have freshly installed Windows 8.1 it has not happened again, so perhaps it was a driver issue that was cleared with a fresh install.

From what I have heard these sorts of coil whine issues are present on modern AMD and Nvidia cards to varying degrees due to the newer power phase components, so I have just shrugged it off as an idiosyncrasy of modern GPU technology! Regardless, I am loving my 7970 so far and reckon it was a bargain for £250.

 

[Tillian]

I've had my Sapphire 7970 OC Boost for about a week and a half now and have only noticed slight coil whine when on certain game menu screens, probably related to the card drawing hundreds of FPS. I actually think that it's quietened down a little since I first noticed, so maybe it will burn in over time. Like I said, I'm lucky enough that it's minor for me but I have read on forums that some are awful.

As for the flickering,. I noticed this only once when I first installed the card to check it was working (when browsing with IE10). Since I have freshly installed Windows 8.1 it has not happened again, so perhaps it was a driver issue that was cleared with a fresh install.

From what I have heard these sorts of coil whine issues are present on modern AMD and Nvidia cards to varying degrees due to the newer power phase components, so I have just shrugged it off as an idiosyncrasy of modern GPU technology! Regardless, I am loving my 7970 so far and reckon it was a bargain for £250.

I see, well I've been using this installation of Windows 8 Pro for a couple of months now, so maybe it's time for a fresh installation to 8.1.

I also believe the 7970 is a brilliant card for the price and a nice upgrade from my previous £90 HD 6870 , it's definitely quietened down now since I've been playing Saints Row IV a lot today just to see if "breaking it in" would help and it appears to have done so.

 

[Bodom]

The coil whine will probably get better over time my Sapphire 7970oc had it really badly when I first got it took a few months but I hardly even notice it any more.

The flashing thing sounds like it might be a bug if it is only happening when your on internet explorer.

 

[Tillian]

The coil whine will probably get better over time my Sapphire 7970oc had it really badly when I first got it took a few months but I hardly even notice it any more.

The flashing thing sounds like it might be a bug if it is only happening when your on internet explorer.

Well, I use Google Chrome. But I may either reinstall Windows or try to see if there are any BETA drivers out there.