Desktop Image Jitter on Radeon 7750

[Deckard79]

Hello folks.

I purchased a Radeon HD 7750 last week. Unfortunately I'm experiecing an annoying problem with it - while on the Windows desktop (Windows 7 64 bit), the desktop image flickers and jitters. It does this a couple of times every minute. I also get occasional slight screen corruption.

In 3D games, this doesn't happen at all.

I've tried a multitude of drivers, including the latest 12.4 set. As mentioned, 3D games run perfectly.

I swapped the card out for a Radeon 6570 and the problem immediately stopped. Previously used 6770 - again, no problem.

My downstairs rig also uses a 7750 which fares far better, although, again, even this gives very occasional desktop flicker.

Any ideas?

 

[KompuKare]

Have you loaded up a hardware monitor and monitored the clocks at 2D?

Sounds like the driver is being to optimistic at power saving and is probably downclocking either the core or the memory or even both.

 

[Deckard79]

Yes, it's running at 300MHz core and 150MHz memory which is standard for the 7750, but seems incredibly low.

I'm 90% certain this is the cause.

Unfortunately, whatever I do (tried the xml catalyst edit and using MSI Afterburner) I cannot make any changes to the 2D clock. There's also no way of editing a 7750's BIOS.

I'm also interested to find out why my 2nd 7750 does this far, far less than the other while the clock setting is the same...

 

[KompuKare]

Have you tried Asus GPU Tweak. Don't have it installed anymore but it allows me two settings: one for 2D and one for 3D on my HD5770.

A hardware fault is always possible too, can you swap the 2nd 7750 out and try it on this system?

EDIT: another thing, driving multiple monitors, the core clock stays at 300 but the memory clock goes up to 1125 (max) according to

http://ht4u.net/reviews/2012/amd_radeon_hd_7700_test/index12.php

so it might be worth plugging in a 2nd screen to so if memory clock is your problem.

 

[blastingcap]

Never mind, I see this is for 2d.

 

[dazelord]

What output are you using, HDMI, DVI, VGA etc?

 

[Bartowski]

I'm having the same issue with my Gigabyte Radeon 7750 OC. It happens quite rarely but it's very annoying. I get this very fast flicker and a horizontal line on my screen every now and then. It's very fast and lasts only for about half a second. I've seen it on Windows desktop, using Firefox and playing World of Tanks on windowed mode. I haven't noticed any flickering when playing 3D games on fullscreen or using VLC on fullscreen.

I have the same clocks as Deckard79. I have the Catalyst 12.4 now, but 12.3 and 12.4 beta had the same problem. I'm using DVI for my computer monitor but I also have HDMI going to my TV.

 

[KompuKare]

I have the same clocks as Deckard79. I have the Catalyst 12.4 now, but 12.3 and 12.4 beta had the same problem. I'm using DVI for my computer monitor but I also have HDMI going to my TV.

Strange from reading the reviews I was under the impression that in multi-monitor modes the 77x0 runs at 300/1125, but your saying yours runs 300/150?

Anyway, does Asus GPU Tweak not support the 77x0 yet? It has a (slightly hard to spot: it's this tiny + next the bit which says 3D) option to set separate clocks for 2d and 3d. Mind you if that solves it, AMD should change the Catalyst defaults too which would be a pity since those low clocks are the reason their 28nm use so little power in 2D.

 

[KingFatty]

That symptom sounds just like when the card is transitioning memory speed.

If you can, try to keep a close eye on what you are doing with the computer to see if a pattern emerges. For example, maybe it happens when you visit a website with a video, or something that changes the computer from 2D idle mode to a faster mode like 3D or flash etc.

Another way to verify is if you run a little window that has something in 3D, that can trigger the card to stay out of powersave mode and run the memory at the rated speed, so the flickering should go away no matter what else you do because the memory speed is not jumping from idle to 2D mode to 3D mode, it just stays in 3D speed. If that describes your behavior, the solution would be to use an overclock tool or edit the BIOS (I think it's mentioned that editing the BIOS is impossible at this point in time) to raise the idle memory clock speed.

 

[Soulkeeper]

You might have a defective card
(assuming you've examined all software solutions IE: latest driver, no OS issues, looked for bios updates that address such an issue, etc.).
Contact the customer support and/or return the card is a much better idea than tolerating flickering indefinitely. Good luck.

 

[Bartowski]

Strange from reading the reviews I was under the impression that in multi-monitor modes the 77x0 runs at 300/1125, but your saying yours runs 300/150?

Anyway, does Asus GPU Tweak not support the 77x0 yet? It has a (slightly hard to spot: it's this tiny + next the bit which says 3D) option to set separate clocks for 2d and 3d. Mind you if that solves it, AMD should change the Catalyst defaults too which would be a pity since those low clocks are the reason their 28nm use so little power in 2D.

Yeah apparently it was 300/150 because I didn't use them both simultaneously. Now I changed the Catalyst settings and extended my desktop to the TV, and idle clocks have changed to 300/1125 as you said. It seems that image quality overall has improved a bit. Let's hope that this solves the problem, but if not, then I'll have to try GPU Tweak. Gigabyte also has their own program available on their website and they claim it supports the 7000 series.

 

[Deckard79]

Just tried on a completely different motherboard - same thing happens still.

I also tried my 2nd (non Gigabyte) 7750 and once again, the same happens albeit seemingly less frequently.

I think you are correct in that the flicker appears to happen while the clock/memory speed jumps from 300/150 to something much higher.

It's rather infuriating. I've contacted ebuyer to arrange for a return/refund but i have this niggling feeling that a tweak to the 2d clocks would resolve it. I wish Catalyst allowed this, or at least Gigabyte's utility but neither do at present.

I was also hoping someone may have created a custom card firmware with higher 2d clocks, but there is none (plus, the GPU flash utilities don't yet support the 7750/7770).

 

[Deckard79]

What output are you using, HDMI, DVI, VGA etc?

Using DVI. Unfortunately my monitor does not support HDMI so haven't had the opportunity to try other outputs.

 

[jacktesterson]

Can you try VGA?

Sounds like a defective card.

 

[Soulkeeper]

nobody asked what resolution you are using

I know there is a driver option called "use alternate dvi signaling" or "reduce dvi frequency" maybe those can help (recommended for high resolution).

 

[KingFatty]

I think you are correct in that the flicker appears to happen while the clock/memory speed jumps from 300/150 to something much higher.

It's rather infuriating. I've contacted ebuyer to arrange for a return/refund but i have this niggling feeling that a tweak to the 2d clocks would resolve it. I wish Catalyst allowed this, or at least Gigabyte's utility but neither do at present.

I felt the same way for a good long while, but please keep in mind that this is a power saving feature too. Sometimes that can help, and even now I welcome the little flicker like a quirk in an old friend, because I know I just saved some power (sort of the feeling you get when you toss a can into a recycle bin) and I'm helping the environment.

But that's pretty lame, I say you just run MSI Afterburner, and see how you can overclock that sucker, and just keep the memory running at full spec 3D speeds so it doesn't transition and flicker at all, rock solid. So you consume a little bit more power, it's no big deal.

Any word on whether GPU-Z supports your card yet? GPU-Z normally lets you pull a copy of the video card's BIOS off the card, then you can open that copy and edit the clocks, then use a different utility to load that fixed copy back onto your card, and it will never flicker after that.

What brand card do you have? Would your card happen to be a Gigabyte card? I had 2 different experiences contacting the techs of different vendors. At Gigabyte, the guy was like "oh yeah, here you go, here is an updated BIOS for your card and the utility to flash it onto the card, we plan to roll this fix into the next official BIOS release." That was pretty cool of them. However, I did a good job describing the issue and using the keywords like "flicker" and "memory speed transition" idle/3D clocks, etc. when I described the issue on the support contact, so they were confident that I correctly identified the issue. In contrast, when I reached out to MSI for the same issue, they were like "RMA". I think it's very cool that MSI are totally bending over backward to let you RMA over the slightest thing, but for this issue, it's really just an easy adjustment/fix to the BIOS for the card so I didn't RMA. So if you have a Gigabyte, see if they already have an updated BIOS to fix your issue, or will edit the BIOS for you etc.

So, you can just accept the power saving feature and learn to see the flicker as a reminder you are saving power, or wait till CPU-Z supports your card and edit the BIOS yourself, or try the vendor to see if they already have, or are willing to create, an updated BIOS with slightly faster clocks to avoid the flicker but consume more power at idle.

 

[Shamrock]

Do not RMA your 7750, I found your problem, because I had it too.

http://www.sapphireforum.com/showthread.php?28668-7850-screen-flicker-on-Win7-desktop

I set mine to 30,000 and 40,000

- <Feature name="CoreClockTarget_PCI_VEN_1002&DEV_6819&SUBSYS_E218174B&REV_00_4&8B161D2&0&0010A">
<Property name="Want_0" value="30000" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="105000" />


- <Feature name="MemoryClockTarget_PCI_VEN_1002&DEV_6819&SUBSYS_E218174B&REV_00_4&8B161D2&0&0010A">
<Property name="Want_0" value="40000" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="145000" />

These 2 values set my minimum to 300Mhz GPU clock and 400Mhz Memory clock.

No more jitter!

 

[Deckard79]

This does not work on the 7750. Clocks are controlled in hardware via the card's bios. Regardless of the values set within the .xml file, it gets completely ignored and continues to use the bios's 2d/3d clock profiles.

The same applies with MSI Afterburner.

Do not RMA your 7750, I found your problem, because I had it too.

http://www.sapphireforum.com/showthread.php?28668-7850-screen-flicker-on-Win7-desktop

I set mine to 30,000 and 40,000

- <Feature name="CoreClockTarget_PCI_VEN_1002&DEV_6819&SUBSYS_E218174B&REV_00_4&8B161D2&0&0010A">
<Property name="Want_0" value="30000" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="105000" />


- <Feature name="MemoryClockTarget_PCI_VEN_1002&DEV_6819&SUBSYS_E218174B&REV_00_4&8B161D2&0&0010A">
<Property name="Want_0" value="40000" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="145000" />

These 2 values set my minimum to 300Mhz GPU clock and 400Mhz Memory clock.

No more jitter!

 

[Deckard79]

I would edit the card's firmware myself, but unfortunately none of the current utilities support the HD 7750 - they cannot read my card's bios. GPU-Z allows me to download a file copy of the BIOS but at present I can do nothing with it.

I attempted an RMA through ebuyer. They sent the card back to me, claiming the card was fine. Highly, highly annoying.

I felt the same way for a good long while, but please keep in mind that this is a power saving feature too. Sometimes that can help, and even now I welcome the little flicker like a quirk in an old friend, because I know I just saved some power (sort of the feeling you get when you toss a can into a recycle bin) and I'm helping the environment.

But that's pretty lame, I say you just run MSI Afterburner, and see how you can overclock that sucker, and just keep the memory running at full spec 3D speeds so it doesn't transition and flicker at all, rock solid. So you consume a little bit more power, it's no big deal.

Any word on whether GPU-Z supports your card yet? GPU-Z normally lets you pull a copy of the video card's BIOS off the card, then you can open that copy and edit the clocks, then use a different utility to load that fixed copy back onto your card, and it will never flicker after that.

What brand card do you have? Would your card happen to be a Gigabyte card? I had 2 different experiences contacting the techs of different vendors. At Gigabyte, the guy was like "oh yeah, here you go, here is an updated BIOS for your card and the utility to flash it onto the card, we plan to roll this fix into the next official BIOS release." That was pretty cool of them. However, I did a good job describing the issue and using the keywords like "flicker" and "memory speed transition" idle/3D clocks, etc. when I described the issue on the support contact, so they were confident that I correctly identified the issue. In contrast, when I reached out to MSI for the same issue, they were like "RMA". I think it's very cool that MSI are totally bending over backward to let you RMA over the slightest thing, but for this issue, it's really just an easy adjustment/fix to the BIOS for the card so I didn't RMA. So if you have a Gigabyte, see if they already have an updated BIOS to fix your issue, or will edit the BIOS for you etc.

So, you can just accept the power saving feature and learn to see the flicker as a reminder you are saving power, or wait till CPU-Z supports your card and edit the BIOS yourself, or try the vendor to see if they already have, or are willing to create, an updated BIOS with slightly faster clocks to avoid the flicker but consume more power at idle.

 

[Deckard79]

Can you try VGA?

Sounds like a defective card.

I don't have a VGA cable but attempted HDMI - the same happens.

Also tried multiple motherboards (three in fact).

 

[akbg]

Same thing here,

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]MSI Radeon HD 7770 OC 1020MHZ 1GB 4.5GHZ GDDR5 DVI HDMI 2x Mini DisplayPort PCI-E Video Card, on MSI Z77A-GD43 and i5-3570

[/FONT] my monitor flicks very fast 2-5 times/min whatever I use in 2D mode, or playing games in window mode. ATI Catalyst 12.4 installed, I didn't tested the original driver provided by MSI. It is very annoying and the question is does this happen with all cards with this driver or is hardware defect only for my card...Does anyone have a solution already for that?

PS.
I was with IGP few days before my discrete video arived and I didn't mentioned any flicks with intel graphics. HDMI connection also.

 

[Deckard79]

Don't think it's just your card, and don't think it's your motherboard. I think there is an inherent defect in many of the 7750/7770 range.

Convinced that the only reason it hasn't been mentioned more online is because most simply assume it's their motherboard, or a quirk with their card in particular.

Same thing here,

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]MSI Radeon HD 7770 OC 1020MHZ 1GB 4.5GHZ GDDR5 DVI HDMI 2x Mini DisplayPort PCI-E Video Card, on MSI Z77A-GD43 and i5-3570

[/FONT] my monitor flicks very fast 2-5 times/min whatever I use in 2D mode, or playing games in window mode. ATI Catalyst 12.4 installed, I didn't tested the original driver provided by MSI. It is very annoying and the question is does this happen with all cards with this driver or is hardware defect only for my card...Does anyone have a solution already for that?

PS.
I was with IGP few days before my discrete video arived and I didn't mentioned any flicks with intel graphics. HDMI connection also.

 

[Deckard79]

I have read on another forum that the 'flicker' issue appears to affect factory overclocked 7750/7770s more, with the Vanilla spec cards showing those symptoms less. Interesting...

This would explain why the 7750 in my media pc flickers far, far less frequently.

Underclocking has been suggested. I'll try this when I have time.

 

[Concillian]

I see this on my 7850 as well. It happens VERY often in Firefox. MUCH less often in Chrome.

I don't get it at all in games. Very odd.

 

[Deckard79]

I see this on my 7850 as well. It happens VERY often in Firefox. MUCH less often in Chrome.

I don't get it at all in games. Very odd.

Exact same thing - I used IE rather than Firefox on the card as it happened less. Still annoyed me though, so currently using the Sandy Bridge integrated.

Everyone experiencing this issue should say so - if it doesn't get raised en mass, it won't get fixed.