Crossfire 5770 - 12.11 (Issue present with Crossfire disabled too)

Windows 7 or 8 (x64)

Here's a random one for you which I have ignored for quite some time. I've noticed some games feature screen tearing whether vsync is enabled or not. It occurs in the same area of the screen (middle of upper half) and it becomes particularly apparent in simple horizontal side-scrolling games.

This is what's triggered me to post this, since I've just started playing Hell Yeah! - a 2D side-scroller. The tearing is very distracting. It's almost like the bottom half of the screen is a solid 60fps, while a small area of the top appears very stuttery, as if a lower framerate.

I tried to capture a screenshot to demonstrate this but, shock, I have not been able to capture a single screenshot with a tear in it. It doesn't seem possible! I've even noticed that the brief hiccup caused by pressing the print screen button can actually cure the issue for a moment or two!

I've never noticed this issue on the desktop, only certain games - and they don't need to be demanding games (as demonstrated by my mention of a 2D side scroller, above).

Any ideas at all? My monitor/TV is 60Hz.

So, I've just noticed by chance that running the game (in this case Hell Yeah!) in window mode (still the same 1920x1080 full screen resolution) the issue is completely eliminated.

Does this help explain what's going on at all?

That's a weird one, I haven't heard of this issue with a single monitor.  It's pretty common with Eyefinity to have one or some times two of the monitors experience it.  In my case when I was running EF it was the outer two screens that did it.  I never noticed it in games but just would see it while at the desktop.  Video's for instance would do it, but I arranged it so my centre screen was the good one so it didn't bug me too much.  

In your case have you tried using a different output from your video card?  Mine would tear on the DP ports but the HDMI was fine.  If I just ran the DP's without the HDMI it was fine then too.  Or just the DVI with HDMI was fine which is what I'm doing now.

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Thanks for that response. Aplogies for my late reply. I have moved to the HDMI  (from the DVI) port and the issue has not been resolved.

I've recently played through Fear 3 and Spec Ops: The Line without even thinking about this issue. I've just moved to Max Payne 3 and it looks like the cut scenes are videos - because they're tearing.

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Screentearingwithmultipledisplays.aspx

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Thank you but I am not using multiple displays.

Never had the issue of the top and bottom half seeming to run at different fps, but I have found V-sysnc to be unreliable with both ATI and Nvidia cards. Depends on the game. With a couple of games I reckon the tear is less evident with V-sync off. I generally only notice tearing with vertical mouse movement.

Never noticed tearing in cut scenes at all. They are video (Bink, etc. ), but wouldn't they be running at a fixed low fps anyway ?

I've done some more testing with disappointing results.

My original post may have been misleading when I said this issue was present when CrossfireX is disabled. I had been disabling it through application profiles (and the newer drivers have a checkbox that can disable it for anything without a pre-defined profile anyway). When Crossfire is disabled ‘properly’ through the actual CrossfireX menu in CCC, this tearing issue is not present.

Again, none of the simple 2D games (Limbo, Hell Yeah!) have a CrossfireX profile so I didn't expect there to be a difference. I tried to record a video of this tearing and much like when trying to take a screenshot, it is not possible to capture the tear (or seemingly lower frame rate above the tear). It is not present in any videos or screenshots I've made.

This might seem like a workaround but it’s obviously not ideal for anything that actually needs CrossfireX (like Max Payne 3 – demanding graphics, yet tearing in video cut-scenes)

Thinking it could be related to clock speeds (the cards throttle for less demanding requirements like 2D or video) I tried manually keeping the voltage and clock speeds high with no change. I also tried swapping the two cards around in the system with no change.

Going off CrossfireX now...

ASUS P7P55D-E PRO
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1600Mhz 4GB G.Skill – (Dual Channel 2x 2GB CL7-8-7-24)
2x MSI Hawk 5770
Philips 9732 TV/Monitor
Windows 8 x64

I wasn't sure if you had done so yet or not but please make sure that you report your issue to AMD via the proper process so that it can be added to the "to-do" list.....thanks in advance!

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Requiescat In Pace AMD Processor Forums | Member since: 1/19/2009 | Post count: 4142
Please don't PM me with questions, instead create a thread so that everyone can assist and benefit from the knowledge provided. Thanks in advance!