XFX 5870 possible problem

I have been running a Sapphire 5870 with an XFX 5870 for several months now (I know name doesn't really matter, just a FYI). I started to get some screen flicker on one of my monitors. I had the three monitors plugged into the sapp in the first gpu slot. I tried uninstalling drivers and re-installing them but the flicker was still there. Can't remember if I used any older drivers but I know I used the most recent ones. So to further trouble shoot the issue, I took both video cards out and tested one at a time. Absolutely nothing wrong with the sapph gpu (currently running it now). When I put the XFX card in alone, and hooked up just one monitor, there was a black box around each side. I believe this could have been fixed by making some adjustments on the monitor itself but nothing I did software related would fix this. Also, none of the other display ports would work. I tried hooking up one monitor at a time using each display and only the DVI port would work. If I hooked up all three to this card, only the DVI would show up. Am I doing something wrong here or has this card gone bad is same way? Thanks in advance for your answers.

Guessing by the lack of response that this is going to be an XFX support question?

Ok I knew after I posted that I should have explained it a little better. I will try to make it a little more clear and go step by step of what I have encountered(I hope). Sorry for the confusion.

I started out with the Sapph 5870. Everything was running fine. Decided to get a XFX 5870 after about three months of running a single card. Installed the new card and everything was gravy for 4-5 months. One day out of the blue while playing SWTOR my right monitor (running 3 exact same monitors,see sig) started flicking. I uninstalled the drivers using driver sweeper before I released this wasn't the best way to do it. Anyways, uninstalled drivers, re-installed the drivers and the flicker was still there. It was more noticeable if I was in game or if I was moving windows around but would still flicker if nothing was happening.

So I started to trouble shoot each card to see if it was card related. I took the XFX card out and ran with just the Sapph 5870. Nothing wrong at all, no flicker on any screen.

Took the Sapph card out and put the XFX card in. This is where the problems started. Only one display would work (DVI) and even then it had the 2.5 in black boarders around all sides. That is an easy fix with the amd control center. I unplugged all the monitors and tested each individually. Only the DVI slot would work. I even switched the cables on each monitor and same thing happened.

Now, during this process, I did not change anything driver wise which could be one of my mistakes. I thought the cards would work just fine with the same drivers if I swapped them in and out??? but I could be wrong.

Again, I am sorry for making the OP so confusing. I had a lot going through my head and wanted to make sure that I got everything out right without checking to make sure it made since. I'm hoping both cards are ok and it is just user error because I just bought a 7970 and wanted to give these two cards to my dad (who is running a 9800gtx+ .

I just did a fresh install on my computer and everything seems to be running smoothly. I am thinking about grabbing a spare HD and doing another install with the XFX card with fresh drivers and all just to see if I am doing something wrong.

If you think that any of this will net better results please let me know or if you think I should try something else, I am willing to give anything a shot.

Thank you for the info. +rep. I will give these a shot. I releaseed the mistake I made after reading for a while on these forums about drive sweeper. I have been using atiman since I did the initial sweep.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814998051

That is the adapter I was using. Some of the comments seem familiar . I just got another adapter with the 7970 so I will test it out with that one as well. Only thing that makes me not think it is the adapter is that it runs fine on the sapph 5870

But I will get the other stuff tested and let you know my findings. Thank you for your help again.