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Sapphire 5850 - failing?

Matty_Boy

Matty_Boy

Matty_Boy

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Joined
14 Jun 2007
Posts
236
Having a few problems recently with my Sapphire 5850 card.
Bought it back in Dec, recently I'm getting a lot of screen artifacts appearing on the desktop, especially after playing video using MPC-HC.
This culminates in the computer locking up and then after a few minutes Windows reporting a "graphics card driver has stopped responding" message, which Windows 7 (x64 version) then manages to restart.
I'm running with Catalyst 9.12 drivers.
Is this a hardware failure?
 
is it overclocked?

what sort of artifiacts? dots or lines and tempture of the card.

also what powersupply you running while we are at it
 
Blocky artifacts all over the screen, then clears a bit as it locks up, before Windows manages to restart the driver.
Card is not overclocked, stock settings, and is powered from a Corsair HX650 power supply.
 
I belive dots is the core, what temps is it running at idlea and load, use GPUZ to find that info out, and tell it to log it

I won't ask about the connectors, reason being, is that it was running fine till now
 
Just as an FYI I was having problems with my 5850 and MPC-HC, black/grey screens (showing as driver stopped responding in Win7 logs) whilst playing video. Only happened in MPC, fine in games and general browsing etc. Switched off hardware acceleration in MPC and all is well. I've put it down to a problem with the 9.12 driver and/or MPC-HC.
 
riggsuk said:
Just as an FYI I was having problems with my 5850 and MPC-HC, black/grey screens (showing as driver stopped responding in Win7 logs) whilst playing video. Only happened in MPC, fine in games and general browsing etc. Switched off hardware acceleration in MPC and all is well. I've put it down to a problem with the 9.12 driver and/or MPC-HC.
Click to expand...

Good to know - thanks.
 
Do the artifacts include flashing and static pixels of various colours?

If so, this is a problem with powerplay and generally occurs when the card underclocks itself to 157/300 for powersaving.
 
Soylent Red said:
Do the artifacts include flashing and static pixels of various colours?

If so, this is a problem with powerplay and generally occurs when the card underclocks itself to 157/300 for powersaving.
Click to expand...

Yes - also when playing video I've experienced distortion / pixalation in the picture that appears then clears frequently.
So if the card underclocking itself for powersaving is causing this issue, surely this is a fault as it would likely occur during simply desktop browsing?
Think I'm going to rebuild the machine with a fresh Windows install + Cat 9.12 drivers at the weekend to see if that helps.
 
Matty_Boy said:
Yes - also when playing video I've experienced distortion / pixalation in the picture that appears then clears frequently.
So if the card underclocking itself for powersaving is causing this issue, surely this is a fault as it would likely occur during simply desktop browsing?
Think I'm going to rebuild the machine with a fresh Windows install + Cat 9.12 drivers at the weekend to see if that helps.
Click to expand...

The best way to cure it is to raise the default 2d clocks in CCC or some other program from 157/300 upto like 500/900. There's several guides around on the net because a lot of people are having the same problem. I would post it now but i'm in work.

I'm on the verge of RMAing mine as the fixes don't seem to work permanently.

Also, if you get horizontal tears in video playback, try the 9.12 hotfix, that sorted those out for me.
 
Last edited:
Soylent Red said:
The best way to cure it is to raise the default 2d clocks in CCC or some other program from 157/300 upto like 500/900. There's several guides around on the net because a lot of people are having the same problem. I would post it now but i'm in work.

I'm on the verge of RMAing mine as the fixes don't seem to work permanently.

Also, if you get horizontal tears in video playback, try the 9.12 hotfix, that sorted those out for me.
Click to expand...

Thanks - thinking the same as you, if the card doesn't operate properly as supplied, then I'd rather have another one that does work.
 
Matty_Boy said:
Thanks - thinking the same as you, if the card doesn't operate properly as supplied, then I'd rather have another one that does work.
Click to expand...

Agreed - Although the only thing i can't work out/find out is whether it's an actual hardware fault, or a clash between the software/bios and my current hardware configuration.

The former = RMA
The latter = Erk.. not so sure :confused:
 
OK - crashed again today, watched a movie using MPC-HC, upon closing the Player, system crashed, taken a few pics, hardware failure?
I had to hit the Reset Switch to reboot as system completely locked up.

P1030815.jpg


P1030816.jpg


P1030817.jpg
 
I had a lot of problems on my 5770 crossfire with certain drives.
I uninstalled everything and then installed the 9.12 hotfix, it's working fine.
Try that, if that fails, RMA the card.
 
Martini1991 said:
I had a lot of problems on my 5770 crossfire with certain drives.
I uninstalled everything and then installed the 9.12 hotfix, it's working fine.
Try that, if that fails, RMA the card.
Click to expand...

I'm on the same drivers as you and all is well. There seems to be a bit of 5770 CF bashing going on in other threads which I think is unfair and inaccurate. These cards are still relatively new tech and I think they will continue to improve for some time to come. The only problem I've had is the second card wont downclock when on the desktop but I'm confident that will be fixed soon.:D
 
rolypolyman said:
I'm on the same drivers as you and all is well. There seems to be a bit of 5770 CF bashing going on in other threads which I think is unfair and inaccurate. These cards are still relatively new tech and I think they will continue to improve for some time to come. The only problem I've had is the second card wont downclock when on the desktop but I'm confident that will be fixed soon.:D
Click to expand...

I went from a 5870, and downgraded to a 5770 crossfire, I know it's a downgrade, but in reality, it's still working damn fine.
Mass effect maxed out 1920x1080 (Doesn't work on eyefinity) 60 FPS capped using Vynsc..
 
OK - I took out the 5850 card, refitted and cranked up a movie again using both MPC-HC and 7MC Player. MPC-HC wouldn't display a picture at all, all garbled, 7MC worked OK, but again, when I closed it down the desktop went all garbled again.
I'm now going to do a fresh install of Windows 7 with Cat 8.12 to see if that fixes.
 
Matty_Boy said:
OK - I took out the 5850 card, refitted and cranked up a movie again using both MPC-HC and 7MC Player. MPC-HC wouldn't display a picture at all, all garbled, 7MC worked OK, but again, when I closed it down the desktop went all garbled again.
I'm now going to do a fresh install of Windows 7 with Cat 8.12 to see if that fixes.
Click to expand...

Uninstall the drivers fully and then install 9.12 hotfix from Guru.
 
I had the same fault on a 5870 sent it back and within a day they had given me my £££ back.
Not saying its a common fault but was very quick turn round.
 
Its the nature of Pc's to have compatability problems thats why we love them so much. When we eventually get it working perfectly we then proceed to muck it up again.:p
 
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