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4870s freezing/ cubism(why never buy ATI)

shadowcreaper

shadowcreaper

shadowcreaper

Associate
Joined
29 Jul 2008
Posts
692
Ok this might be a little long but affects so many people and so far no solutions so hopefully we can find one and advise people.

Problem:

ATI 4870 and other ATI cards have an issue where you playing game(mainly MMOs) then screen freezes and goes pixalation affect/cubism afffect or stripes down screen.

Only way to get rid of freeze is to manually reboot pc, which is never good.

So far there have been 0 solutions to this and based on ATI forum it affects most of all the ATi cards but 4870 being popular is most talked about.


any ideas to why this is and solutions?


So far heres the only idea people seem to think.

Heat issue as the ATi 4870 is playing MMO isnt high demanding graphics thus fan is on LOW then when a HIGH demand graphic comes up card tries to go into HIGHER fan power then crashes card and freezes game/pc.(this has yet to be proven or solution)


my specs if some ask are:

E8400 watercooled
4gb RAM ddr2
4870 sapphire 512MB(updated with hotfix)
vista 64 home premium

this major issue so any solution would be great as so far all MMos are unplayable without this freeze
 
Hi, it's a bit emotive to put 'never buy ATI', and I expect you will get flamed for saying that. I've had two 4870's, either installed seperately or as xfire, not had the issue you have described...
Chris
 
Ditto Here never had any issues with running 2 4870's 1GB in xfire or singley. In both Intel or AMD rigs OC'd to hell and back.

Which MMO's you playing that exhibit this? Have you OC'd your system what frequency is your PCI-X bus running?

Understandibly your an bit peaved but you need to be a bit more specific.
 
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i thought i was^^( i said ATI never to buy because i have played with nvdia for agges and never had single problem yet after having 2 ati cards they both been terrible, as has the customer service, and from forums this a large issue with all their cards but the very newest from the topics)

no i never overclock my graphics card for this very reson of problems.that didnt work it seems.

frequency is your PCI-X bus running?
Click to expand...

i have no idea.

driver wise just like i said, but heres the information in detail

Driver Packaging Version 8.682.2-091214a-092914E
Catalyst™ Version 09.9
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 8.01.01.984
2D Driver File Path /REGISTRY/MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Control/CLASS/{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}/0000
Direct3D Version 8.14.10.0716
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.9239
Catalyst™ Control Center Version 2009.1214.1801.32312
Click to expand...
 
I have a 4870 1Gb saphire card and never had that problem i have also had a 3870, a 4850 and i have a 1800 ati card in my laptop and never had any isues with any of them. unfortunately i used to own a nvidia 6600gt and then a 7800GTO and had nothing but problems. I think its just down to the pc you put these cards in as you can get driver conflicts and hardware conflicts maybe you are just unlucky that your set up conflicts.

I have heard of TV cards/tuners having conflicts with graphics cards, do you have a tv card?

Also, your PCI-E frequency can cause problems if not set correctly, mine is set at 101
 
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Never had a problem with any ATI cards either, my old 4890 and 4850 before that were rock solid with everything including MMOs. Probably people running the cards with no case airflow.
 
shadowcreaper said:
So far heres the only idea people seem to think.

Heat issue as the ATi 4870 is playing MMO isnt high demanding graphics thus fan is on LOW then when a HIGH demand graphic comes up card tries to go into HIGHER fan power then crashes card and freezes game/pc.(this has yet to be proven or solution)
Click to expand...

That is easily tested. Go into CCC and set your fan speed manually-overdrive needs to be enabled. Set it to a reasonable high setting- try 45%(I have a 4850, so it might be different for you). Run ATItool(scan for artifacts) and watch the temp in CCC. If it starts to climb too high(mid to high 80) then increase the fan speed- my 4850 rarely goes above 35% on auto, even at 100% load, so 45% should be more than enough and loud!

edit: I spent a lot of my free time playing WoW and can't remember it ever crashing.
 
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shadowcreaper said:
So far there have been 0 solutions to this and based on ATI forum it affects most of all the ATi cards but 4870 being popular is most talked about.
Click to expand...

I fixed the exact same problem as were having on my 512mb Sapphire HD4870 with the Blue PCB by flashing the Bios on the card with a variant that had powerplay disabled.

shadowcreaper said:
4870 sapphire 512MB(updated with hotfix)
vista 64 home premium
Click to expand...

Is it the 4870 with a Blue PCB (sapphires 2nd revision)?
 
Erm, i've played MMO's all the time with my 4870 in the past and they've been fine except in LOTRO, there was a known issue with a catalyst version which crashed the game in DX10 mode, but that still doesn't justify a 4870 being problematic in an MMO, because it worked fine in DX9 and other MMO's such as SWG.
 
Same as above really i play wow and hasnt once had this problem on my 4870 512mb.

If you think its the fan then as already stated set the fan manually to 50%+ and see if you still get crashes.

My 4870 has never let me down on any game.
 
Ive had the problems you've mentioned with my sapphire HD4870 512mb GPU.The screen would artifact after a few mins while gaming.
Although mine was during normal gaming but never during WOW. I even folded while playing wow and nothing. I RMA'd it once and it came back (after a month longer than it should due to the shop guy being an ass). A few days later same thing happend. TBH I don't think they even sent it away. After getting it RMA'd again it came back with a new cooler. Its the same card with a diff cooler. Im thinking the reference design was over heating with the stock cooler or the auto fan was broken.
 
shadowcreaper said:
i thought i was^^( i said ATI never to buy because i have played with nvdia for agges and never had single problem yet after having 2 ati cards they both been terrible, as has the customer service, and from forums this a large issue with all their cards but the very newest from the topics)

no i never overclock my graphics card for this very reson of problems.that didnt work it seems.



i have no idea.

driver wise just like i said, but heres the information in detail
Click to expand...

Google Nvidia 8600m gt problems and see how many ecstatic Nvidia owners there are.

Your thread title is very emo, as the vast majority of ATI users will have no issues, unlike 8600m gt owners where EVERY SINGLE ONE of them has a problem.

Should I start a thread saying don't buy Nvidia?
 
TheRedZealot said:
I fixed the exact same problem as were having on my 512mb Sapphire HD4870 with the Blue PCB by flashing the Bios on the card with a variant that had powerplay disabled.



Is it the 4870 with a Blue PCB (sapphires 2nd revision)?
Click to expand...

how can i find out?

on the issue of fans and temps ect, just to confirm.

you saying i should over-ride the safety stuff and manually change fan to 45%? then run ATI tool to strain the card and see what happens?
 
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