290x Possible RMA?

[Kanoe]

Hi

I asked this question in the owners thread but it got overlooked as everyone was moaning about shipping charges at the time so put it in a seperate thread.

Is the fact that my mem clocks are "stuck" at max at all times a fault and therefore a RMA or is there something you can do to correct it? It was ok for the first few days of use then happened out of the blue.

I dont have GPU-Z or afterburner installed or anything open on desktop 9including browsers), overclocking disabled in CCC etc and its 1250 all the time. Tried fresh installs of Windows and Beta 3, Beta 7 and Beta 8 drivers and still it wont move.

Is this something that could be fixed by a future driver update or is it a hardware issue?

Open to any suggestions for fixing bar doing something that would void warranty or risk breaking it (flashing bios is a no).

Its a HIS BF4 edition bought from OCUK and behaves the same in both bios's.

Thanks

Kanoe

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

I though it was only core speed which changes on 2D/3D clocks.

To my knowledge memory speed should always be at full speed, as memory performance is still critical even in 2D mode.

 

[Make]

If I remember correctly my GTX downclocks on memory too when idle. (I'll check when I get home). GPU-Z shows the real-time clocks.. they do ramp up quickly and keep changing even when on desktop (Aero?).

Maybe AMD's dont. I wouldn't class it as a fault though.. shouldn't cause any harm or much increased power consumption? Or maybe that explains the high 290X Power usage on blu-ray playing.

 

[d_brennen]

Memory idle clocks should be 150MHz, like most AMD cards of late (if not all of them?)

e: dual screen?

 

[NightSt@lk3r]

If using multiple monitors the memory clocks will be at full speed all the time, this is by design.

 

[VincentHanna]

Question (sorry for hijack)

If you run dualscreens, but have one monitor in standby, does the memory downclock to 150mhz? Or is it the physical presence of a HDMI cable which keeps the memory clocks up?

 

[Five.Stars]

Question (sorry for hijack)

If you run dualscreens, but have one monitor in standby, does the memory downclock to 150mhz? Or is it the physical presence of a HDMI cable which keeps the memory clocks up?

Speaking with regards my 79 series cards, if my tv is on standy (connected via HDMI) then the clocks remain at 150mhz memory. Only if the tv is on and in extended mode do the clocks go up (can't remember off hand the clock speed). In duplicate, the clocks remain in 2D mode.

TV connected via HDMI
Monitor connected via DVI

 

[tribz]

My R290X memory is at 150MHz on 2D clocks. Multi monitor or high refresh rate monitors will run it higher at 2D. If you dont have one of those then somethings not quite right.

 

[Kanoe]

Thanks for the responses, don't have multi monitors unless Gibbo has a couple of Dell U2410's lying around I could buy to go with mine

 

[VincentHanna]

Interesting Five.Stars and tribz.

Just checked using new GPU-Z released today (the one that doesn't ramp up the core) and memory is showing as 1250Mhz with TV on standby

Edit - Turned TV off and now they instantly dropped to 150.

 

[VincentHanna]

Further note, that dropped the core GPU temp from 65C at Idle to 46!

 

[Zeed]

I got same thing.. Answer is
DEAL WITH IT

I tried 2 bioses and all drivers well card is stable. Just clock is up and down but who cares

 

[VincentHanna]

It's not a problem really, it's doing what it's supposed to do ZED.

To be honest I knew GPU Core was supposed to drop at idle, but didn't realise memory was supposed to as well.

I don't mind turning off the TV instead of leaving it in standby if it's going to bring my idle temps down by 20°C. It'll save me a bit of money of leccy as well.

Fan speed max 50% stops throttling so I'm happy with that.