3870 x2, Unstable, random crashes 8.4, 8.5 etc

engstrom0304 · 30 May 2008 at 19:42

Right ill start from the beggining.

I bought a 3870 x2,
I found that it was crashing when i was gaming. I thought it was a fan speed profile not working, which it still may be. I thought this because it was very quiet, and when it crashed, there was a no signal screen and a suddenly loud gpu fan.

I used rivatuner to control fan speed, couold hear hear the fan changing speeds but still getting crashes.

Reinstalled drivers etc. No help

One day everything starts working again...kinda

Go on holiday, come back and...gues what...its worse than it has ever been.

Remake fan profile on rivatuner, no help.

drunkenmaster · 30 May 2008 at 23:35

I wouldn't put this past a vista issue, if you're on vista that is.

I've had zero issues with my 3870x2 other than flashing it to get rid of the dropping out of full 3d speed in game. Since then and before zero crashing though. Put the 8.5's on several days ago, same normal games and not a single issue.

For the first time I can recall windows update installed something itself and rebooted without asking me, maybe 2-3 days ago. Since then, completely randomly, in all kinds of temps, night, coolish and with AC on to kill humidity so uber cool really and it crashed, yet same game, same room, same everything except probably 10-15c higher room temp and i assume at minimum same temp increase on card but probably quite a bit more and it worked fine.

But same issue as a couple other posts, suddenly signal gone, sound fine, everything continuing but having to restart and fan doing the starting up system full speed noise. I'm convinced its not temps, and the issue suddenly starting same time as the patch seems suspect as I'm fairly sure nothing else at all has changed.

engstrom0304 · 30 May 2008 at 23:43

I am on Vista yes,
I did a couple of stress tests and it failed, until I made a profile in Rivatuner. In the past this has helped with the stress test but Is till suffered crashing in games. But now the game seems to be working too. It must have been 1 of those suttle changes that i made this time which made the difference.

engstrom0304 · 31 May 2008 at 19:48

Still not working properly, it seems to be getting worse. Before post i can hear the fan loud. Then it seems to be going minimum whatever the temperature.

The fan speed is definately wrong. Even when i used rivatuner at 100% it crashed (on desktop)

what could it be

would the 3870 fanfix bios work for this 3870 x2 powercolor
:confused:

engstrom0304 · 31 May 2008 at 21:02

Does anyone know

1. Wheather the Fan fix bios will help me
2. Where can I get it.
3. Which program to flash it with and where to get it.
4. Is it just like a normal bios, or is there more to it than that.

engstrom0304 · 31 May 2008 at 22:18

Is there any new official bioses that may fix my problem

could i mod the current bios with this
http://www.aledander.de/vb/ati_bios_editor/support/index_eng.htm#FanControl
to use fan fix

snarloas1982 · 31 May 2008 at 22:21

what psu are you using mate? also i wouldnt recommend changing the bios untill you can 100% identify the prob have you tried the card in another system?

engstrom0304 · 31 May 2008 at 22:32

im using a 750 watt psu. 2 x 6 pin connectors

Q6600
3870 x2
Striker extreme
1 hdd
1 cd drive
w/c pump, dunno how much power that uses

Foxor` · 31 May 2008 at 22:47

RMA that card dont flash it,

Schnippzle · 31 May 2008 at 23:19

Foxor` said:
RMA that card dont flash it,

Agreed.

snarloas1982 · 1 Jun 2008 at 00:09

defo dont change anything about the card, try and get it in another system to be sure, what is the brand of your psu anyway??

engstrom0304 · 1 Jun 2008 at 12:48

My psu is an Oryxx Tornado 750w

I also disabled Ati External Event Utility. But i dont think that helped.

The wierd thing is that the person I bought it from had reviewed this card and had had it for 3 weeks, aparently fine. He is called Minstermunch on overclockrs forums. But he said thre was nothing wrong with it. If I rma it and it isnt faulty i am in trouble, I did have another thread abought this

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17876533

but since when I first got it, it has got worse.

Problem is, i dont have any other pci-e systems to try it with.

this_is_gav · 1 Jun 2008 at 12:56

You're powering a twin-GPU card off of a £30 PSU? Hmm. I'd be looking at the PSU before the card to be honest.

engstrom0304 · 1 Jun 2008 at 13:04

Yeh but surely 750w is 750w, isnt that enough power?

engstrom0304 · 1 Jun 2008 at 13:05

2 x 8800gt 's worked ok.

engstrom0304 · 1 Jun 2008 at 13:06

ok what psu would be good for this and the 48** series

skunksta · 1 Jun 2008 at 14:10

Something branded.And some real 12 rail power Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 would do the job nice but tbh i got mine on a 500 watt Enermax.But even if your psu run two GT's i cant see it running a x2 its not even sli/xfire ready psu.You get what you pay for and i would not trust that to run a system like yours.And i would have thought you have been told this a few times in your 2 threads you have made.And no 750watt does not mean it can output that.And over one 12v rail which it looks like to me is p*** poor lucky you got the to gt's to run if you ask me.

engstrom0304 · 1 Jun 2008 at 15:14

THANKS

Psu's have always been my blind spot.

engstrom0304 · 1 Jun 2008 at 15:15

are you sure 650 w is enough if I wanted to go to 1 of the new gpus

Lightnix · 1 Jun 2008 at 15:21

It's not about the wattage - manufacturers can and do lie through their teeth about that. It's best to get a decent branded PSU (Corsair, OCZ, Seasonic, PCP&C, enermax off the top of my head). It's best to go with a PSU that can push a lot of amps on the 12v rail stably than to get one that says it can push 20,000 jiggawatts.