Asus RX480 Dual problems

Howie87 · 31 Mar 2017 at 16:38

You have to increase the maximum power level to at least +20 in the AMD Wattman software to hit max clocks. My ASIC quality is 69% so you might be alright but from what I've seen I think there's a bad batch of these cards out there recently. Strange that there are so many reports of the grey screen crash happening all of a sudden. If you get that I would say definitely RMA it.

I've heard reports of people getting replacement cards that have exactly the same issue.

roadie · 31 Mar 2017 at 16:46

I have had 2 more crashes, but no more artefacts.

The fan sound is awful even with the case closes. It's not a nice 'woosh' of air sound, but a more grating, growly sound. Not good fans. I wouldn't have bought the card had I known the noise it produced would be this bad.

Supernova · 31 Mar 2017 at 17:02

Isn't it funny how these cards are by far and away the cheapest RX 480 8GB on sale today. I'm guessing ASUS did a good price on them wholesale...

Plec · 31 Mar 2017 at 17:21

roadie said:
I have had 2 more crashes, but no more artefacts.

The fan sound is awful even with the case closes. It's not a nice 'woosh' of air sound, but a more grating, growly sound. Not good fans. I wouldn't have bought the card had I known the noise it produced would be this bad.

Crashes to desktop, game freezes or other? Perhaps roll back the drivers - I've presumed you've double checked temps etc. Any background apps that may be causing a conflict?

Shame about the noise - my MSI R9 280x was an annoying hum, even during noisy gameplay.

EvilFranky · 31 Mar 2017 at 17:28

So basically these ASUS RX 480's are cheap because they are ****.

roadie · 31 Mar 2017 at 17:46

Yeah I can't recommend it.

That being said, I turned off the computer and connected to the card to a different PCI-E power cable and managed to complete a game (finished 21st) without crashing back to the desktop.

Temps are OK in the mid 60s, but the level of noise to achieve that is not good.

Will start another round and see what happens!

/EDIT/ nope, crash back to desktop with the crash reporter for the game appearing, same as before.

Plec · 31 Mar 2017 at 17:54

EvilFranky said:
So basically these ASUS RX 480's are cheap because they are ****.

Reviews were good - but the noise factor was always mentioned as a con with these cards but the reviews tended to say the price justified the noise if it wasn't a concern for the owner...

If you're on a budget an RX 480 8gb @ sub £180 (when you include DOOM) is a great deal - but perhaps Asus's quality control is a factor (I have no idea) - if you get a working card it's a bargain.

I remember the days I would have screaming fans everywhere on my case (80mm used to be the standard) to get the best clock out of my T-bird. Times have changed as I too crave speed coupled with relative silence...

Plec · 31 Mar 2017 at 18:01

roadie said:
/EDIT/ nope, crash back to desktop with the crash reporter for the game appearing, same as before.

You mentioned your previous card would crash - are they similar reports/events and at the same frequency (same amount)?

It shouldn't crash at all - but that rule would also apply to your original card. Unless that card only crashed in specific games?

If your original card crashed frequently, even less frequently, then that may imply that there's another issue at fault and this card is causing the problem to present itself more often by stressing the system more?

Something to consider while you're troubleshooting - and appreciate it would be an annoying factor. :/

roadie · 31 Mar 2017 at 18:20

I had occasional crashes previously that were similar in nature. However, the frequency now is almost every game of PUBG.

I thought it might be my overclock, but that is stable testing Prime95 for 2 hours with the settings in this thread.

Is there a more stressful test for a graphics card than Heaven that is not Furmark?

Also I tried finding any kind of crash report for PUBG, but couldn't see anything in the Event Viewer. Where's best to look?

Plec · 31 Mar 2017 at 18:28

roadie said:
I had occasional crashes previously that were similar in nature. However, the frequency now is almost every game of PUBG.

I thought it might be my overclock, but that is stable testing Prime95 for 2 hours with the settings in this thread.

Where's best to look?

Unfortunately, to test the card effectively, you'll need to put the CPU back to stock as the card maybe putting additional stress on an already unstable system/clock (and I stress 'maybe').

Passing prime for 2 hours is not proof that your system is stable - please take no offence. A lot of people will run this test for hours (24 hrs) and will use and abuse their clock for hours but still experience BSODs, due to the clock, when browsing or using simple apps. From your initial description and the testing of your clock - that is the first thing I would eliminate from your tests.

Take the system back to stock and defaults - and then hammer the card...

BunnYPandA · 31 Mar 2017 at 22:07

Ok so i installed mine earlier this evening and have given it a go on a few games. Total war warhammer. Heroes of the storm. Overwatch. So far no crashes and seems to be going well. Ive literally only installed the latest amd drivers and uninstalled the old nvidia ones so cant say anything about clocks or anytjing.

Noise doesnt seem to be an issue. No louder than my old 260. Only thing ive seen so far is the gigabyte bios splash screen on startup looks like a massive pink splodge (artifact) but soon as its in windows its looking fine

freebooter · 31 Mar 2017 at 23:05

Any tips on how to test the card? I haven't done any testing or overclocking of anything for a long time so I haven't got a clue. all these stories of people having problems are making me worried.

I got the card (Asus Dual 480 8Gb) a few weeks ago and haven't had any real problems with it but all I have done is play a bit of Elite Dangerous so I doubt it has really been tested much. I did have one session where I saw a couple of frames of coloured block artifacts but that has been it.

I have just started ED with gpuz running. It is telling me that the core clock is 1305.

roadie · 1 Apr 2017 at 00:12

Plec said:
Take the system back to stock and defaults - and then hammer the card...

I took your advice and rolled the BIOS back to default settings as I was having no luck otherwise. The AMD driver was also at default.

I was getting small black artefacts indoors, but completed a round (7th). However, upon loading the next the computer became unresponsive. After a few minutes I hit the reset button and am now attempting start up repair, as I got a BSOD on boot.

My return to AMD is not proving fruitful at present!

Howie87 · 1 Apr 2017 at 02:42

I think they should recall all these faulty cards. I'm gonna RMA mine regardless of having no replacement. I just can't live with the instability.

roadie · 1 Apr 2017 at 11:19

Right I managed to right the BSOD. Setting the BIOS to defaults had set it to IDE mode, not AHCI.

Anyway, with everything at stock I got into a game before it crashed again. I managed to take screenshots of some of the artefacts I get in buildings. These are not the worst they have been...

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197977407990/screenshots/?appid=578080

I shall try to get some screenshots showing higher levels of artefacts. However, in the meantime does this look like a faulty card or something that the game/driver is producing?

Terrorfirmer · 1 Apr 2017 at 11:30

I got this same card from OCUK the other day and it's a disaster. Crashes to a grey screen with buzzing after 30 seconds to ten minutes. Also, even that aside, it's horrendously loud - at 60% fan speed mine sounds similar to my R9 290 reference cooler! A sound I never expected from an 'Asus' 3rd party design.

Also, I have found a solution. For some reason the card crashes/locks up when it hits about 65c. Leaving the fan on manual control leads to this, you need to manually set it. Even using Wattman to set a target of 50c fails to stop the crashes so all you can do is manually set a fan speed while gaming.

Set your fan speed to 80-100% and viola, if you can stand the sound of a screaming hairdryer, the card will actually run fine and not crash. I managed a few rounds of BF1 doing this. Leaving it on automatic fan control it crashes within 30 seconds to ten minutes at best.

Plec · 1 Apr 2017 at 12:18

roadie said:
Right I managed to right the BSOD. Setting the BIOS to defaults had set it to IDE mode, not AHCI.

Anyway, with everything at stock I got into a game before it crashed again. I managed to take screenshots of some of the artefacts I get in buildings. These are not the worst they have been...

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197977407990/screenshots/?appid=578080

I shall try to get some screenshots showing higher levels of artefacts. However, in the meantime does this look like a faulty card or something that the game/driver is producing?

You're having a tough time of it...

Just to be clear, i'm not defending this card in trying to resolve your problem - but your problem still could be related to an unstable system or, coincidently, both.

When you mentioned the BSOD it sounded more like a BIOS setting due to the timing of the BSOD after resetting to defaults. Resetting to defaults without fine tuning it to your components will usually result in problems - but it's easy to forget when faced with troubleshooting, so kudos for spotting it.

I've just checked up on the game your mainly testing the card with - it's in 'Early Access' release. Which, means by definition it's guaranteed to be unstable on some systems while it's being developed - yours included.

I hate to say this but again you need to try a 'full release' game that's been patched to the eyeballs - e.g. battlefield 1/4, Farcry 3/4, Blackops etc... Basically any big backed game that's gfx demanding and has had resources thrown at it to make sure it's compatible with mainstream cards.

If it still gets artifacts, with a full release title (fully patched), and BIOS set to defaults etc (nothing clocked) - then you would certainly have to begin to suspect your card.

Plec · 1 Apr 2017 at 12:27

Terrorfirmer said:
Set your fan speed to 80-100% and viola, if you can stand the sound of a screaming hairdryer, the card will actually run fine and not crash. I managed a few rounds of BF1 doing this. Leaving it on automatic fan control it crashes within 30 seconds to ten minutes at best.

If you're testing at stock and nothing is clocked and you had no problems with your previous gfx card - you can probably safely assume your card is faulty.

Did you have any stability issues before you installed the 480?

Terrorfirmer · 1 Apr 2017 at 12:48

No, I know 100% it's the card. It crashes on manual fan but runs OK on 80-100% fan speed. Why it cuts out at 65c I don't know but I'm willing to wager most of the people here will find their cards will also work in this method (which is not an acceptable solution obviously).

No, no issues with a G1 Gaming RX480 4GB (replaced that with this) or an R9 290 (spare card).

Plec · 1 Apr 2017 at 12:56

Terrorfirmer said:
No, I know 100% it's the card.

Thankfully, yours was a simple process to identify - i'm beginning to feel I dodged a bullet not getting one for my son's build. Having said that people only post when they have problems - so there must be cards out there that are working fine, if relatively noislily from reviews.

Good luck with the RMA.