Crashing with new 7870...

[uZi]

Hi,

I just got a new 7870 (Sapphire Ghz edition). All seemed to be working fine with my old GF 8800GTX. I removed the old Nvidia drivers before installing the card and have got the latest version of the AMD drivers/CCC (straight off their website).

I've got fairly predictable crashes happening everytime I run 3D applications. Eg: TF2/L4D2 - it gives me a screen of grey vertical lines within seconds of trying to run.

Also, if I try to run the windows rating, which tests the aero performance, it also crashes. Only way out is a hard reset.

Oddly, if I run an older game (e.g. Unreal Tournament (99)) it seems to be fine.

Specs:
asus maximus formula (just updated to latest bios - was same before updating)
Q6600 (clocked back to stock for now)
4gb PC2-6400 (running at stock for now too)
SB X-Fi
7870 (stock)

Any ideas? - I've seen some people complaining of similar issues with the grey lines, but couldn't see a solution. Are the drivers my problem?

One extra thing - originally when I put the card in, I noticed some artifacts even on the BIOS screen.. these seem to have disappeared now.. have checked the seating of the card and reseated it.. made no difference at time :/

Cheers for any suggestions!

 

[ptneps]

There's not end of problems with 7870 cards. Google search throws up a ton of similar problems. It seems the 7870 is the least of their worries in driver development as the 7850s and 7900 series seem to suffer less from these problems. It's swayed me towards nvidia and that's after owning a 6970 which worked flawlessly.

 

[uZi]

Must have missed your reply earlier. I spent the whole day seating/reseating and uninstalling and installing new drivers.

What I've got down to is:

- System works perfectly with the old 8800GTX (very similar power draw to the 7870 - so I don't think my PSU is at fault).

- Can still see artifacts in BIOS -> points to hardware fault

- I can cause a crash every time just by running the windows experience index test. It hangs and needs a hard reboot. Does the same in L4D/TF2. Didn't try other games as I've not got many installed atm.

- Get grey/black/blue crashes which require a hard reset in both windows7 (64 bit) and my Ubuntu 10.04 32-bit installs (using the amd drivers) - would like to have gotten it going with the open source amd drivers, but I didn't have any luck with them working first time.

- I dropped the clocks for overdrive down to about 10mhz over those for 2D - I could then run the windows7 performance index checker.

- Same for both 12.8 and 12.9 beta drivers (should probs try 12.4 but I've lost patience now).

- Crashes on the way into both windows and ubuntu fairly often too - again with artifacts.

I've emailed OCUK to RMA it.. I might just ask for a refund and get an nvidia.. wasted a whole day where I wanted to work on my PhD Thesis and possibly play a little bit of BF3. :E

 

[djshauny1]

Make a thread in the customer service section

Ask for 5UB

 

[uZi]

He already helped once when my B grade order went wrong lol - don't wanna keep bugging him!

Although me having this card is technically his fault...

 

[uZi]

Have posted in the CS forum again.. just thought I'd post the screenshots of the bios artifacts I'm seeing in case anyone's had it before and fixed it:

http://imgur.com/a/HnAjY

 

[Bacon?]

What is the power supply make and model?

 

[uZi]

Enermax Liberty 620W - got it in mid 2009 (replacement for an RMA, but it came in a sealed box and appeared new - all in sealed plastic etc).

It runs the 8800 GTX fine, which has a similar power draw. It's got 2x dedicated 12V rails both @22A - should be enough?

 

[triggerthat]

Sounds like a faulty GFX, if the 8800 GTX is working fine (assuming voltage draw is the same - ruling out PSU).

 

[uZi]

Just to update. I RMAed the card and OCUK sent a replacement (before even testing it in all fairness to them!) - the replacement works perfectly.

Thought I'd update since plenty of people don't bother and I'd hope this might help people out if they're searching for the same issue