Furmark problem

[Marvin]

After Crysis Wars crashed on me again, (with multi-coloured lines, and the only option was a reboot), I decided to run a Furmark stability test.

I downloaded Furmark (the latest version), set the resolution to 1600x900, set MSAA to 4x and clicked Go!

My graphics card temperature rose very quickly, up to about 65°C then I heard cracking - like sparks, and the whole computer shut down. A burning smell came from the case. I quickly opened the case and had a look inside - nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Fearing the worst, I turned the system on, and it was fine, booted straight into Windows.

I ran tried to run another Furmark stability test, 1600x900 again, but set MSAA to off, and tried again.

Temperature rose less steeply, but again the system crashed at about 65°C. I went to turn the system on again, and it appeared to crackle - not sure if I actually heard that though...

What the hell might be causing that? I've only ever had the system crash on Crysis Wars and Furmark in its current configuration...

System Specs:
Processor: E8400 @ 4.05gHz, 9x multiplier
Motherboard: ASRock P45-XE
Memory: 8GB Crucial PC2-6400 CL6 (4 sticks)
Graphics Card: Powercolor 4890 PCS+ (clocks: 1st test: 960mHz Core, 1050mHz Memory, 2nd test: 930mHz Core, 1000mHz memory)
Power supply: Antec Basiq 550W, with a FSP Booster 300W GPU power supply (powering the 4890, Antec powers the rest of the system).

Any ideas?

 

[mmj_uk]

ATI skimped on the power circuitry for the 48xx series so you can't load the GPU fully (something that Furmark does), they purposely hindered later drivers to run Furmark slowly to prevent the cards from crashing under it, your card is heavily overclocked so maybe it's triggering the protection mechanism still.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=224958

 

[Marvin]

Hmmm, it's an interesting read, and certainly stacks up with symptoms. Only thing is, it says that the Powercolor HD4870 PCS+ is fine, as it uses a custom power design - I'd guess a Powercolor 4890 PCS+ would be the same?


I was installing a couple more fans last week (most demanding game I've played since then was Frets-on-fire (Guitar Hero), so no problem would have shown up), and have thought that as I was playing with molex connections (to install the fans), I may have forgotten to plug the GPU PSU back into the main PSU, so it didn't turn on. 75W can be drawn through the motherboard - which is far more than the card's idle power, so as soon as it was heavily loaded (playing Crysis or testing), it tried to draw too much power through the motherboard and failed. This would have caused the heat build up (burning smell) too I guess.

I'm just going to try Crysis again, as well as Furmark (maybe ) to see if I did just make a stupid mistake - it's what you get when you're doing upgrades to your computer at 11:30PM

 

[Exsurgo]

Are you sure that VGA booster has enough amps on the 12V rails for a 4890? I know for a fact that it will not power a 8800GTX stable. 25 amps seems too little. Anyone know the amp requirement on the 4890?

For a reference a 8800GTX requires 30A minimum

 

[darkblade]

I had an FSP Booster once and I spent several days trying to trace a crashing issue with my system when overclocked. Eventually I swapped out the FSP with another supply to resolve the issue. The replcement FSP did exactly the same thing, so I returned it for a refund.
It may not be the same for you, but I would seriously consider swapping out the FSP somehow.

 

[Bumhug]

I have 2 Powercolor 4890's in crossfire and had problems with Furmark since installing 9.11 drivers. On my old build could overclock the 4890s fine but since 9.11 even the smallest bit of overclocking results in crashes. 65C seems very low to crash though, was having a lot of crashes at the weekend playing Grid, turns out one of the GPU's was hitting 105C and the system was shutting itself down. The one with the problems has the custom powercolor cooler, the second card has a Zalaman VF2000 on it and doesnt break a sweat at load. I really cant rate the Powercolor coolers at all

 

[Marvin]

I'm not sure that it's the Booster causing the issues. The 4890 is meant to draw 225W max - I'm getting 150W through the two 6-pin connectors, and 75W through the board Read first paragraph here

Obviously, as it is an OC'd edition, I will probably be drawing a few more watts through than 225, but even so, it's not even approaching the 300W limit?

As a side note, which Powercolor 4890 have you got Bumhug? I've got the PCS+, which uses a custom Zerotherm cooler (quite similar to their Coolmax 2000). So far I'm quite impressed, considering the clock speeds (950mHz Core and 1050mHz memory - those are stock too!). I can get them higher too, but I just don't because the fan makes a bit of a racket.

I've now run Furmark, at the standard clocks (where before it crashed very quickly), for about 10 minutes. Temperature rose to about 71°C and remained stable.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions guys - I'll be getting a better PSU in the future, but the Booster was just a stop-gap (it was only £30) until I could afford to get a full modular 850 or 1000W PSU.

 

[darkblade]

My Booster was within spec, but failed to provide stable power to my card - I personally don't rate them.