Gigabyte R9 280x Rev.2 Flickering in 2D applications, Random clock boosts

[JCX50]

Hello guys,

This is my second AMD card in a month that I have had problems and not yet impressed.
A few weeks ago I brought a MSI R9 280x 3G and had to RMA it due to a faulty fan.
Second time around I brought an Gigabyte R9 280x Rev.2 and everything was going well until i started seeing flickering on 2D applications such as Windows Desktop and Google Chrome browser. It randomly starts flickering but only does it once every 1-10 mins.
3D applications such as BF4, I have had no problems, no flickering, no artifacts and no crashes. (Apart from BF4 itself)

I have had a look in EVGA precision and there seems to be spikes in GPU clock and Memory clock. Randomly, the card goes from 300/150Mhz to 501/1500Mhz for a split second and returns to idle clocks but the strange thing is these spikes do not occur when the flicking does.
(Side note, when running BF4, clocks are 1100/1500)

Can anyone help or should I just RMA the thing and get an Nvidia card?

Thanks a lot,

JCX50

 

[JCX50]

Do you have MSI afterburner openned?

MSI afterburner was uninstalled after I RMA'd it.

 

[JCX50]

Try switching to the other bios or seeing if there is a newer bios on the manufacturer homepage.

How do I switch the BIOS?

 

[JCX50]

I have gone to Change display settings>Advanced settings and it shows my the BIOS information is xxx-xxx-xxx. Great......

 

[JCX50]

Just checked and my BIOS is up to date. Found the Version in Catalyst.

 

[JCX50]

There is a little white toggle switch popping its head out of the side of the PCB near the crossfire fingers?

Just flicked the switch and its still flickering.

 

[JCX50]

Has this exact same problem, the 2d clocks are too low, install 13.10 drivers (should be on the cd) this worked for me.

OK, will do now.

 

[JCX50]

Has this exact same problem, the 2d clocks are too low, install 13.10 drivers (should be on the cd) this worked for me.

Is this why I get clock jumps in Precision?

 

[JCX50]

What version of Catalyst are you using? I'm on 13.35beta17 and my giga 280X's (rev1) are fine.

I think I was running 13.12

 

[JCX50]

So do you guys think its a hardware or software problem?

 

[JCX50]

Just installed the drivers off the disk and AMD drag and drop transcoding and AMD Media Foundation Transcoders have failed. Is this OK?

 

[JCX50]

So after completely removing and installing Catalyst and drivers, I am happy to report the flickering has stopped in 2D mode. Yet to try out in some games. Still getting those clock speed jumps from 300/150Mhz to 501/1500Mhz for a split second every so often. Thanks for the help! (and some people say to throw the disk away, nevarrr !)

 

[JCX50]

I did ask in the Mantle thread in the PC gaming section if the 14.1/2 drivers had fixed the issue but the rep's not responded since. Could be as the weekend though!

Or they haven't done anything about it

 

[JCX50]

Its usually a case of PICNIC sadly.

OP did you try making 2d and 3d profiles in MSI AB?

Not yet, will do when I get back home.

 

[JCX50]

I have had no problems with 13.10 as of yet, but BF4 wants me to update. I can still run it though.

 

[JCX50]

I have looked in afterburner and it says my fan speed at idle is 267374930rpm. *Sad sigh*

It stays around 3140rpm during benchmarks