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Help needed - R9 290x Issues

Gadget1st

Gadget1st

Gadget1st

Associate
Joined
22 Feb 2012
Posts
18
Hi

A while aho I purchased the R9 290X (second-hand, no over clocking), when I installed the card (upgrading from a R7 240) within a few minutes the screen blanked and Windows 8.1 Pro crashed.

At the time I had a 600w PSDU so presumed that the R9 was pulling too much from the PSU causing it to bomb out.

As I had just shelled out £230 for the card I could not afford a new PSU to install in my rig so waited for a couple of months before getting a 750w PSU (other household bills needed paying before I spent any more money on my rig)

Once the new PSU arrived I excitedly installed it and mounted the R9 and only after a few minutes the screen blanked and PC crashed. Grrrr.

I then went onto the forums and noticed that a lot of R9 290's were having this problem so thought a new VBOIS would solve the issue, after a week or so I had found 3 VBOIS's non of which did anything to resolve the issue.

With hopes of resurrecting the card I went down the Warranty RMA route with Sapphire, aftre a prolonged ticket reply battle with tech support they gave me yet another VBOIS and told me that if the product wasn't supplied by one of their resellers and the fact I didn't have a receipt for it it was not covered by any warranty.

I then flashed the VBIOS but that did not help either, hope was almost lost at this point, all I had for my efforts was a £230 paperweight.

I started to play around with GPUTweak and by looking at the results from furmark I noticed that the temps were going verticle instead of a gradual incline.

As the card was essentially out of warranty I decided to take it appart and check out the thermal paste, with I subsequently replaced.

Now the card idles at 40°c, if I push the card at all it black screens at around 70°c

I don't know a lot about overclocking or even altering settings on GPU's and I look to your fellow members for pointers in the right direction.

I would not even mind paying some one a few quid to do tests on it and get it set up right or am I just trying to flog a dead horse?

Thanking you in advance.
Andrew 'Gadget' :(
 
Gadget1st said:
Hi

A while aho I purchased the R9 290X (second-hand, no over clocking), when I installed the card (upgrading from a R7 240) within a few minutes the screen blanked and Windows 8.1 Pro crashed.

At the time I had a 600w PSDU so presumed that the R9 was pulling too much from the PSU causing it to bomb out.

As I had just shelled out £230 for the card I could not afford a new PSU to install in my rig so waited for a couple of months before getting a 750w PSU (other household bills needed paying before I spent any more money on my rig)

Once the new PSU arrived I excitedly installed it and mounted the R9 and only after a few minutes the screen blanked and PC crashed. Grrrr.

I then went onto the forums and noticed that a lot of R9 290's were having this problem so thought a new VBOIS would solve the issue, after a week or so I had found 3 VBOIS's non of which did anything to resolve the issue.

With hopes of resurrecting the card I went down the Warranty RMA route with Sapphire, aftre a prolonged ticket reply battle with tech support they gave me yet another VBOIS and told me that if the product wasn't supplied by one of their resellers and the fact I didn't have a receipt for it it was not covered by any warranty.

I then flashed the VBIOS but that did not help either, hope was almost lost at this point, all I had for my efforts was a £230 paperweight.

I started to play around with GPUTweak and by looking at the results from furmark I noticed that the temps were going verticle instead of a gradual incline.

As the card was essentially out of warranty I decided to take it appart and check out the thermal paste, with I subsequently replaced.

Now the card idles at 40°c, if I push the card at all it black screens at around 70°c

I don't know a lot about overclocking or even altering settings on GPU's and I look to your fellow members for pointers in the right direction.

I would not even mind paying some one a few quid to do tests on it and get it set up right or am I just trying to flog a dead horse?

Thanking you in advance.
Andrew 'Gadget' :(
Click to expand...

Which sapphire card do you have?

Is it the reference one?

Motherboard bios updated?

run gpu-z and watch VRM temps see how hot they get
 
When the PC crashes, what do you see exactly?

Does it just go black and that's it?

If so, its probably a memory stability issue. I would tune the memory down by a bit using MSI afterburner and see if it makes a difference (i dont clock stuff down but try 1200 or 1150 instead of 1250).
 
passey89 said:
Which sapphire card do you have?

Is it the reference one?

Motherboard bios updated?

run gpu-z and watch VRM temps see how hot they get
Click to expand...

R9 290X 4G GDDR5 PCI-E DUAL DVI-D/HDMI/DP
SKU: 21226-00-40G

System Specs:

i7 - Windows 8.1 Pro - 750W CoolerMaster PSU - ASUS Sabertooth P67 (M/Board BIOS updated to the latest version)
 
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Avenged7Fold said:
When the PC crashes, what do you see exactly?

Does it just go black and that's it?

If so, its probably a memory stability issue. I would tune the memory down by a bit using MSI afterburner and see if it makes a difference (i dont clock stuff down but try 1200 or 1150 instead of 1250).
Click to expand...

The screen goes black and I cannot get back into windows by CTRL+ALT+DEL or moving mouse or keyboard, I have to power down using power button for 4+ seconds.

I am willing to try all options to get this card working and thanks for the suggestion.

Would you recommend using MSI Afterburner instead of ASUS GPU Tweak?

Andrew
 
Gadget1st said:
R9 290X 4G GDDR5 PCI-E DUAL DVI-D/HDMI/DP
SKU: 21226-00-40G

System Specs:

i7 - Windows 8.1 Pro - 750W CoolerMaster PSU - ASUS Sabertooth P67 (M/Board BIOS updated to the latest version)
Click to expand...

ah its the reference model.

Under load core temp will hit about 95C VRM's will get stupidly hot as well
 
Not all reference models went to that temp. My two certainly never got to 90 before i slapped blocks on them.

This looks like the typical black screen memory issue. GPU tweak or MSI AB (doesnt matter which, and clock the memory down and try it. I am afraid there is no cure for this. If you can get it working on the lower clock, that is as much as you can do. A lot of the cards that were abused in mining have ended up a little like yours. Many people sold their cards after mining with them for 6 months 24/7 and found that they were less stable under gaming load. Worth contacting the seller to see if he had any issues (he is willing to admit to).
 
Try an old school ghetto fix....try and get a cheap 120mm fan blowing on to the VRMs...even if you have to hang/fix the fan with some cable ties, get the fan blowing on to them. See if that helps with temps and stability. £2 or £3 will get you a fan and cable ties to try it
 
Logs

Hi Guys

Hopefully this Sensor log will shed light on the issue.

I left my PC on with nothing but the screensaver going (standard windows one)

The logs end when the PC crashed.

Sensor Logs can be downloaded here

Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks
Andrew:confused:
 
If I were to liquid cool the GPU, I think I would use the Corsair Hydro Series HG10 but what other bits would I need?

Radiator and Pump, which ones fit the HG10?

Andrew
 
I'm in the same boat. Bought a second hand 290 (mine's a VTX) that has been prone to hard crashing since I got it. I figured it had been (ab)used for mining.

I managed to get it stable in the end (by chance I guess, I reseated it lots of times). But I've moved the gaming desk to a different room and it's back to its old tricks. I guess that's the risk you take (i only paid £180 for it, which was very cheap for a 290 a year ago).

Going to try underclocking the VRAM, thanks guys.
 
Avenged7Fold said:
How did OP get on?

I don't think heat is the cause of the instability but going cooler is never a bad thing.
Click to expand...

So spending another £80 on a card that may be goosed is ill-advised?

Should I cut my losses and just buy a new card?

I play World of Tanks and would like to play high def at at least 60fps.

Please take into consideration that funds are low so something half decent at a resonable price.

Maybe this

Thanks
Andrew
 
Well, at the moment, there is nothing pointing to temperatures being at fault and its crashing at 70 rather than a really high temperature. Even at high temps the system is designed to either throttle the card or switch the whole system off if it ends up getting ridiculously hot. There is a chance that the heat is causing the instability but i am doubtful.

I think the first thing you need to try is to see if you can get the card to not crash at 1100 memory rather than 1250. I definitely wouldn't splash £80 until you know it is a temp issue.

*Edit* I had a look at the log you posted. I cant seem to see core temperature recorded anywhere, though i may be blind. The VRMs are at a reasonable temperature if they dont get much hotter. the log is showing fairly low current and load most of the time, was the card idle while you recorded that log?

We would need a log of it under stress when you get the crash to be of use in solving why you are getting crashes.
 
Last edited:
Have you tried reducing voltage + core/memory clock to the lowest they'll go in MSI Afterburner or CCC?

Have you tried switching the BIOS setting on the card (from Uber to Quiet or vice versa)

GPU-Z will report VRAM temperatures, what are they when it crashes? They can go a bit higher than the core temp. Your core temp isn't an issue at ~65.

EDIT: Oops, didn't scroll over on the spreadsheet, your VRAM temps are fine too. Voltage and amps are fluctuating a lot, I don't know if that's normal or not.
 
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The fluctuations look like idle and then ramping up for a split second while it loads something or opens something. My 290x does this when do things like open a video or something. The Vram instability will likely be down to sketchy memory rather than temps if it is the VRAM. lowering the clock and trying it out in a game is the quickest way to test it out.

MSI AB: http://download.msi.com/uti_exe/vga/MSIAfterburnerSetup.zip
 
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Avenged7Fold said:
The fluctuations look like idle and then ramping up for a split second while it loads something or opens something. My 290x does this when do things like open a video or something. The Vram instability will likely be down to sketchy memory rather than temps if it is the VRAM. lowering the clock and trying it out in a game is the quickest way to test it out.

MSI AB: http://download.msi.com/uti_exe/vga/MSIAfterburnerSetup.zip
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion, i'll have a play with the settings tonight when I'm home from work.

Andrew
 
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