[Help Needed] Saphire HD 7970 Dual-X OC Possible hardware failure?

[kenowhite]

I Recently bought a Saphire HD 7970 OC of a site called lambdatek and when it Arrived i felt like testing it out on max payne 3 with it on bios 2 (at that time it had Catalyst 12.8 drivers installed). 1 hour later i was just browsing the internet and the card just randomly displayed black and white lines after a few seconds of blackness on the screen.

I thought it was a driver problem so i used ATIman to do a clean install of Catalyst 12.9 Beta after 12.8's removal. It looked like the card was stable again after a heaven benchmark success on the default OC on bios 2, so after just toying around in minecraft i closed the app and a white screen flashed and then turned to blackness after with the screen displaying (No Video signal) again and requires a long hold of the power button to get it up again.

Tomorrow again just using sony vegas lags like hell and causes my system to lock up for a few secs. I used ATIman again and downloaded catalyst 12.4 and installed it. i got a BSOD half way through so i tried again at worked. Every thing seemed fine again then i done a small OC to 1200 on the core, 1450 on the mem and 1.195 v and tried heaven again and it froze on stage 11 and i needed to reboot to get windows up again.

Then i switched to bios 1 and keeping an oc to 1125 on core, 1450 on mem and 1.19 v tried heaven again and this time froze on stage 10 and it took me about 5 on and off's long holds on the power button before i could receive a signal from the card to boot into windows and type this message. What do you guys think the problem is? it's a bit hard to think it's the drivers given i've tried so many. Games like sleeping dogs, MW3, ACR, LOL, Max Payne 3 play great without artifacts or lag with pretty high framerates on max settings.

when i turn the computer sideways/horizontally it seems fine and can run through games and benchmarks flawlessly. Vertically upright, the screen starts freezing in Heaven/3dMark and randomly in games... What could be the cause or solution to this?

The temps i got when the desktop is upright was 55c when doing a GPU-z render test, then after 3 min the card went retarded displaying stripes in the color theme of my desktop background and needed a (hold on the power button to reboot). I'm now running it again with it sideways now for about 15-20 min and nothing has happened so far the temps are 56c. Also when i first got the card in vertical/upright position, a little shake on the desktop would distort the windows animation and text. I'm guessing now maybe it's not the cooler as temps don't go above 60c, its something in the card maybe disconnecting from the circuitry because it's loose? Or my card just simply hates gravity. Any suggestions that could help me rule out the problem or fix it would be greatly appreciated.

I would just like to see what do you guys think the problem is, thanks in advance...
if it's the card i will opt for an RMA.

Specs:

i7 2600k @4.5 GHz 1.26 vcore
P8z68-v pro/gen-3
Gskill Ripjaws 2x4gb 8GB 1600mhz
Crucial M4-128gb
GS800 800 watt corsair PSU

 

[kenowhite]

What's weird is why does it only act up when under load and is hanging of the mobo in a case up position? on idle it works fine.

 

[kenowhite]

any ideas?

 

[uZi]

for the browser crash: disable hardware acceleration for flash

Have you screwed the card in properly onto the case's backplate? - does it move much if you try to push it?

If I were you, I'd run it at stock and make its running stable for a bit before you start OCing

 

[kenowhite]

The same thing happens on stock. The card does seem the bit wobbly probably due to it's weight, however I've made sure about 5 times that it is securely screwed in both slots to the backplate and is firmly placed in the PCie slot with 8pin and 6 pin connected. I've even installed a temporary windows on another drive and tested it there in gpu-z and when the card hits 57c it just displays no video signal on the monitor and i have to hold the power button to reboot. This problem only happens when the card leaves idle, in the test bench position the card works perfectly. Heres the log i got before it crashed if it might help somehow.

 

[kenowhite]

The same thing happens on stock. The card does seem the bit wobbly probably due to it's weight, however I've made sure about 5 times that it is securely screwed in both slots to the backplate and is firmly placed in the PCie slot with 8pin and 6 pin connected. I've even installed a temporary windows on another drive and tested it there in gpu-z and when the card hits 57c it just displays no video signal on the monitor and i have to hold the power button to reboot. This problem only happens when the card leaves idle, in the test bench position the card works perfectly. Heres the log i got before it crashed if it might help somehow.

Date , GPU Core Clock [MHz] , GPU Memory Clock [MHz] , GPU Temperature [°C] , Fan Speed (%) [%] , Fan Speed (RPM) [RPM] , 12V [V] , VDDC [V] , MVDDC [V] , VDDC Current [A] , VDDC Current In [A] , VRM Temperature 1 [°C] , VRM Temperature 2 [°C] ,

2012-10-07 08:32:33 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 49.0 , 20 , 1107 , 12.19 , 1.139 , 1.602 , 58.8 , 6.3 , 40 , 44 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:34 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 49.0 , 20 , 1111 , 12.19 , 1.137 , 1.602 , 59.0 , 6.3 , 40 , 45 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:35 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 50.0 , 23 , 1111 , 12.19 , 1.139 , 1.602 , 58.8 , 6.2 , 40 , 45 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:36 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 50.0 , 23 , 1110 , 12.19 , 1.139 , 1.602 , 59.8 , 6.2 , 40 , 45 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:37 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 50.0 , 23 , 1109 , 12.19 , 1.137 , 1.602 , 59.8 , 6.4 , 40 , 45 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:38 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 51.0 , 26 , 1108 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 62.3 , 6.5 , 41 , 46 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:39 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 51.0 , 26 , 1110 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 61.3 , 6.6 , 41 , 46 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:40 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 51.0 , 26 , 1111 , 12.19 , 1.137 , 1.602 , 60.8 , 6.5 , 41 , 46 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:41 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 51.0 , 26 , 1113 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 62.8 , 6.3 , 41 , 46 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:42 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 51.0 , 26 , 1114 , 12.19 , 1.137 , 1.602 , 61.0 , 6.4 , 41 , 46 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:43 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 52.0 , 29 , 1115 , 12.19 , 1.137 , 1.602 , 61.0 , 6.4 , 41 , 46 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:44 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 52.0 , 29 , 1119 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 62.5 , 6.5 , 41 , 47 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:45 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 52.0 , 29 , 1120 , 12.19 , 1.137 , 1.602 , 61.5 , 6.5 , 41 , 47 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:46 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 53.0 , 32 , 1122 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 62.8 , 6.7 , 42 , 47 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:47 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 53.0 , 32 , 1135 , 12.19 , 1.137 , 1.602 , 61.5 , 6.3 , 42 , 47 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:48 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 53.0 , 32 , 1141 , 12.19 , 1.137 , 1.602 , 61.5 , 6.6 , 42 , 47 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:49 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 53.0 , 32 , 1147 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 63.0 , 6.6 , 42 , 47 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:50 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 53.0 , 32 , 1148 , 12.19 , 1.137 , 1.602 , 61.0 , 6.5 , 42 , 48 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:51 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 53.0 , 32 , 1149 , 12.19 , 1.137 , 1.602 , 62.0 , 6.6 , 42 , 48 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:52 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 54.0 , 35 , 1181 , 12.19 , 1.137 , 1.602 , 62.5 , 6.5 , 42 , 48 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:53 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 54.0 , 35 , 1206 , 12.19 , 1.137 , 1.602 , 62.8 , 6.6 , 43 , 48 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:54 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 54.0 , 35 , 1215 , 12.19 , 1.137 , 1.602 , 62.3 , 6.3 , 43 , 48 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:55 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 54.0 , 35 , 1220 , 12.19 , 1.137 , 1.602 , 62.3 , 6.7 , 43 , 48 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:56 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 54.0 , 35 , 1220 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 63.5 , 6.6 , 43 , 49 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:57 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 55.0 , 39 , 1266 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 0.0 , 6.7 , 43 , 49 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:58 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 55.0 , 39 , 1328 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 63.8 , 6.6 , 43 , 49 ,

2012-10-07 08:32:59 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 55.0 , 39 , 1351 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 0.3 , 6.7 , 44 , 49 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:00 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 55.0 , 39 , 1361 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 63.0 , 6.8 , 44 , 49 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:01 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 55.0 , 39 , 1365 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 0.0 , 6.7 , 44 , 50 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:02 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 55.0 , 39 , 1369 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 61.8 , 6.6 , 44 , 50 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:03 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 55.0 , 39 , 1368 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 64.3 , 6.8 , 44 , 50 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:04 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 56.0 , 41 , 1405 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 62.8 , 6.5 , 44 , 50 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:05 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 56.0 , 41 , 1469 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 62.8 , 6.6 , 44 , 50 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:06 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 56.0 , 41 , 1493 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 0.3 , 6.7 , 45 , 50 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:07 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 56.0 , 41 , 1503 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 62.8 , 6.7 , 45 , 50 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:08 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 56.0 , 41 , 1504 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 62.5 , 6.8 , 45 , 51 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:09 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 56.0 , 41 , 1504 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 0.0 , 6.7 , 45 , 51 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:10 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 56.0 , 41 , 1508 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 64.5 , 6.7 , 45 , 51 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:11 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 56.0 , 41 , 1506 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 64.3 , 6.9 , 45 , 51 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:12 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 56.0 , 41 , 1508 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 64.8 , 6.8 , 45 , 51 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:13 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 56.0 , 41 , 1510 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 127.8 , 6.8 , 46 , 51 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:15 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 57.0 , 41 , 1506 , 12.19 , 1.133 , 1.602 , 65.3 , 6.8 , 46 , 51 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:16 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 57.0 , 44 , 1585 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 0.3 , 6.7 , 46 , 52 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:17 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 57.0 , 44 , 1624 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 65.3 , 6.9 , 46 , 52 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:18 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 57.0 , 44 , 1637 , 12.19 , 1.133 , 1.602 , 65.3 , 6.8 , 46 , 52 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:19 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 57.0 , 44 , 1644 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 64.8 , 6.8 , 46 , 52 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:20 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 57.0 , 44 , 1645 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 0.0 , 6.7 , 46 , 52 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:21 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 57.0 , 44 , 1642 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 65.0 , 6.8 , 47 , 52 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:22 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 57.0 , 44 , 1644 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 64.0 , 6.9 , 47 , 52 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:23 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 57.0 , 44 , 1645 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 64.3 , 6.9 , 47 , 52 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:24 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 57.0 , 44 , 1648 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 127.8 , 6.9 , 47 , 53 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:25 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 57.0 , 44 , 1646 , 12.19 , 1.135 , 1.602 , 65.0 , 6.8 , 47 , 53 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:26 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 57.0 , 44 , 1646 , 12.19 , 1.133 , 1.602 , 65.3 , 6.9 , 47 , 53 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:27 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 57.0 , 44 , 1648 , 12.19 , 1.137 , 1.602 , 63.0 , 6.7 , 47 , 53 ,

2012-10-07 08:33:29 , 1000.0 , 1450.0 , 57.0 , 44 , 1705 , - , 1.158 , 1.602 , 27.0 , 2.9 , 48 , 51 ,

 

[uZi]

Try setting the fan speed to 100% in overdrive, just to try and remove the heat issue - odd that it always happens at 57deg :/

Also, odd that the currents vary so wildly towards the end of that log - possibly the sensors arn't working properly.. they go from ~65 to 127.8 twice in the lead up to that crash.

Still looks like the card isn't seated properly - what if you support the card with something like a toilet roll tube to keep it stable?

 

[ptneps]

Remove the name of a competitor or face the ban hammer.

 

[kenowhite]

I think that's the problem too, when i just poke the card in testbench position it makes the screen go black. The stiffer i make the screws holding the card, the longer it lasts in 3dmark. i can't make the card any more stiffer at this point, there is a small wobble in the PCie slot. i've tried the second slott and the same thing happens. When i use an object to balance the card all seems ok. Wen looking at the card outside the case the board is not broken or bending in anyway. Is this a motherboard fault or a card fault due to it's heaviness weighing down the card?
Is there any real way to solve this without using a tissue to hold it up?
btw i am using an NZXT Phantom case

 

[Defy Belief]

How are you using tissue to hold up the card?

 

[kenowhite]

I'm using a roll to balance the card so it does not sag