HIS 3780 problems

[mitch2471]

I have just bought a HIS Radeon 3870 card. I am having a problem where everything seems to crash when I'm trying to run a game.
Everything else works fine until I load a game (crysis, gears of war, etc), the game loads but when it gets to the point where you play it crashs & comes up with a message saying there has been a display problem.
I have updated the drivers, but still have the same problem.
I am running a old evolution 550w psu(about 2 years old) with a q6600 quad cpu, 4gb crucial ballistix ram in a antec 900 case with lcd display . My old nvidea 7900gtx seemed to cope ok wioth this set up.
I think this may be a psu problem as in lack of power, but thought I'd get a second opinion from the experts, i.e. you lot.

 

[-iceblade^]

maybe thats the problem: the PSU... AFAIK, PSUs tend to degrade in terms of power ouput over time, so it might not be putting out as much as it needs to be... If you can source a quality PSU, ie, Corsair HX520, try running it again and see what you get...

how fast and how many volts are going through your Quad?

 

[mitch2471]

Hi there

thanks for your help with this. The cpu is on factoryu settings, I haven't got it clocked at all at the mo. From memory the cpu is sucking up about 1.3'ish volts a the mo. I'm trying to avoid dishing out on a new psu if needs be. I'm seeing a few things on the forum of a few people having similar problems which appear to be hardware issues rather than psu issue's

 

[gurusan]

The 3870 doesn't draw very much power, I don't think it's PSU related. I would try reinstalling the drivers.

First uninstall the drivers, then run driversweeper (clean out ATI and Nvidia files since you had a 7900), reboot, run driversweeper again....and then install latest drivers.

 

[mitch2471]

Hi there

tried that, still no go. It's weird I've tried unistalling the drivers & re-installing them a number of times now. A few times I've been able to play a game one after installing the drivers, then the next time I try to load any game, it's all gone pete tong again!

 

[ACESHIGH]

If you had an Nvidia card previously have you used driver cleaner to get rid of their old drivers?

 

[jrodga2k5]

Hi mate,
I am going to be the bearer of bad news for you here unfortunately! These symptoms you described are the exact same ones that I experienced before my 3870 died the first time. Eventually the card will start to cut out during windows startup and then will cease to work at all. Well at least in my experience that was what happened.
I cant suggest much other than drivers but I suspect the PSU is not the issue.

 

[spookywillow]

try underclocking the card a bit and see if you can game.

 

[mitch2471]

Yeah cheers for all the suggestions guys. Gave up & sent it back this morning. Read on the forum a lot of people having similar problems. There’s only so much trouble shooting I'll do on a new graphics card. Bit of a joke really that the 3870's get shipped out being so temperamental! Doesn't really install much faith in a manufacturer when it's so difficult to get the product to work. Have gone for a 8800GT instead.