Is there a compatibilty problem with the ATI 4850 and Furmark?

[Plec]

I have sent mine back for RMA a few days ago but as it is older than 28 days (got it in april) i am forced to accept a replacement card. If i get another temperamental 4850 XXX and it has the same issues then what are my options? Am i locked into a cycle of sending cards back till i find the golden goose or will OC send me a different model or offer me a paid upgrade?

I think it’s down to the discretion of the e-tailer although if you receive a second duff card I suspect they would look at your situation sympathetically. (But a lot of these cards have been sold and and it's only a small percentage that have issues so hopefully your replacement will be ok.)

Oddly enough' a few years ago I received 3 faulty XFX’s (a known heat problem) and after the third I requested/demanded a replacement brand and the e-tailer obliged.

 

[Helium_Junkie]

Mine was refunded at last, replaced it with nVidia.
I may consider XFX in the future... but for now i'm out.

 

[supermoose]

i am currently having the same issue as every one here
the card was RMAed and "repaired" and started acting up again on grid, so i ran furmark and card dies instantly, i can cause it to crash on demand but oc say they cant find a problem,

i have a hiper type r 580 watt psu and has been rock solid with all the cards before this so i am still going to argue my case.

funiley enough i had a xfx 7600gt afew years ago and that was faulty 1st time round. i will be staying clear of XfX 2/3 failiure rate

 

[mtomasky]

Heya guys!

The same problem here. My PC's configuration: AMD 5200+ 2.70 GHz, ASUS M2N68-AM, PSU: 520 Watt (12V Line - 26A), OCZ 4 GB (2x2) PC2-6400/800MHz, 2x HD (160gb SATA + 500gb PATA), OS: Win XP, and... {drums!} XFX 4850 (XXX Edition). Here is what I know and what I've done. The graphics card hates Furmark (both benchmark and stability test). It doesn't work with "Race Driver: Grid" and "Bioshock". By 'doesn't work' I mean it freezes the comp after few minutes and I can see black or grey stripes across the monitor (sometimes the monitor shows 'no signal'). However the card works fine with: "Football Manager 2009", "C&C: Tiberium Wars" and "Red Alert 3". I sent back my graphics card and it was replaced for another model, though I wasn't told the reason why. Unfortunately it hasn't changed anything, the problem still occurs I was determined to fix it, but the support guys from XFX (I must say, they're quite ok) advice me to sent it back once more. I don't believe that it will fix the issue, cause I've lost my trust in this model. Since there is no way of knowing what the hell is going on, could someone recommend me a graphics card, that will fit my comp and will be STABLE? Thanks!

 

[GEDpc]

I bought the xfx 4850 xxx edition on the 9th april 2009 and it works alright in most games I tried(burnout paradise, fallout3, GTA4) but farcry 2 crashes to the lined screen every time I run it for a few minutes and same for the new batman arkham asylum demo. My other games fallout 3 and gta 4 have also crashed to the lined screen but not very often. Furmark got all the way up to 73degrees c without dying or crashing in any way so I dont know what to do. Registered a support ticket with xfx last night. I was hoping that my problems were ati driver related but now 4 months later and still getting crashes with the latest drivers makes me think its possibly the card

my pc stats:
Antec NSK4000 Mini Tower case witho
8GB Corsair (4x2GB) TwinX XMS2, DDR
500 GB Seagate ST3500320AS Barracud
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 SLACR, K
MSI P43 Neo-F, iP43, S 775, PCI-E 2
500w Silverpower SP-SS-500 "Green P
AOpen DSW2012SA 20xDVD±R, 8x DVD±DL

 

[supermoose]

Every one hear has diffrent specs of pc and all have described the same problem, i seen quite a few people saying they went to xfx and its not been fixed, i have no intention of doing that as its oc problem atm i work in a shop

for any one who is wondering what the problem looks like i have uploaded 2 vids to youtube


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6kI-qD2W8w
3 mins of grid (crashes at the end)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW1TXmXjZn0
gpu crash in furmark

does that look like a card thats not faulty?

 

[mtomasky]

Hehehe, supermoose, you were lucky... over three minutes, plenty of playing
I hope you've sent it to XFX support team, if not, I'm gonna do it Anyway, remember when I said, that C&C: Red Alert 3 is working... I was lying Today after over an hour of playing it crashed... but I saw gold stripes. It's a new one after seeing only black and grey

 

[supermoose]

Thats the thing i can play some games for hours, tf2 all day.
but when it comes to good looking games or when a lot of things are happening it just crashes, thats why i know its the card and not the rest of my pc the 8800gts i have can chug along all day long. i have monitored the amperage on the 12v line of my psu and its stable.

i think the card just panics and dumps its output.

Every one here in these topics have described the same problem - comon part the xfx 4850

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17995822
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=13870546#post13870546
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17997317
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17997995
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=14555956
http://forums.amd.com/game/messagev...=114093&STARTPAGE=2&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear
http://www.tech-forums.net/pc/f77/computer-hangs-black-screen-207403/index2.html

oc have 1 last chance to refund me like i asked and i will get an nvidia or wait for the next chip set or i am calling ts

there is nothing on xfx website to say they have a bios upgrade for the card so it must be a faulty batch

 

[Plec]

Thats the thing i can play some games for hours, tf2 all day.
but when it comes to good looking games or when a lot of things are happening it just crashes

That's not an uncommon quirk of this particular fault - odd i know.

It has all the hallmarks of being the same problem - it freezes in certain games (banding) and consistently crashes in Furmark (which by itself would not be enough.).

I would enclose a detailed letter when you return the card - pinpointing the games that it consistently crashes with and of course the Furmark test.

Have you tested it on Crysis as this is a game that OcUK loop as one of their tests? It should freeze when running this game (approx within 5 - 30 minutes of playing) as this is another consistent theme and one that OCuK would pick up quickly when testing.

 

[GEDpc]

its wierd that furmark seems to be ok for me but I havent left it on for as long as 20mins but so far Ive found

farcry 2 crashes after 20mins
batman Arkham demo crashes after 5-10mins
darkest of days demo crashed after 5 mins

Ive got crysis so I might install that and test it out

 

[mmj_uk]

Didn't AMD solve the Furmark issue by stopping the cards running full speed via the drivers? the 48xx power circuits can't cope with too heavy load.

 

[Plec]

Yes, there was an issue with Furmark and some 48xx cards but the problems highlighted in this thread are 'error specific' to the XFX 4850 xxx edition (or at least they were until i read GEDpc reply) - plus the card had to display similar crashes/freezes in games to fulfill the fault criteria and warrant an rma.

EDIT: GEDpc are you getting the banding when the games crash/freeze?

 

[supermoose]

i dont have crysis but i play grid a lot and i cant complete a lap on it, pure also crashes, i have had cod 4 crash after a while of playing.
earlier games seem to cope much better which isn't suprising as this error seems to be under heavy load.

 

[Plec]

i dont have crysis but i play grid a lot and i cant complete a lap on it, pure also crashes, i have had cod 4 crash after a while of playing.

Watching your youtube footage your screen crash is atypical of the type of crash that myself and other ppl experienced with a faulty xxx.

 

[GEDpc]

Yes, there was an issue with Furmark and some 48xx cards but the problems highlighted in this thread are 'error specific' to the XFX 4850 xxx edition (or at least they were until i read GEDpc reply) - plus the card had to display similar crashes/freezes in games to fulfill the fault criteria and warrant an rma.

EDIT: GEDpc are you getting the banding when the games crash/freeze?

yup Ive got the xfx 4850 xxx edition, I get vertical lines and my sound goes into a loop. so far games that crash after less than 10-20min

farcry 2
rainbow six vegas 1
batman arkham asylum

these 3 games listed crash every single time, batman only makes it in for about 5 minute. other games(fallout 3, gta 4) have also crashed to the vertical banding but its more rare.

the xfx support guy knows all my hardware information and just asked me today if Ive got another pc to try the card in but I dont and all my friends have laptops these days.

 

[GEDpc]

got this response from xfx
"
Hi Glenn, thanks for your messages. It would be a big help to have it tested in a different system to see if the card produces the same issues. However, you may return it to your reseller if you wish as they are responsible for the warranty of the product, so should be able to help you out. Kind regards, Shaun."

I really want to test it in another desktop pc but I dont know anyone that has one, all my friends have laptops. Should I try just sending it back to overclockers? Im fairly confident its not my pc at fault because its new and I built it myself and its only in these graphics related games that I get crashes to this banded screen.

AAaaargh Im so tired of my new pc being a piece of crap it should be awesome but its given me nothing but trouble, I will never build a pc myself ever again!

 

[Plec]

Ive got crysis so I might install that and test it out

Did you try Crysis?

The Crysis test would be a good test as OcUK use that as part if their testing.

I really want to test it in another desktop pc but I dont know anyone that has one, all my friends have laptops. Should I try just sending it back to overclockers? Im fairly confident its not my pc at fault because its new and I built it myself and its only in these graphics related games that I get crashes to this banded screen.

It fits all the criteria other than Furmark but as mmj_uk has noted this may have been rectified and may not be a consistent error anymore - time will tell on that one.

As you have no other computer to test it in you really are limited in options. Personally, i would risk the p&p/testing as your description sounds like it is the same fault all be it in a 'slightly' different guise - and if by some minor miracle it's not it would probably be worth the small outlay just so it rules it out.

Drop OcUK a web note explaining your problem and suggest that you feel that it’s a known problem despite the lack of a Furmark error. It has all the major elements of the problem - freezing/banding consistently in certain games but not in others etc... And if Crysis crashes consistently you can be 'fairly' confident that it will replicate the same problem on the OcUK bench tests usng the same game.

Good luck with it - let me know what you decide/get on.

 

[GEDpc]

Tested crysis tonight and it crashed to the banding screen after a few minutes when I turned all the settings up and ran the assualt harbour demo, the other crysis demos didnt work it hard enough or play for long enough to make it crash. Batman and darkest of days crash absolutely consistently after about 5 mins.

Im going to my parents house tomorrow so I will hopefully be able to test crysis and batman on thier machine with my card as well but I feel a bit of a nuisance messing with thier perfectly good machine.

so it seems my 4850 is crashing in the same way as many other people have stated the only difference is that I have to push my pc very hard for a prolongued amount of time eg 20minutes of farcry2 before the crash happens.

This is very frustrating because often I think "maybe its finally gone" and then a few minutes later it crashes. hopefully overclockers will take the card back if it is at fault like I think it is and then I will go back to using nvidia like I had in my old pc.

 

[Plec]

This is very frustrating because often I think "maybe its finally gone" and then a few minutes later it crashes.

This is a common theme - it's exactly why i was initially confused when i started this thread, months ago.

The only consistent error that you're not getting is Furmark - but as already stated - this could be something that has been rectified via ATi drivers. (It may have been coincidence that it caused the same crash - time will tell on this one.)

The banding you describe/show coupled with the games tested - does seem to indicate that it's the same problem, given that it's the same card and edition.

Personally, i would send it back.

 

[GEDpc]

ok I tried it at my parents house

they have an amd 3500+ and windows xp
and I have intel q6600 and windows vista.
so unfortunately its not like our machines are similar spec

so I tried it anyway and crysis didnt crash there but I couldnt set it to very high or turn on 64bit or dx10 settings and I dont think it gave the card much of a workout because the pc was too slow and ran crysis at like 16fps.

still this doesnt help me as games still dont work on my own machine with this card so I want to return it.