Problem with HD3870x2.

Dandle · 9 Mar 2008 at 18:05

I recieved my Sapphire HD3870x2 last week and it seemed to be working fine when playing games etc although I never gave it a good try out due to lack of time. I did notice though that unlike my 1900xt the fan always seemed to be idling when the games were running (it does start of fast when the computer posts). After playing today it is locking up my pc and then the computer crashes to a black screen, as that happens the fan speeds right up and its blasting really hot air out of the grill at the back. Ive taken the side of the case off and the white label on the heatsink cover has lifted off at both ends due to the heat of the card.

Anyone got any suggestions as to what to do? Im thinking that the card is borked and needs to be RMAd.

Also what program are you guys using to read you cards temps?

batchie · 9 Mar 2008 at 18:53

my sapphire lasted 2 weeks before it started showing artifacting during 3d gaming upped the fan speeds with rivatuner which helped 4 a few days then it started again it also upped my case and mobo temp's also sounded really loud so RMA'd it 4 a 8800 gts 512 and never looked backed

Mud · 9 Mar 2008 at 19:05

I have the Powercolour version and it takes a demanding game such as Crysis to get the fan to spin up over idle (accelerates at about 90'C). I've not had issues with crashing...sounds like there might not be much room for play between the fan spinning up and the card cutting out, which will be problematic if the heatsink isn't well fitted.

Dandle · 9 Mar 2008 at 19:08

Im really having trouble getting any software to display the GPU temps. What do you guys use?

Mud · 9 Mar 2008 at 19:10

Rivatuner.

batchie · 9 Mar 2008 at 19:27

riva and everest ultimate are the ones i use

Dandle · 9 Mar 2008 at 19:44

Got my temps with Rivatuner in the end. With the side of my case off it seems to be idling at 70 degrees and after starting the 3d model in ATI tool they went up to 82 and the fan started altering speed to keep it there. Im now thinking that maybe the case fan thats blowing onto the side of the card is keeping the temp sensor cool on when the GPUs are actually getting hot. Going to run some games with the side off and see what happens.

ozzaman · 9 Mar 2008 at 19:52

70c idle is pretty much standard for a X2, and load around 80-90 is pretty standard also.

Crysis only crashed for me when I had overclocked the card via CCC (even if the overclock was really small it would still crash), when at stock it seemed to be fine, never crashing.

Dandle · 9 Mar 2008 at 20:18

Right i still have the lock up problem so i guess the card needs to go back.

Mud · 9 Mar 2008 at 20:25

ozzaman said:
70c idle is pretty much standard for a X2, and load around 80-90 is pretty standard also.

Crysis only crashed for me when I had overclocked the card via CCC (even if the overclock was really small it would still crash), when at stock it seemed to be fine, never crashing.

70'C idle is normal? I'm at 52'C/43'C on quiet air cooling with 28% duty cycle. I've barely managed to stress the card, but 90'C load seems about right. I'm not overclocked mind, yet to receive my 8-pin cable from Corsair.

Richdog · 9 Mar 2008 at 20:28

Dandle said:
Right i still have the lock up problem so i guess the card needs to go back.

What are you case temps like, do you have decent ventilation in there? It may be worth taking off the heatsink for the card, cleaning off the existing (likely cheap and crappy) goop, applying a nice layer of AS5, then putting it back on firmly. May be that there isn't enough paste on there.

boulton · 9 Mar 2008 at 20:39

God, if these cards have the same problems as the x1900s had them that's a bit of a disaster

Richdog · 9 Mar 2008 at 20:44

boulton said:
God, if these cards have the same problems as the x1900s had them that's a bit of a disaster

What problem did the X1900's have? I owned 3 and all were A-OK.

skunksta · 9 Mar 2008 at 20:46

Watch your cpu temps cause they do give of some heat.Might have something to do with it also.If the fan is not kicking it maybe thats not the problem.Just a thought

Richdog · 9 Mar 2008 at 20:47

Also OP, have you tried manually setting the fan speed using Rivatuner so that it runs at a constant 50% or so?

boulton · 9 Mar 2008 at 20:53

lots of x1900s, mine included, started to artifact a lot then randomly make your screen go black cos of some problem with the card, kind of put me off buying anything expensive unless it has at least a 3 year warranty

skunksta · 9 Mar 2008 at 21:00

Stress test and watch the GPU temps but i would also get a core temp to watch the cpu temps also.

megalomanic · 9 Mar 2008 at 21:01

The paper/stickers came of my 2 3850's after about 5 days, and they're only ~41'C idle never seen them far past 80'C, i guess stickers coming off radeon cards is a common thing?.

It's strange that your fan speeds up at a crash... anything in windows could be 'limiting' the fan speed?

skunksta · 9 Mar 2008 at 21:05

Just cant see it being heat or the fan would just ramp up and keep getting higher till it had a stable temp.Of cause unless its faulty.Is it not hard wrote to the bios the fan speed and temps as in when they kick in and how much %%.
?

Final8y · 9 Mar 2008 at 21:08

boulton said:
lots of x1900s, mine included, started to artifact a lot then randomly make your screen go black cos of some problem with the card, kind of put me off buying anything expensive unless it has at least a 3 year warranty

Can you point us to some threads or links to back that up because that is the first time that any mention of this problem with lots of x1900s or i will assume that you got a dud one & just made a blanket
analysis.