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R9 290 desktop flicker and horizontal lines

1Deep

1Deep

1Deep

Associate
Joined
15 Dec 2009
Posts
624
Location
Wolverhampton
Recently bought a Gigabyte R9 290 windforce off fleabay. Got it for a very good price and thought it would be a decent move from my gtx 670 which is currently being rma'd.

GPU was running great for the first day or two then started to develop flickering lines at the login screen which would stay until either a black screen or a bsod.

I've had this problem for the past week and have tried everything and the problem still persists, although intermittently. It will run fine for a few hours then out of nowhere horizontal coloured lines will pop up followed briefly by a bsod 0xa00001.

As I'm typing this the gpu is fine, no flickering etc. It will rear it's head again though, I've been given false hope too many times this past week already :(.

Things I've tried:

Reinstall drivers using DDU in safe mode (many times with different drivers from 13.12 to every beta driver including 14.4)

Remove gpu and test integrated gpu on 4770K, works fine.

Tried a different input: HDMI, DVI, Displayport, all cause the same problem.

Updated motherboard bios.

Updated gpu bios.

Set all settings to stock in mobo bios.

Downclocked RAM.

Reinstall Windows.

Remove any unnecessary software.

Still the problem persists. I think it's something to do with the elpida memory, maybe the 2d clocks are an issue, I'm not sure, just fed up right now. My system specs are:

Asrock Z87E-ITX
4770k at stock
R9 290 Windforce
2x4gb g.skill 2133mhz
Crucial 240gb m500 ssd
Silverstone 450w gold sfx psu

The psu can cope with the gpu, was worried to begin with given that the 12v rail needs 40A (or something like that) but other people have run similar configuration with no problems.

I have been able to play games with no problems (tomb raider maxxed out is amazing). I have a plug power monitor and I have yet to hit over 380 watts when gaming. That's my pc, monitor and external hard drive. Take into consideration the efficiency and theres enough juice.

Gigabyte have said they cannot RMA unless I have the original receipt or invoice. The original owner doesn't have either but will accept a return for a full refund. Right now I'm gearing myself up for returning the R9 290 tomorrow.

So if it is just faulty, should I consider getting another R9 290 and hoping I have better luck? Or should I just get a GTX 780 instead?

Apologies for the mega long post, my frustration has resulted in a mini essay :)
 
The problem with buying from fleabay is you don't know what its been doing or what problems its harbouring, your also taking the chance that its been run into the ground by Coin Mining.

A suggestion i can make is downclock the vRam a bit in After Burner or put some more volts on it, or both.

Certainly it shouldn't be doing this, its not right, Sorry man :( a hard lesson learned.
 
As Humbug said, downclock the ram or add more core voltage and see if the problem goes away. If it does then you know the reason. If it continues id return for a refund.
 
Thanks for the reply Humbug.

It's fine when gaming though. its just when its sitting at the desktop screen that the problems occur. 2D clocks I'm getting are 300 core and 150 memory, the memory will occasionally spike to 1250. The core does jump around a fair bit around 300.

The only reason I though it was worth the risk buying off fleabay was because it was from a good seller and at a very very good price. And with it being gigabyte I thought and RMA would be simple.

Definitely learned a lot this past week. Warranties and company returns will be placed higher up on my list when buying from now on.
 
1Deep said:
Thanks for the reply Humbug.

It's fine when gaming though. its just when its sitting at the desktop screen that the problems occur. 2D clocks I'm getting are 300 core and 150 memory, the memory will occasionally spike to 1250. The core does jump around a fair bit around 300.

The only reason I though it was worth the risk buying off fleabay was because it was from a good seller and at a very very good price. And with it being gigabyte I thought and RMA would be simple.

Definitely learned a lot this past week. Warranties and company returns will be placed higher up on my list when buying from now on.
Click to expand...

I get a similar problem when the core voltage is too low for the core clock set. Add +0.012v onto the core voltage using afterburner and report back. You can also try disabling hardware acceleration in your browser.
 
LtMatt said:
I get a similar problem when the core voltage is too low for the core clock set. Add +0.012v onto the core voltage using afterburner and report back. You can also try disabling hardware acceleration in your browser.
Click to expand...

Thanks LtMatt.

Will download msi afterburner and give your suggestion a whirl. Have disabled hardware acceleration in my browser, didn't make an immediate impact but I haven't got the issue right now, so it might be working perhaps......

Quick question. In gpuz, under the sensors tab, what's the difference between VDDC and VDDCI?
 
1Deep said:
Thanks LtMatt.

Will download msi afterburner and give your suggestion a whirl. Have disabled hardware acceleration in my browser, didn't make an immediate impact but I haven't got the issue right now, so it might be working perhaps......

Quick question. In gpuz, under the sensors tab, what's the difference between VDDC and VDDCI?
Click to expand...

The former is core voltage, the latter is aux (PLL) voltage.
 
I left my pc idling whilst I was out and the flickering is back. This was a good time to see if increasing the voltage would help.

I've upped the voltage in afterburner all the way up to +81 and the lines and flickering are still here. Looks like I will be returning it tomorrow.

Buy another R9 290 or go nvidia?
 
1Deep said:
I left my pc idling whilst I was out and the flickering is back. This was a good time to see if increasing the voltage would help.

I've upped the voltage in afterburner all the way up to +81 and the lines and flickering are still here. Looks like I will be returning it tomorrow.

Buy another R9 290 or go nvidia?
Click to expand...

What refresh rate is your monitor?

Sounds like a faulty card to me as thats not normal behaviour.
 
LtMatt said:
What refresh rate is your monitor?

Sounds like a faulty card to me as thats not normal behaviour.
Click to expand...

It's set at 60hz.

Must be faulty, have just recorded an example of the flickering, will upload it at some point to demonstrate the issue to the original owner.
 
1Deep said:
I left my pc idling whilst I was out and the flickering is back. This was a good time to see if increasing the voltage would help.

I've upped the voltage in afterburner all the way up to +81 and the lines and flickering are still here. Looks like I will be returning it tomorrow.

Buy another R9 290 or go nvidia?
Click to expand...

The GTX 780 is the NV equivalent, the R9 290 is more GPU but that takes nothing away from the 780 which is also an excellent card.
 
http://www.overclock.net/t/1265543/the-amd-how-to-thread/380#post_21832882

Its HW Acceleration.

Open AB, click on the i for information. That will pop up a window listing apps running 3D mode. You will see whatever is triggering 3d there. Now open rtss and add whatever it is the AB info window. Restart AB and voila, no more 3D for that app. You'll have to do this for any app that calls upon the gpu on the desktop, so its under your control.
 
1Deep said:
Haven't tried trixx. I've so far tried afterburner and gigabytes own oc tool. Will give trixx a go if it's better?
Click to expand...

Read my other post

Edit: If you cant get that to work for whatever reason then yea, uninstall MSI AB, restart and install trixx. Tell me how it turns out.
 
Rangerjr1 said:
Read my other post

Edit: If you cant get that to work for whatever reason then yea, uninstall MSI AB, restart and install trixx. Tell me how it turns out.
Click to expand...

Have uninstalled afterburner, couldn't get it to display the apps running 3d mode. Just downloaded trixx, will see if that can improve things.
 
Been having a play around with trixx, upped the voltage etc but the problem still persists.

It's going back to the original owner, all packed and ready to go. Great card when it decided to work.

I now have no dedicated gpu :|. Asus are currently dealing with my gtx 670 rma, no idea what the turnaround is with them though, already been 10 days.
 
Doogles said:
You can return it as it isn't running like it should could buyer protection. Just seen that the buyer is taking it back lol.
Click to expand...

The seller has been very good tbf, will accept a return and knows that I have tried pretty much everything.

Now just need ocuk to put a good deal on another R9 290 or gtx 780 ;)
 
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