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R9 290 failure (powercolour)

Coops5947

Coops5947

Coops5947

Associate
Joined
6 May 2014
Posts
13
POWERCOLOR R9 290 OC

http://www.powercolor.com/us/News.asp?id=1199

Well not had a single day in over two ewes where my PC hasn't crashed,bsod,graphical errors. Even took the PC to a specialist, not a happy camper tried all the fixes on the web nothing works will post all data below I have started the process to rma it.

The system is:

i7 930 socket 1366

6GB DDR 3 (2 x 133MHz and 1x 1066Mhz)

Intel DX58SO motherboard with latest BIOS

2 x 500GB Sata 2 HDD

Corsair HX 1050 PSU

The crashing is random sometimes occurring while gaming, at the end of gaming, on Desktop, browsing the internet or idling. Most of the time the display freezes and the mouse and ketyboard capslock lights working. Other times the screen is black and no display and occaisionaly a BSOD. The keyboard capslock usually responds and the hard disk activity is flashing if it's not a BSOD.


What we have tried so far:

-Flashed graphics card BIOS with the updated one powercolour emailed

-We have scanned for viruses and Malware

-Tested the power supply appears to be outputting 12v and 5v as normal.

-We have changed the power adapters supplying the card.

-The PSU is modular and we have changed the sockets the power is supplied from on the PSU and spread them on the available sockets.

-Changed operating systems Windows 8.1, Windows 7 home premium x64 and Windows 7 Ultimate x64

-Tried Drivers from Power Color website and AMD website CCC 13.6, 14.4 and 14.10 (Beta)

-Tried testing with only 2x2GB 1333MHz RAM

-Checked motherboard settings - no overclocking

-scanned hard disks for bad sectors

-changed PCI-E socket from socket 1 to to 2

-Disabling CCC

-Removed browsers apart from IE

-Set all Power Saving Options never turn off including hard disk.

-Tried Passmark and other testing software.

-Monitored card temperatures - not operating above recomended temperatures.

-Various under clock and voltage stuff out there on huge web using msi afterburner


I'm lost guys HELP ,,,,
 
Know how you feel, I've gone through everything, about to RMA my second Power color r9 290
 
On a positive note if you got it from ocuk, my last RMA was very quick, sent it on a Wednesday and got the replacement on the friday
 
Can u try the card in another system to try and confirm it is the card? Nothing worse than going through the RMA process for them to say the card seems fine.
 
As Walter White says above test your card in another system or try testimg your your system with a different card. I had similar issues with my rig earlier this year and it turned out to be the motherboard.
 
Check the temps of your South and North bridges these can get quite warm on X58 and a 290 can dump a lot of heat into the case.

Also make sure you have good airflow in the case.
 
Quick Update its looking like its not the card the card is working fine in another system and i ran a 770 2 gig in mine, air i sufficant the card never spike if i run the fans on 80% card wont go over 55. i have made another post ( BSODS NEED HELP) as i think this is memory related now as in timings not being set correctly in bios..

i have
2 asint 2gig ddr3 1066
1 kingston 2 gig ddr3 1033

i have no idea about timings and setting might i point out all i know is that the auto setting on my bio just aint cutting the mustard lol as im sitting here tying this i get display driver has failed and restarted lol

:(
 
Coops5947 said:
Quick Update its looking like its not the card the card is working fine in another system and i ran a 770 2 gig in mine, air i sufficant the card never spike if i run the fans on 80% card wont go over 55. i have made another post ( BSODS NEED HELP) as i think this is memory related now as in timings not being set correctly in bios..

i have
2 asint 2gig ddr3 1066
1 kingston 2 gig ddr3 1033

i have no idea about timings and setting might i point out all i know is that the auto setting on my bio just aint cutting the mustard lol as im sitting here tying this i get display driver has failed and restarted lol

:(
Click to expand...
I'm not 100% on this, but I believe for i7 930 and socket 1366, it'd run rams in triple channel, so it's not a good idea to use non-identical memorys, and different speed and timing even...?
 
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Coops5947 said:
i just checked cpu-z and on the memory tab top left its saying dual channel...
Click to expand...
So basically you have been missing out on one of the key benefit of the x58 platform...don't suppose you can find another identical asint 2gig ddr3 1066?

IMO you might as well try selling off all those slow rams, and get some 3x2GB (or 3x4GB if you budget allows) 1600MHz Triple-channel memory...
 
Last edited:
Marine-RX179 said:
IMO you might as well try selling off all those slow rams, and get some 3x2GB (or 3x4GB if you budget allows) 1600MHz Triple-channel memory...
Click to expand...

IMO a 2x8GB would be a better choice, triple channel is a feature of X58 just like quad channel is a feature of X79, but in both cases the extra bandwidth is pretty pointless unless you are using a hex core and doing memory heavy calculation work.

For the average enthusiast it's much more cost effective to just run a dual channel kit, the only real advantage of dual/quad channel for most users is being able to install more chips via the 6/8 memory slots.
 
ubersonic said:
IMO a 2x8GB would be a better choice, triple channel is a feature of X58 just like quad channel is a feature of X79, but in both cases the extra bandwidth is pretty pointless unless you are using a hex core and doing memory heavy calculation work.

For the average enthusiast it's much more cost effective to just run a dual channel kit, the only real advantage of dual/quad channel for most users is being able to install more chips via the 6/8 memory slots.
Click to expand...
I suppose, but I think there's no argument on OP should definitely get faster (identical) memory may it be dual-channel or triple-channel.
 
What speed is the RAM running at? If you've got a 1066 stick and 2 1333 sticks, then if it's running at 1333 memory speed then that's your problem.
 
Coops5947 said:
my questions is will this stop all my BSOd and freezes if so i will go out and grab some
Click to expand...
I'm not saying it definitely the cause of the issue, but the memorys should all be running at the same speed, not with 1066 and 1033 at the same time.

For some demanding games, 1600MHz memory would offer better gaming frame rate than 1333MHz or below.

For your issue, I would suggest try using ONLY the 2x2GB 1333MHz RAM again, and then for the 290 uses the 14.3 driver. If problem still occur, try lowering the 290's memory clock speed from 1250Mhz down to 1000MHz. If it then became stable, then your 290's memory is clearly not able to run the stock clock 1250MHz, so rmaing your 290 should be in order.
 
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