Why is AMD quiet about black screens on 290x?

[Rangerjr1]

You got me, it was sarcasm. I asked you twice if you checked the event logs and you havent responded. There's irony there somewhere.

Where are they located?

Yea and sorry about that.

 

[Rangerjr1]

Running Windows 7 Professional 64 bit SP1.
i7 3770k @ Stock.
Asus Maximus V Gene (Latest Bios).
32 gb of CV DDR3 @ Stock.
Sapphire R9 290 @ Stock.
BenQ XL2440T @ 120Hz (Black Screen if in 60 or 120).

From cold boot, will Black Screen in BF4 and Wot, have not tried other games yet, after a pressing reset, then power button to clear the Black Screen and lock up, computer will run normally.

Have used GPU-Z to record reading from the card while playing and all look normal.

The time stamps for the different Black Screen events on GPU-Z show no abnormal indications and cross referring this to the Event Viewer also shows no abnormal events, just showing the hard reset events.

The following info is based on a Black Screen event this morning:

2013-11-15 10:19:12 ,
GPU Core Clock [MHz] = 947.0
GPU Memory Clock [MHz] = 1250.0
GPU Temperature [°C] = 88.0 (Down from 89[°C] just before Black Screen event)
Fan Speed (%) = 42
Fan Speed (RPM) = 1997
GPU Load [%] = 84 (Down from 99% just before Black Screen event)
Memory Usage (Dedicated) [MB] = 1933
Memory Usage (Dynamic) [MB] = 209
12V [V] = 11.63
VDDC [V] = 1.180
VDDCI [V] = 1.000
VDDC Current In [A] = 9.1 (Down from 14.6[W] just before Black Screen event)
VDDC Current Out [A] = 80.5 (Down from 129.0[W] just before Black Screen event)
VDDC Power In [W] = 105.9 (Down from 148.5[W] just before Black Screen event)
VDDC Power Out [W] = 95.3 (Down from 126.1[W] just before Black Screen event)
VRM Temperature 1 [°C] = 54
VRM Temperature 2 [°C] = 72

Not sure if there is anything useful here however all this seems to indicate is the GPU going from a 3D state to a 2D state as it goes Black Screen.

Around that voltage i get black screens. Is that your stock voltage?

 

[Rangerjr1]

It's fine i'm just messing anyway lol. the logs would be in control panel >> computer management >> event viewer >> windows logs >> system. Look for critical events that happen at the time of the black screen, it may or may not give you some information on what's happening - worth a look anyway.

Nothing related to any graphics adapter or anything.

 

[Rangerjr1]

My launch 7970s were a lot worse than any launch Nvidia cards I have had. They are as bad as each other,however neither are awful. These days its expected for early adopters to be beta testers!

 

[Rangerjr1]

I realize i had a bad attitude yesterday, and id love it if anyone could forward an apology (Sorry to everyone else aswell!) to Gregster. Thank you all for your help and suggestions

 

[Rangerjr1]

Hey everyone, though I'd sign up to post about my problems too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAQoiblBJwE

Video of one of the black screen crashes, and the 2 frames before the crash






I get these crashes in other games and benches too, I'm currently trying to get a refund as I'm quite fed up with the card tbh.

I hope this helps anyways.

get refund and buy a 780 ti. (I bet that was your plan)

 

[Rangerjr1]

This happens to me too on a 290. Driver issue??

We dont know yet, AMD hasnt said anything.

 

[Rangerjr1]

It's a real shame tbh I've been with nvidia since my fx5200 and had a 680gtx before this but thought I'd give amd ago as the 290x is a great price + performance card but it's been a nightmare.

Never have I seen my pc be so unstable, just constant hardlocks, blackscreen , driver issues the lot.

Got to the point where I was question my own pc so I tried it in a mates and bam it blacked screen quicker than it did in my pc lol

Its probably a driver issue, i would wait and see. If its not and it turns out to be a massive problem with a large amount of cards they'll probably refund you.

 

[Rangerjr1]

Any acknowledgement from AMD yet?

Not that i know of.

 

[Rangerjr1]

Am I wrong, or does it appear everyone affected by this also has an overclocked cpu. Maybe a lack of stability is filtering down to the AMD drivers.

Who runs their CPU stock with a 290x -.-?

 

[Rangerjr1]

And there's the problem. I'd wager 99% of overclocked systems are not 100% bullet-proof stable and regularly throw out the odd bit of corrupt data. The new power management in 290 card drivers may not be playing well in this scenario.

Stock systems arent 100% bulletproof.

 

[Rangerjr1]

Still got my gold 7970 incase i get fed up

 

[Rangerjr1]

Fair play and I understand that but I am willing to bet that lower volts will cure the problem. It isn't the answer but it will point at volts or power being the cause.

Hopefully someone will try it.

Try what?

 

[Rangerjr1]

Flashing the Asus Bios, which gives voltage control for the core iirc.

Flashing to asus bios is REALLY REALLY old news by now. It doesnt change anything.

 

[Rangerjr1]

Mine are Asus and so far I have not had the problem.

Even when Ocing? (1250-1300+)

 

[Rangerjr1]

Still on air so max oc so far 1250

And its an ASUS cards? No black screens? Nothing?

 

[Rangerjr1]

Guys. I put my 7970 back in, and its so relieving. It just works, 1300/1750 in BF4 no problem. 7970s are DAMN SOLID CARDS.

RMAing my 290x, hopefully im getting a Hynix card next time :/

 

[Rangerjr1]

Was it a Sapphire 290x ?

yep.

 

[Rangerjr1]

Sapphire assemble all AMD's reference boards and send them out to partners.

AFAIK ASUS, HIS and some others make their own cards. (Which would explain why ASUS cards seem to be fine and use hynix)

 

[Rangerjr1]

Originally I put these reports down to typical buggy release code in BF4, but this is now sounding more serious. It does sound a lot like components running right at the limit of their stability threshold. So that slight variances in power or temperature together with under-performing memory result in black-out. I can't help but think that the last minute tweaks to the driver and the fan profile are also a factor here for certain cards in certain environments.

I nearly went for the 290X myself but held off at the last minute; which is now looking like a good decision. However I can appreciate how frustrating and disappointing this will be. I really hope AMD get their finger out and sort this for you guys.

Until your house burns down lol