4870x2 crashing...can anyone relate?

[Renegade227]

Hey all,

I have owned an Asus 4870x2 for 2 months, letting it burn up all that time at 75 deg idle, who knows how hot under gaming ( I JUST started applying the increased fan speeds w/ Riva Tuner keeping it cool now).

During my first two months, I kept getting frusturating crashes, where the screen will flash artifacts (multi color squares and lines) and then the VPU would reset. Sometimes the monitor would lose signal and require a hard reset. This would happen 80% in desktop mode and 20% in game (kind of the opposite one would expect). In my experience, random artifact crashes are an overheating issue.

After applying the increased fan speeds in RIva Tuner, my artifact crashes have become less frequent, but sadly I still get them every now and then. This has occurred in all driver versions 8.7-8.11. Forcing 750/900 and Enabling/Disabling Cat AI does nothing to fix this either.

I am worried that my 4870x2 has permenant heat damage from this. Should I RMA? Can anyone relate?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Asus has a good warranty and service department. They will exchange it. No card should crash when idle at desktop. My HD2900xt did that and I was forced to buy a new card.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Renegade227
Hey all,

I have owned an Asus 4870x2 for 2 months, letting it burn up all that time at 75 deg idle, who knows how hot under gaming ( I JUST started applying the increased fan speeds w/ Riva Tuner keeping it cool now).

During my first two months, I kept getting frusturating crashes, where the screen will flash artifacts (multi color squares and lines) and then the VPU would reset. Sometimes the monitor would lose signal and require a hard reset. This would happen 80% in desktop mode and 20% in game (kind of the opposite one would expect). In my experience, random artifact crashes are an overheating issue.

After applying the increased fan speeds in RIva Tuner, my artifact crashes have become less frequent, but sadly I still get them every now and then. This has occurred in all driver versions 8.7-8.11. Forcing 750/900 and Enabling/Disabling Cat AI does nothing to fix this either.

I am worried that my 4870x2 has permenant heat damage from this. Should I RMA? Can anyone relate?

i have VisionTek 4870x2 and ASUS 4870/1GB [often in Crossfire-x3]

x2 just runs hot .. 80C at idle is pretty normal for it

first of all, how hot DOES it get under load? .. alt tab out of a game in the middle of an intense firefight when it starts to artifact - with CCC in the background so you can see a near-peak temp

Are your case temps and air flow good?; if mine gets too hot it will also artifact [mid 90s, so that is pretty extreme] .. in fact, my e8600 runs 2C hotter with X2 installed over a 4870

Finally, is your OCZ properly connected with the 8pin adapter and the 6 pin?

Make sure you have no overheat/case temps/airflow issues or you will have the same problem with the next one also!

 

[Renegade227]

Thank you for the quick reply. I now run Asus Smart Doctor configured to keep my card from NEVER exceeding 80 deg under max load (it usually runs 65-75 C load). The power connectors are properly connected, with the 8 pin as its own 12v rail. My ambient temps are good, between 45-55 degC.

The bizzarre thing is that the crashes occur almost always in desktop mode. The screen will flash crazy artifact multicolor squares and lines and then the VPU will reset and the artifacts dissapear.

I am worried that my 2 months of running at 75-90 deg C (didn't use fan speed mods) caused permenant heat damage to my card, as it is still does the artifact crash occasionally (though not as frequently before I began using fan mods).

 

[apoppin]

i sounds like defective HW if your temps are OK and the crashes random - and especially at desktop; i would not worry about it any longer, but RMA
- i assume your system is stable except for the X2.

Where did you buy it; which etailer?
- sometimes it is better to exchange thru them than ASUS [NewEgg exchanges defective HW for a year].

At any rate, i would not put up with it; i would start a RMA process.

 

[Renegade227]

apoppin, did you start running fan mods on your 4870x2 as soon as you installed it? I feel like that would explain why you've not been getting my artifact crash issue with your 4870x2.

I hope the RMA process is reasonably quick. It's frusturating having shelled out $550 for a damaged product. You would think ATI's engineers would have made cooling the 4870x2 a priority, instead of just neglecting the fan.

Yeah, the artifact crashes still occur even when my PC is not overclocked. My BIOS is up to date too. The issue is with my card.

 

[apoppin]

think of what you have under that VGA cooling shroud
- two hot HD4870s !!

However, when X2 works well it is *amazing*

rma time
:clock:

good luck!

 

[darckhart]

did you also check your speeds at desktop? usually the card downclocks to 500/750, yes? so you should definitely not have those high temps at desktop anyway... mine idles at desktop with fan 35% at 51C. if i kick the fan up to 50% it idles at about 42C. i also have relatively good airflow to the card (2x80mm front intake) so that mite be something to make sure of after you rma. gl.

 

[Renegade227]

Yes my desktop idle temps were like 75-80 for the 2 months I wasn't applying fan mods (when it defualted at 20% speed). I fear I permenantly damaged my card now since I am still getting occasional artifact/signal loss crashes even after applying increases fan speeds.

darkckhart, you said you were running at 750/500 at desktop? I thought the 4870x2 idles at 507/500 in 2-D mode? I noticed there was a bug with Asus Smart Doctor that throttled the 4870x2 to 750/500 upon startup, but once it entered a 3D app, it regulated the clock speeds correctly between 2D (507/500) and 3D (750/900).

 

[darckhart]

oh yes you're right. got the 7s and 5s in the wrong places. sorry. 507/500 in desktop is what rivatuner tells me.