problems with my Saphire X850Xt

[stockjock]

This is a PCIe version. and I'm using Saphire's drivers they supplied with the card...about every other day I get a VPU recovery while I'm playing a game...I've recieved it when I've overclocked the card and when the card is set to default. I'm only playing one game and its a MMORPG called Final Fantasy XI.

Any ideas whats causing it...I mean this is a pretty high end system I've got...and this card is brand new and only 2 weeks old.

 

[Zap]

Isn't that usually caused by heat? Try monitoring the temperature using Rivatuner or something. How's your case ventilation?

 

[Munky]

Yeah, often it's caused by the card overheating.

 

[stockjock]

hmmm...I guess it could be...but I'm using a ThermalTake Armor series case and I've got 3 120 mm fans moving air....my Opty 146 is water cooled. The VPU core is showing 38C idle and seems to go up to the the mid to upper 50s C under load.

 

[Powermoloch]

That can't be right with having a okay temps.

 

[Dman877]

Means your card is dying. I had those problems with a 9700 Pro and 9800 Pro towards the end of their lives. The X800 series are basically advanced R300's with twice the pipes and higher clocks so the problems still remain I guess. Start shopping for a new card.

 

[stockjock]

Card is dying??? I just got it...its not even 2 weeks used.

That can't be right with having a okay temps.

not sure what you mean???

 

[Sonikku]

What is the fan speed set to? You might want to set it to something more then 10% through ATI Tool and see if that helps.

 

[Powermoloch]

Originally posted by: stockjock
Card is dying??? I just got it...its not even 2 weeks used.

That can't be right with having a okay temps.

not sure what you mean???

sorry abou that lol. I'm just saying that having that temps around, it's less likely to be the cause of the problem. Had you tried reinstalling catalysts?

 

[Dman877]

I could be wrong, but I doubt you'll find many people with success stories after chronic vpu recover episodes. I would RMA that sucker straight away.

 

[stockjock]

I'll try new drivers and upping the fan speed to see if that helps...come to think of it...I don't ever remember hearing the fan on the card get any louder when I'm playing games. I bet that has something to do with it.

 

[Zap]

I have a Sapphire X850XT also and though I have never had any VPU recovery errors, I've seen some visual glitches after playing games for a while from the heat - I think up into the 80ºC range or so. The fan NEVER spins up on its own. I had to manually turn it up using ATITool. Once I did that the visual glitches went away. Still, even with those glitches, no VPU recovery.

 

[stockjock]

Means your card is dying. I had those problems with a 9700 Pro and 9800 Pro towards the end of their lives

Dman...you called it...woke up this morning to a screen full of artifacts...I don't even get to the Bios screen. Man...my first experience with an ATI card has left a bad taste!!

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: stockjock

Means your card is dying. I had those problems with a 9700 Pro and 9800 Pro towards the end of their lives

Dman...you called it...woke up this morning to a screen full of artifacts...I don't even get to the Bios screen. Man...my first experience with an ATI card has left a bad taste!!

a new card?

then RMA it

. . . even nVidia cards are occasionally defective
:Q

 

[GrJohnso]

Sounds like the need for RMA. The only doa card I've had was an nvidia, so each person's experiences are only that, their own experience. Don't write of ATI for this one card.

One thing to keep in mind with x850xt cards... You really should manage the fans through ATI Tra Tool and or with an aftermarket cooler. The default cooling (fan speed) is just not enough to keep up with the load and temps that card generates with today's games. I had no issues with default hsf when I forced the fans on to 100%, but that is damn loud, and a pain to worry about all the time...

As always, YMMV, personal experiences always override public "opinion", yadda yadda... Sweet card for the price, just take care of it and know it's limits...

 

[stockjock]

Just so you know...I did use ATI tools to up the fan speed to 100%. I should've known it was about to crap out when I ran the ATI tools GPU and MEM ability program. It kept giving notices of artifacts and would keep bringing the GPU and MEM down lower and lower and lower.