Sapphire RX480 8GB Nitro OC - No video, Win 10

[EXCellR8]

Finally got around to finalizing the setup on my Z170 i5 computer and everything was going swimmingly until I went to install AMD drivers for a brand new RX 480 8GB... AMD drivers being the Achilles heel of any good machine of course.

OS install went fine, as did the MSI board drivers, but once the display driver was installed the screen goes to no signal; doesn't come back, ever--on any ports. First, I tried latest drivers from AMD website (Win 10 64-bit), and then I tried the drivers on the disk packaged with the card. Nothing.

Before you go and mention the power supply it is a brand new Corsair 850w and all of the following cards work just fine:

ASUS HD7970 3GB or 290x 4GB (2x 7970 3GB xfire also work)
EVGA GTX 780 3GB
XFX 8800GTS (for laughs)

**I used DDU in safe mode each time I cleaned and purged GPU drivers**

I think the card is probably fine since it is fine with the generic driver, but some kind of issue with Windows 10 and the Radeon software is not jiving. It's not an emergency as I am still using my other computer, but I would prefer that this work in the mean time.

Any ideas? I like to think I'm no amateur but this card is making me feel like one...

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Usually a bios update, bios settings, or disabling Intel graphics driver is the solution. Things to do list if you have not done all of them already.

1. Latest mobo bios
2. In bios set primary display to peg/pci
3. Disable the Intel graphics driver
4. Newest chipset drivers
5. Try the 480 in the other system

I have a RX 470 on win10 64 and no issues, so I know AMD drivers work fine with the OS. However, a quick search shows many users having issues with Intel IGP and dGPUs on some mobos. I just read a thread on Tom's that started in 2013 that was just bumped a couple minutes ago. If you are Fd over there then I know this problem is fixed and I wasted my time here.

 

[EXCellR8]

Thanks. I am currently trying the card on an older motherboard that does not have Intel graphics ability.

I will check for BIOS update and see if I can disable the Intel bits on the skylake board. GPU order is correct, but chipset may be older than needed.

Will post back with results...

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Here is the thread with the best solution by Juan that is still working for people http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1664109/black-screen-installing-graphics-card-bit-noob.html

 

[EXCellR8]

Just spent another few hours trying to figure it out; I think I'm just gonna RMA the card. Even after installing the latest chipset drivers and flashing the BIOS to v180 (latest) I did not get video when I installed the AMD driver.

I installed the RX 480 card in a much older machine running windows 7, making sure that integrated graphics wasn't even a factor. Again, the generic driver was working fine and, it seemed the AMD software was going to work, but once the machine restarted there was no video to the monitor from any of the ports, and I tried DVI, DP, and HDMI.

Been awhile since I received a bad card, but considering the build quality of this one (not great) I am not really surprised.

 

[tfgrtr]

I had a similar problem with my RX 480; no video output at all even before trying to install drivers.

I found the key setting in the bios was to have it boot UEFI first. Works flawlessly now.

 

[EXCellR8]

Doesn't really explain why it wouldn't work on the older motherboard though... not UEFI and a totally different OS, yet same exact result.

Vendor already accepted the return auth. so I'm going to go with something else anyway.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

That is why I always test parts on another system at some stage of a troubleshoot, it rules out most everything but the questionable part. The MSI 480 8GB seems to be a top quality card. Or are you going to move up to a 1070/80?

 

[EXCellR8]

I would have opted for a new GTX 10xx but I have a FreeSync IPS and I do like the additional quality of the graphics. Not a deal-breaker however...

It's all good though, because the 480 prices dropped significantly since the first batch arrived, and I will be getting a refund for the NITRO so I am actually better off returning it.

I did scoop the MSI 8gb too with the dual cooler. Hoping it doesn't feel quite as cheap

 

[IEC]

That's supposed to be one of the best ones. Enjoy the new card

 

[EXCellR8]

Thanks, new card is on the way and the sapphire is on its way back to whence it came.

Right now the new computer is using my old pair of 7970's for the time being which, sadly, do not fully support FreeSync. Good 'ol dust busters throw plenty of hot air though. Geez.

 

[NomanA]

Thanks, new card is on the way and the sapphire is on its way back to whence it came.

Right now the new computer is using my old pair of 7970's for the time being which, sadly, do not fully support FreeSync. Good 'ol dust busters throw plenty of hot air though. Geez.

I had 7950s crossfired, and overclocked to 7970 GE + performance levels, and a single RX 470 overclocked matches performance with both of them combined quite well (same in Firestrike, and about 12% slower in Heaven). Heat output is of course immensely better.

 

[EXCellR8]

I loved using them in CF a few years ago, even if support with Eyefinity was downright nightmarish at times. I actually had to get a much beefier battery backup unit because the 79's drew a ton of power and my previous unit would beg for mercy. Since then, I've just been using single cards, but I wasn't happy with the 290X until I put a water block on it. Reference cooler was never adequate I don't know what they were thinking... ran at like 65c idle, mega failure.

Of course even with the liquid cooling and silent operation I still get a little coil whine and from time to time the card does give me issues--including that weird reboot bug that I never fixed. Oh well, some things just gotta be left alone, else you go insane trying to make sense of it.

 

[EXCellR8]

New card arrived earlier and has been installed, no issues. Got video straightaway and didn't even reload drivers. As it should be...

Bit of a step up in build quality from the NITRO+ if you ask me; even the MSI packaging was a bit nicer. I believe the only MSI card that I owned before this was a 1GB HD 6870, Twin Frozr III I think and it was really heavy iirc. Ended up selling it to a friend before using it but his feedback was great. That seems like forever ago...

Anyway, machine is done now, just gotta finish copying all of my stuff over but I am quite happy with it. Shame most of the parts sat on my bench for almost 10 months...

PIC