R9 280X Toxic: Black squares and other artifacts?

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laza360

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Jan 9, 2014
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Sapphire R9 280X 3GB Toxic 1100MHz GDDR 5 PCI Express Graphics Card

Intel Core i5 4670K Quad Core Retail CPU (Socket 1150, 3.40GHz, 6MB, Haswell, 84W, Intel Graphics, BX80646I74770, 4th Generation Intel Core, Turbo

MSI Z87-G43 ATX Motherboard (Intel Z87, 4x DDR3, DVI, HDMI, 4x USB3.0, GBE LAN, LGA1150 Socket)

Corsair Builder Series CXM 750W Modular 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX/EPS PSU

2 x Kingston Technology KVR16N11/8 8GB DDR3 1600MHz DIMM Non ECC Memory Module

VBIOS: 015.041.000.000.000000
Drivers: 13.251.0.0 Catalyst 13.12

Running windows 8.1 64

Built this setup as a christmas present, I've been trying to resolve the artifact problems I've been getting playing various games (including AC4, Eve, World of tanks, skyrim) via the support with sapphire ever since. Sapphire got me to update my vbios from 015.039.000.000.000000 to 015.041.000.000.000000. This hasn't solved my problems and I was wondering if anyone had some idea what could be wrong? Sapphire are now saying reinstall windows.

Videos recorded after vbios change: black squares flicker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLaXi9P1ZpA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fyWGiP1VQE

Before vbios change: various squares, polygon issues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IPoa5B8W9w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRcbzRisF9E worst two
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlM6c-X4IJw worst two

I don't necessarily know that the polygon issues are fixed as I haven't played enough.
Skyrim I got similar to the polygon issues with some trees.
World of tanks had polygon issues.
Eve had similar to "watch?v=2IPoa5B8W9w" example, with coloured squares, I can upload a video of this.

Any help would be appreciated.

 
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horaciopz

horaciopz

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RMA the card, there is not needs to "solve" such issue, it's a faulty card and shappire already gave the most valid response that you can get, if that didnt work, return it and Shappire must give it a new one.
 
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Tomatsuppen

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Jan 2, 2014
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I recieved my 280x toxic Dec 30th 2013, it had issues like yours. I tried different catalyst drivers, edited the core & memory clock, increased/decreased voltage.
Reinstalled my games, reinstalled windows. Nothing fixed my problem.
I had a chat conversation with the company I bought the card from - They wanted me to RMA it.
You should not spend time trying to "fix the problem" - The card is failing. Send it back.

Here are two videos of my card acting weird - It's acting like yours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V9uEBF_6iU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mebvke_wUTg

If it is possible, I think you should do like me, pay a bit more and get the R9 290 Tri-X.
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1227&lid=1&pid=2091&leg=0

Good luck :)

 
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mattbu

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I have the same card and have the same problems. It seems to be a fairly common problem. I'd like to send it back to Amazon, but since they're out of stock and since I bought the card before the price jump they would just give me my money back.
 
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kanzakiurumi

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Jan 28, 2014
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Ok so I have the exact same problem.

R9 280X Toxic
Z87 G43
i5 4670K
Win 7 64bits

After trying all I could, I RMA'ed the card.

Got a replacement today, exactly the same issue.

I don't know what do to. Anyone able to help or shed some light as to what I should do ?
 
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LadyR3venge

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Jan 29, 2014
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Hi everyone, I've got the same problem, you can check those videos I've uploaded on Youtube for the ticket that I've sent to Sapphire support:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgKCmHSXZ3E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyqFMRQz8Jo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZWw7ByyWOI

I have an Alienware Aurora R3, and Alienware isn't made any BIOS update since 2011, then I though it was only a problem of my rig...
That was the answer from the support:

"Dear Madam
Suggest you try update motherboard bios, chipset driver to the latest version first. Rollback your driver to CD driver for this card. Set all the clocks setting back to default and try again. If still the same, please contact your reseller for hardware checking and RMA apply as well. Prepare your original receipt or invoice for them. Check this way and sorry for your inconvenience."

I've done everything he suggested to me, the temperature is fine, always under 74°C... I'll do an RMA then I'll let you know...
 
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timbo2525

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Feb 21, 2014
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Ok I may have a bit of information about this problem. I am just speculating but I think that this issue is due to the r9 280x toxic having a heatsink that does not cover all of the vram chips. I have the newest v bios as well as hynix ram on this card. What I have noticed is that only after using 1.3gb or more of the vram and only after having the card under load for a while and the temps go high enough that I have the polygon and square artifacts. I ordered a Sapphire r9 290 tri-x and its heatsink clearly has been changed to cover every one of the cards vram chips. I will get pics of the two cards up soon so that you can see the difference. Judging by the reviews on Newegg and everywhere else this card has a horrible failure rate and im guessing this is why. I am going to rma my r9 280 toxic card and im wondering if they will change the heatsink to the R9 290 tri-x style or not.
 
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LadyR3venge

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Jan 29, 2014
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Many thanks for the information, I've read somewhere else the same thing that you are talking about, that after using 1.3gb is gives problems.
Yes please I would like to see some pics to check the difference.
I was thinking about replace the Toxic with the 290 Tri-x, but I was really scared of having the same graphic problem, but from what you've just said I think the 290 won't have any issue! You can confirm that?
Thanks again for your help!

 
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timbo2525

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Feb 21, 2014
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20140222_011233.jpg
[/url]
screen grab[/img]
 
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timbo2525

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Feb 21, 2014
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20140222_011151.jpg
[/url]
free image host[/img]

Ok the first pic was the r9 280x toxic and the second is the r9 290 tri-x. I know that the layout is not the same for these two cards especially because the tri-x uses a reference pcb. I have seen someone on youtube with a fix (for artifacts) for the toxic that involved adding heatsinks so thats what got me thinking.
 
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timbo2525

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I would really doubt that the R9 290 tri-x would have these artifact problems and I do know that all of them come with hynix ram which will oc better than elpedia. I would think its worth the money to upgrade. You just have to shop a while to find one at a reasonable price anymore. I found my r9 280x toxic on amazon france for $365 shipped before the price gouging got to them.
 
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timbo2525

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Feb 21, 2014
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Oh wow I had some issues with instability using 14.1 but not vram artifacting(with the Tri-x). So it was the same as the youtube videos huh?
 
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WhiteKernel

WhiteKernel

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Feb 28, 2014
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Well not exactly the same. I'm having flickering squares. Caused by mouse movement, they also disappear with mouse movement over the distorted blocks/squares. Some kind of distortion. I am currently running Furmark, and now its gone again... Weird. By the way i know nothing about vram or whatever...This is my first high-end videokaart in 9 years...
 
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timbo2525

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Ok im by no means an expert on all of this but from what I understand the random squares and the polygon "tearing" are characteristic of memory/vram problems. Thats what Sapphire actually told me during my rma process. I was just hoping they fixed whatever problem the toxic 280x had in the newer Tri-x 290. My tri x is the best card I have ever owned so far preformance wise and im crossing my fingers that I got one of the good ones. So far so good.
 
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WhiteKernel

WhiteKernel

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Do you think that it can be caused by 14.1 beta? Or do you think that my card is defective?
 
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timbo2525

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Ok so I bought an r9 290 tri X to use while i rma'ed my r9 280 toxic. I was using the new 14.1 catalyst on my new r9 290 and had some instability (black screens). 13.2 is extremely stable for me. Also after rma'ing my r9 280x sapphire emailed me telling me that i would be getting a r9 290 tri X as a replacement instead! I may have to experiment w/crossfire.
 
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WhiteKernel

WhiteKernel

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Nice!

Also since my last post, i didn't see the artifacts anymore. Someone i know suggested that a possibillity might be that the memory because it was new produced the artifacts when used (for the first -ish) time. I don't know, just cross my fingers and hope for the best. I hate the idea of rma-ing my card and wait for a new one...
 
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themadtaxi

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Hey, I have MSI version of the card with the same issue and was able to resolve it. My Fix might work for you. Inside the GPU box I found a scrap of paper that showed a small physical switch on the the bottom of the card that toggles between "hybrid" bios and Legacy bios. The hybrid bios, which is on by default for some reason, is supposed to help improve wake times from hibernation and reboot. I found my switch on the underside near the very front (closes to the display ports) and toggled it to Legacy. That solved all of my artifact and frame rate issues. Hopefully you still have the card!
 
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