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4870X2 Lockups/BSODs

Forum Graphic & Displays : ATI - 4870X2 Lockups/BSODs

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Intel Core2 Duo E8400 @3Ghz CPU
2x 2GB DDR2 Apacer RAM
Sapphire 4870X2 GPU
Silverstone Zeus 850W 70A Quad +12 PSU Nvidia SLI ready
3 WD SATA HDD
Asus P5K/EPU w/ Intel P35 chipset MOBO
1 Acer P243W A Monitor through DVI
Windows Vista X64 Ultimate SP1
Catalyst Control Center 8.12/Driver Packaging Version 8.561-081201a1-072276C
Up to date chipset and monitor drivers
All games are patched up to date
Updated BIOS

I'm getting seemingly random lockups and BSODs when playing 3d games (such as crysis, oblivion, FSX, Gears of War, and PSX emulation) but not while benchmarking and stress testing (rthdribl). The crashes seem to be less frequent if I turn off the second GPU, but this may just be coincidence. The PSU seems to be SLI ready, but does not say anything about crossfire, but the 4870X2 is on one PCIe X16 slot, would this be the issue? I'll go ahead and list some of the things I've tried.

-Re-seating the GPU
-Turning CCC AI off/Standard/Advanced
-Overclocking/Underclocking GPU core/Memory speeds
-Overclocking/Underclocking CPU speeds
-Different operating systems (Win7X32)
-CCC 8.10
-Backdated chipset drivers

Now a more detailed description of the issues.

I'm getting lockups in-game in Oblivion and before gameplay begins in Gears of War. Crysis seems to be a little more random with crashes in either the menu or in game, pixilation and graphical distortion in game, BSOD in game and on exit resolution change. I seem to get a lot of crashes when changing resolutions, usually when exiting games or changing resolutions in options menus. Strangely enough I cannot seem to get a crash at all when stress testing with rthdribl and the GPU seems to perform extremely well during these tests. The crashes seem to be a lot less frequent when using a lower resolution monitor through VGA instead of a much larger 1900X1200 monitor through DVI.

I've contacted AMD/ATI support and they suggested an RMI, but sapphire only allows an RMI through the sales outlet (which is a local computer store). I brought the computer into the store, told them the issues and they couldn't find anything wrong while benchmarking for 12+ hours with 3Dmark so they sent it back to me. The problems persisted and I brought it in again with my games, they played them, got some crashes, then said they updated the GPU drivers and it magically started working again (I'm 100% sure I had those updated to latest drivers). So it seems I either need to point them in the right direction with the root cause of the issue, or I need to compile detailed logs of the crashes and print them out for them, I need your help in either case.

So can you please point out possible issues or other things to try?

Or can you please point me in the direction of some good software I could use to compile crash logs which I can print out?

And is my GPU compatible with my PSU?

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Welcome to the forums!

I would reinstall the operating system.

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Reply to evongugg

i have the exact same card, and the exact same problem :(

 

i got my 4870x2 tuesday and since then only random crashing and bsod... i have a more then suitable system for that card, even the supposely setup for dragon platform.... poor truth, i cant play a new game what i paid an additional 50 dollars for, and sit on 500 dollar "trash" for right now.

 

setup:
amd 9950 be
gigabyte 790gx mobo
4gb gskill 1066 ddr2
corsair 750tx
500gb seagate...
.
.
.

 

all i get is bsod then a little message that my video hardware encountered an error. i cant believe that we are the only two getting this. i ve been building systems for a good while now, but this is by far the worst experience i ve made. and the top point on all this is. you pay 450 bucks for a GFX card, and theres not even a 24/7 phone support. :( poor

 

well i ll keep checking in and see if i get to a conclusion tomorrow during the day, if i dont get this stuff solved soon.

  

"EDIT"
ATI just responded with the following :
https://support.ati.com/ics/support [...] onID=28022

 

what a bunch of jokes :P "/EDIT"

 

greetz
hitman1985

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by hitman1985 on 01-30-2009 at 05:42:49 AM
Reply to hitman1985

evongugg wrote :

Welcome to the forums!

I would reinstall the operating system.



I've tried this several times, no such luck.

After further testing I'm now almost certain that this is a GPU issue, do you know of any good programs that will allow me to compile crash logs and print them out? Then I might finally be able to get this hunk of junk RMA'd.

Reply to Anonymous

hitman1985 wrote :

i have the exact same card, and the exact same problem :(

i got my 4870x2 tuesday and since then only random crashing and bsod... i have a more then suitable system for that card, even the supposely setup for dragon platform.... poor truth, i cant play a new game what i paid an additional 50 dollars for, and sit on 500 dollar "trash" for right now.

setup:
amd 9950 be
gigabyte 790gx mobo
4gb gskill 1066 ddr2
corsair 750tx
500gb seagate...
.
.
.

all i get is bsod then a little message that my video hardware encountered an error. i cant believe that we are the only two getting this. i ve been building systems for a good while now, but this is by far the worst experience i ve made. and the top point on all this is. you pay 450 bucks for a GFX card, and theres not even a 24/7 phone support. :( poor

well i ll keep checking in and see if i get to a conclusion tomorrow during the day, if i dont get this stuff solved soon.



"EDIT"
ATI just responded with the following :
https://support.ati.com/ics/support [...] onID=28022

what a bunch of jokes :P "/EDIT"

greetz
hitman1985



Yeh, I got that shpeel out of ATI as well.

It seems I'm in a heap of trouble unless I can find a way to convince these guys at the shop that I really have an issue.

Reply to Anonymous

hmmm seems like i found my issue today, i think my bios was seriously the breakpoint of this whole dilemma, since i just flashed the bios, it looks like its running stable...

i ll keep you informed.

greetz
hitman1985

Reply to hitman1985

heh just curious but are you guys still having issues or is everything stable now?

Reply to buckwildbob

mine runs fine, had to update the ati hdmi drivers, and do a bios flash (i ran the first bios on my motherboard, so it was time for it),

other then that, my system runs fine in my opinion.

Greetz
hitman1985

Reply to hitman1985
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