CrossfireX 4870 Freezing/Crashing/Shutting-off

[vigvoodoo]

The system will either freeze or shutdown after a few minutes of playing Far Cry 2. It does not crash if I disable CFX. When it crashes you can hear the sound looping. Sometimes when it crashes the screen will lose signal and the pc will stay on. Other times it just shuts down completely.

Otherwise the computer is rock solid stable. It can fold for days at a time, and I constantly reach multi-week uptimes. It also runs the Far Cry 2 benchmark flawlessly.


My System:

AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition - Processor ( 3.2GHz stock voltage)
ECS BLACK Series A790GXM-AD3 - Motherboard
Thermaltake W0106RU 700 Watt - Power Supply
XFX Radeon HD 4870 1GB - Graphics Cards ( CFX 8x/8x)
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB - Hard Drive
4x2GB G.SKILL Ripjaws Series DDR3 1333 CL8 - Memory ( 9-9-9-24)
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit - Operating System

 

[vigvoodoo]

Well just checked the temperatures. Top card is at 84 °C idle and 114 °C under load. Bottom card is at 76 °C idle and 110 °C under load. What in the world is happening? My room is pretty cold, 68 °F/20 °C. And, I have the Fans at 65%.

 

[vvhocare5]

Thats high even for 4870's - it sounds like you are not getting a lot of airflow in that case? Take the case cover off and see what that does for your temps. If they go down that case needs some serious help

 

[wa1]

try clean your card from dust and reseated both of the cards, make sure the cable connector are properly inserted...
Agree, u can try take off the casing and see what happen to the temps...

 

[vigvoodoo]

Here's a picture of my PC I took a few hours ago. It is very clean and free flowing. Did another temp log, now I'm at 64 °C idle and 94 °C before it freezes. Fans at 100%. CPU idles at 20 °C.

 

[wa1]

Did u try the latest driver and older drivers?

 

[vigvoodoo]

Did u try the latest driver and older drivers?

At first I had the drivers that came on the cards CD, then I tried the latest. Still same issue. Sometimes I can play for an hour others less than 5 minutes.

 

[vigvoodoo]

Here is the GPU-Z log for last 20 seconds in game. Seems like the GPUs just shut off and the CPU is left running the game. At least, that's what it looked like. The game slowed to a crawl, I decided to exit out after about a minute of no speed up.

Log:

Date , GPU Core Clock [MHz] , GPU Memory Clock [MHz] , GPU Temperature [°C] , Fan Speed [%] , GPU Load [%] , Fan Speed [RPM] , GPU Temp.(DISPIO) [°C] , GPU Temp.(MEMIO) [°C] , GPU Temp.(SHADERCORE) [°C] ,
2010-02-06 23:44:30 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 76.0 , 80 , 99 , - , 70.5 , 76.0 , 72.5 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:31 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 75.0 , 80 , 55 , - , 70.5 , 76.5 , 72.5 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:32 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 75.0 , 80 , 65 , - , 70.5 , 76.0 , 72.5 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:33 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 76.0 , 80 , 67 , - , 70.5 , 76.5 , 72.0 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:34 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 74.0 , 80 , 76 , - , 70.5 , 75.5 , 72.0 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:35 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 76.0 , 80 , 73 , - , 70.5 , 75.5 , 72.0 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:37 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 74.0 , 80 , 0 , - , 68.5 , 73.5 , 70.0 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:38 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 76.0 , 80 , 90 , - , 69.5 , 76.0 , 71.5 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:39 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 75.0 , 80 , 85 , - , 70.5 , 75.0 , 71.5 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:40 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 74.0 , 80 , 0 , - , 67.0 , 74.5 , 68.5 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:41 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 73.0 , 80 , 0 , - , 68.0 , 73.0 , 69.0 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:42 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 72.0 , 80 , 0 , - , 67.0 , 73.0 , 68.0 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:43 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 72.0 , 80 , 0 , - , 67.0 , 72.0 , 68.0 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:44 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 72.0 , 80 , 0 , - , 66.0 , 71.0 , 66.5 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:45 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 72.0 , 80 , 0 , - , 67.0 , 71.5 , 67.5 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:46 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 71.0 , 80 , 0 , - , 66.0 , 72.0 , 66.5 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:47 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 72.0 , 80 , 0 , - , 65.5 , 72.0 , 66.5 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:48 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 71.0 , 80 , 0 , - , 65.5 , 70.5 , 66.5 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:49 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 70.0 , 80 , 0 , - , 66.0 , 70.5 , 66.0 ,

2010-02-06 23:44:50 , 750.0 , 900.0 , 70.0 , 80 , 0 , - , 65.5 , 70.0 , 65.5 ,

 

[vigvoodoo]

Well looking at most recent log, the one I posted, the temps appear safe. Hottest card idles at 58 °C and reaches 76 °C under load.

I have tried using 1 and 2 CFX bridges, switching cards around, unplugging anything unnecessary, Aux Video Power ATX4P plugged in and not plugged in, drivers on CD and newest drivers, ending any unnecessary processes, cpu at stock speed and overclocked, 2x1GB DDR3, 2x1GB+2x2GB DDR3, 2x2GB DDR3, and 4x2GB DDR3.

 

[vvhocare5]

Those active temps are fine for 4870's - the 60C idle still strikes me as high. Was that with the cover on or off?

As much as i detest the stock long cover with dustbuster howling fan - it did attempt to push some of the heat out of the case. These fans I see leave it in the case.

That it doesnt fail when running one 4870 still makes me believe it is heat related, but perhaps it is affecting some of the components on the motherboard?

I know ghetto, but can you leave the case open and point a fan in between the the 2 4870s? Then see what it does?

 

[vigvoodoo]

I have tried case closed and open.

Here's a log of my computer during the big problem I'm having: