7950 Overclocking weird crashing

[akskiller]

Hello. I just got a Sapphire HD Radeon 7950 Boost with 925MHz GPU clock and 1250MHz memory clock at stock( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0098HW1HG/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ), that is what AMD CCC says anyway. I've been trying to OC it further and I have been having a weird issue . I OC it to 1100/1350 and it goes through benchmarks like the Heaven benchmark and 3dmark11 without any problems, I also ran in game benchmarks like GTA4,resident Evil 5 and Sleeping dogs and runs great. The problem that arises is when ever I open a video file and play it in windows media player it will crash my video card. I have dual monitors and on my main monitor it shows a crash/artifacts here is a picture of what I mean:
http://cdn.overclock.net/d/d8/900x900px-LL-d8a94907_IMG_1059.jpeg

This only happens when I change the memory clock tested only changing the gpu clock and no crashes with it.The temperatures are fine highest it got was 75C with heaven benchmark.

On my other monitor (Sorry should of taken a pic of both in the image)it doesn't show that image, the other monitor is extended and not the same image on both if any one is wondering. Eventually if I wait long enough on my other monitor it will BSOD 0x00000116

Also when I lower the memory below 1350 and above the default 1250 it wont crash when I open the video but it will flash/flicker on the bottom half of the second monitor , this also happens when I skip the video ahead or rewind it. This will also happen sometimes when I watch a video on YouTube. I have set the power control setting to +20% and used CCC,afterburner and trixx to try and OC it.

I have the latest beta drivers and Catalyst Version 13.2

Am I doing something wrong or is it the card because it doesn't matter anything higher than 1250 will cause a problem outside gaming/benchmarking have yet to crash during those but watching videos gives me problems.

Other PC Specs
Core i5 760
4GB
Windows 7
TX750 PSU

EDIT:

I tried I rolling the driver back to 13.1 and the same issue. This time I tried opening the video file first and it flickers my monitor still but didn't crash. I then did a benchmark on heaven and went through it fine. Then I went back to open the video and it crashed. This was on 1100/1350. I should also mention every time I hit apply after changing the memory clock the screen flickers.

EDIT: Did some benchmarks with 1150/1400 and passed heaven benchmark. I then did 3dmark11 and got these scores:
Performance: P8604 with Graphic Score 10056 ,physics 5950, combined 6086
Extreme: X3211 with Graphic Score 2975, physics 5970, combined 3890.

Opened a video file, crashed.

 

[Rustyy117]

Hi,

Bit of a tricky one, do you still get the same issue if your only using one monitor?

Also 0x116 is usually related to power, if I were you I'd check all the power cables inside your PC (obviously when you PC is off).

Could be something to do with AMD's low power 3D state not liking the mem clock for some reason.

 

[akskiller]

Thanks for the reply. Before I saw your reply I decided to try another pcie slot and it doesn't seem to crash when I open the video file, but it still flickers the monitor, my secondary one, whenever I hit apply on sapphire trixx as well as skipping the video.

I will try what you suggested if it crashes again, I will keep opening the file through the day and see if its stable and run some benchmarks some more.

EDIT: As I mentioned it didn't crash when I opened the video file first. I then went and did a heaven benchmark and passed it and then right after the benchmark I went to open a video file and it crashed with the image I linked above.

 

[Rustyy117]

Thanks for the reply. Before I saw your reply I decided to try another pcie slot and it doesn't seem to crash when I open the video file, but it still flickers the monitor, my secondary one, whenever I hit apply on sapphire trixx as well as skipping the video.

I will try what you suggested if it crashes again, I will keep opening the file through the day and see if its stable and run some benchmarks some more.

EDIT: As I mentioned it didn't crash when I opened the video file first. I then went and did a heaven benchmark and passed it and then right after the benchmark I went to open a video file and it crashed with the image I linked above.

Was this with just the one monitor connected?

If you can, I would also try the graphics card in another PC and see if you get the same issue.

I take it you've already tried uninstalling Trixx and the drivers and reinstalling?

 

[akskiller]

So I unplugged my secondary monitor and the flickering disappeared when I click apply and skipping in a video.(Flickering happened on my secondary monitor only).

I then ran heaven benchmark, passed it and went to open a video file and it didn't crash. Tried it multiple times and seems to be stable. So does that mean somehow my secondary monitor is causing this crash on my main monitor because only my main monitor show the artifact as you can see on the picture I posted. Anyway to resolve it? Thanks.

 

[Rustyy117]

Test with just the other monitor aswell just to make sure it's not a problem with either monitor, but I don't think it is, personally I think it has something to do with AMD's Low power 3D state in your card's BIOS.
Unfortunately I don't know of a fix.

 

[Fokissed]

The flicker is related to the memory clock. It is much more prominent with dual monitors. It happens when the memory clock is too low, or when it changes.

 

[akskiller]

Yeah it crashes only when I have both monitors on. Tried my secondary monitor only and it worked fine no crash. And yeah the flicker is only there when I have both monitors on. So is it my cards bios then?

 

[Rustyy117]

If you're using MSI AB to overclock, try uninstalling it and using sapphire trixx, someone else had a similar issue recently and this solved it.

 

[akskiller]

If you're using MSI AB to overclock, try uninstalling it and using sapphire trixx, someone else had a similar issue recently and this solved it.

Afterburner has been uninstalled after I created the thread. I was using trixx since.

 

[Rustyy117]

Afterburner has been uninstalled after I created the thread. I was using trixx since.

In that case I don't know of a solution, maybe someone else does

 

[Fokissed]

I used to edit a CCC xml file to get the idle clocks to be higher, but that stopped working some time ago. Now I just use RBE to edit the bios so it is "stock" overclocked without turning overdrive on.

 

[akskiller]

Should I try flashing the bios on the video card?

 

[akskiller]

I disabled hardware acceleration on both windows media player and in flash and it doesn't crash anymore when opening a video file and watching flash videos online. So whenever my gpu is being used for video purposes it crashes. Disabling hardware acceleration I heard isn't a fix but a just a workaround. Will I miss not having hardware acceleration on?

 

[akskiller]

EDIT: double post, sorry.

 

[Fokissed]

I disabled hardware acceleration on both windows media player and in flash and it doesn't crash anymore when opening a video file and watching flash videos online. So whenever my gpu is being used for video purposes it crashes. Disabling hardware acceleration I heard isn't a fix but a just a workaround. Will I miss not having hardware acceleration on?

You won't miss it, your processor is likely able to take the load easily. It is a sign of a bigger problem, however. My guess is a driver/OS issue that could be fixed with a OS re-install, if you have the time.

Or you could just not OC the VRAM, I've noticed a lot of instability from it and the performance isn't as noticeable as a GPU OC. (and the GPU always has better heatsinks, won't fry as easily etc.)

 

[Auvran]

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/8509/brokenm.jpg

 

[Auvran]

Hello,

Just spreading the word around about the REAL cause of this issue with the r9 280-280x/7900 line - automatic underclocking when in 2D mode.

CCC will automatically drive it in power saving mode with the clocks and voltage too low and when video is played it caps it at 500/1250 with no way of changing it through CCC - so when a video is played, the card sometimes can't get enough juice and boom.

This will NEVER happen in 3D mode.

The workaround(not a fix per-say) is using a third party program such as MSI afterburner to manual take full control of overclocking and set it at a constant rate. This will prevent power savings, but will also prevent this crash. You can still get savings by making multiple profiles inside afterburner - one for gaming(oc'd or whatever), another for browsing/other tasks, and another for idling/afk.

It's a little silly, but this has "fixed" the problem for me. It was extremely frustrating to find out what this was.

PS. It also eliminates the flickering/vertical line issues when playing videos or whenever else the video card downclocks itself.