Gigabyte HD 6850 OC and 3D Graphics problems

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zangmeister

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I recently upgraded from a GTS250 to a Gigabyte HD 6850, pn GV-685OC-1GD. I did the routine where I uninstalled all the Nvidia drivers, double checked with Driver Sweeper, and then installed the new card and installed the ATI drivers (10.10) from the disk, not windows. However, I immediately found that 3DMark Vantage won't work. I don't give WEI a whole lot of credit, but that went from a 7.0 for the GTS250 to a 6.0 for the 6850, and I had two "recovery" moments when it was doing the 3D Geometry testing for it. (I've seen other people get WEI of 7.7 for a 6850)

Oddly, 3DMark06 and PCMark Vantage work fine. So does Furmark 1.8. Games seem to work, but I don't have anything overly demanding at the moment, with Empire/Napolean Total War being the latest. The games don't seem to like the card on the highest settings, either, as they slow down to be unplayable. A quick and dirty Furmark benchmark gets 76 FPS at 55 C which is a lot better than what the GTS250 was getting.

So I figured I missed something, and that I was having some sort driver issue, and uninstalled/reinstalled again. I also incorporated the 10.10e hotfix.

I thought it might be the PhysX stuff, and 3DMark Vantage says it's optional to install, but 3DMark won't load without it. When it's loaded, I deselect the PPU and run it on the normal benchmark settings. The card will run individually on CPU Test 1 and the other non-PhysX feature tests. All other tests, the system will freeze on "Creating Shaders". So, GPU Test 1 & 2, CPU Test 2, Flags and Particles are a no-go, and I have to reboot.

My other system specs are as follows:
MB: GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD5 AM3
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
PSU: CORSAIR CMPUS-750AX
HDD: WD VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX 600GB
OS: Windows 7 x64 Professional
Backup: 2X WD6401AALS 640GB in RAID 1
UPS: CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD
Case: NZXT Zero Aluminum ATX Full Tower
Monitor: BenQ FP222WH Black 22"

It's been almost 2 weeks, and I've scanned across the forum for hints as to driver conflicts and instability in the 6850. I've seen comments about the memory on the GPU's possibly being a problem or undervoltaged, or how the factory overclocked 6850s are somewhat questionable. The reason I got this card, was my satisfaction with Gigabyte's Ultra-Durable line and the Windforce cooler on the card, as well as the option to crossfire in the near future. I know people say a single card is better, but I used to have an EVGA 8800GTX and that got RMA'd so many times, it was painful. So, I also like the idea that if one card goes, I'm not totally messed.

In any case, I've ensured as possible that the drivers are a clean install and there is no Nvidia conflict. I've even done a registry cleanup with System Mechanic, which did speed up the PC, but not anything with the 6850. I've reinstalled 3DMark Vantage, and even tried 3DMark11 and both are causing freezes/reboots. I've also tried lowering the clock speeds for the core and mem in Overdrive, but that didn't help. GPU-Z says that the card mem is getting 1.15 V. I'm not sure what else to try, but my gut feeling is that the GPU memory is unstable. Is there anything else I can test for or should I RMA back to Newegg, and possibly get a different non-OC 6850 altogether. (Or 6870?)
 

zangmeister

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After following the same process of a clean install for a GPU, I reinstalled the GTS250 with the Nvidia 260.99 drivers, and everything works fine. Ran a 3DMark Vantage benchmark successfully tonight (~7500 with this system).

I guess considering that other people have had success with the Gigabyte HD 6850 OC, then it is probably not a driver issue. So I guess that means hardware, unless anyone has some other thoughts on what I should check. Thanks.
 
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