Gigabyte HD 7850 OC keeps crashing

[LarsPC]

Hello,

I am a first-time builder, and this is my first post so please be patient with the long-winded explanation. System info at the bottom.

For xmas, I put together a gaming PC for my son, and the graphics card keeps crashing -- either black screen (no signal to monitor), gray screen, or vertical lines. The computer remains powered up, but with no display, I'm forced to do a hard shutdown holding down the power key.

It works fine for every day computing, but when he plays Skyrim, it will crash after, at most, 10 minutes. It will also crash at least 50% of the time when I try to run the Windows Experience Index performance test, usually at the ALU section (whatever that is).

I spoke with Gigabyte support, who told me it could be an incompatibility with a 2.0 PCIe slot. I know this is a PCIe 3.0 card, but shouldn't it work in a 2.0 slot without crashing? (My asus p8z77-vlk motherboard is 3.0 capable, but I've just discovered the i3-3220 cpu is not). I've installed the latest drivers. In AMD catalyst, I even dialed down the GPU to the stock 860 mHz, and it still crashes. My son tried lowering the settings in Skyrim to medium (it defaults to Ultra), and it still crashes. I have also updated the motherboard bios to the latest version. The highest GPU temp I've seen is 49 C at full load.

I am hoping someone can tell me if it is indeed a PCI slot incompatibility issue, or if you think I just have a defective card. My other computers are macs, so I can't test the card in another machine.

Here are the options as I see them, depending on what the problem is, but I'd definitely like to get some expert advice.

1)Upgrade the CPU to an i5 to allow 3.0 speed on the motherboard (Expensive)
2) Warranty return to gigabyte -- this could take weeks, which is certainly not easy for a 12-year-old. (I can't exchange it at newegg because there was a $30 rebate, so no UPC code.)

I also notice in the MB bios, that PCIe_16 slot 3 (black) can be set from 2x to 4x. I don't know if this would help, but even so, it doesn't look like there's any way the 7850 would fit since that slot is at the edge of the MB, right above the power supply. Right now the card's in slot 1 (blue).

thanks in advance for your input.

System info:
OS: Windows 8 64-bit
cpu: i3-3220 Ivy bridge 3.3 Ghz
mb: asus p8z77-vlk bios v 908
ram: gskill ripjaws 2x4GB
graphics: gigabyte gv-r785OC-2GD
amd catalyst v 12.10; drivers 9.2.0.0; gpu bios 015.017.000.000 (5/29/12)
Power: Antec neo eco 520c 80+certified
HD: seagate barracuda ST500DM002 500GB
case: coolermaster elite 431 plus

 

[twelve25]

7850 does NOT need PCI 3.0, they've got you chasing your tail.

It sounds like you have gone through the appropriate troubleshooting steps, so were it mine, I'd RMA it.

If you aren't terribly tight on cash, you could buy a new card to use in the meantime and sell the replacement card on ebay. That's what I would do if it were my computer, but it probably will eat $30-40 between fees and resale value.

Just as an additional, I might run memtest for like 12-18 hours as memory errors can mask as other hardware issues. Games do like to load up your memory.

 

[LarsPC]

7850 does NOT need PCI 3.0, they've got you chasing your tail.

It sounds like you have gone through the appropriate troubleshooting steps, so were it mine, I'd RMA it.

If you aren't terribly tight on cash, you could buy a new card to use in the meantime and sell the replacement card on ebay. That's what I would do if it were my computer, but it probably will eat $30-40 between fees and resale value.

Just as an additional, I might run memtest for like 12-18 hours as memory errors can mask as other hardware issues. Games do like to load up your memory.

Thanks for the quick response and the replacement suggestion. It's good to hear that Gigabyte's OC version of the 7850 isn't somehow PCIe 3.0 only

 

[bgunner]

all PCIe 3.0 are backwards compatible with PCIe 2.0. this was a requirement and what held off PCIe 3.0 from being released sooner than what it was. They needed to figure out how to make it compatible. I agree they are running you in circles BAD Gigabyte BAD juju.

 

[ilikemacandpc]

that card is known to have issues. Update the video card's bios through the Gigabyte utility and all should be fine.

edit:
Site to download BIOS: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4155#bios
How to reflash BIOS: http://www.gigabyte.com/WebPage/40/index.htm

 

[LarsPC]

that card is known to have issues. Update the video card's bios through the Gigabyte utility and all should be fine.

edit:
Site to download BIOS: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4155#bios
How to reflash BIOS: http://www.gigabyte.com/WebPage/40/index.htm

downloaded the @bios utility and backed up the current bios (f4) fine...but it won't flash the new bios (f5_a). Tried downloading the f5 file from different sites, but none will flash. After about 5 seconds, I get a message from the utility saying Flash bios failed.

 

[srafig4]

You can't flash F5 to F4 board. The 2 bios are designed for different card layout.
For example, it's allowed to flash F4x BIOS to yours.
I think it's a hardware issue. you should send it back to Gigabyte RMA center.

 

[LarsPC]

You can't flash F5 to F4 board. The 2 bios are designed for different card layout.
For example, it's allowed to flash F4x BIOS to yours.
I think it's a hardware issue. you should send it back to Gigabyte RMA center.

That's interesting to hear because on gigabyte's support site, the f5_a bios is the only file that comes up for this model (gv-r785oc-2gd).

Thanks to all for your replies on this. I've requested an RMA, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a replacement card will work as advertised. So many people seem to be having the same experience that I'm wondering if the problem is a design flaw, or simply a lack of quality control with a lot of bad cards being sold.

 

[LarsPC]

After trying all the tests, benchmarks, etc. suggested by gigabyte tech support, I finally just went ahead and RMA'd the card. Got the new one a few days ago, and so far (knock on wood) everything working fine. My son has had no crashes in any of his games. After all the back and forth, Gigabyte ended up being very responsive, and cross shipped the new one (with a credit card hold of course), so the waiting period was only 4 or 5 days. Thanks to all for your responses.

 

[LarsPC]

Best answer selected by LarsPC.