ATI HD 5750 help / problem

ninja 12

Hi all , this is a long post , I hope somebody can help .

I'm after a bit of advice regarding a graphics card problem .

In my office pc , I have a Powercolor 5750 1GB version running at 1440x900 .This card is underused , and my pc is used mainly for general use , including browsing , email , occasional Autocad use and a little gaming (my wife plays Heroes of Might and Magic 3 on it , I play a bit of Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 )
All fine so far .


I recently added a Sapphire 5670 512mb version to my HTPC , to allow me to play the occasional game ( Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 , Dirt 2) and improve the system overall .
The card works perfectly , with no problems running at 1920x1080 .

Both cards use a cooler made by Arctic Cooling .


So , I thought I'd swap the cards around , and put the 5750 into my HTPC to boost game performance on my 40" tv , and put the 5670 into my office pc .
Before i swapped the cards around , Dirt 2 was giving me around 30fps (5670), running at 1920x1080 , all settings at medium on my HTPC .
After the swap , I was getting 50+fps (5750), a good imptovement .

Here's where I started running into problems .

Within minutes of starting Dirt 2 , on my HTPC with the 5750 , I was getting black screen lockups , with the sound stuttering . Rebooting was the only to fix it .

The Graphics card only got to about 60 degrees , so i ruled out overheating .
I thought it was a faulty installation of the game so I reinstalled - result was the same . Locking up of my HTPC .

I moved the 5750 back to my office pc , installed Dirt 2 and tried again , Instant lockup !!! (and a no signal error on the monitor , connected via DVI-VGA adapter )
I then downloaded the Dirt 2 Demo to try , result was the same .

After a bit of poking around , I discovered that even though the GPU was running at 60 degrees , the back of the card was extremely hot to the touch , especially the 4 GDDR chips (there are 4 on each side of the card )

I ran Dirt 2 while holding my finger on one of the GDDR chips , and could feel it getting hotter , until it was almost unbearable , at which point the pc locked up again .
The memory chips are set to run at 1150MHz by default , so I thought i'd do some experimenting .

I lowered the clock speed 50 MHz at a time using the overdrive tab in CCC , until i reached 950MHz . At this point , the GDDR chips felt a good bit cooler to the touch , and I was able to complete a full race in Dirt 2 without a single lockup !!!

Is Dirt 2 really that hard on graphics cards or do I have a faulty card ?

Surely , I shouldn't have to reduce the memory speed to play a game , it defeats the purpose of buying a decent graphics card !

Some versions of the 5xxx cards came with a copy of Dirt 2 , so surely my card should be able to run the game with no problems !!

After all , my 5670 can run it no problem (with the settings lowered )

Any help / advice / comments appreciated .

marco_polo

It is possible that it could be an airflow problem, does the office PC have a decent sized case, ideally with at least one case fan?

ninja 12

My office pc is in an Antec 300 case , and I had a 12cm fan blowing at the card , as well as trying it pulling air away from the card .

The GDDR chips still got too hot to touch , followed by a lockup , but only when playing Dirt 2 .

I can run the furmark stress test no problem , it's just Dirt 2 that causes the GDDR chips to heat up .

I downloaded Half Life 2 lost coast yesterday (free from Steam) and it plays perfectly , with all settings at high .
There is a graphics card test in the game , this plays perfectly as well .

marco_polo

Hmm so much for that theory then.

To the best of knowledge Furmark is a pure GPU stress test so I wouldn't think it is putting much strain on the GDDR5 chips at all, and even at max settings the source engine would be fairly light work for a modern graphics cards.

Maybe download the Dx11 Uniengine Heaven benchmark and run that for a while to see if that also causes the same problem?

Don't really have any other theories I'm afraid, apart from it sounds increasingly likely to me that the memory is faulty.

ninja 12

I'm downloading the Dx11 Unigine Heaven benchmark at the moment .
I'll run it later when I get a chance .

If my card does turn out to be faulty , can it be rma'd directly , or do I have to go through the retailer ?

Thanks

marco_polo

It depends on the manufacturer some will accept a direct RMA but many insist on you going through the retailer (unless there is a very good reason like the retailer has since gone out of business or something)

Would have to find out from Powercolor what their RMA policy not sure myself.

ninja 12

I bought it from Komplett , around Christmas time last year .

The comments re: orders / rma's on the Komplett forum aren't very positive since they were sold .

marco_polo

Doesn't seem to be much info on their website, maybe try drop the support department a line and see if they will accept direct RMAs.

http://www.powercolor.com/global/comp_contactus.asp

ninja 12

I'll send them an email later , and see what they say .

Thanks

Overheal

I have the 5770; ill downloaded the dirt2 demo

edit: naturally it ran like you would expect, very well. So something is wrong here.

What about the video card driver? have you tried reinstalling it?

ninja 12

I've tried every driver version since January . The result is the same , on both my office pc and my HTPC .

I have the card since January this year , about 9 months . The problem / fault has probably always been there , I just never encountered it because it's only recently I tried to play games using the card , and Dirt 2 is the most graphically heavy / intense one I've tried .


I've filled in the online "contact us " form on the Powercolor website , so I'll see what they say .

lmimmfn

Dirt 2 like Dirt 1 is quite intensive( although nothing major for a card thats 100% ok ), my old 7800GTX used to overheat like crazy on Dirt 1 to 106C lol

when i got my 8800GT it would crash out of the box also, i reduced the mem from 700 down to 670 and it worked a charm, couldnt be bothered RMAing it as the core and shader overclock on it was excellent.

Manufacturer RMA is notoriously slow( youre talking at least a month in my experience with Asus and XFX although XFX were pretty good ), you should definately try Komplett RMA if you can( nothing to lose giving it a whirl )

Overheal

it sounds like it does need to be RMAd though. Very possibly defective in some way you wouldnt know without a heavy game or burn-in session. Like bad die in a shader pipeline or something.

ninja 12

I did underclock , and got Dirt 2 to run without locking up .

The memory chips are set to run at 1150MHz by default , I lowered the clock speed 50 MHz at a time using the overdrive tab in CCC , until i reached 950MHz . At this point , the GDDR chips felt a good bit cooler to the touch , and I was able to complete a full race in Dirt 2 without a single lockup !!!

I'll wait and see what Powercolor say , if I hear nothing by Monday , I'll contact Komplett .

Thanks for all the replies .

ninja 12

I ran the Dx11 Unigine Heaven benchmark for about 25-30 minutes , without a problem , with all settings set to high .

Looks like Dirt 2 is the only game/program that's giving me problems at the moment .

Has anybody any recomendations for any game demos that will push my graphics card , like Dirt 2 does ?

Thanks .

marco_polo

Think Metro 2033 has a demo out now that will push the card fairly hard. Also there is a final fantasy 14 benchmark application that is very GPU intensive .

lmimmfn

yeah i agree on Metro 2033

Lost Planet 2 benchmark is also another heavy one

ninja 12

I recieved an email from Powercolor this morning .
I explained what problems I was having , and that only Dirt 2 was causing problems .
This is what they came back with -

Powercolor wrote:

5750 is a high-end card, it will need better power input and good thermal system for it. I have 2 suggestions here,
1.When play 3D games, the 5770 will need more power to calculate graphics. I would suggest you to use at least 450W which 12V comes with 30A for it.
2.5770 will protect itself if over-heat. Please check if your thermal system is good enough for it. I would suggest you to have at least 2 fans in your PC, one in the front that will suck air in, the other one put in the back which will blow air out.

I would also suggest you try to
1. Update MB BIOS, some manufactures update BIOS for system stability and more compatible with VGA cards.
2. Reinstall Windows from scratch.
3. Download and install the latest MB drivers, but do not install onboard VGA card driver. If possible, please disable it in BIOS.
4. Download and install the latest ATI HOTFIX driver from here, [URL="wlmailhtml:{2F95FB4C-DFF2-405C-B33C-49C414F1C6EC}mid://00000008/!x-usc:http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx"]http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx[/URL]. You can just try to install VGA card driver only, but not CCC controller center for testing.

I have tried the card on two differend computers , both using Corsair HX series power supplies (one a 450 and the other a 620) , and both running Win 7x64 .
On both systems , the motherboard bios is up to date .

About the points they have listed -
2. No way am I going to reinstall windows , just to see if I can get a game to run .
3. This doesn't apply to my office pc , it doesn't have integrated graphics .
4. I already tried uninstalling the Catalyst Control Centre , and just installed the VGA driver , the results were the same on both pc's - instant lockup .


I download the Lost Planet 2 benchmark and ran it last night for about 25-30 mins , with all settings turned up to high , including the dx11 option .
It ran perfectly , with no glitches or lockups .

According to both the Catalyst Control Centre and GPU-Z , the GPU temp reached a peak of 63 degrees C , and GPU usage sat between 92-99% .


Just to try again , I ran the Dirt 2 Demo , I just got to start a race , then lockup :mad:


I then ran Dirt 2 demo in windowed mode , so I could see both the Catalyst Control Centre and GPU-Z , and just like the Lost World 2 demo , the GPU temp reached a peak of 63 degrees C , and GPU usage sat between 92-99% .

I got about 3/4 way around the track in windowed mode before it locked up :mad:


Would something like these help - Akasa VGA RAM Heatsink , if I put them on the RAM chips on the back of the card ?

What about reseating the GPU cooler and re applying the thermal compound ?
Is Arctic Silver 5 suitable ?

I don't really want to RMA the card (and be without it for weeks/maybe months while it's tested ) just for the sake of one game .

lmimmfn

hmmm, im still not 100% sure its the gpu, can you downclock the memory back to 950 and run the Dirt 2 benchmark and leave it running( if i remember correctly it will keep on rolling indefinately ) for about 30-40 mins?

My point is some people get hard lockups with some games only and a lot of the time its actually to do with overclocking or faulty ram chips. I know it had the same problem on the office PC but that might not be 100% stable either. Could also run prime 95 torture test on your rig for a good 30-60 mins with core temp running also( just to monitor cpu temps )

On the being without your card, you could try and cross buy a new card, i.e. buy a new one while posting your current one and have them refund you, this costs a bit extra and you end up with 2 cards if they find no fault and also not many companies allow that, Tekheads did it for me before which i thought was excellent.

ninja 12

Hi ,

I'll try to run the Dirt demo tomorrow with the GPU downclocked and see what happens .

Re: overclocking and stability, I have my office pc overclocked to 3.126Ghz , it's an Athlon IIx4 620 (stock speed is 2.6GHz ) , with 4GB Corsair DDR3 .
I have it running stable and have run Prime95 overnight on a few occasions , with no problems .
I have also run memtest before , again with no problems .

The CPU temp has never passed 35 degrees C , cooled by a Xigmatek Achilles in an Antec 300 .



My HTPC has never been overclocked .
It's an Athlonx2 5050e ( 2.6GHz ) , with 4GB Corsair DDR2 .
Again ,this has also previously passed both memtest and Prime 95 .
This pc runs a bit warmer (maxes out at 50 degrees ) because I am running my CPU cooler passively ( no fan on it , to keep noise levels to a minimum ) as well as having 5 hard drives spinning away inside it . It's a Xigmatex Thor's Hammer , the case is a Silverstone CW02 .


It just seems strange that only one game (so far) locks up using the same card in two different (and stable ) computers .

Overheal

Well either they (Powercolor) can recreate the problem or they can't. RMAs are why I opted for a fair-performing IGP on my motherboard: its useless to me otherwise

lmimmfn

ninja 12 wrote: »

Hi ,

I'll try to run the Dirt demo tomorrow with the GPU downclocked and see what happens .

Re: overclocking and stability, I have my office pc overclocked to 3.126Ghz , it's an Athlon IIx4 620 (stock speed is 2.6GHz ) , with 4GB Corsair DDR3 .
I have it running stable and have run Prime95 overnight on a few occasions , with no problems .
I have also run memtest before , again with no problems .

The CPU temp has never passed 35 degrees C , cooled by a Xigmatek Achilles in an Antec 300 .



My HTPC has never been overclocked .
It's an Athlonx2 5050e ( 2.6GHz ) , with 4GB Corsair DDR2 .
Again ,this has also previously passed both memtest and Prime 95 .
This pc runs a bit warmer (maxes out at 50 degrees ) because I am running my CPU cooler passively ( no fan on it , to keep noise levels to a minimum ) as well as having 5 hard drives spinning away inside it . It's a Xigmatex Thor's Hammer , the case is a Silverstone CW02 .


It just seems strange that only one game (so far) locks up using the same card in two different (and stable ) computers .

well prime 95 is definately not a 100% guarantee that a system is stable, especially regarding any potential memory issues, however mem test should show most issues, it might be worth doing a some more on that htpc just in case( i would try the downclocking for dirt 2 benchie first though )

Definately try the downclock to make 100% sure, i think if you send that info to PowerColor thet definately have to accept the RMA as you'll have proven your point, i.e. works 100% fine downclocked, on stock it crashes

ninja 12

A small update ,

I dropped the card into Komplett's Pick Up Point on Tuesday .

Their RMA process takes about 3-4 weeks , as the card has to be sent to The Netherlands for testing .


As well as the lockups while gaming , I was getting an infrequent , random crashing on the computer that I could never track down .

I'm now using my 5670 in my office pc , and have had no crashes since , so obviously there was always a fault with the card .


Now all I have to do is wait to hear back from Komplett .

Thanks all for your help / replies .

ninja 12

Another update ,

I got an email just before lunch today , informing me that I'm due a refund as the graphics card is not in stock and can't be replaced .

I rang Komplett at 3pm , with my bank details so hopefully I'll have my refund by Friday !! ( Depending on how long it takes the banks to process )

ninja 12

I got my refund from Komplett .

My refund appeared in my account yesterday morning (12th October) .

Now all i have to do is order another card

Overheal

Id throw some more money in and go for something with a little more juice. More than likely the price of a higher end card has snuck down while you had the 5750

lmimmfn

wait for these - http://www.fudzilla.com/graphics/item/20485-radeon-hd-6870-and-6850-launch-oct-22nd
At least they should drive current prices down, might take a week or 2 after release date though for the prices to drop

ninja 12

Overheal wrote: »

Id throw some more money in and go for something with a little more juice. More than likely the price of a higher end card has snuck down while you had the 5750

lmimmfn wrote: »

wait for these - http://www.fudzilla.com/graphics/item/20485-radeon-hd-6870-and-6850-launch-oct-22nd
At least they should drive current prices down, might take a week or 2 after release date though for the prices to drop

I was thinking of adding a few Euros and getting a Sapphire 5770 Vapor-X .
They're available on Amazon at the moment for 125 pounds , with free shipping .

With the amount of gaming i'll be doing (just occasionally ), I don't really want to spent more than that .

Re, the ATI/AMD HD 6xxx series , from what I've read on various forums the 5770 and 5750 might just be getting rebranded to 6760/6770 .
Besides , it'll take a while for non reference cards with aftermarket/silent coolers to start becoming available , and I need the card to be as silent as possible - it's going to be in my htpc in my living room .

Overheal

I like the 5770 VX. Have one. Will buy another.

ninja 12

Overheal wrote: »

I like the 5770 VX. Have one. Will buy another.

I just got an email from Amazon , there's a Sapphire 5770 Vapor-X winging it's way to me as we speak

I know I should've waited for the HD 6xxx cards , but I can't stick trying to play Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 @ 640x480 on my htpc any more , on my 40" tv , and the mouse lags like hell (using the integrated graphics on my 780g motherboard ) . At any higher resolution , the game is unplayable .

Overheal

Historically theres usually a Crossfire config that will go tow to toe with the nextgen hardware. You still saw 4870X2 show up on a lot of 5th generation benchmarks. When the performance starts to peak in the VX you can always make it VXx2 - thats my plan anyway.