Is my card bad or is this just terrible drivers?
Got a Radeon 6900XT a few months ago. All was good until a few weeks ago when suddenly all games (even an old one on GoG from the 80's) basically causes the card to crash. I usually can just end the task and its fine.
I have latest AMD drivers - Windows 10 64bit and its up to date.
Mobo is older - ASUS ROG X470-F. I updated chipset drivers but I actually can't update bios for some reason (working with ASUS on that).
I bought at Microcenter - its past the return period but its a Sapphire brand and I understand Microcenter would do the MFG warranty. I'm just wondering if there are any other steps to try or does this seem like a bad card? (my PSU is 850w fyi)
Answers
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Hey, Radeon cards do sometimes have drivers issues. You can always try rolling the drivers back to the older one that were working for you previously. If it is still having issues, you might want to bring your computer and/or graphics card into your nearest MIcro Center for diagnosis. If you have the replacement plan on it then we can take care of it at no additional cost. If not then or if you can't or don't want do that, you can contact the manufacturer and see if you can RMA it with them.
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I actually never changed drivers until I started having issues. So there isn't really a driver to roll back to.
And when I got to Sapphire the site says this:
A limited warranty* is offered on all SAPPHIRE products; all warranty enquires are to be directed to your initial place of purchase. The limited warranty is only applicable to the original purchaser of the SAPPHIRE product and may not be transferred. For warranty service please contact your Dealer/Reseller, they will require proof of purchase which includes the original invoice/documentation.
So why are you saying to contact them for the RMA? If what I need to do is take the card to have you guys go over it first as part of that I'll do it. But that isn't very clear.
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To my knowledge, we don't deal with warranties outside of Inland, Maingear and Powerspec products. I spoke with my Store Manager and he said that you should fill out a support ticket with Sapphire on their Customer Service page. Make sure to have a digital version of your receipt to send to them as well.
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I've never had a driver related problem with my 6800XT
The Adrenaline software has a tab called "Performance" on the top, from there select "Tuning". On the top right is "Stress Test". Run that and see if it crashes or succeeds. Watch the temperatures, power consumption and clock speeds as the test runs. Let me know what happens.
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Apologizes for not getting back to you (real life). I was having trouble with bios updates as well but that has been resolved.
I ran stress test twice. It completed both times (once for 1 min another for 90 seconds)
Temps: highest was 81C junction and 60 edge. But seemed to average around 60/55
Power - ranged from 150w to 290w
Clock speeds - a few ups and downs but seemed to hold pretty steady at 2550 GPU and 1990 VRAM
To get into specifics....ESO (Elder scrolls online) was the first game to start crashing. I though it was game related but then other game started crashing after a few mins and its not to the point if I load an old game on GOG it crashes almost instantly. I also did most of the other obvious stuff like ran checkdisk and even tried disabiling my antivirus. All more or less the same.
Only thing I didn't do that some are suggesting is upgrade to windows 11 (which now that my bios is updated I can)
And thank you in advance for any advice/suggestions. I'm basically not able to PC game anymore at this point.
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So the temps, speeds, and power draw all look good for the stress test, and there is a warning that it might cause the system to crash, so I think the card itself (vram and gpu) are probably physically fine. the question is now what's wrong with it at a software level. Are you using AMD's own driver via Adrenaline or something from Sapphire? You should be able to use the genuine AMD direct drivers. Hit the little gear symbol in the top right of Adrenaline and select 'System'. The 'Software & Driver Details' are on on the right column. It should say this:
Driver Version
22.20.19.16-221003a-384125E-AMD-Software-Adrenalin-Edition
AMD Windows Driver Version
31.0.12019.16007
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A few questions for you. How is it crashing? You mentioned that you have to task kill the process. I assume that the window freezes and you're able to tab out to kill it? The games are not crashing to desktop?
What model is the power supply? Is it multi-rail?
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I used drivers from AMD. And they are exactly as you posted. I originally just had recommended only but now have recommended an optional.
Most games it will freeze completely for about 5-7 seconds - go black for a moment then come back usually with the AMD issue detection box. I close this and then end task. For ESO - I still hear the music in the background so I view it as the game is technically still running. Gears 5 actually does crash to desktop displaying a general "gpu issue" error but also the Issue detection dialog pops up. Other games I tried do the same, I can't remember off hand if I have to specifically end task or not.
Power supply - its EVGA 850 GT Supernova. Not sure if what you mean by multi-rail...I have 1 cable connecting to the card that has 2 plugs to go into both ports. Would it be better to have another cable instead? (The PSU has 3 VGA marked slots I figured less cables is better). There here is a question - I just relzied I didn't use the power cable that came with the new PSU I just swapped out PSU and had my old power cable. I'm gonna double check if they are the same but I would assume they are the standard 10a/ 125V
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Display driver crash is what you're seeing. At least tells us a way to look. Could be a VRAM issue, you might try a program like OCCT that has an option to specifically test VRAM.
The power supply is single rail, which is good. To tell this you just look at the label on the side. If all you see is 12V with likely the full amperage of the PSU on that rail, it's single rail. If you see 12V1, 12V2, with different amperage amounts, it's a multirail unit. Rarely an issue, but it can create issues where there's not enough amperage on a PCIe cable, depending on how they're routed.
As for the power cable itself. Usually 750W or less is an 18 gauge 10A cable. For an 850W they should have included an 16 gauge 13A cable. Worth checking.
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So I downloaded it...VRAM test ran fine (1 min) but then it crashed when I started the 3D standard test...however i started it again and it went fine.
Its not showing any log or anything that I can see. Anything to look at? Tomorrow I'll look up general causes for driver crash and start troubleshooting that way. I'm glad all things are pointing to card being physically fine (spend almost a grand...damn thing better be fine)
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You might try two cables from the power supply to the card. While in theory you can use one cable and its pigtail, it is better to have independent cables.
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I'll try that tomorrow - worth a shot.
I've also been seeing somethings online saying to add Tdr registry entries but they aren't helping.
Another recommended I try to underclock to 90%? I've never overclocked but I'll check out the build in controls on Adrenaline and see if I can underclock...can't hurt at this point.
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Performance tab, then Tuning. Select 'undervolt GPU'.
You should email Sapphire support and see if they have any better ideas.
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Underclocking the GPU would be interesting to see. Looping the VRAM and 3D tests over a larger sample size would be interesting to see the results of as well.
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So to update here - I filed a ticket with Sapphire asking if there is anything else to check or if its something that can be warrantied (and also to clarify why their site says go to place of purchase when the place of purchase, microcenter, is saying they don't do that)
Last thing I'll try is underclocking - which I did NOT do - I'm confirming if that doesn't void the warranty. The AMD software said its voided unless you use the "presets" which I'm guessing includes the undervolt GPU. If it voids it - I'm gonna ask them to warranty it first based on their answer.
@TSMikeW so I did a 30min test of VRAM on OCC and it was fine...but again starting the 3D test again it crashed 10 seconds in but starting it again was fine.
Stupid question - could this simply be my CPU is older? I have a 2700X - I was gonna get new CPU (probably 5700X or 5800X) to upgrade to early next year just to get whatever the best one for AM4 socket...then consider my tower good for another 2+ years. (hopefully 3+) I guess that might be issue if underclocking helps.
Anyway - will post here again once Sapphire gets back to me. (meantime I'm catching up on shows and getting back into my switch games)
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CPU would cause performance issues possibly. You might be CPU capped, but it shouldn't cause crashing. The quick 3D test crash is odd. Could be a bug, could be a voltage curve issue as it's coming up. Let us know what Sapphire says.
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@TSMikeW so - they initially just asked if I can test on another system (a weed out question) - then told me to email an and address that is @althonmicro.com
Ever hear of them? Found a redit post from 5 years ago saying from device received by them till when they got replacement was about 10-14 days.
I replied asking if there was anything else to try - and also asked if I can try undervolt setting without voiding the warranty...gonna wait for reply first but in meantime guess I can start the email convo.
Only complaint I see about these guys is the usual MFG warranty stuff....where you can in theory get a replaced used card, which I guess is why you would buy the store warranty...but hey this is first ever problem I had with an AMD card since started building 20+ years ago (ATI back them of course)
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I don't recognize the email. From what I recall way back they were basically the OEM for the ATI branded cards. They tend to be a good card from my experience and they're still generally close to OEM if you're doing water blocks or custom VBIOS for MAC Pro's.
Lets see what support says before you move forward.
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Figured I would update so far. I got RMA - I am going on vacation next week so just pulled out card and mailed it today.
I stuck in my previous card....Radeon 480X (yup...my previous card was 4+ years old...this is the best card I ever bought)
ESO loaded fine - no crashing. That is the only game I think I was playing that it meets the requirements. So.....something def is up with the card, and for a grand there shouldn't be.
I'll update again once I get it back which will probably be after Thanksgiving. Thanks to you and the others for the suggestions....I'm happy and thankful that I rarely have had to deal with issues like these (in fact last time was the last Nvidia cards I would buy)
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I am having these issues with my 6600 XT
League is what I'm playing. After a while of playing, sometimes once, sometimes more than once, my display will freeze and I can still actually click around and I can hear sound but I have to cntrl+alt+delete and it brings up the task manager option, then I just hit cancel and it brings me back to the game with display.
I have the latest drivers 22.20.29.01-221017a-384626C and Windows Driver version 31.0.12029.1042
At first I thought it was my PSU because I was thinking that I wasn't giving enough power to the card (Someone suggested to this could be a scenario) I upgraded the PSU to an 850W and I know that it isn't that.
Am I in the same boat, where I need to take this into MicroCenter?
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You can try a clean install of your drivers to see if that would help. here is a step by step guide on how to do this (the steps are the exact same if you are using Windows 11): https://community.microcenter.com/kb/articles/133-how-to-clean-install-video-card-drivers-in-windows-10
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@Ian Thank you , I completed this. And if it works that will be the end. If it doesn't work I think I will just have to bring it in.
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Sounds like a plan. if you do have any other questions for us, please let us know.
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