Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X OC Problem

[Anusha]

I had a Issue with a Asus P4S8X Motherboard and a First Party ATI Radeon AIW 9700 Pro, tried several bios revisions, RMAd the vid card. It Took a Beta Bios, Driver Updates, Disable some video cache mode in the motherboard, Disable Automatic restarts and then something that causes the card to reset itself in the Radeon Drivers just to work with that motherboard.

I swapped to an MSI k7N2 Delta-L and had no problems from the video card at all.

that's different.
but in this case, OP says it runs fine when VRAM is underclocked, which means that the VRAM cannot run at the rated specs. it's a problem with the video card. RMA is the only option, unless the OP is willing to run it with the underclocked (i.e. pay more than the card deserves)

 

[OneMoar]

that's different.
but in this case, OP says it runs fine when VRAM is underclocked, which means that the VRAM cannot run at the rated specs. it's a problem with the video card. RMA is the only option, unless the OP is willing to run it with the underclocked (i.e. pay more than the card deserves)

no it means its another 5870 with a power management issue
ill say it again 90% of the issues with these cards are caused by powerplay/ulps/UVD
changing the clock frequency settings in overdrive disables powerplay and in turn makes the card stable
a rma will most likely NOT help its a bios/driver issue that sapphire/xfx\a few others never fixed properly
edit: the quickest way to check would be to "overclock" the card by 20Mhz on the core and 10 on the memory if the problem gets worse then its the card if it goes away then its that power management bug

 

[Anusha]

no it means its another 5870 with a power management issue
ill say it again 90% of the issues with these cards are caused by powerplay/ulps/UVD
changing the clock frequency settings in overdrive disables powerplay and in turn makes the card stable
a rma will most likely NOT help its a bios/driver issue that sapphire/xfx\a few others never fixed properly
edit: the quickest way to check would be to "overclock" the card by 20Mhz on the core and 10 on the memory if the problem gets worse then its the card if it goes away then its that power management bug

you say that. we say otherwise. sorry i won't agree with you.

 

[OneMoar]

you say that. we say otherwise. sorry i won't agree with you.

it doesn't matter what you or I think the op is the one that needs the problem resolved
whats the sense in rmaing a card until you know: its faulty
what I suggested takes no longer then 60 seconds todo and would rule out the well known power management issues with the 5xxx cards as the issue

 

[Anusha]

it doesn't matter what you or I think the op is the one that needs the problem resolved
whats the sense in rmaing a card until you know: its faulty
what I suggested takes no longer then 60 seconds todo and would rule out the well known power management issues with the 5xxx cards as the issue

if powerplay doesn't work, it is again the fault of the card or the driver or both. because it is a feature; it is how it saves power. you don't just buy the card. you buy the driver as well. it is a full package. if it doesn't work, then it doesn't work! period.

 

[OneMoar]

THEN HE SHOULD JUST BUY A NEW CARD because there is a 90% chance the one they will send him WILL have the same issue
your not reading

 

[OneMoar]

I am done with this thread I am apologetic to the op but it seems people just refuse to listen

 

[Anusha]

THEN HE SHOULD JUST BUY A NEW CARD because there is a 90% chance the one they will send him WILL have the same issue
your not reading

it is the manufacturer's responsibility to give his money back or offer him another card, don't you think so? HD6950 or something. Else they should specify there is a problem like this, and you should buy it at your own risk.

I'm just saying people don't have to go through this pain, if the issue is with the stock OVERCLOCK. if he is confident that underclocking fixes the issue, then there is nothing to argue. can't we clearly see that his RAM cannot work properly at 1250MHz, which is the manufacturer specified speed?
Fine, if is a compatibility with a game, because they can't promise anything about the future.
Fine, if it is a problem with the PSU, maybe the voltage is not enough? But then it would also not work with 1200MHz RAM speed, because 1200MHz->1250MHz will hardly use any more power. If it was the core clock that needed to drop, then it would possibly be the PSU. Maybe the BIOS they are using have too tight timings. Again, it is not the OP's fault.

It is NOT fine if you have to disable power play because it is a feature of the card. (because that is something they boast about: the power consumption; something that the user looks at when buying a card) Driver controlled maybe, but it is still a feature. You are talking as if you should disable HT to get your 2600K working. Of course it would be a hardware problem, but does it matter if it is software or hardware? If both are required for it to work, then it is a part of the purchase.

If he must, then he can try it on another PC and see if it still acts the same way. If same, then RMA definitely. If not, then maybe underclock fix was not the real fix. (it could have been a coincidence.)

For example, my old 5770 didn't overclock at all. But I cannot do anything about that because it worked perfectly well at stock settings. Maybe all the other 99.99% users can get at least a 5% overclock. I couldn't get even a 10MHz overclock. weird, but cannot help. if it didn't work at the rated 850MHz core or 1200MHz mem, then that is not my fault. Same with my 5870, same card as the OP's. It is not a good overclocker. 915Mhz on the core, but that's it. It doesn't have any cooling issues. Even in a 35C ambient, it doesn't reach 80C. Again, I cannot help it.

However, you should know, the RAM on these Vapor-X cards don't overclock AT ALL. you might be able to get a 10MHz overclock out of it, but that's it. I think the RAM they use for these cards are running at their peak specs. Or maybe out of spec; overclocked with a little bit of voltage or loosening the timings. Who knows.

 

[cadaveca]

I am done with this thread I am apologetic to the op but it seems people just refuse to listen

The problem is not with the card.

The problem is that the OP has gone to Sapphire for support, and did not get it.

If there is a compatibility problem, it's up to the OEM to fix it.

Since this card is a Sapphire card, RMA is with the local store where it was purchased...they will test it.

Liek I siad, I had this issue, went through many board, many CPUs, many sets of memory, new PSUs, HDD...all of it...and nothing fixed the problem. It's all here on the forums.

In the end, I went from GSOD cards, to cards that artifacted on the desktop(room temp coldbug). I had a couple of cards that lasted 2 months before showing symptoms.

But none of that matters. What DOES matter is the OP has a problem with a card, and the OEM failed to provide sufficient support.

It's not up to us to provide that support. It's up to the OEM. I don't know why you fail to see this, but that's OK. THAT is why I say RMA...OP attempted what Sapphire told him/her, and the problem is not solved. Clearly a common issue like this, they should have indentified the culprit...the 5870's have been out for 2 years now...

Bad support is bad support. If Sapphire will replace the card, but the OP is left with the same problem wit ha differnt card...Sapphire support failed to identify the problem.

 

[Outback Bronze]

Crikey Cadaveca (8-9) 5870s. Thats B.S.! Ive been through a few cards mate but thats rediculous. Didnt u start think of changing 2 nvidia?

 

[cadaveca]

Didnt u start think of changing 2 nvidia?

Nope. I had purchased 3 monitors for Eyefinity, and nVidia's Surroundview, or whatever they call it, needs two VGAs. 1 5870 isn't enough, anyway, but I've been a primarily ATi user since the 9800Pro, and have run Crossfire Since it came out, too. Used to call myself ATi's #1 fanboy. The fact of the matter is that nVidia's cards are too expensive for my liking for the functionality I want.

It's been 6 months since XFX finally sent me the 6950 2GB, which works great, no problems. I've been running it under water for a while now, shaders unlocked, @ 900 Mhz.

 

[Outback Bronze]

lol funny u say that ive been a ati boys since my powercolour 9800pro.

Got extra pipelins with my x800pro to x800xt.

Unlocked my crossfired 6950s to 6970s.

Ive underclocked my 5870 im using now 4 low power. 800/1000,0.925 core idle/0.925 mem idle/1.05 core load/1.05 mem load. Its runs so cool and my system with a q9550 @3.4ghz is a total of 200watts under load and roughly 95 watts idle. Its a bloody nice system!

 

[Gershwin]

Topic ?

First of all thanks to those who try to help, with helpfull posts, second to everyone else: "Why using this for discuss how cool or intelligence you are ?" Don´t you think the PM function would be so much cooler that for ? Or what about discuss in your own thread. People out there using google search, finding this thread hoping for help and at the end they opening a new thread and getting answers like: "Use google or the search function ..."
So back to topic, thank you.

If you feel, like to answer me on this, use PM.

Short statement to what i´ve tryed now.
I changed the memory, and using 2x2GB 1066 DDR II now.
My old one are 1.8V, this on 2.2V
Everest told me that the memory is defently faster then my, about ~30%.

At the end, the fault is still remaining.
So my thought about the memory was incorrect.

I will ship this card back and hope to get a new one in short time.
back to old 5770 for some time.

Best regards
Gershwin

 

[eidairaman1]

that's different.
but in this case, OP says it runs fine when VRAM is underclocked, which means that the VRAM cannot run at the rated specs. it's a problem with the video card. RMA is the only option, unless the OP is willing to run it with the underclocked (i.e. pay more than the card deserves)

Im making the comment that he should RMA if the card isnt running at the advertised speed, its basically a regular 5870 then