2 PowerColor 4850 PCS dead in a week!!!!

[pigo1973]

BTW, I sent an e-mail to PowerColor technical support last week....
Guess what??!?!

NO REPLY!!!

This is LAST time I ever buy a PowerColor product...

 

[Zubasa]

BTW, I sent an e-mail to PowerColor technical support last week....
Guess what??!?!

NO REPLY!!!

This is LAST time I ever buy a PowerColor product...

I never really liked PowerColor in the first place....:shadedshu
Always prefered Sapphire / HIS

 

[DrPepper]

BTW, I sent an e-mail to PowerColor technical support last week....
Guess what??!?!

NO REPLY!!!

This is LAST time I ever buy a PowerColor product...

Email them again and its incredibly rare for two cards to be faulty, I reckon you have a faulty psu. Not that its a bad psu but that it may be deffective, try using another and see if the problem persists. Also you may have short circuited it by accident when handling the gpu.

 

[pigo1973]

Email them again and its incredibly rare for two cards to be faulty, I reckon you have a faulty psu. Not that its a bad psu but that it may be deffective, try using another and see if the problem persists. Also you may have short circuited it by accident when handling the gpu.

It is possible that my PSU is faulty... everything is possible, BUT as I told before, I had a Sapphire 4850 for two week and it didn't died!!! Before Sapphire I had 3870 (Sapphire) since last X-mass and it didn't die!!! I now have a 9800GT and it is still alive!!!!

So I don't see how could PSU be faulty, but as I said... everything is possible...
Maybe my Corsair 520HX is PowerColor killer!!!
Anyway, as soon I get new card from RMA, it will go out on sale... no more PowerColor for me! :shadedshu

 

[Zanga]

@pigo1973

Did you use the supplied power connector(6 pin to 2 molex) or connected the PSU directly to the card. The 4850 reference design uses only 5 pins (3x12V + 2 ground or other way arround). Both of my PSUs (Chieftec & Enhance) have a different 6 pin connector (3x12V + 3 ground). The PCB also has the sixth pin connected to the PCB, so maybe that is your trouble. Don't have any pictures, but if you have the original adapter cable around, look at it's pinout and compare it with the PSU cable.

 

[pigo1973]

Now that's great!!!

Check this out...
I post my problem at Corsair support forum and here's what I got!!

http://www.asktheramguy.com/forums/showpost.php?p=369227&postcount=2

"Same thing happened for me with a 4870. It was exactly the same, with the screen, fan, etc... I have HX1000 W but I am not sure it's the psu. I repalced my 4870 with an Nvidia OC GTX280 and it's been 2 weeks , never had a problem with it.
In my opinion it's more probably an ATI problem!"

So, there is some kind an incompatibility problem among Corsair PSUs and some of ATI 48*0 cards.

This can't be just coincidence.

 

[Zanga]

Your PSU according to Corsair has a PCI-E 6+2 pin (total of 8 pins) how did you connected it. The 4800 series without auxiliary power runs the fan at maximum and displays no image.

 

[pigo1973]

Your PSU according to Corsair has a PCI-E 6+2 pin (total of 8 pins) how did you connected it. The 4800 series without auxiliary power runs the fan at maximum and displays no image.

Directly to PSU... 2 pins are detachable, so you can plug 6 directly to graphic card.

Anyway, read carefully what I wrote...
But card worked some time before they died...
Both of them are dead... tested by me and by retail service department.
Both cards had fans NOT running after I restart my rig (after black screen and 100% fans running)

 

[twicksisted]

just out of interest, do you do the fan fix when you got the card?
Im only asking as these cards will idle ridiculously hot and without the fan fix I could understand it breaking after 2 weeks or so of use.

I had mine running stock for a day before I found out about how to adjust the fan speed.

 

[pigo1973]

just out of interest, do you do the fan fix when you got the card?
Im only asking as these cards will idle ridiculously hot and without the fan fix I could understand it breaking after 2 weeks or so of use.

I had mine running stock for a day before I found out about how to adjust the fan speed.

No, I didn't do anything... I know about the fan "problems" but, that's why I took PowerColor PCS (and Sapphire Dual-Slot cooler) in first place. Didn't want reference design card....
I should have wait a day or so for Gainward 4850 Golden Sample... it is also in-house design from Palit / Gainward...

 

[twicksisted]

its very possible then that the card was damaged due to the high heat they run at with a low fan setting. My powercolour 4870 idles with the VRM's at 90c!!! I quickly set the fan onto 35% for 2D and 50% for 3D when I saw these temps though and now they in the 40c region.

 

[Zanga]

On the reference board the connector marked in the picture doesn't get connected to the PSU, the adapter cable purposely misses that pin. The Powercolor HD 4850 PCS uses the original layout, the only difference is the GPU cooler. The connector on the PCB is soldered, so if the PCIE connector of the Corsair is connected to +12V, maybe it could have fried some of the VRM's (lose one phase, stress the others) -> resulting no aux power -> no screen, 100% gpu cooler, and death.

 

[pigo1973]

On the reference board the connector marked in the picture doesn't get connected to the PSU, the adapter cable purposely misses that pin. The Powercolor HD 4850 PCS uses the original layout, the only difference is the GPU cooler. The connector on the PCB is soldered, so if the PCIE connector of the Corsair is connected to +12V, maybe it could have fried some of the VRM's (lose one phase, stress the others) -> resulting no aux power -> no screen, 100% gpu cooler, and death.

I really don't get what's your point...
I connected that card like hundreds of others - with PCI-E connector, which is going directly from PSU...
Cable adapter which is supplied with PCI-E cards serves only for PSU that doesn't have a PCI-E connector. So, adapter is not a necessary thing to get you graphic card running.

 

[erocker]

I believe the cards are the problem. I use a Corsair HX620 with my 48xx series cards with no problems. Two bad cards is just bad luck, sorry about your pain.

On the reference board the connector marked in the picture doesn't get connected to the PSU

That is simply untrue.

 

[pigo1973]

its very possible then that the card was damaged due to the high heat they run at with a low fan setting. My powercolour 4870 idles with the VRM's at 90c!!! I quickly set the fan onto 35% for 2D and 50% for 3D when I saw these temps though and now they in the 40c region.

Well, my temperatures were ok... a bit high, but nowhere near 90°C...
Anyway, I don't give a shi* for fan fix and such... I bought a card, paid a good money for it and I don't accept any claims that I should had fix some problems with "perfectly" good new card... if there is a problems with fan or anything else, they should recall cards and fix them, or openly give instructions to user, issue a driver or bios fix = admit they fucke* up.

 

[Zanga]

I believe the cards are the problem. I use a Corsair HX620 with my 48xx series cards with no problems. Two bad cards is just bad luck, sorry about your pain.



That is simply untrue.

Sorry but it's true. Here is a picture of my Asus 4850 with its adaptor cable connected. As you can see the card has:
2x +12V (yellow wires)
2x ground (black wires)
2x ground (brown wires) connected together to one pin
between +12V pins there isn't any wire (just the pin on the PCB)
---------------------------------------------
TOTAL = 5 pins

 

[erocker]

Sorry but it's true. Here is a picture of my Asus 4850 with its adaptor cable connected. As you can see the card has:
2x +12V (yellow wires)
2x ground (black wires)
2x ground (brown wires) connected together to one pin
between +12V pins there isn't any wire (just the pin on the PCB)
---------------------------------------------
TOTAL = 5 pins

Srange, however the 4850 is meant to use the pci-e power connector from a PSU. The wires mean nothing. If it was true, my 4850 and 4870 would be long burnt up as would the other cards I've installed in neumerous other systems. If you read any of the manufacturer's power requirements for the 4850 it states 6-pin pci-e power connector. The adapters are included if your PSU doesn't have the required power connector. Ask any ATi engineer or card manufacturer.

 

[zithe]

Maybe a bad rail? I'd pick up a PSU tester or borrow one from a friend. (I severely doubt you know anyone has has a PSU tester, though...)

 

[newtekie1]

It might just be a bad batch from PowerColor. Chances are, that if you took it back to the store for a replacement, they gave you are card out of the same faulty batch. That would be my guess.

Of course there is always the possibility that heat killed the cards. I know you said you have two 120mm fans, but if they aren't propperly setup, heat can still build. and even the PCS coolers, fail to keep the 4850's at acceptable temperatures, even in a good case setup. The cards still get close to 90C under load.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

On the card,the yellow(12v) and the black(ground) are all connected together respectivley,so you could run it with just one yellow and one black,if the yellow could supply enough power.So i dont see how it matters that it is the 6pin pci-e from the psu or the molex adapter.

 

[MKmods]

do you have a pict of the inside of your case? (may help us to help you)

also 1 bad card is unlikely, 2 bad cards (same problem too) is almost impossible. I would look for some other prob (hardware,driver) other than the GPU.

have you tried to power the video card with a different power cable/rail?

I have used about 12 Powercolor cards (both ATI and Nvidia) and never had a bad one

 

[cdawall]

i'm tired of this ati cards running to hot crap read this

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=999184#post999184

it wasn't an overheating card he got a bad batch it happens

oh and as for the garbage coolers on the 3850/4850 mine did just fine @800mhz fans @60% and i ran two 3850s on a Tt 500w purepower without an issue i think that his corsair should be doing just fine with a single 4850

 

[twicksisted]

i'm tired of this ati cards running to hot crap read this

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=999184#post999184

it wasn't an overheating card he got a bad batch it happens

I wasnt referring to the GPU temps... i was referring to the VRM temps / overheating... that would cause a failure of the card like it has... if it for some or other reason overheated.
And I know that mine idle at 90c+ without the fanfix... (which i did a day after buying my card and he diddnt).

 

[newtekie1]

i'm tired of this ati cards running to hot crap read this

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=999184#post999184

it wasn't an overheating card he got a bad batch it happens

oh and as for the garbage coolers on the 3850/4850 mine did just fine @800mhz fans @60% and i ran two 3850s on a Tt 500w purepower without an issue i think that his corsair should be doing just fine with a single 4850

Where are you getting these rated temperatures from? 90C can and will kill a card over time. The GPU core might be able to handle those high temps, but the areas surrounding the GPU core can't.

And yes, with upping the fan speed, it is possible to keep the cards at acceptable temps, but when left at stock they overheat. Since he didn't mention anything about upping the fan speed manually, I can only assume he didn't.

 

[cdawall]

Where are you getting these rated temperatures from? 90C can and will kill a card over time. The GPU core might be able to handle those high temps, but the areas surrounding the GPU core can't.

And yes, with upping the fan speed, it is possible to keep the cards at acceptable temps, but when left at stock they overheat. Since he didn't mention anything about upping the fan speed manually, I can only assume he didn't.

they can run @ 90C thats were the cooler was designed to keep them at