HD 5850 display glitching

[Ranfoxconn]

Hello everyone,

Today I received a reference Sapphire HD 5850 which I ordered about a week ago to fill in for my GTX 1080 which is way for RMA. The seller described it as working great and had lots of positive feedback so I bought it. When I put it into my system it worked just fine, this was before installing the drivers. I ran DDU and installed the proper drivers. From there it worked just fine. I then saw it fit to disassemble the card and clean it with IPA and compressed air. When I reassembled the card the first sign of trouble came up as neither of the DVI ports were outputting any video. I reconnected the cable but nothing. I restarted the system and it finally displayed a picture. I decided to recheck to see if all the games worked starting with Left 4 Dead 2 on the Dead Air map. The start of the map loaded in but before I could actually play the system would lock up, and the screen would glitch up and I would have to shut the system down. And this would be the cycle I would be in. Even on the desktop it would lock up and crash. I tried this on another system which has a HD 7850 and it would glitch up there too. Note, this is before any drivers were installed on the second system. On the second system however I discovered that if angled right the card would work just fine. So my first guess was that the x16 PCIe connector was buggered up. So I took some IPA and cleaned that. No luck there. I wiggled it and while I could get it angled just right to work it'd still act up. I tried the same with the 7850 but it remained stable with no issues. From there I decided to see if the BIOS was faulty somehow. I flashed a Sapphire bios from the database here and it seemed to work though the issue still remains as the card still needs to be angled in the right way to work, though it seems more lenient in regards to this now and I can even play Left 4 Dead with no issue. I even disassembled and reassembled the card to make sure I didn't mess that up somehow but that didn't help much if at all.

My question though is, what could be causing this card to act up like this? I've had a 5850 in the past, a Sapphire no less, and had nowhere near the amount of trouble I am now with this one. Could it be that the card is just buggered up or is there a way to fix this?

For those wondering I have a Ryzen 5 1600 on an ASRock AB350M Pro4 motherboard with an EVGA Supernova NEX 650 watt PSU paired with this card at the moment. I've had many other cards on this system but none that ever acted up like this.

I've attached a photo of what the glitching looks like whenever it acts up.

I also have video of what I sorta mean by the wiggling to get it just right.

 

[jboydgolfer]

can you post a pick of the back side of the card?? namely im curious if there is a backplate, and further, and Pressure bracket that mounts behind the GPU chip

 

[Ranfoxconn]

Sure give me a minute.

 

[jboydgolfer]

yup. it is tellign that it was working fine, so we know the card was in good shape when you got it, but something happened in the meantime, im thinking when you took it apart possibly. you never know....i have had things like this happen


i dont know if that model has a backplate, but if it does, i had almost the same issue you are explaining, it turned out that the even pressure bracket, that helps supply even pressure to the GPU chip when the 4 mounting screws are tightened, was making contact with the backplate, and shorting out the card or something, because once i resolved it, the issue was fixed immediately. that was why i wanted to see the rear side of it.....id break it down, and go over it really closely, just to make sure nothing is touching anything it shouldnt, and that nothing is amiss. ill post a pic of what i mean below

 

[Ranfoxconn]

Here are some photos of the back side of the PCB. Pardon the lighting. I removed the x-clamp since it hides some stuff under it.

 

[jboydgolfer]

where and what is the mounting HW for the Heatsink over the GPU chip? (i see the screws or hardware are missing inthose pics) i edited my post above, read the last part, and follow that if it seems fitting

if its missing because you had to remove a backplate and bracket, id bet a dollar that is what is causing your issue, it was touching thew backplate.

 

[Ranfoxconn]

where and what is the mounting HW for the Heatsink over the GPU chip? (i see the screws or hardware are missing inthose pics) i edited my post above, read the last part, and follow that if it seems fitting

I should have mentioned I removed it for the sake of taking the photos. The heat sink mounting hardware is there and from what I can gather working fine. There wasn't a backplate either since, as far as I know anyway, 5850s never had one at least the reference models didn't.

 

[jboydgolfer]

I should have mentioned I removed it for the sake of taking the photos. The heat sink mounting hardware is there and from what I can gather working fine.

i had the exact issue you are having, and it turned out that the bracket like in the pic i posted above, was touching the backplate of the GPU, or some other component when it was secured on the card....it was what was causing the issue, i fixed the problem, and it worked perfect...i suggest you verify its not meant to go on one specific way, (cuz many can be oriented any ) and just breadboard, and re-do,

to demonstrate what im explaining, the pic below will show , the yellow highlighted bracket, turned out to be touching the backplate, andwas causing exactly what your explaining...

 

[Ranfoxconn]

I see what you're saying. I'll give that a shot and see if that helps any.

Well I'm back from that and the didn't seem to do much of anything. I measured the bracket and all the sides appeared to be equal with each other.

Here's another video with respect to what I mean by wiggling and the right angle. Showing the two extremes more or less. My HD 7850 and GTX 970 don't exhibit these issues when angled in this way.

 

[eidairaman1]

What driver are you using?

 

[Ranfoxconn]

What driver are you using?

I'm using the latest WHQL drivers but drivers or not the card buggers up.

 

[eidairaman1]

I'm using the latest WHQL drivers but drivers or not the card buggers up.

Being a NON GCN architecture but a VLIW architecture.

You need to read this.

https://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/legacy?product=legacy3&os=Windows 10 - 64

 

[Ranfoxconn]

Being a NON GCN architecture but a VLIW architecture.

You need to read this.

https://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/legacy?product=legacy3&os=Windows 10 - 64

While the assistance is appreciated drivers aren't my issue here as I haven't been having issues with the software. The actual hardware itself is bugged and I don't know why this is.

 

[jboydgolfer]

While the assistance is appreciated drivers aren't my issue here as I haven't been having issues with the software. The actual hardware itself is bugged and I don't know why this is.

i see my first thought didnt fix it....have you broken down the card again, to re check everything? even if you were to put the wrong screw in the I/O sheild of the GPU, and it was too long, and contacting metal, it could cause issues as well. food for thought i guess....cuz im out of ideas

 

[Ranfoxconn]

Alright then, well the help is all appreciated regardless. I'll try the card with my Accelero later. See if maybe the blower cooler is at fault somehow.

So I'm back home from class and I removed the reference blower cooler of the 5850 and put on the Accelero that I had planned on putting on there and for some reason this fixed the issue, or rather it appears to have fixed it. I lift up the card, boots just fine. I wiggle it aggressively like before and the video doesn't distort like it would before. It seems as though the cooler was somehow shorting something out. Even writing this out I'm wiggling it aggressively and nothing. Gonna have to test a few games first though to make sure this isn't a fluke.

Another update:
Tried out Left 4 Dead 2 and wiggled the card even more aggressively than before and no crashes. I'm almost certain now that the stock cooler was somehow at fault.

 

[eidairaman1]

Alright then, well the help is all appreciated regardless. I'll try the card with my Accelero later. See if maybe the blower cooler is at fault somehow.

So I'm back home from class and I removed the reference blower cooler of the 5850 and put on the Accelero that I had planned on putting on there and for some reason this fixed the issue, or rather it appears to have fixed it. I lift up the card, boots just fine. I wiggle it aggressively like before and the video doesn't distort like it would before. It seems as though the cooler was somehow shorting something out. Even writing this out I'm wiggling it aggressively and nothing. Gonna have to test a few games first though to make sure this isn't a fluke.

Another update:
Tried out Left 4 Dead 2 and wiggled the card even more aggressively than before and no crashes. I'm almost certain now that the stock cooler was somehow at fault.

Improperly fitted

 

[Ranfoxconn]

That's what I'm guessing. Though looking over I don't see where I messed up with the original cooler. Oh well, at least it's working reliability now.
Thank you both for the insight it's appreciated.

 

[eidairaman1]

That's what I'm guessing. Though looking over I don't see where I messed up with the original cooler. Oh well, at least it's working reliability now.
Thank you both for the insight it's appreciated.

Glad it's working. Just 1 thing though. Any driver set released after the driver set i linked to they stopped supporting VLIW which some of HD 7000 series and I believe even some of the Mobile HD 8000 series and AM1/FM1/2 APUs, your 5000 series and 6000 series are considered legacy at this point.

 

[jboydgolfer]

The problem you were explaining in the beginning of this thread was too much like what I experienced ,for it not to have been something similar to what I had happen. As I was reading the OP I was almost certain that it was the same thing.

either way ,I'm glad it worked out for you , hopefully you get your 1080 back sooner than later.

And don't wiggle the card too much while its installed

 

[Ranfoxconn]

Thanks, and as an aside what's considered a 'safe' VRM temperature? The 5850 VRMs appear to occasionally approach the 80s and 90s. I have a heatsink on there. I know they're rated for high temperatures but not sure what too high is.