Something is wrong and I think it is the vid card...

[FordGT90Concept]

I don't think I ever tested the RAM. I'll try to remember to run memtest overnight.

 

[heky]

The RAM can not cause the behaviour you are haveing. It is definitely coused by volts, either to much or to little. Try the card in a different computer. You must have a friend or neighbour that will let you test the card. If it works there, its your Psu.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Well, I underclocked the card again (back to official AMD specs) and the problems are gone again. I have to believe the problem is Sapphire raising the clocks without adequately raising the volts to keep it stable.

Looking through Newegg reviews, it sounds like there are a lot of disgruntled buyers:
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100281VX-2SR Radeon HD 5870 1GB 2...

In particular:

Doesn't overclock well. Seems like anything over the 875mhz core and 1250 memory clock will make the card unstable and it will crash and recover. I'm not to upset anyway because the performance is great with what it's set at and I just ordered a second one to crossfire.

Those are the stock clocks. The highest someone commented on there is a measly 900/1300 because the voltages are locked.


Another very interesting comment:

Pros: Card runs fine in 2D mode with no crashes running 24/7 for 2 days. Runs games nicely once it was downclocked to a standard 5870 using ATI Overdrive. Once downclocked all my freezing and crashes stopped.

Cons: Games causing issues: Battlefield Bad Company 2 (freezes then black screen. Have to hard reset with the reset button) and other games also crash/freeze.

Fresh install to eliminate driver issues from previous card.

Other things tried: swapping video card to other computer same issues.

Here is a short background on the system. Has been running stable for 1.5 years with a previous 8800 GT graphics card. Decided to swap to a Sapphire 5870 to be able to play Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Dirt 2 at higher settings. Upon that I reinstalled Windows 7 64 bit and swapped in the new card. Nothing is overclocked and all temps check out good. Upon trying to run Battlefield Bad Company 2 or Dirt 2 within 15-20 minutes the game freezes and then I sit at a black screen until I hit the reset button as control, alt, delete doesn’t work.

See solution on how I fixed freezing and crashing.

Other Thoughts: System Specs
Motherboard: EVGA 780i (For The Win)
CPU: Intel Q9550 (Cooled with Corsair H50 – load of 40 celsius)
RAM: Corsair TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF (2 x 2GB)
Video Card: Sapphire Vapor-X 5870 1GB OC R2 – Model number 100281VX-2SR (load 50 celsius)
PSU: Corsair 1000HX
Hard drives: 2 Western Digital Caviar Black WD6402AAEX 640GB in RAID 0
Operating System : Windows 7 64bit
Video Card Drivers in Use ( and tried ): 10.2, 10.3, & 10.4
Motherboard Drivers Used: 15.53 released on 3/15/2010

Solution so far is to downclock the 5870 using Catalyst Control Center. The stock overclock speeds are set at: core clock 870 and effective memory clock is at 1250. Well if I go into CCC and turn on ATI Overdrive and set them at 850 and 1200 all my issues go away.

I have a ticket into Sapphire but havent heard anything from them yet. Hopefully they can give me a bios or a firmware upgrade to increase the voltage somewho or something.

I dont really want to RMA it if I dont have to.

That sounds exactly like me and my issues. The last card worked fine at AMD clocks and this card is the exact same; moreover, I'm not the only one expericing these issues so I am confident it is the Sapphire HD 5870 Vapor-X 1 GiB card to blame. They're rubbish with they're unstable factory overclocks (if they are at first, it won't last long).

Sapphire doesn't do firmware and the BIOS update didn't do jack. Basically, I'm stuck with a $400 card sent to me on RMA that is unstable at factory settings.

This will definitely be my last Sapphire card. Eff'in ridiculous.

 

[HammerON]

I have bought Sapphire cards before and had no issue with them so it is sad to hear this

 

[FordGT90Concept]

This is my second Sapphire card but the first that came factory overclocked (not by choice). The old one (9800 Pro), the only problem it had was the fan died due to age. That, of course, is forgivable. This...not so much.


I guess the question is: Do I RMA it again? They'll probably send me another Vapor-X and 66% says it won't be stable at the factory overclocks either. The original warranty is still in effect having bought the card on 9/28/2010. I just don't know if it is worth all the trouble knowing it is likely not to be fixed again.

 

[Widjaja]

I never go for factory OC cards because of this.
My Brother warned me not to and I went for the most OC'ed 8800GT from XFX.
It was full of......fail.

Replaced with the HD4850 from Sapphire which used to heat up to 110degC and still powered on.

I don't know about the Vapor-X you have but I recently upgraded two systems with 5750s and personally it looks to me like there is a lack of cooling for everything else but the core under a big piece of plastic.

Will your supplier let you downgrade to a 5850 reference?

I don't know if you will get any credit for doing so but if not it is worth it just for getting rid of the POS GPU headache.

 

[OneMoar]

UPDATE UR BIOS THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE CARD
OR
you can use ati tray-tools and disable powerplay and use higher voltages for the 2d clocks

 

[AsRock]

Well, I underclocked the card again (back to official AMD specs) and the problems are gone again. I have to believe the problem is Sapphire raising the clocks without adequately raising the volts to keep it stable.

Looking through Newegg reviews, it sounds like there are a lot of disgruntled buyers:
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100281VX-2SR Radeon HD 5870 1GB 2...

In particular:

Those are the stock clocks. The highest someone commented on there is a measly 900/1300 because the voltages are locked.

Another very interesting comment:

That sounds exactly like me and my issues. The last card worked fine at AMD clocks and this card is the exact same; moreover, I'm not the only one expericing these issues so I am confident it is the Sapphire HD 5870 Vapor-X 1 GiB card to blame. They're rubbish with they're unstable factory overclocks (if they are at first, it won't last long).

Sapphire doesn't do firmware and the BIOS update didn't do jack. Basically, I'm stuck with a $400 card sent to me on RMA that is unstable at factory settings.

This will definitely be my last Sapphire card. Eff'in ridiculous.

That's sad to hear. Which is a reason i like XFX\eVga as they can send me as many as they like that warranty will come right back to them. Although i have never needed too .

Kinda makes me wounder if you could take them court ( small claims ) for selling faulty hardware plus wasted postage costs..

 

[FordGT90Concept]

The problem resurfaced the in the past two weeks (even at 850/1200). The card is now out of warranty so I went ahead and updated the BIOS (00T to S5B I think) to the highest available for the card from Sapphire. So far, so good.