Club3D 7870 Joker Card - Stability issues

[Upham]

Good evening all,

I treated my self to a new rig as follows:

FX8350
Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2
Club3D 7870 XTV Joker Card (tahti le)
750w PSU (novatech)
8GB ram (samsung i think)

First set-up / install failed... VGA error, the 7870 was not seen by the mobo in PCIex16_1.

Eventually worked in PCIex16_3 however very unstable performance. The second any graphical load was applied, system would freeze/lines/pixilate/crash.

Tested 7870 in another rig and it worked, the first time. This sent me on a wild goose chase but after re-checking it a 2nd time it did not work in the other rig.

I RMA'd that 7870 straight back to where it came from, received another, set up beautifully and enjoyed two hours of gaming. it was amazing... Then it froze/screen articulated/system crashed.

I've just tested the card in the other rig and it is confirmed as a card fault.

Am I just unlucky or am I doing something wrong?

Thoughts & opinions welcomed

 

[alienware]

Did you update your board's bios first?

If not then it seems you just got unlucky. However, GPU quality is pretty poor right now what with poor choices of components (coil whine etc) so there are a lot of problems lately.

You may just be really unlucky, but, try updating your board's bios before you fit another one in there.

 

[WeskerPG]

could it be the ram ?
http://www.memtest86.com/download.htm

PCI Express X16 Slots; enables you to install video cards, sound cards, or wireless adapter cards

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/club_3d_7870_joker_xt_edition_review/1

Bus Interface: PCI Express 3.0

since they can perform, ill say it is your ram or your pci slot, back to the manufacture

so it is your gpu, well in that case, back to the manufacture LOL that works for everything

 

[Upham]

Did you update your board's bios first?

If not then it seems you just got unlucky. However, GPU quality is pretty poor right now what with poor choices of components (coil whine etc) so there are a lot of problems lately.

You may just be really unlucky, but, try updating your board's bios before you fit another one in there.

Thank you for the really fast response!

Latest bios flashed along with all the latest drivers

 

[Upham]

could it be the ram ?
http://www.memtest86.com/download.htm

PCI Express X16 Slots; enables you to install video cards, sound cards, or wireless adapter cards

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/club_3d_7870_joker_xt_edition_review/1

Bus Interface: PCI Express 3.0

since they can perform, ill say it is your ram or your pci slot, back to the manufacture

so it is your gpu, well in that case, back to the manufacture LOL that works for everything

Cheers for the reply bud, to be honest I originally started a thread on this in the mono & CPU section but moved over to here once I found out it was the 7870.

I have carried out RAM tests and all passed. CPU performance seems really good, over all the PC seems great, it just starts to pixilate / screen fracture / vertical lines of noise as soon as a game or GPU stress test is applied.

 

[Upham]

Ok, so I just ran a stress test and recorded a GPU-Z log,...

At the point to which the system crashes the main info the seems out of place is Temp jumps to 72 & VDDC spikes to 45A.

Every thing else would appear stable with no obvious spikes or dramatic changes.

I'm going to under clock the card and see if it helps, back in a bit

 

[Upham]

OK, so now I under clocked, ran the same test, got the same result, the system lasted maybe a couple of seconds longer before giving out but nothing worth getting excited about.

The only doubt I have now would be the stability of the PSU...

 

[alienware]

OK this is kinda reaching now but do me a favour and remove the motherboard and make sure you don't have any posts where they shouldn't be. I have a feeling you have a short and it's blowing components..

If not then replace the PSU.

 

[Upham]

OK this is kinda reaching now but do me a favour and remove the motherboard and make sure you don't have any posts where they shouldn't be. I have a feeling you have a short and it's blowing components..

If not then replace the PSU.

Mate I completely open to suggestions, I really appreciate you taking the time. I'll remove the mobo from the case and go and get another PSU 2mrw.

I think its to late for the graphics card

 

[alienware]

Yeah definitely seems that way

 

[Dire Squirrel]

I think I better keep an eye on this thread. I have one of these coming in the mail tomorrow.

 

[Willzzz]

Buying a rebadged PSU is always going to be a worry, do you know who the OEM was?

 

[Upham]

So guys, turns out no one knows what was wrong...

PSU tested ok, but replaced just incase.

Motherboard found to have failed, was replaced.

2 x 7870XT found to have failed, refunded.

I now have a new Corsair 750w PSU, a new ASUS Sabertooth mobo & a new ASUS 7870.

Glad to report all is working but none the wiser!

If I had to guess I woudl say it was the PSU. The 12v rail was rated to 18A which i think is quite low. Maybe when under load we saw an unstable supply which then damaged the components? I have seen a similar situation with a radar once before.

Either way all is now good and I'm back to gaming, massive thank you for the hand holding

 

[Willzzz]

Sounds like you were jolly lucky there.

 

[alienware]

If I had to guess I woudl say it was the PSU. The 12v rail was rated to 18A which i think is quite low.

Usually there is more than one rail and when needed the rails can combine.

For example off the top of my head my 1200w psu has about six or seven 18a rails.