Power problem? Sapphire Tri-X R9 290 Overclocking

[Meladath]

Hey there guys, got my Tri-X 290 through today and (obviously) started to overclock it. I got to 1100/1500 easily, all fine. Then, I set the core to 1150, artifacts as soon as I start the benchmark. So I stop and turn the volts to +20. Then start valley again, yah no artifacts... but my card is throttling... even though its still very cool.

After a lot of faffing about I have found that if I set the core to anything higher than 1110 OR the volts to anything higher than stock, the card throttles its core clock... I honestly have no idea why, this is a screenshot of my last run of valley.

Currently set at 1100/1500 with stock volts and +20 power, its the best I can achieve without the core throttling for (what I can see) to be no reason.

Is it the GPU or the PSU having problems? as you can see the 12V rail drops to 11.63V whilst running, sometimes even down to 11.5! Even at idle its only 11.75, is this a sign my PSU is being crap? I have no idea really.

Also, the VDDC (which I assume is core volts, with the other being aux) is only about 1.08V during the run! I thought stock boost volts on this card were 1.18V?! I have seen it go up to 1.12V sometimes during the run, if the scene is not exactly intensive, and GPU-Z says the max it has recorded is 1.195V, but I am pretty sure that was right at the start of the run for just a split second.

Temps are well in order, GPU never goes higher than 79 and VRM temps are around 85c max and 55c max

P.S PSU model is in my sig, I am using sapphire TRIXX to overclock, have tried MSI AB, does the same thing. I have not tried using the force constant voltage or disable ULPS options in either pieces of software, no idea if that will change anything, will do when I test again soon.

So yeah, I am pretty worried guys. I hope my PSU is ok (and I hope the GPU is too since its brand new!)

 

[SieB]

Strange, I have a Tri-X and my card doesn't throttle at all, not sure why yours does though.
Is the BIOS switch pushed to the right? I think if you have it pushed to the left it puts it in quiet mode which may cause it to throttle.

 

[Meladath]

Strange, I have a Tri-X and my card doesn't throttle at all, not sure why yours does though.
Is the BIOS switch pushed to the right? I think if you have it pushed to the left it puts it in quiet mode which may cause it to throttle.

Hey, yeah it is quite strange, I have no idea what's up.

I haven't touched the BIOS switch, and its currently to the right.

 

[SieB]

Hey, yeah it is quite strange, I have no idea what's up.

I haven't touched the BIOS switch, and its currently to the right.

If the BIOS switch is to the right i'm not sure what might be causing it.
It might be your PSU but I wouldn't have thought so, only way to be 100% sure is to try another one.

Also make sure MSI AB is set up like this

 

[Meladath]

I just tried that, my PC now bluescreens shortly after startup, after my screen flickers on and off for a few seconds. Although not in safe mode. Strange since MSI Afterburner isn't even set to launch on startup. Perhaps a driver issue? I installed 14.3 after using DDU to clear both AMD and Nvidia drivers (had a 770 before this), and I remember when I first installed the 14.3 drivers it did it for a few seconds after that, and every time on startup too...Although never blue screened like it does now.

EDIT: Cleared drivers with DDU in safe mode, windows boots ok now. Unsure whether to try 14.3 again...

 

[SieB]

I just tried that, my PC now bluescreens shortly after startup, after my screen flickers on and off for a few seconds. Although not in safe mode. Strange since MSI Afterburner isn't even set to launch on startup. Perhaps a driver issue? I installed 14.3 after using DDU to clear both AMD and Nvidia drivers (had a 770 before this), and I remember when I first installed the 14.3 drivers it did it for a few seconds after that, and every time on startup too...Although never blue screened like it does now.

Something is definitely wrong by the sounds of it, it could be driver related, try 14.2 or 13.12 and see if that helps.
Or maybe something from the Nvidia drivers is still somewhere on your PC causing probs? Try uninstalling and reinstalling Afterburner as well.

Could possibly be a faulty card, but I can't say 100% for sure because it could be something else causing probs. If all else fails, I would try a complete fresh install of windows and see if you still have probs. If you do, it is most likely a faulty card.

 

[Meladath]

Something is definitely wrong by the sounds of it, it could be driver related, try 14.2 or 13.12 and see if that helps.
Or maybe something from the Nvidia drivers is still somewhere on your PC causing probs? Try uninstalling and reinstalling Afterburner as well.

Could possibly be a faulty card, but I can't say 100% for sure because it could be something else causing probs. If all else fails, I would try a complete fresh install of windows and see if you still have probs. If you do, it is most likely a faulty card.

Right, installed 13.12, reinstalled AB. Boots and seems ok now, however without powerplay support enabled my card now runs at 3D clocks all the time, so it idles at like 55c... However on the bright side now, the card runs at what appears to be 1.164 volts at idle, and 1.18 under load. But man does it get hot O_O

EDIT: Volts under load are in fact 1.08... still

 

[SieB]

Right, installed 13.12, reinstalled AB. All seems ok now, however without powerplay support enabled my card now runs at 3D clocks all the time, so it idles at like 55c... However on the bright side now, the card runs at what appears to be 1.164 volts at idle, and 1.18 under load. But man does it get hot O_O

Seems like it is a powerplay problem then, try setting AB to use with powerplay now you have 13.12 installed and see how it runs. If you get no throttling it might have been driver related, strange though because i'm using 14.3 with no probs, they are beta drivers though so I suppose some people will have probs with them.