4850 Stability

[Squeetard]

I've modded the Catalyst profile to give me a constant 40% fan speed

Is this a typo? Otherwise there is your problem. Crank your fan speed up to 100% and test again.

 

[Urotsukidoji]

wow, this scares me, I just got my new rig with 2 4870's ..... now I'm afraid to pull it outta the box.... nothin' like dropping $2k for something that might not work.

 

[encorp]

I've been reading A LOT about people having troubles with these cards lately... hmm

 

[magictorch]

Given the issues with 4000 series crossfire across the web I wonder if its worth having a sticky to help people who are not familiar with crossfire to fix some of the recurring issues, with the help of more experienced members.

Another concern is that reviewers (not this site) seem to just stick the cards in, run the benchmarks and don't indulge in real game play for any length of time to catch these irritating problems.

The consumer then buys the cards expecting a great gaming experience only to find their mired in problems-puts people off big-time.

 

[JD]

Well hopefully I don't have any issues with a single card...

Now 8.7 is out and there seems to be varying opinions on it. Some claim it helps and others say it creates more problems. Maybe once they reach 9.0 all the issues will be sorted out...

For the HD4850 people, it seems that most recommend flashing the MSI BIOS as it has "proper" PowerPlay clocks. Might be worth trying.

 

[Boldeagle]

Well the guy who originally created the "Fan Profile Mod" has just released a modded BIOS for most cards, personally I'm going to wait for a bit more feedback in the thread before I try it and I find his OC is a bit aggressive at the moment. Any who "flash their BIOS" do so at their own risk I take no responsibility:

Bios By Bret - Guru3D.com Forums

 

[Urotsukidoji]

Is there anyone who is not having issue???? I might just leave the new machine in the box until the dust settles. The old rig is slow, but it all works.

 

[SKYMTL]

Would someone link me to some of these "recuring issues"? I ask because even this reviewer is having heaps of problems with CF'd HD4850 cards.

 

[Urotsukidoji]

Is it more the 4850s that are having the issues over the 4870s..... I have the 70s in CF...

 

[SKYMTL]

For the Crossfire review I am using a pair of HD4870s, a pair of HD4850s, a combo of HD4870 + HD4850, a combo of HD4870 + HD3870 and finally a HD4850 + HD3870. The 8.7 drivers plus the HD4870 cards worked without a problem at all but the HD4850s is proving to be a major PITA for no apparent reason. You would think that the cards would behave literally the same as the 70s but that would be too easy, now wouldn't it.

Here is a quick list of the issues:

- 3DMark06: monitor goes blank at the beginning of the Canyon Flight ONLY at 1600x1200 + 4XAA....EVERY TIME
- 3DMark Vantage: Display Driver error during the second to last feature test
- Crysis DX10: Display Driver error at 1600x1200 resolution in 64-bit mode

That is as far as I got before I gave up and started benching a different card. I am going to try again today on ANOTHER clean install of Vista x64 but from where I am standing right now, the 8.7 drivers are an absolute mess.