XFX HD 4890 Screen Crash at default Core Clock

[Blacksquare]

My HD 4890 keeps crashing at whenever I run certain PC games (Modern Warfare 2 and Tropico 3). The entire PC crashes, it crashes to white, beige, gray, striped screen, etc. and then goes to a black screen normally. I changed the fan speed with CCC to around 70% and it didn't help. But as soon as I turned down the core clock to 650 mhz it worked (going to try it at different speeds) it stopped. So to make sure it was that, I turned it to default and BAM, less than 5 seconds and it crashes. The whole PC locks up and I can't even Alt-F4 out of it. I need to do a hard restart. I've heard other people have a problem with the fan speed/over heating while some just don't work at the default core clock. Even people who returned the card for another one, have had the same problem with this model. Is the card broken or did ATI drop the ball? Is this the case with every card or am I and some people just unlucky to get broken cards?

Crucial Ballistix 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz
AMD Phenom II X2 545 3Ghz 6MB AM3 CPU
OCZ 600W StealthXStream Power Supply
Biostar A785GE AMD 785G Socket AM2+ Motherboard
Seagate 500GB LP Serial ATA HD 5900/16MB/SATA-3G
Cooler Master Elite 310 ATX Case w /Window
XFX Radeon HD 4890 1GB PCIe w/Dual Link DVI



EDIT: I've tried it up to 840 mhz (remember default is 850 mhz) and it works fine. Anything above it crashes. I can't send it back to tigerdirect. Should I contact XFX?

EDIT EDIT: Crashes now at 840 mhz. Trying 825.

[Ulti]

I'd say RMA it as it doesn't run at the default speed. But if you're happy with slightly lower performance then you could always keep it but seeing as it already has a problem it may have more problems later.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Have you tried using Rivatuner or similar software to manually increase the fan speed to 100%??
Also I would check the temperatures of the GPU using GPU-Z and see if the crashing persists when the core is cooler. A simple thing as the manufacturer adding too much thermal compound to the core could cause it to get too hot for example.

[Blacksquare]

i dont think its the temperature because and adjusting the core clock to the default, instantly causes a crash. btw I'm using 825 to 840 but after a while its looks like its about to crash, its flickers, but then returns. But then recently it did it again and finally crashed.

The temperature is in the low 40s Celsius otherwise max I've seen is 46/47 Celsius.

[kalniel]

I'm tempted to say it's more of an XFX thing than an ATI thing - the 48** series generally has a very good reliability record.

But yes, assuming you've not voided the warranty by overclocking or anything then you should return it if it's not working out of the box - in the UK you'd return it straight to the store you bought it from. In the US I'm not sure - probably you'd go straight to the manufacturer.

[GoNz0]

XFX don't test cards, they just overclock them and sell them to customers who don't know any better

go for a refund and buy a better brand

[Blacksquare]

just ran it at 825 mhz. its underclocked. and after quite a few hours, it then crashed. so i really dont know what the deal is. Vcard is around 55 Celsius right now. its been too long for me to return it to who i bought it from. so ill probably try contacting XFX directly. although its a pain to be without a vcard then. hopefully i get a refund.