6990 crashing when crossfire enabled = RMA?

[Neutro]

Hey guys,

I received a 6990 from Powercolor RMA 2 days ago and got this problem with it: everytime I enable crossfire through CCC and run 3D stressing applications (unigine heaven, battlefield 3...), after 2-3 mins the 6990 shuts down resulting in black screen but I still hear the sound of the game playing.

I installed a fresh Windows 7 x64, tried using 12.1, 12.4, 12.x beta drivers with or without CAP and driver sweeper between them, it's still crashing when crossfire is enabled.

Also tried to lower GPU and VRAM frequency to half their original value, still crashing.

I disabled ULPS, 'been monitoring both GPU voltages and frequency with MSI afterburner and there is no weird voltage or frequency dropping problems.

I thought "maybe it's a cooling problem from somewhere else than GPU" so I've put a huge fan in front of my computer, the 6990 was down to 60°C when fully used but still crashing.

So the only thing that make my computer stable is to disable crossfire mode through CCC.
A friend gave me his 4870X2 card 2 weeks ago while I was waiting for the 6990 to come back and the 4870X2 was working without any problem.

So i have the feeling that the 6990 that Powercolor sent me is also faulty but maybe i'm missing something, any ideas or do you agree?

TIA for your answers!

[BenchAndGames]

Try flash the latest BIOS.

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/1...48.110203.html

[Neutro]

Already have this one which seems to be more recent that the one in database... But will do and tell results thanks

[Pill Monster]

Why did you RMA the card originally?

[Neutro]

It's a long story

After almost 2 years using a powercolor 5970 without any problems it just stopped working during a game, PC didn't even boot anymore.

Changed the 5970 with a 4870X2 borrowed from a friend and everything was working like a charm.

Then I received another 5970 from powercolor RMA, but it was also faulty because it wouldn't run on base clocks, i had to downclock it for about 100Mhz on GPU to get it stable (from 750 to 650).

And now they send me this 6990.

[Pill Monster]

Fwiw same thing just happened to me while playing ME3, however my card is overclocked quite a bit.

You rma'd a 5970 and they sent u back a 6990? Damn that's a good swap....was it a new 6990 or used?

Try the new 12.7 beta drivers.....

[Neutro]

Well they sent me a 5970 the first time, but since it was also faulty and they didn't want to pay the shipping fees for the 2nd return, i negociated to get a 6990 instead.

The card seems new but they sent it alone without the retail box and without beeing sealed so i don't know, i guess not.

I tried latest drivers that I found on guru 3D forums including these 12.7 but same results.

[Pill Monster]

Well you've already gone over most of the common causes for ATI cards crashing, so think if it was me I'd be sending it back....

Fwiw, Powercolour is not a brand I would recommend to anyone looking to buy a graphics card, and your comments just reinforce my sentiments.....

[mpetroul]

Do you have two of these cards? I thought the 6990 was a single card, with out the need of crossfire.

[Neutro]

Originally Posted by BenchAndGames

Try flash the latest BIOS.

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/1...48.110203.html

Turns out I already have the exact same bios:



This bios is from switch #2 position whereas the first one that I posted is from switch #1 position.

So flashing is not needed i guess.

I tried more test and noticed that I didn't downclock both GPU clocks properly. After downclocking both GPU to 550 Mhz instead of 880 Mhz, the card is stable in crossfire.

So I guess the problem is that the second GPU is not stable at default clock.

@mpetroul > I only have one but 6990 cards have 2 GPU in crossfire, so even if it is only 1 card, you can still disable or enable crossfire to get 1 or 2 GPU working.

@phill monster > yeah badfully I'm gonna go that way again... For the 3rd time. When I bought my 5970 I had no choice, only model left was a Powercolor and I didn't know back then that they had some reliability problems.

Thanks again for your help guys.

[Neutro]

I have contacted Powercolor, they will replace the 6990 by 2 new boxed 7870 cards

Not too bad for a 5970 RMA