Hey there. I am disappointed with my gpu in terms of oc'ing. :wanker: Even 1mhz core or memory causes instability with intense gaming. I am unable even to move power limit slider it gives me problems. Is it a silently defective card? In stock settings it's rock stable. I suppose I can't RMA this trash card, because of bad luck and can't prove that is problematic and weakened? :3eyes:
I do know how you fee I would probably be annoyed by that as well but nothing you can do other than selling the card and try again. What are you using to overclock?
I say cooling... Increasing Power limit should not cause instability, unless it increases temperature of chip to point where resistance causes too high voltage drop in part of chip. I've tested it many times before. Even my Fiji can clock like 1125MHz if I keep it at my usual 52°C or lower. When I tested it at ~70°C it would not clock more than 1105MHz. Then the Power limit thing itself is weird. In case of Fiji, it is TDP starved GPU. And just unlocking power limits in vBIOS makes card faster. Card should definitely not became unstable moment you allow it to eat more energy. Try to check quality of Power Delivery, maybe unplug and clean PCIe power and use other set of cables if available.
--IMO, if the card becomes unstable at an insignificant overclock on core "or" memory, I'd be concerned that the card isn't truly stable (at the factory settings). I know you've tested it, but.... Personally I'd try to find a way to RMA or argue for RMAing it. Everyone here is technically correct in what they're saying, and that as long as the card behaves properly "at stock" ... then it's working as intended. While this is certainly true, that's just too close for comfort unless you have some other underlying system problem (like with power delivery). I'd pretty much bet money on that if a card that can't be pushed at all, then it cannot run all games (Crysis, FarCry, etc). If that card truly is that close to its limits, it's going to fail you in some game that you play down the road. Of course, I don't know the titles that you've tried or what you're using as stress tests. However, I will say this-- a card that can run Unigine Heaven, Tropics, and 3DMark, may not make it through a playthrough of Crysis 3.
people are selling their 290/390/480 for 1.5x MSRP on ebay due to the high demand for strong TFlop cards for mining. you dont even need to try to go through the hassle of a questionable RMA... just sell it for more than you paid for it and be happy. the issue itself sounds very strange though... you add 1 Mhz and suddenly your card gets problems... you switch it back 1 Mhz and its fine again... very very interesting to say the least :nerd: http://imgur.com/a/gNmx7 this setup nets people around $6000 p.a. at the moment.