3 defective ATI HD 5970

for eyefinity, are you using a minidp to dvi/hdmi adapter? because they wont work for eyefinity. you need minidp to dp, then dp to hdmi/dvi for it to work for some strange reason.

 

u need something like this


http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/4291727/art/sapphire-technology/displayport-to-dual-link.html

 

HD 5970 Dont have a HDMI Port.. and The problem is the 2nd DVI Port.. Its DEAD nothing happens when u plug in your monitor to it.. the Card I have now works fnie Except I cant use the 2nd DVI Port.. (this is the 2nd Card Ive gotten that has done this)

and yes I am using the minidp to DP adapter that game with the card.. and It works fine.. never had and issue with that..

MY Issues is this is the 2nd Card Ive received where the Lower DVI port Doesnt Work

 

oh sorry I was thinking about the 5870, I take it your adapter is an active one? i.e USB powered or whatever.

3 faulty cards in a row I'd be looking at other possible causes tbh, but maybe your just unlucky!

 

I dont need and active adapter.. I using (3) Dell u2410 they have Displayport on them. so I dont need any adapters.. I just use the minidp to Displayport adapter that came with the card.. I never had and issue with Displayport

The problem is lower DVI port is dead.. I can only have it plugged in. I got no display..

 

Ouch that sucks man. I have a binned card (nice thing about contacts with Sapphire). Still weird that they cant get you a card that works correctly after 3 tries.

 

Sapphire Tech Support is Awesome tho.. They reply Very quick to emails..Ive been dealing with Tony and he is Awesome.
Te Card They just sent me was his test card. But The 2nd DVI Port is not working.. And I tried it in 3 different machines..

Like I said Before IS you where just using 1 monitor you never know there is and issue

 

Don their PR guy takes care of us really well. He makes sure our review cards don't have any issues.

 

My first 5xxx series card was a Sapphire 5850 and I had to RMA it.

 

Hey Danagar,

I have a XFX 5970 too, what problems did you have with the Sapphire bios? I've been using that for over a week now.

I do wish XFX would release a updated bios, do you have you stock bios mine never got backed up. If you have it could you upload it somewhere?

 

I hope Sapphire get a shipment this week So I can get a replacement card

 

Waiting on a Reply from Sapphire now

 

Well.. Sapphire Not Being very understand.. They dont understand why this is my 3rd card they had issues

 

you should go over the rest of your hardware and be entirely sure that something isn't actually killing these cards.

 

major update.. I did a Test. I used a DVI-VGa Adapter and guess what the port now works.. Very wierd.. And its not my monitors.. Since I have (3) U2410 Monitors

So there something wrong with the DVI Digital part

 

I just had a lot of instability problems. It might have been the beta drivers at the time as well. I had square artifacts across the whole screen many times just sitting at the desktop...I'd walk away from my computer, and come back to see the artifacts all over my screen with nothing running other than taskbar tray programs like a torrent client. Other times I get artifacts in games that would hard lock the machine. One time I booted my machine to login on the way to take a shower in the morning, just hit the power button, came back fromt he shower to find the win 7 login screen all covered with square artifacts. After that happened, I rebooted to a usb stick and flashed back to the XFX stock BIOS. Haven't had any problems since with the square artifacts, but did have some problems with driver stopped responding and windows had to recover.

For 90% of these problems I was not overclocking the 5970 or my processor/RAM because I saw on another forums people saying that OC'ing was causing the instability.

Since I got cat 9.12 though in the wee morning hours like a week ago, I havn't had a single problem since. Still running the stock XFX BIOS with no fan control. I currently have my QX9770 at 4.01 GHz (from 3.2 GHz) and the 5970 at 825/1125 with zero sability or artifact problems running cat 9.12 (not hotfix) and the stock XFX BIOS.

I'll upload the BIOS's in a sec and post some links here.

edit: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CZCNS6G1

 

Hmm I have had some of the issues above in games and random hanging with idle in desktop. For me it was a combination of too much core overclock and not enough voltage or for the desktop idle hanging it was ATI powerplay downclocking into power saving mode when not in use.
Getting rid of that sorted the hanging. Hardly ideal as using up more wattage just browsing the web.

Cheers for the bios, good to have it backed up in case RMA or anything if it were needed. I might just edit it to enable fan control and flash it back and see if there is any difference.

 

Me too:

The HD5970 worked for about 2 weeks but now the 2nd DVI port is no longer working (the one closed to the MB or bottom of the card) I use a dual monitor setup and used to see the same thing on both displays when booting up in the Bios but now the second one never turns on. Tried both display on both DVI ports but one the one top port works.

I have found that the second bad DVI port will now work with a DIV to RGB adaptor. Is there a fix for this or do I need to return the card?

Thanks.

 

I got a 5970 OC unlocked edition and i had major problems in the first 3-4 weeks but only due to unstable overclocks or system needing tweaking, i m gonna watercool it soon and i m happy i didnt have to rma it