4850 show artifacts then crash at very low temperature

[zhwu]

I bought a new HIS IceQ HD4850 card 2 weeks ago. The card has very good cooling and normally stays around 45 C idle and around mid 50s during gaming.

The problem is, after 3 or 4 hours of gaming, the temperture will slowly rise to high 50s and close to 60 C. I will start to see artifacts in games for 5 ~ 15 mintues (artifacts getting worse and worse) and eventually the card will crash (screen turns black with no signal error and I have to reboot the PC.) I even tried to underclock this card to 625 GPU & 1000 memory (below the default speed out of the speed) and the problem still happens, artifacts just seem to show up after 57~58 C ...

From what I have read, 60 C should be considered as a low temperature for 4850 so cooling is not the issue here. Do you guys think that I have a defective card?

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: zhwu
Do you guys think that I have a defective card?

Yes.

 

[zhwu]

Thanks, just trying to figure out if something else (other than the video card) that can cause such problems. My power supply is a 3 years old Antec TruePower 2.0 550W, which should be good enough to run a single 4850, right? My CPU is just a AMD X2 4200 at stock speed; I know this CPU will bottleneck the 4850, but a slow CPU shouldn't cause the video card to crash like this?

Anyway, I made a very dumb move to submit my rebate after owning the card for 3 days. (didn't play any game long enough to discover this problem) Now I can't return the card to the vendor (even it is within 30 days) and have to deal with HIS directly now.
How do I convince HIS support that this card is defective and needs to be exchanged? (The problem does not occur unless I ran some games for more than 3 hours) Will they return the same card back to me after some brief testing and claim the card is working fine?

 

[Hauk]

What kind of case? Fans? Yes you have the best design for this card, but still curious about case...

 

[error8]

So, your maximum load temp is only 60C? You've checked it during gaming?

 

[zhwu]

Originally posted by: Hauk
What kind of case? Fans? Yes you have the best design for this card, but still curious about case...

My case has 4 case fans ( one 120mm case fan blows air directly onto the video card from the side) So I would say the case has better than average cooling.

Originally posted by: error8
So, your maximum load temp is only 60C? You've checked it during gaming?

Yes, since I will see artifacts for 5 ~ 15 mins before the card totally crashes, I can tab out of the game and get the temperature readings from ATI control center. My case also come with some temperature senors and the reading from the senor (attached to the video card's heatsink) is nearly the same as the readings from ATI software.


So far, it seems that I can prevent the card from crashing by forcing the fan to spin at 80% speed before gaming and therefore keep the video card's temperature below 55 C all the time. (The default ATI auto fan controller only let the fan spin around 50% speed at 60 C. )

However, I am really concerned about the fact that this card is crashing at 60C. It is not summer yet and I may not be able to keep this card below 55 C when my room temperture raises.

Should I contact HIS to get this card replaced? Kind of afriad that I may not be able to convince them my card is defective. Have anyone deal with HIS support before? (how good or bad are they?)

 

[Hauk]

It sounds like case/card temps are very good. Your 80% fan speed test helped isolate the problem. Sounds like there's a weak component on the card. Best to find it now rather than six months from now. RMA for sure.

Who's the selling vendor? Say you didn't cut the barcode off for rebate, would they normally exchange? If so, how about calling them first to see if they'll exchange anyway? Explain exactly as you have here. If they don't, it's manufacturer. There are some folks with HIS experience here. Good luck my friend..

 

[zhwu]

I bought the card from TigerDirect.com, it clearly states in their return policy: 'Products missing UPC codes from the box are also NOT returnable.' I called TigerDirect today the CSR told me I will be charged 15% restocking fee if I returned the product without the UPC code within 30 days; they recommand me ordering a new card from them and use the new packaging for the return (to avoid restocking fee). However, I noticed (after the call) that the UPC code on the box actually contains the serial number of card. I highly doubt TigerDirect/HIS will accept a return/exchange with mis-matching serial numbers between box & card.

HIS handles their RMA through a third party vendor. (Lexy Pacific Corp) Anyone has RMA experiences with them and how long does it take? (how smooth is the process?)

I need help to decide if I should just return the card to TigerDirect this week & eat the 15% restocking fee or deal with HIS through their RMA process.

 

[Tempered81]

Downclock your video card's memory speed 100mhz.

 

[zhwu]

Originally posted by: jaredpace
Downclock your video card's memory speed 100mhz.

I can't, for some reason ATI control center does not let me lower the memory speed below 1000mhz (1000 mhz is the lowest settings on that bar and that's the card's default speed from HIS. ) I can lower the GPU speed to as low as 500 mhbz but not the memory speed there. Anyone knows a way to get around this?

 

[Tempered81]

Use a program called Rivatuner

 

[kmmatney]

Your temps are fine -that fact, plus artifacting makes it sound like a VRAM issue.