6950 Crash and artifacting

[lucifer_9mm]

Hello everyone, I bought a 6950 dirt 3 edition a month ago and just after 2 days when i tried overclocking it, the screen split in two and the game crashed. After that the card started artifacting and crashing even when idle. I had to clean the drivers using driver sweeper and reinstall them, it showed no problem and worked fine for weeks, i also ran kombuster in extreme burn in mode for >1hour a few days ago and it showed no stability issues and the max temp was 72c.

Now just half an hour ago while playing mafia 2, it suddenly crashed. I tried opening ccc but it shut down automatically, i tried running a few video files and there were colored artifacts all over the video. I restarted the system and everything seems to work fine like it was before. Now the thing is, I'm getting extremely suspicious about this card, I dont wanna claim warranty unnecessarily cuz first thing I dont have a definite proof that the card is faulty and second the whole warranty procedure is long and annoying, i dont want to go through all that. May be its a driver issue or some other fault i dont know, i just wanna find out if the card is faulty or not for sure. What measures can I take to ensure that? Please help!!

*the ccc driver version i'm using: 11.3

 

[lucifer_9mm]

Just ran furmark at max resolution, 8x msaa, postfx and extreme burn in mode for 32 minutes. No artifacting, no stability issue, max temp 81c.

 

[Ninja Pants]

I assume you mean a Sapphire 6950 Dirt 3 Edition? When you say you tried OCing, and reinstalled the drivers you are now running at stock speeds?
The card, assuming again that it is the Sapphire, has a dual BIOS feature. If you have switched this to OC and experiment, have you have switched it back to reference and are still getting these issues?

 

[Wisecracker]

I don't believe it's the reference card with the BIOS 'switch'

 

[lucifer_9mm]

i'm running it at stock settings, and yes it does have a bios switch but i have never used it, moreover knowing that the latest 6950s are laser cut and cannot be unlocked i dont see a use for that switch.

 

[Ninja Pants]

The switch is not the 'switch' in regards to unlocking the shaders and ultimately making it a 6970 (This switch alone is one of the great things about this card! How you bought one without knowing this... anyway). It is a feature of the Sapphire cards for enthusiasts to allow safer end user updates. Setting 2 is factory defaults whilst setting 1 is unprotected for user OCing. It is to prevent people who don't know what they are doing form bricking the card. I suggest your first step is to try the card in the second setting with factory defaults and see if the problems persist.

 

[lucifer_9mm]

I'm sorry guys if i wasted your time, i googled and found out that the problem is specific to mafia 2..the card is fine. And about the switch..thanks to ninja pants, I didnt know that, I successfully used it to unlocked the shaders and oc it further and now I have the performance of a 6970. So basically position 1 for the switch enables better overclocking too? I'm a total newb so many thanks for helping me out.

 

[Ninja Pants]

np mate, glad you worked it out.

 

[ilysaml]

I'm sorry guys if i wasted your time, i googled and found out that the problem is specific to mafia 2..the card is fine. And about the switch..thanks to ninja pants, I didnt know that, I successfully used it to unlocked the shaders and oc it further and now I have the performance of a 6970. So basically position 1 for the switch enables better overclocking too? I'm a total newb so many thanks for helping me out.

Also the latest CCC is 11.8 not 11.3

 

[lucifer_9mm]

i know the latest is 11.8, i only stated the version i'm currently using..thanks anyway

 

[lucifer_9mm]

Best answer selected by lucifer_9mm.

 

[jds248]

Just wanted to mention, I had the EXACT same problem going from 5770 > 6950. Thus far I've determined CCC kills it. I'm running the Sapphire driver only right now and it's good. I think I'll wait for a manufacturer note on this problem. I thought the card was dead. Right now, I'm just happy it's working (and working quite well.)

 

[lucifer_9mm]

as far as i've figured out the screen splitting and crash was only on ccc 11.3, i've switched to 11.7 from the sapphire website and its working good so far, even unlocked the shaders without a problem.

 

[Wisecracker]

Would you be so kind as to post up the exact model number?

Inquiring minds want to be certain - LOL

 

[lucifer_9mm]

Sapphire HD 6950 Dirt3 Edition, 2gb
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/sapphire_hd_6950_dirt3/