Question Rx 580 1090 MHz base clock

[archnemesi5]

Hi guys,

I recently bought a rx 580 8gb nitro+ and the base clocks through gpu z and the AMD control panel are showing as 1090 MHz, which seems really low.

I have the latest drivers installed. Does anyone know the problem here? Do I have a fake card? It all looks totally legit but I bought second hand.

I will post various pictures here.

https://postimg.cc/jC74sxCq

20190306 194655 — Postimages

postimg.cc

https://postimg.cc/3y0dgwsd

20190306 203143 — Postimages

postimg.cc

Thanks!

 

[rgd1101]

could have mod bios for mining.

 

[archnemesi5]

could have mod bios for mining.

Hi there,

I see... Is there a way to revert this, or is this in essence now a dud card?

Thanks

 

[mgallo848]

Did you buy this used?

 

[archnemesi5]

Did you buy this used?

That is correct. Semi-stressing about this at the moment. The person I bought from said it was 100% working. I only bought it today, so am posting here as to get a general consensus on if the card is dead or not, and then take action with the person I bought it off depending on the feedback

 

[mgallo848]

In that case I would agree with rgd1101, it looks like that card may have been used for mining and someone modified the BIOS.

 

[archnemesi5]

In that case I would agree with rgd1101, it looks like that card may have been used for mining and someone modified the BIOS.

Thank you both for your input. Is this something that can be reverted so I can get the card back to stock settings?

 

[TJ Hooker]

The 580 Nitro+ has a small switch on the side of the card to switch between two BIOSs. Could try switching and seeing what the clocks speeds are like then, they may have only flashed one of the BIOSs.

You can also track down a copy of an unmodded BIOS for that specific card and flash that, if you want to have both BIOSs back to stock.

 

[archnemesi5]

The 580 Nitro+ has a small switch on the side of the card to switch between two BIOSs. Could try switching and seeing what the clocks speeds are like then, they may have only flashed one of the BIOSs.

You can also track down a copy of an unmodded BIOS for that specific card and flash that, if you want to have both BIOSs back to stock.

Thank you for the time to post here and assist me. I pressed the switch and then reloaded GPU-z;

https://postimg.cc/gXRS0Jhv

I still see the 1090 Mhz clock which leads me to think something is still wrong, however the max clock of 1411MHz (for this GPU model) is now showing up as the default clock (which should be something like 1360MHz?), along with an increase in the memory clock from 2100MHz to 2250.

Is the card stable on this setting? Please forgive my lack of knowledge in this area.

 

[mgallo848]

Depending on how Sapphire has it set up, one bios will boost up to 1411 and the other bios will only boost up to 1325. It's hard to say which bios he may have modified. I would honestly consider getting my money back. RX 570 and 580 Sr dropping in price. An overclocked 570 will give you the same performance as a stock 580 or very close to it. If you keep an underclocked 580 then you would be better off just getting a 570.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Try reinstalling drivers. Use DDU to completely uninstall first. Then check what GPU Z reports.

 

[rgd1101]

I still see the 1090 Mhz clock

it probably power saving. mode

 

[archnemesi5]

Depending on how Sapphire has it set up, one bios will boost up to 1411 and the other bios will only boost up to 1325. It's hard to say which bios he may have modified. I would honestly consider getting my money back. RX 570 and 580 Sr dropping in price. An overclocked 570 will give you the same performance as a stock 580 or very close to it. If you keep an underclocked 580 then you would be better off just getting a 570.

I see what you are saying. As long as the card performs how it is supposed to, I am not worried about getting my money back - I did buy this for a decent price, but not a 'too good to be true' price. I appreciate the analysis however. I suppose my main concern is that the card is going to be clocked at 1411MHz all the time, which may cause overheating issues etc?

Try reinstalling drivers. Use DDU to completely uninstall first. Then check what GPU Z reports.

I am downloading DDU now and will uninstall all drivers and then reinstall and report back. On a side note, I see from your sig that you use the same GPU. I have an AMD FX-8350 at the moment. Would you care to suggest any AMD cpus that would pair nicely with this GPU, or will I not get any bottlenecking?

it probably power saving. mode

Thank you.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Would you care to suggest any AMD cpus that would pair nicely with this GPU, or will I not get any bottlenecking?

Unfortunately there isn't any upgrade you can make that doesn't involve also updating motherboard and RAM. I don't know what your budget is, but a Ryzen 2600, B450 motherboard, and 2x8 GB of 3000-3200 MHz DDR4 would work great with your RX 580. Or if you are OK waiting a bit, AMD is releasing their next gen CPUs sometime around mid-2019, which looks like it might be a pretty interesting release based on current info (and a big heap of rumors and speculation).

 

[archnemesi5]

Unfortunately there isn't any upgrade you can make that doesn't involve also updating motherboard and RAM. I don't know what your budget is, but a Ryzen 2600, B450 motherboard, and 2x8 GB of 3000-3200 MHz DDR4 would work great with your RX 580. Or if you are OK waiting a bit, AMD is releasing their next gen CPUs sometime around mid-2019, which looks like it might be a pretty interesting release based on current info (and a big heap of rumors and speculation).

I suspected as much. I have been eyeing up a 4790k for a while now, so may do a cost/benefit for both options and see what suits me the best. On another note, I did the DDU and now GPU-Z, is showing:

Is it normal for it to have both at 1411MHz? Would it be detrimental to have the card clocked at 1411MHz at all times as opposed to a lower clock when idling?

Thanks!

 

[hutchl]

That's actually fine, there are some RX 580s out there factory OCed to 1425. The Sapphire Nitro+ is factory OCed to 1411mhz. If your card is performing as expected, then you have nothing to worry about.

 

[hutchl]

 

[hutchl]

also if you are really worried about the 1411mhz clock, flip the switch on the card back and it will power save when idle. but if not then don't worry about it.

 

[TJ Hooker]

The two values listed there for GPU clock correspond to the clock speed set in the BIOS and the clock speed set in software (drivers). Go to the "Sensors" tab to see how fast your GPU clock is actually running at the moment.

I'm still a little concerned that the memory clock is 2250. Stock would be 2000, indicating that this BIOS has also been modified. That's not necessarily a bad thing, you can still set the core and memory clock to whatever you want using AMD Wattman or MSI Afterburner or whatever. The BIOS might have modified memory timings optimized for mining, I'm not sure how (if at all) they would affect gaming performance.

If you want everything to be completely stock, you can use ATIFlash to flash the stock BIOS.

AMDVBFlash / ATI ATIFlash 5.0.567 Download

AMD AMDVBFlash is used to flash the graphics card BIOS. The version released by ATI was called ATIFlash or just WinFlash. It supports all AMD Radeo

www.techpowerup.com

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/191262/sapphire-rx580-8192-170320

 

[archnemesi5]

The two values listed there for GPU clock correspond to the clock speed set in the BIOS and the clock speed set in software (drivers). Go to the "Sensors" tab to see how fast your GPU clock is actually running at the moment.

I'm still a little concerned that the memory clock is 2250. Stock would be 2000, indicating that this BIOS has also been modified. That's not necessarily a bad thing, you can still set the core and memory clock to whatever you want using AMD Wattman or MSI Afterburner or whatever. The BIOS might have modified memory timings optimized for mining, I'm not sure how (if at all) they would affect gaming performance.

If you want everything to be completely stock, you can use ATIFlash to flash the stock BIOS.

AMDVBFlash / ATI ATIFlash 5.0.567 Download

AMD AMDVBFlash is used to flash the graphics card BIOS. The version released by ATI was called ATIFlash or just WinFlash. It supports all AMD Radeo

www.techpowerup.com

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/191262/sapphire-rx580-8192-170320

Hi, sorry for the late response and the link to the bios is appreciated. The reason I bought this new GPU was because my computer was constantly restarting when gaming using an R9 290, despite swapping between two PSUs; a Corsair CX 750, and a Power Cool 'PC-650AUBA-M' . I have tested battlefield V using the RX 580, and now the issue is the monitor losing connection to the GPU (black screen with computer still running.) This seems to happen exclusively when using the Power Cool PSU, and the restarts are still occurring when the Corsair PSU is installed. I checked the voltage of the Power Cool PSU in the bios and it was 12.313V. I have yet to recheck the voltage of the Corsair PSU, but if I remember correctly, that was within reasonable limits also. It cannot be an issue with the RAM as I swapped those out for different ones recently. I am not sure if:

A.) the card is in fact faulty,
B.) the memory clock of 2250/any other modifications to the bios is causing too much power draw from this Power Cool 650 watt PSU, or;
C.) both PSUs/the motherboard is/are faulty.

It just seems like a bit of a cluster**** going on as I can't seem to pinpoint the issue, and am on a limited budget so cannot splash out on replacements for component. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[TJ Hooker]

That Powercool unit sounds pretty crappy. It's only rated for 42A on the 12V rail (so 504W), which is where modern PCs draw almost all their power. Having 12V power so much lower than total rated power often means the PSU is old, junk, or both.

What variant of CX750 was it, does it have a green label or a grey one? How old is it?

Checking the voltage in the BIOS doesn't tell you much, because your PC is basically at idle so it's not drawing much power.

If you can easily return the card for a full refund it might not be a bad idea (unless you got a great deal on it), as the guy shouldn't have sold you a card with a modded BIOS for mining without telling you. If you don't want to do that, I'd flash the BIOS as I mentioned earlier.

 

[archnemesi5]

That Powercool unit sounds pretty crappy. It's only rated for 42A on the 12V rail (so 504W), which is where modern PCs draw almost all their power. Having 12V power so much lower than total rated power often means the PSU is old, junk, or both.

What variant of CX750 was it, does it have a green label or a grey one? How old is it?

Checking the voltage in the BIOS doesn't tell you much, because your PC is basically at idle so it's not drawing much power.

If you can easily return the card for a full refund it might not be a bad idea (unless you got a great deal on it), as the guy shouldn't have sold you a card with a modded BIOS for mining without telling you. If you don't want to do that, I'd flash the BIOS as I mentioned earlier.

Hi, thanks for the input! A little update; I flashed the GPU with the original bios (two times, once per switch on the actual card), but for some reason the 2250 MHz clock is still active:

You can see however that the 'Default Clock' is now 2000MHz as opposed to 2250. If possible, it would be ideal to correct this issue. EDIT: I flashed the GPU by simply downloading ATIFLASH, loading in the bios you reccommended to me, and then clicking on 'Program'. I am fairly certain those are the correct steps, but maybe not?

However, I did two things:

1.) Used MSI Afterburner to put the Memory Clock to 2000Hz
2.) Went into the Radeon settings and disabled the Radeon Overlay.

Now, everything seems to be working correctly. I was able to play BF V for a good 10 minutes without any restarts or black screens (using the Cool Master PSU).

I am however noticing quite low FPS in BF V at 1440p. I am achieving around 45-55 fps with all settings on LOW. As you may remember, I mentioned I use an FX 8350 CPU. By how many frames per second do you believe this CPU could be limiting me? I do not expect this card to run above and beyond what is it capable of, but was hoping for 60+ FPS at 1440p with low settings in BF V as seen in some benchmark videos.

Again, I thank you for your time in assisting me.

 

[TJ Hooker]

I think you flashed the BIOS correctly. I believe what happened is that the drivers read in the clock values from the BIOS when you first install them and store them, so in your case it read in the 2250 MHz value and then didn't update that after you flashed the BIOS. Similar to what happened when you first flicked the BIOS switch but the clock speeds didn't update until you reinstalled drivers. By manually setting it back to 2000 MHz you should be all good.

Your CPU may very well be holding you back. Most graphics settings don't affect CPU much or at all, so if you have a CPU bottleneck there isn't much you can do about it through tweaking settings unfortunately. If you find that you get similar fps at low settings as you do at medium and/or high, or that even lowering resolution doesn't improve fps much, that heavily indicates a CPU bottleneck. You can try looking at CPU usage while gaming, and see what the max CPU usage is across all individual cores, one core might be at 90+% which would mean your CPU is basically maxed out.

 

[archnemesi5]

I think you flashed the BIOS correctly. I believe what happened is that the drivers read in the clock values from the BIOS when you first install them and store them, so in your case it read in the 2250 MHz value and then didn't update that after you flashed the BIOS. Similar to what happened when you first flicked the BIOS switch but the clock speeds didn't update until you reinstalled drivers. By manually setting it back to 2000 MHz you should be all good.

Your CPU may very well be holding you back. Most graphics settings don't affect CPU much or at all, so if you have a CPU bottleneck there isn't much you can do about it through tweaking settings unfortunately. If you find that you get similar fps at low settings as you do at medium and/or high, or that even lowering resolution doesn't improve fps much, that heavily indicates a CPU bottleneck. You can try looking at CPU usage while gaming, and see what the max CPU usage is across all individual cores, one core might be at 90+% which would mean your CPU is basically maxed out.

Hi, regarding the question you asked about the label colour of the Corsair CX 750, the 'CX' is in green (if that is what you were referring to). I obtained the PSU from my brother who had the computer for a good three years or so, and I am not sure how long it was used for before he bought it (it was second hand for him). What lead me to question if I flashed the bios properly was that the memory clock of 2250MHz is still there when it should be 2000MHz, right?

Another update; the computer restarts within minutes of gaming when using the CX-750, and the monitor loses signal to the RX 580 when using the Cool Master PSU even when I set the memory clock to 2000MHz. Mind you, when I was gaming using a r9 290, the pc would restart regardless of which PSU I had. I am still on the fence as to what is causing the issues, the RX 580, or both PSUs. Or I could just be really unlucky and have two faulty GPUs, and two faulty PSUs. I was also using an EVGA GTX 970 SSC with the cool master PSU for 4 years with no problems whatsoever.

I may see if I can get the RX 580 to a computer repair shop and ask them to test the card. If it is indeed faulty, it will be a shame because I bought this on Gumtree (so little buyer protection). I do have the seller's name, contact number and address however. If it is indeed the GPU that is at fault, I will have been taught a real lesson about buying them used.

 

[TJ Hooker]

What lead me to question if I flashed the bios properly was that the memory clock of 2250MHz is still there when it should be 2000MHz, right?

The bottom row of clocks speeds ("Default Clock" and "Memory") are the clock speeds that are set in the BIOS. Both are as they should be now, so you're good.

The older green CX units weren't very good quality, and it'll have only got worse over time. I wouldn't put a a whole lot more faith in that than in the powercool, especially it's already had two previous owners before you got it.

When you say it shuts down, you mean it does so instantly right? No blue screens or warnings, just switches off? And it only happens under load, i.e. while gaming? That sounds like a power supply issue. Normally if you're able to reproduce the issue with a different PSU you can rule out the PSU, but given the highly questionable nature of both of the units you have I'd still say the power supply is the most likely culprit. But if you're able to, you could try testing out the RX 580 in some one else's PC.