Sapphire Tech 290X and CCC question

[dhillx3264]

I have a reference 290X, bought not too long after they released. It's been an awesome card, and I'm hoping it continues to be.

My questions are...

A.) Is it possible that the card can get too hot before CCC tells the fan it needs to speed up?
-- I ask because my games can *sometimes* crash before I begin them, sometimes right when I start playing, and sometimes hours later.

B.) Can I safely remove CCC and use MSI Afterburner *if* CCC isn't working properly for my fan?
-- I ask this because I've noticed if I use Afterburner and set the fan at any speed, it works without a problem. If I don't use it, I can have the same reboot/shut down problems I've had.

-- I've recently had a problem with my memory. (http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2544542/bought-ram-odd-issue.html)
-- I've benched the card with Furmark, max settings, resolution, etc.
-- The card is clean. Not the slightest bit of dust.

--All suggestions welcome. Thanks.

 

[Anonymouselite5]

AMD CCC has a limit set on it, at I think 95 degrees and it'll start turning up the fan at about 80 degrees. By default it only turns it up to around 50% at max.
I believe in UBER mode.
If I were you I would use MSI ab to set a custom fan curve, by the way you don't need to remove amd CCC to make MSI AB run, MSI ab runs over the top of AMD ccc.

So if the increased fan speed stops crashing (if your card hit 100 degrees your card should just clock down not crash your game) but use MSI ab over the top of CCC and you can just leave both of them open.
However if you haven't already update your graphics driver here:
http://support.amd.com/en-us/download
Your games should not be crashing even if temp limits are hit.
post results here.

Edit: by the way do not download AMD's auto installer thing, it doesn't work properly.

 

[dhillx3264]

I only asked about removing CCC because if MSI AB will do the job, there isn't anything I need CCC for and it seems pointless to have. I'm not quite sure what else the problem could be. I've removed prior drivers before installing updated and new ones for video. I know it shouldn't crash which is why I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem or not. I could almost swear it's ram or driver related but I'm not 100% which direction I should start looking so I'm looking into everything and can't find anything. MSI AB seems to help the problem, but maybe I'm also confusing the "problem" with what another part is guilty for. I get no minidump, just a 41 Kernel Power 63 Critical error. I've assumed video card and ram, but have no solid answer.

 

[Anonymouselite5]

What is the rest of your specs? If you can try to isolate the problem by trying a friends CAPABLE power supply, or trying your GPU in a friends PC with drivers.
Also download and run memtest and see if it gives errors.

Other than that you can stop CCC from running, if you go to the start menu, type in MSCONFIG.
enter.
startup tab, and just dis-select CCC. So it will still be installed but it won't set any of it's settings or slow down your startup.

 

[dhillx3264]

I haven't had access to another PSU, instead I ran the PSU test on OCCT and it shut down my computer within minutes of running, same issue I've been having. I've ran memtest on the ram, no errors found at all. My PSU is 6 years old. BIOS shows all the right voltages, however, the bios isn't putting a load on the PSU. I ordered a new PSU and I'll see how that works once it arrives. I've ran furmark and ruled out the video card, if it was a GPU, it should have crashed. I can run furmark and OCCTs GPU test for a long period of time with no problems. Memory shows no errors on memtest,(5.01), even the new and old ram that I have.

 

[Anonymouselite5]

Yep, I'd be looking at the psu for a psu that old. If you're lucky the people at a PC store may be nice and let you try your system if you bring it in on one of their psu's.

If the psu isn't the problem then we're back to square one, but most likely the psu.

 

[dhillx3264]

Actually, it was not the PSU. The video card just died on me the other night after installing a new PSU, Corsair HX750w. I reinstalled all software and went to play Evolve. It shut down about 5 minutes in game and wouldn't show a screen at boot. Went to best buy and bought a $30 XFX R5 220 Core Edition(woooo...) just for diagnostic purposes, and it booted right up. Now I get to screw around with the warranty people for Sapphire. yay. Thank you for your help again.

 

[Anonymouselite5]

Actually, it was not the PSU. The video card just died on me the other night after installing a new PSU, Corsair HX750w. I reinstalled all software and went to play Evolve. It shut down about 5 minutes in game and wouldn't show a screen at boot. Went to best buy and bought a $30 XFX R5 220 Core Edition(woooo...) just for diagnostic purposes, and it booted right up. Now I get to screw around with the warranty people for Sapphire. yay. Thank you for your help again.

Dang, well this is 2 threads where people with reference coolers branded as Sapphire have had their cards die.
If I were you I would try bargain them for an RMA but an RMA to a Sapphire tri -x r9 290x. I own the 290 version and it's great.

Well atleast you got a very nice PSU now

 

[dhillx3264]

That is very true. I got an RMA to Sapphire, haven't mentioned the TRI-X, I'll just have to wait and see what I get. Ended up mailing the HX750 back to Newegg and bought a HX1000i and an XFX R9 290X Black Edition. So when I get my second card from Sapphire, I'll Xfire them.

 

[Anonymouselite5]

That is very true. I got an RMA to Sapphire, haven't mentioned the TRI-X, I'll just have to wait and see what I get. Ended up mailing the HX750 back to Newegg and bought a HX1000i and an XFX R9 290X Black Edition. So when I get my second card from Sapphire, I'll Xfire them.

I would watch out with that XFX 290, alot of people reported crashes and/or overheating. However not all XFX r9 290x's had that problem, just test your card out before.

-good luck
Nice build