XFX R9 280X 3GB - Strange No Signal/Detection Issue - Please Help!

Lorien Silmaril

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Jul 18, 2014
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Hello everyone, I have a strange video card issue that I really need help with.

I have an old Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1GB that I wish to upgrade. I purchased a XFX R9 280X 3GB from ebay a few days ago. The new card powered up, but I got no signal to the monitor. I used the integrated graphics to boot into Windows, and noticed that the new card was not being detected by Windows at all.

Yes, I installed everything correctly - I've been building PC's for almost 15 years. My power supply is a 700W Raidmax RX-700AC, which should have plenty of juice for this card... but my first theory was that the card somehow wasn't getting enough power anyway (the RX-700AC has two 6+2pin PCI-E power connectors, but they branch out from a single cable).

I took the card to the local Fry's and had them test it for me, and the technicians there said the card worked in their computer. Alright, so I figured it was an issue with my power supply. I purchased a EVGA SuperNova G2 750 (which is a very highly-rated unit and shouldn't have any issues powering the 280x) to replace the Raidmax.

Hooked up the new PSU, still nothing from the 280X. Out of frustration I put my old 6870 back in (in the second PCI-E slot), figured I would use that in the meantime while keeping the 280X in the first slot for troubleshooting.

To my surprise, the 280X suddenly came to life. The monitor got signal, Windows detected the card, and I was able to install the drivers successfully. Now I was determined to make this card work, so I tried all sorts of configurations... and here are the results:

1) In single-GPU configurations (with the 280X as the sole card in the machine), the 280X simply would NOT work regardless of which PCI-E slot it's installed in. The motherboard does detect it, but lists it with the PCI-E ratio of 0x. Windows does not see it at all.

2) In multi-GPU configurations (alongside my 6870), the 280X will ONLY work if it occupies the first (topmost) PCI-E slot. Letting the 6870 take the top slot results in the same problem of 280X being listed with PCI-E ratio of 0x and Windows not detecting it.

This is honestly very strange... I am guessing there's a hand-shake issue between my motherboard and the 280X, but after extensive searches I could not locate any mention of known compatibility issues between this 280X card and my motherboard...

My relevant system spec is as follows:
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe
CPU: Core i5 2500k @ 5GHz
RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 @ 8-9-9-24-1, 16GB (4x4GB)
SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium HD (not sure if related, but when the 280X is acting up, the system would not detect the X-FI either - almost like the 280X is blocking off the entire PCI-E channel)
 

Lorien Silmaril

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Jul 18, 2014
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Hello!

Yes, my BIOS is the newest for my board (v2104, dated 2013/09/18). I have tried clearing CMOS and it didn't do anything. And yes as stated, the 280X will not work if installed in a single-GPU configuration.

I am wondering if it may be an issue with my CPU (2500k) only supporting PCIE 2.0, but from all I have read, modern GPU's are backward compatible with past PCIE versions...
 

Lorien Silmaril

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Jul 18, 2014
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Yeah I tried unplugging the soundcard (so no expansion cards of any sort were installed) with the 280X installed, but it didn't help. My onboard sound is also disabled.

I already opened a ticket with XFX, hopefully will hear back by Monday. :/