Running my 2D clock speeds at 3D speeds, desktop glitches on R9 290 DCII

Hello everyone, I just acquired an ASUS R9 290 DCII video card. I installed 14.12 drivers and I was experiencing really weird desktop glitches. They look like small rectanges, about 10x100 pixels in size, and they keep flickering. My idea is that when the clocks drop down to 300/150 for 2D, the glitches happen, however when they go up, the glitches go away. I don't have this problem when the clocks run at 947/1250, the max speeds.

Thinking my issue was my drivers, I uninstalled them using DDU and installed 13.12, but I have the same issue. My specs are Core i7, 6gb ram, 800w Corsair PSU, EVGA x58 Sli mobo, and the r9 290 video card.

I also tried following this guide http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/updated-amd-ati-2d-clock-guide.117633/ on my 13.12 drivers, but the data that I copy and paste from my profiles.xml file is different. Also I read that I could use MSI Afterburner to change the clocks, but others report that the 3D clocks don't load on 2D. I spent about an hour going through 25 different forum and guide links and I can't figure out what to do. Posting here is my last resort after trying everything I know or could find. Hopefully someone know what I can try, any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Sounds like artifacting. My guess would be that voltage is "drooping" at the lower speeds to less than what is needed.

You could try flashing the card to the latest BIOS available. It's possible Asus has fixed it in a new bios revision.

If you wanted to test beforehand, you could install MSI Afterburner and apply some voltage offset so that it has extra voltage at all speeds. If the artifacting goes away, that's likely the issue (and you'll need either a bios flash or an RMA).

ninjacore said:

Sounds like artifacting. My guess would be that voltage is "drooping" at the lower speeds to less than what is needed.

You could try flashing the card to the latest BIOS available. It's possible Asus has fixed it in a new bios revision.

If you wanted to test beforehand, you could install MSI Afterburner and apply some voltage offset so that it has extra voltage at all speeds. If the artifacting goes away, that's likely the issue (and you'll need either a bios flash or an RMA).

Click to expand...

I tried downloading a BIOS flash from the Asus website. When I tried to run it, a popup said I didn't need to flash.

Would MSI apply the voltage settings to both the 2D and 3D clocks? I thought it only applied when 3D applications were running.

If the card is fairly new I would just contact ASUA tech and see what they say before you. Most likely unless you do a bios edit you won't get that to run properly as intended. The voltage is likely programmed a bit low and I would make ASUS accountable for it. You shouldn't have to flash a retail card to get it to operate properly.

What GFX card did you have prior to this one.?

I used to have an Asus R9 290, the one that came out before the DCII. Something screwed up with that one after using MSI Afterburner and a friend of mine wanted it, so then I got the DCII version. Before all that, I had a Radeon HD 5870.

If you have the latest BIOS, it sounds like a store return (if you're within the window) or an RMA is your only option. I had a related issue with one of my PCS+ 290s. Black screen while gaming because of voltage droops (I'm assuming). Flashed a few different BIOSes before I eventually just sent it in to Powercolor. They sent me back the same card (same serial) with a new BIOS version reporting in GPU-z, so I'm guessing there is just some irregularity in voltage levels with the 290(X)s. I'm sure the various manufacturers tried to cut voltage down as low as possible to make them run cooler, so if you get a card that doesn't "clock" so well (requires more voltage at speed X), you'll have issues.

FWIW, the card I RMA'd ended up coming back and being the best overclocking PCS+ 290 I owned, so whatever custom BIOS they put on it, definitely helped out. I don't recall if temps jumped after it came back, but I know they were never higher than 80, so they weren't the wall.

I don't know about MSI but GPU Tweak will let you alter 2D settings on some cards. You can try that to see if you can up the 2D voltage without a bios flash. If it does and the problem goes away then have it start with windows.

I'd like to try everything I can before I go through with an RMA. This is my primary computer and I don't have a backup card at the moment.

I installed GPU Tweak and I can't switch it to 3D. I read that the artifact could also be due to the memory clocks jumping from 150 to 1500 from 2D to 3D, and I didn't see anything about voltages. I attached a screenshot showing GPU Tweak plus GPU-Z.

You need to be in advanced for GPU tweak and then click on it where it says 3D and it should switch to 2D.

Until you're ready to RMA, I think you should be able to use the voltage offset in GPU Tweak (or Afterburner) to keep your card stable. Any voltage offset you specify should be applied both when the card is in a low power state and otherwise (2D and 3D loads). For example, if you're at 1.2V while gaming and 0.8V while "idle" (guesses), then if you specify a +50mv offset, you will be at 1.25V and 0.85V, respectively.

From that screenshot, it looks like GPU Tweak works with an absolute voltage (at 1250mv in the screenshot). I'm not sure how that will play out (whether changing it will affect the min or just the max), so you'll have to play with it and monitor your active voltage level in GPU-z (or use another tool - you don't have to use GPU Tweak just because you have an Asus card ). Change it in 10-20mv increments, switching back and forth between gaming and just desktop usage and see if it helps.

Regardless of the fact that you might delay (or possibly forgo) the RMA, I would still contact Asus support and get the ball rolling. Let them know what BIOS revision you are at and that the Update Utility says you're at the latest. Maybe they already know of the issue you're seeing and have an unreleased, custom BIOS for you to flash to. That is, afterall, all they will likely do if you send your card in.

ninjacore said:

Regardless of the fact that you might delay (or possibly forgo) the RMA, I would still contact Asus support and get the ball rolling. Let them know what BIOS revision you are at and that the Update Utility says you're at the latest. Maybe they already know of the issue you're seeing and have an unreleased, custom BIOS for you to flash to. That is, afterall, all they will likely do if you send your card in.

Click to expand...

+1

Thanks for the information guys. I figured out GPU Tweak, and set the 2D clocks to 940/5000. No artifacts so far. Also when I first received the card, the first thing I did was run a Heaven Benchmark at extreme to make sure I didn't get any black screens or random shut down like I did with my old 290, and it made it through easily. I think the issue is the jump in the memory clocks, and I want to stay away from raising any volts if possible.

So, it's running at a constant 940/5000 now?

ninjacore said:

So, it's running at a constant 940/5000 now?

Click to expand...

I just did a VBIOS update through GPU Tweak and successfully restarted. I don't think my 2D settings applied on startup though. I have GPU-Z running and I see it bouncing up and down like before, but I don't notice any artifacts at the moment. If they come back, I will checkmark "keep setting for next start on close application" in GPU Tweak so my 2D clocks apply on startup.

Makes sense that the voltage is still bouncing. It only tries to use what is necessary given then load.

The new bios you installed probably just applied its own "offset". Since you were successful in flashing, I would try running without gpu tweak for a while and seeing if the new bios fixed the problem.

ninjacore said:

Makes sense that the voltage is still bouncing. It only tries to use what is necessary given then load.

The new bios you installed probably just applied its own "offset". Since you were successful in flashing, I would try running without gpu tweak for a while and seeing if the new bios fixed the problem.

Click to expand...

Good idea, thanks.

Quick update/bump to this situation. I'm having issues applying my 2D clocks at start up. In Gpu Tweak, I made it so that it starts up with Profile 1 loaded, but when I start up, the clocks don't apply. I have to still click Profile 1 for it to start. I read this same issue in another forum and someone said to just try using MSI Afterburner.

So I installed that, and I tried on AB 4.0, 3.0, and 3.0.1 Beta 17 (as shown in this video: ) to try and set a 2D profile to load automatically. My issue with AB is that in the settings, I only have these tabs: General, Fan, Monitoring, Profiles, and User Interface. Under Profiles, there is no "Automatic profiles management" setting like in the video above. I also have no idea if there is an "advanced" mode in AB because I couldn't find anything by googling that. Does anyone know why I don't see what I need to find in AB? I also tried changing the themes and that didn't help either.

The reason I'm still trying to load my 2D clocks even though the artifacts have disappeared is because I'm getting jumpy performance in fullscreen-windowed 3D video games. I see in GPU Z that the clocks are jumping up and down, and when I apply them manually, the game is stable. I don't want to do that every time I start up the computer though.

Edit:

Just installed 14.12 and AB 4.0.1 and still nothing, it's the same settings in AB and I can't load up a profile on start up.