Is my r9 270x Vapor-X faulty?

Hello everyone! My first post here...
I`ve been experiencing strange behaviour from my Sapphire r9 270x Vapor-X card.

First of all, here are my rig`s specs, untill I figure out my signature:
CPU: i7 2700K
GPU: Sapphire r9 270x Vapor-X
RAM: 4x4 Patriot Signature 1333MHz DDR3
MB: Sapphire z68 Pure Platinum
PSU: Seasonic x650 650W
OS: Windows 7 x64 Professional
Sys. HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB

I hope I`ll be able to post my YT videos with glitches I`ve captured:


and


Note: This also happened in Tera and Guild Wars 1. Seemed like a faulty GPU to me, but the glitches aren`t there all the time, only like once per 20 gaming sessions. Heard this is due to vrm modules in r9 series being pushed to the limits and overheating easily...
But, then again most of the time (not 100% always) it`s possible to get rid of the glitches by some tricks, like switching to windowed mode and then back to full screen, adjusting rendering quality, etc.

Now, I`ve temporary replaced the r9 270x with a GF 9800GT green i keep for emergencies like this - to test, and check if the same issues happen. Nothing so far and I`ve been testing for more than a week now (mostly Aion and GW1 - Planetside 2 was completely unplayable on 9800GT due to low FPS and lag spikes). So it`s most probably not my MoBo.

I have also tested both cards with furmark and surprisingly the r9 270x never produced a single artifact - and I`ve been staring carefully at the screen for the whole 15min run.

Note 2: I put GPU cards into middle PCIE-E x8 slot, because the x16 is occupied by a Recon3d Fatal`ty Champion music card - the music card couldn`t go anywhere else, because the 3rd PCI-E slot is to close to the PSU, and music card produced sound glitches when plugged there...
Are music cards even able to affect the opperation of other expansion cards in a way like this? After all the GF 9800GT work like a charm...

Tried using several drivers (not sure I`ve already checked the newest ones).
I`m still on a GF 9800GT for some more testing - I hope for your suggestions on what to do next.
Thank you in advance!

Are you overclocking the 270x?
Has the AMD Catalyst drivers crashed before/during gaming?

I get those same glitches on my Sapphire Dual-x 270x in Skyrim and such only if I overclock the memory too high or the drivers crash.


Now speaking of drivers, you also ran your 9800GT to check?
So you must have installed Nvidia drivers too....

Uninstall both AMD & Nvidia drivers, then run display driver uninstaller.
Then put the 270x back in, and install AMD Catalyst version 14.9. Skip the "Omega" drivers for now, I found them buggy as crap.

Let us know if that helps.

Silver_Pharaoh said:

Are you overclocking the 270x?
Has the AMD Catalyst drivers crashed before/during gaming?

I get those same glitches on my Sapphire Dual-x 270x in Skyrim and such only if I overclock the memory too high or the drivers crash.


Now speaking of drivers, you also ran your 9800GT to check?
So you must have installed Nvidia drivers too....

Uninstall both AMD & Nvidia drivers, then run display driver uninstaller.
Then put the 270x back in, and install AMD Catalyst version 14.9. Skip the "Omega" drivers for now, I found them buggy as crap.

Let us know if that helps.

Click to expand...

You don't need to uninstall then run DDU...DDU will uninstall it correctly.

Bishoff said:

You don't need to uninstall then run DDU...DDU will uninstall it correctly.

Click to expand...

I run it after anyway.

Thanks for your input,
I never OC my graphics cards, The Vapor-X is slightly OCed by the factory though.
Speaking of drivers, I installed Nvidia`s ones for GF 9800GT Green, having already cleansed the system from all remains of previous Radeon ones; I use Driver Cleaner for that).
Since my initial post I continued to test my rig with 9800GT and I haven`t encounter a single issue; and now I`m gonna switch back to 270X, with newest drivers. Unfortunately, I cannot find 14.12 without "omega" affix. Why should I avoid Omega droivers - are they rly that scrappy?
And why 14.9?

Can you please explain what DDU stands for?

I didn't know what DDU was either... but I googled...: https://www.google.com/webhp?source...=2&es_th=1&ie=UTF-8#q=ddu uninstaller&es_th=1

Display Driver Uninstall.

How hot does this GPU get after gaming? Can you run MSI Afterburner (yes, it works with non MSI cards) while gaming and see what the highest temperature is?

You can try 14.12 Omega sure, but I they sucked when I tried them.

AMD Catalyst 14.9 can be found on Guru3d

OK, I`ve been through several flawless gaming sessions now with my 270X until today it happened again - Planetside 2 got glitchy immediately after logging in and deploying on the battlefield - alt-tabing and getting back helped somehow and i continued to play for like 2 hours without glitches. But still, it got me nervous...
Before starting game I opened HWMonitor to record the temperatures - it recorded the lowest of 29 celsius and the highest of 67. Correct me if I`m wrong but it doesn`t seem too high and PS2 is one of the most demanding games out there so... wth is going wrong? Could this be that VRM modules can get fried in user`s fool`s paradise despite GPU`s temps being normal?
After all, you don`t get to know VRM`s temps unless you do the measurements manually?

Possibly, but unlikely.

I still vote buggy drivers / bad overclocking. But you are running stock clocks so...
Did you run DDU and install 14.9 drivers?

67C does seem like a high temp, even to me, trust me I remember when 50's were what you needed to avoid. but it seems that max would be 90C (judging from a quick web search) which blows my mind. it should probably throttle back on speed before it gets that hot even

Niku-Sama said:

67C does seem like a high temp, even to me, trust me I remember when 50's were what you needed to avoid. but it seems that max would be 90C (judging from a quick web search) which blows my mind. it should probably throttle back on speed before it gets that hot even

Click to expand...

Meh, 67 is cold for me. Though my 270x now happily chums along folding at 55C all day.
Highest I had it was 82C+ mining 24/7.

Haven't heard from the OP in a while, hasn't been on since.
Wonder if he will return?