[Cown]

Hi Guys

My friend recently bought a new gfx, the XFX Radeon 5870.

The problem is his computer wont start up with this new card.

Do any of you guys know what the problem might be?

He also bought a new PSU 650W CoolerMaster, the GX series.

I've tried clearing CMOS, as well as flashing the BIOS with the latest ROM from their hp, but it dates back to 2008, so it's pretty old.

Might this be a compatibility issue?

If the two things dont work together he will die


EDIT: I've tried the card in my rig, and it works perfect.


Thanks in advance.

[repilce]

This is Odd, if it's pci-e it "should" work period. But as we all know should|=does

If the latest bios update did not work, and your 4890 did my guess is just an anomaly of compatibility. I'd say google to see if you can find other reports of this problem, but i doubt your gonna find too many people still running that mobo and get'n 5870's for them gonna be a major bottle neck for that gpu

[repilce]

after some reading myself, hard to say.. seen some other people with 590 chipsets saying same problem.. but also others with newer boards having same problem. specifically from xfx. all else fails i'd RMA the card.

[Cown]

Originally Posted by repilce

This is Odd, if it's pci-e it "should" work period. But as we all know should|=does

If the latest bios update did not work, and your 4890 did my guess is just an anomaly of compatibility. I'd say google to see if you can find other reports of this problem, but i doubt your gonna find too many people still running that mobo and get'n 5870's for them gonna be a major bottle neck for that gpu

My 4890 card boots normally in his rig. I'm afraid as well that the problem is compatability. Before I made my post here, I searched google clean, with no result other than some guy having the same problem (another chipset though) but the problem was due to his PSU not being powerfull enough.

[Cown]

Originally Posted by repilce

after some reading myself, hard to say.. seen some other people with 590 chipsets saying same problem.. but also others with newer boards having same problem. specifically from xfx. all else fails i'd RMA the card.

I would, but the problem is that it works in my setup, I've also run mulitple benchmarks on the card and it works and performs perfectly.

The 590 chipset supports 16x PCI-E which was my main concern.

Another thing that doesn't make sense is that my 4890 card posts fine in his computer and the difference between the cards isnt that great, except for performance of course.

If the only solution is to downgrade the grafics to eg. 4890, would crossfire be possible on 590? I remember the older chipsets from nvidia only supporting SLI.

[QuietIce]

Originally Posted by Cown

If the only solution is to downgrade the grafics to eg. 4890, would crossfire be possible on 590? I remember the older chipsets from nvidia only supporting SLI.

nVidia chipsets still only support SLI, not Crossfire, so I doubt you can run Crossfire with that board ...

[Cown]

Originally Posted by QuietIce

nVidia chipsets still only support SLI, not Crossfire, so I doubt you can run Crossfire with that board ...

Damn, well that sucks lol, I've just sent a support ticket to XFX hoping they
might have some insight to this problem, if not, I guess my friend needs to
pull out wallet and upgrade everything

Thanks for the help guys.

[PicodeGallo]

My vote would be to upgrade. I have the same mobo with a 6000+ and the bottleneck is RAM and CPU. I just upgraded to a Phenom II with Mushkin Redline RAM and it's an entirely new system running only 1 9800GT (AN9-32X was running 2 9800's in SLI). Gameplay is greatly increased, but the video card is now the problem. My new one will be here tomorrow.

For example, my Far Cry 2 benches on the basic timedemo (1900x1200 res, DX10):
Old system (SLI) - Avg 36 fps (Ultra high settings, no AA)
New (no SLI) - Avg 35 fps (Ultra high settings, 4xAA)

The thing to note is the minimum avg fps, where old went from 8 and new to 17 fps, proving the CPU was the bottleneck. The video quality (image quality) was increased greatly--it is more 'cinematic.'

[repilce]

here's a question, have you tried his 5870 in your rig? just to see if it works right at all?

[Cown]

Originally Posted by repilce

here's a question, have you tried his 5870 in your rig? just to see if it works right at all?

Ofc.

[Cown]

Here's a thought, can the PCI-E ports version, being 1.0a I think, have anything to do with it?

[QuietIce]

It should be backward compatible.

One thing I thought of, though - do you have a 4-pin Molex plugged into the motherboard (center-back of the baord)? The power draw of the new card might be enough of a difference to make that important ...

[Cown]

Originally Posted by QuietIce

It should be backward compatible.

One thing I thought of, though - do you have a 4-pin Molex plugged into the motherboard (center-back of the baord)? The power draw of the new card might be enough of a difference to make that important ...

Yeah, the molex plug is connected.

I would also have thought that it was compatible, since the 4890 card works fine in the system. XFX told me that it might be a possability but that they could not confirm it, due to the fact that they can't say for sure, since it isn't their motherboard. Abit has failed to reply to my mail, so I guess I am drawing a blank for now

[QuietIce]

I would have asked XFX if it's a standard reference card. If it IS then a board incompatibility wouldn't be their problem. But if the video card is a non-reference card it could be their problem ...

[Cown]

Originally Posted by QuietIce

I would have asked XFX if it's a standard reference card. If it IS then a board incompatibility wouldn't be their problem. But if the video card is a non-reference card it could be their problem ...

Thanks, I will sneak this question in when I get a reply from Abit

[theflyingrat]

Err... does Abit even still answer questions about motherboard support? They've completely left the motherboard market as of a couple years ago...

As a side note, the Cooler Master GX-650W is a heaping bowl of fail. It'd surprise me little to find out that it was unable to properly operate the 5870. Had you tried instead with your (markedly superior in every way) Corsair?

[Ssnake]

I just got a XFX 6870 for this board and it was able to run it fine. I am using an Antec 550W PSU. Could be something specific to that card or model.

[Cown]

Originally Posted by theflyingrat

Err... does Abit even still answer questions about motherboard support? They've completely left the motherboard market as of a couple years ago...

As a side note, the Cooler Master GX-650W is a heaping bowl of fail. It'd surprise me little to find out that it was unable to properly operate the 5870. Had you tried instead with your (markedly superior in every way) Corsair?

Still no answer, så I'm guessing you are right

[Cown]

Originally Posted by Ssnake

I just got a XFX 6870 for this board and it was able to run it fine. I am using an Antec 550W PSU. Could be something specific to that card or model.

Thanks for your reply, that kinda confirms what I discovered last night.

After I took advices from you guys, I gave it one last shot and used my PSU in his system. Nothing changed.

So after som talking back and forth, we decided that he would get my 2 x 4890's and some cash, I'd get his 5870 and we'd call it a day.

As you all know when you get new hardware there's a thrill you get from benchmarking the **** out of it, so naturally, that's what I did. Ran som 3DMarks, no problem, and thought I'd wanna play some Black Ops and see how it goes. 5 minuttes in to the game I get a gray screen and the computer locks down, wtf I thought and remembered I might have altered some RAM settings in BIOS the other day, so i did a reset and tried again. 10 minuttes after I get horizontal gray lines, the screen flickers, and small black and red squares apear all over the screen and the computer crashes again.

I then pulled out the card, gave the connectors a cleaning and doublechecked all power cords etc. 10-15 minuttes in, same crap happens.

I then updated my mobo BIOS as well as the avalible BIOS update for the gfx, and rebooted, not even passing the boot screen, the card does the same with the lines and squares and then goes black. I haven't been able to make it post since and my mobo also tells me through error led's that the vga i screwed.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I think the card suffers from a fan speed control malfunction. I noticed the fans rpm not changing during full load maybe causing the card to overheat and crash, explaining why the errors didn't occur to begin with. I think the overheating probably damaged the card and that's why it won't give any sign of life now. I had 2 x 4890's in the mashine before and I remember when things got hot, these babies reminded me that they where there to kick some ass and made damn sure that I heard about it The 5870 has been to my, wondering surprise, very very silent.

Status now is that I RMA'd it and am waiting for a new card, hopefully one that isn's screwed

I want to thank you guys again for your help and advice.

[Cown]

I will btw as soon as I recieve the new card, unless they can't get one and give me the money back, post an update and confirm that the card was screwed and it wasn't a compatability issue or vice versa.