SOLVED PC locks up during gaming with R9 390X

[Nebulous]

As per AMD's specifications the 390 series of cards are designed to operate at 95C so it's made to run hot.


50s are a good temp for this kind of card with air cooling.


I do have a problem with this statement and don't consider this sound advice [no offense Nebulous]. Advanced power saving features are a nice thought, but the coding within them is flawed kind of making them an "unfinished technology". They sound great on paper and rarely work as well as they should without creating conflict. However, some do work better than others.

TBH I would not disable all of them in the bios. It's just not a good idea for your hardware to have your cpu running in full state even when it's idle. Turning off all of the PWM features should only be done if necessary because they are creating a conflict.

I dislike excessive heat coming out of my case. Tho I'm well aware the AMD gpu's are designed to operate with high temperature, the gpu will start to throttle back to save itself from overheating. This is where the performance starts to take a hit. I like my temps on the cooler side of things and will put a full cover waterblock on my 390 along with another radiator.

I prefer to run my high clocks full bore 24/7. I have no issues or conflicts with my rig, trust me. My only issue is the noise my gpu fans make when I start cranking out a gaming session.

 

[BoundByBlood]

At this point when I get my card back from Asus I just might turn off all the PWM features in bios as well except CnQ. Since I'm not overclocking it really shouldn't be an issue.

 

[wingman99]

Why would you turn off PWM features, you don't like fan control?

 

[BoundByBlood]

Sorry, should have been more clear. i'm talking about power management features in bios like CnQ, especially C1E and APM which underclock the cpu and lower the voltage when it's state is idle. They don't always work well and have been known to cause conflicts so disabling them can be the preferable course of action.

 

[EarthDog]

Typically, they don't. We say to start off with them disabled when dialing in your overclock. After that, enable. It just reduces the variables when trying to find a stable overclock. For the most part, it works just fine.

 

[BoundByBlood]

However, sometimes the code in these power saving features can be bugged. It has happened to me before so a part of me can't help but wonder if I had disabled them that it would have resolved my issue.

 

[EarthDog]

If that were true, do you know just how many PCs would be affected by that problem? Nearly every. single. one of them...

... 90% of the non enthusiast crowd do not touch their settings which has these features enabled. If there were actually a problem in the code that wasn't specific to a piece of hardware, we would have seen EXPONENTIALLY more issues and nationwide news over it. Code is, for all intents and purposes, fine.

 

[BoundByBlood]

ED, you're looking at this the wrong way.

First, I wasn't insinuating that all system instability issues are linked to the bios power saving features. Second, I wasn't insinuating the problem was with the master code developed by AMD. When developing any type of product, particularly those relating to tech involving code, mistakes can and will happen due to the margin of human error. When the code for these power saving technologies are being replicated into various motherboards by so many different manufacturers mistakes can be made. Also, with so many different configurations for custom built machines these power saving features are always not guaranteed to work with your particular setup. Does this mean that all or most instability issues can be linked to these settings? No. Have these settings been known to cause instability even in non-overclocked machines? Yes, it has happened to me in the past.

I built a whole new machine with all new components and my comp was locking up during gaming. The GPU was an RMA replacement, but it was new in the box when I got it. I can't help but wonder if one of the power saving features was acting out of line and triggering when it shouldn't have causing an interrupt.

 

[EarthDog]

No, I get it (got it)... but appreciate the clarity anyway.

I can google darn near anything and find a problem with it.

 

[BoundByBlood]

I can google darn near anything and find a problem with it.

Oh, I get it too. Sorry, didn't mean to be so long winded. Really need to work on that.

 

[EarthDog]

No worries at all. I still don't agree, but appreciate hearing where you were coming from.

Until you (read: Anyone - a 'royal' you there, LOL) can associate a problem with 'code' (which is not done via google hits - we are looking at consecutive S/N boards with the same problem for an issue you describe... they check random boards for bugs and errors not each and every one of thousands) I wouldn't think that to be it.

I could be woefully wrong though... who knows.

 

[BoundByBlood]

You have been helping me since that start, but you are yet to state your opinion on what you think was causing the gaming freezes. Care to share some insight?

I genuinely do want to know your opinion because right now I feel like I'm grasping at straws.

 

[EarthDog]

I don't have a clue. Bad card would be my guess though. Did the mobo take it out? Doubtful... but I have seen more peculiar things in my time, LOL!

 

[BoundByBlood]

LOL, here's to you and me hoping you're right so I didn't spend the money to ship it off to be serviced for nothing.

 

[BoundByBlood]

Well the post office charged me $16 to have it only expected to reach Asus by Saturday and they won't be to accept it until Monday. So I'm going to be out of a card for a good bit.

While I'm waiting I have been browsing GTX 970/980s on ebay for kicks. I have been looking because I have been wanting hardware acceleration of PhysX for a while so it's so tempting to switch to the other side right now...

 

[wingman99]

I really like my EVGA GTX 970 it has been the best card I ever had and I tried most of them from Nvidia, mostly because the games out now work great at 1080p for me now.

 

[BoundByBlood]

I'm done with Asus products. They have this terrible policy when you check your RMA status online if it was delivered in the past 24-48 business hours it won't show up in their system and you have to wait 48 business hours - not including weekends - simply to find out if they even have your product. The post office tracking code shows it was delivered at 11:02 am yesterday and I waited until about 9 pm tonight to call product support and find out if it is in their possession. As of the latest update 12 pm pacific time they don't have the card at their facility. There is a chance it might show up in their system on monday, but it's not looking good since there is supposed to be a person to receive all incoming packages and the tracking code shows it was left at a mailbox.

From what I can tell for all intent and purposes my card is gone.

 

[wingman99]

I feel for you, how long has it been since you sent it?

 

[EarthDog]

I'm done with Asus products. They have this terrible policy when you check your RMA status online if it was delivered in the past 24-48 business hours it won't show up in their system and you have to wait 48 business hours - not including weekends - simply to find out if they even have your product. The post office tracking code shows it was delivered at 11:02 am yesterday and I waited until about 9 pm tonight to call product support and find out if it is in their possession. As of the latest update 12 pm pacific time they don't have the card at their facility. There is a chance it might show up in their system on monday, but it's not looking good since there is supposed to be a person to receive all incoming packages and the tracking code shows it was left at a mailbox.

From what I can tell for all intent and purposes my card is gone.

sorry to be so blunt here, but, get a grip. It takes time to get things in the right hands checked in and uldated. They don't work weekends. If push came to shove, you have tracking that shows its there.. your card isn't "gone"... relax.

 

[BoundByBlood]

I feel for you, how long has it been since you sent it?

It was mailed last Saturday with an expected delivery of Friday [yesterday], but tracking shows it was delivered on Thursday morning.

sorry to be so blunt here

Please, by all means shoot it straight with me.

get a grip

Working on it.

It takes time to get things in the right hands checked in and updated. They don't work weekends.

Mmmm hmmm, I'm aware since this isn't my first RMA with Asus. Normally, it wouldn't be a concern except when I called product support last night the CSR called the service facility in CA and after checking they informed him to relay to me they still didn't have it.

If push came to shove, you have tracking that shows its there...

The problem with this is there should have been a person at the RMA department receiving center to physically receive the package and tracking shows it was delivered in/at a mailbox. The post office has made mistakes with some of my packages before routing them to the wrong destination. I thought one of the numbers in the street address didn't look legible and I pointed it out to the woman at my local post office and she was supposed to fix it, but that doesn't discount the possibility that the mail courier in CA still read it wrong and accidentally delivered it to the wrong destination.

your card isn't "gone"... relax.

Technically, you are right. It is somewhere, but is it where it's supposed to be? I won't know until Monday. If around 2pm CST [11am PST] I login to do a RMA status inquiry and it is still marked as not received then, yea, it is gone...and I'm screwed because I didn't have enough cash on me to buy insurance to cover the value of the card when I mailed it.

But, hey, thanks for the optimism. I have to put it out of sight and out of mind until Monday.