HD 6870 Black Screen of Death?

Gnome

Gnome

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I got a Sapphire HD 6870 at the Esquire birthday special (R1599 one).

But it is hardly two weeks later and I constantly get black screens, at first it was now and then, just in normal Windows. Tried reinstalling drivers and it was on a clean Windows install anyway. Now I can't play Half-Life 2 for longer than an hour before I get it.

When the screen goes black the monitor doesn't go off or anything, screen is just black and reset button doesn't even work any more and a minute or two later the computer powers down.

Running latest drivers, everything up to date.

Specs:
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3
Intel Core i5 750
OCZ Vertex 3 120GB
Western Digital Green Power 750GB (for storage but game installed on SSD)
4096MB RAM (2x G.Skill RipJaws 1600Mhz RAM running @ 1333Mhz CL 6-6-xxx)
Cooler Master Silent Pro 600W PSU

Windows 7 x64, Catalyst 11-6

Seems to have stopped now that I have gone back to my old crappy HD5670 but I miss the games :(

Probably the GFX card right? I've been out of the gaming and GFX scene for a few years so need to be educated :)
 
Make sure that something isn't overheating...

If it's not an overheating issue, then I'd still RMA the card.
 
Sadly the only way to truly know the problem is by testing it in another pc.

It could be your power supply, but i would imagine the card is done. Take it to esquire and ask them to test it. You could alway download 3dmark as well.
 
Pada said:
Make sure that something isn't overheating...
Click to expand...
Side of the case is open, so doubt it is heat...

CPU is cooled by Thermalright HR-02

killadoob said:
Sadly the only way to truly know the problem is by testing it in another pc.

It could be your power supply, but i would imagine the card is done. Take it to esquire and ask them to test it. You could alway download 3dmark as well.
Click to expand...

Yeah I also thought power but it is top end PSU, but probably best if I try test with another PC... Just don't have another PC :p Think I'll ask a friend if he'd like to borrow it a couple of days...
 
If the graphics card's cooler isn't functioning properly, then leaving the case open won't help at all.
 
Pada said:
If the graphics card's cooler isn't functioning properly, then leaving the case open won't help at all.
Click to expand...

Hmm, brand new.. So didn't bother checking but my PC is pretty much silent so I can hear the humming of the fan on the GPU anyway. Maybe I should check the temps, still if it is out of spec what choice do I have but to RMA?

Also, it happens in Windows while just browsing the web... (that said it is Firefox 4, which IIRC uses GPU acceleration)
 
killadoob said:
You don't seem to have ruled out very much :D
Click to expand...

Hehe, yeah, was hoping others have had the same problem with bad GPUs.

Going to give my GFX card to a friend to play games with for a few days. If he has the same problems pretty much rules out everything. Checked fan already, spins, heat sinks are still on :p Doesn't get very hot either...
 
I RMA'ed a Powercolor 5770 from Esquire because it would show a black screen from startup.
 
Had a similar thing with a 5870 a while back, didn't work in my pc, but it worked in other pcs. Still got it RMA-ed. :)
 
Wasn't the card, it was the SSD. Soon as I run the card without the SSD it runs for days on end with no stability issues. Then pop in the SSD and bam few minutes or few hours later I get a black screen. Weird thing is, without the GFX card the computer is completely stable...

Moral of the story, avoid the new Sandforce SSDs: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4604/...air-patriot-ocz-owc-memoright-ssds-compared/2
 
Last edited:
Gnome said:
Wasn't the card, it was the SSD. Soon as I run the card without the SSD it runs for days on end with no stability issues. Then pop in the SSD and bam few minutes or few hours later I get a black screen. Weird thing is, without the GFX card the computer is completely stable...

Moral of the story, avoid the new Sandforce SSDs: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4604/...air-patriot-ocz-owc-memoright-ssds-compared/2
Click to expand...

vertex 3 with marvel controller is fail yes :P

loadso f people reporting issues with it, they work 100% with a sandybridge or amd controller
 
Last edited:
SharkBait said:
Ahha, that explains it. :)
Click to expand...
Count yourself lucky, sandybridge guys experience it also.

Easiest way to experience it is to update to latest firmware (SSD & BIOS) then enable hot swap on the SSD, without even trying hot swap or anything really, you'll eventually get a BSOD. Key to stability is disabling hot swap apparently. Something not possible on most motherboards before sandy bridge.
 
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