ATI Radeon 4870 Flickering, Come on AMD!

[Skippman]

I've been experiencing this flickering on my video ever since installing my second Powercolor 4870. At first I thought it was a Crossfire issue so I removed my old card and tried just the new card solo, same problem. Did some digging on the internet...

Found posts here, here, and here all reporting the same problem! What the h3ll! One or two people I could see but I've been reading dozens of posts about people having this issue. I'm pretty much disgusted by the whole deal and am contemplating swapping out for nVidia cards.

The only solution that's been put forward is to down clock the onboard memory 25-50mhz. No offical response from ATI at all.

Anyone else see/have this problem?

[DMB2000uk]

It run fine in a stability test? (such as ATI Tool's Artifact scanner)

Dan

[Skippman]

I get this problem while playing 2D video in Zoom Player reguardless of format and when loading up my games. Far Cry 2's loading screens have this problem. I get wierd artifacts while running the Counter Strike performance tests. I'm going to try adjusting the clock speeds tonight and see if it makes a differance.

[Bio-Hazard]

I saw this on a non reff card when trying to OC it without using the special software that came with the card. Everytime I tried OC'ing in CrossFire using only the ATi Overdrive I got strange big purple dots all ove the screen.

You might want to try upping the NB/PCI-e voltage a tad with 2 caeds installed, it helps sometimes.

[Skippman]

Upping the PCIE voltage? Didn't know I could do that. What's considered the normal setting so I know how much I'm over-volting it.

[DMB2000uk]

Surely if it's playing up like that it's an RMA'able issue?

Dan

[Skippman]

If I were one of a few having this problem I would, but it seems like EVERYONE who's bought these cards lately is having this problem.

[Bio-Hazard]

Upping the PCIE voltage? Didn't know I could do that. What's considered the normal setting so I know how much I'm over-volting it.

Not sure, you'll need to check your bios settings and owners manual.

[pwcmed]

Did you catch the fix for most of these. I alot of people mentioned turning memory clock speed to 920 or even 900. I wouldn't really blame AMD for this. I have a Sapphire 4870 1G overclocked working with no issues. It looks like more of a powercolor problem.

[Skippman]

I thought that at first until I started hearing of people with cards from other vendors having the same problem. As I said earlier I plan to try downclocking it tonight to see if that clears it up. But the point is I didn't pay for a normal card, I paid for an overclocked and stable card. My first Powercolor works perfectly, its thier latest batch. Plus many people are reporting that reverting drivers is just as effective as downclocking the RAM.

My next build (Warmachine 2.0) will likely be my first nVidia machine in 8 years as I'm getting tired of AMD/ATI's partners ignoring the problems of thier products and the poor driver support I've been seeing lately. 20%+ performance increase in Crysis after a driver update!? Come on!

[Bio-Hazard]

Both my Sapphire and MSI reff cards clock just fine, only the non-reff card doesn't do all that well...........

[pwcmed]

Say ain't so.


Nvidia really is not much better. All those 8600m GT issues they were having and knowing about. The repeated rebranding and what happened to 9600 GSO. I would just stay away from power color. I know how frustrating having an issue like this is but that's the fun part about it. I love to troubleshoot, I only hate it when I can't figure it out.

Edit: I guess you did find a fix, sorry about my comment. Maybe I should learn to read better.