New gpu time

Icyseanfitz

Hey guys, well my trusty sapphire 7970 up and died yesterday so I am on the market for a new gpu, i was hoping to get another year out of it if i am honest as i was thinking of making a new gaming build. But thats life :pac:

My current setup is:
cpu - intel i7 930
mobo - Gigabyte X58a UD3R
ram - 6 gigs OCZ 1600MHz
psu - Antec 1000 W
case - coolermaster Haf 922
monitor - Aoc 28inch 4k

my budget is around 300 - 400, i was looking at 970's but then the r9 390/390x caught my eye. I figure the 4 extra gigs of vram would be fairly handy for playing at 4k and from everything ive seen it trades blows with the gtx 980.
Anyone know any online store doing great deals on x390's at the moment? Any advice?

TerrorFirmer

I think your CPU is still fine for another while if you overclock it by a decent margin, I personally would lean towards the 390X myself with the higher vram though either is a good choice and big upgrade from the 7970. A good model 390 non-X is probably the best value for money.

Icyseanfitz

Is there much of a performance difference between a 390 and a 390x, tbh I'd love to go with nvidia as their drivers are always much better and their more widely supported, but from what I've seen the 390x competes with the 980 and those cost a pretty penny!
I was looking at the xfx double dissipation 390x, terrible card? Or are they all similar

Icyseanfitz

http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=JCEATI-XFX-R9-390X-8DF6

Just bought this 390x for 420, seems like a great deal should be a nice upgrade,

I've over clocked my CPU before but it always seems to revert, what software is good for monitoring your clock speed's and stress testing?

Digital Solitude

Prime95 is the only job for stress testing, you want to run a torture test for 18-24 hours

Icyseanfitz

Is there any good guide to doing it? I've noctua dh14 so I should have plenty of cooling

Digital Solitude

Stress testing? Set the programming running and forget about it basically, if you've any errors it's unstable

Icyseanfitz

For over clocking, I've done it but it never seems to stick

wotzgoingon

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/10827/gigabyte_shows_how_to_overclock_i7_920_cpu_to_4ghz/index.html

Download that PDF and it will guide you. It is for a gigabyte board so all settings will be the same for you.

wotzgoingon

Also you will need a aftermarket cooler if you don't already have one.

stefanovich

AMD cards are ****e. Get a 980 or 970

TerrorFirmer

stefanovich wrote: »

AMD cards are ****e. Get a 980 or 970

You've made some well argued points and given the OP a lot to think about.

Icyseanfitz

stefanovich wrote: »

AMD cards are ****e. Get a 980 or 970

i owned a 7970 for 4 years and it most certainly wasn't **** :pac: for the price i got this 390x id only be able to get a 970, and at 4k this card will be better than it

Icyseanfitz

wotzgoingon wrote: »

Also you will need a aftermarket cooler if you don't already have one.

yup i have a noctua dh14, think i am going to buy an AIO cooler though, i am slowly going to buy all new components until I switch cpu/mobo

Icyseanfitz

wotzgoingon wrote: »

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/10827/gigabyte_shows_how_to_overclock_i7_920_cpu_to_4ghz/index.html

Download that PDF and it will guide you. It is for a gigabyte board so all settings will be the same for you.

Pretty much used that step for step and I seem to be stable at 4ghz, ran linx for 20 passes and no errors, had prime 95 on for an hour and nothing either, my 4 core temps on load seem to be between 75-80, my CPU temp is around 59, and north bridge around 49 that's all fairly good right?
Thanks a million

Xenoronin

75-80 is a tad high but if it is stable at that temp at max load then you shouldn't have any worries. Leave prime95 running the blend test for a couple of hours at least. The program crashed around the 3 hour mark indicating that my RAM wasn't stable. I had set the XMP profile (standard RAM overclock) but apparently the voltage was incorrect after some googling. I reverted the change but must go back and apply it with the correct voltage.

Icyseanfitz

what has me confused is that my cpu temp doesnt go over 59-60 but my 4 core temps do get into the 70-80 bracket, which is the most important temp to monitor?

Xenoronin

There should be monitoring on each individual core, I've been looking at that personally as I assume if any one of those hits thermal max it will throttle. I may be assuming incorrectly but it can't hurt to take the higher option.

wotzgoingon

To be quite honest them figures are fine especially for running prime 95 for over and hour. You will not push a CPU as hard as that program does in general use and even gaming.

Digital Solitude

I said on the last page, but prime95 needs to be left running for about 24 hours to fully stress the CPU, as above, it'll never be pushed that hard but you're better with the knowledge that the OC is 100% stable, which takes 18-24 hours

Xenoronin

I stole a general rule of thumb from some forum. Use "Small FFT" test to gauge temps and initial stability for a couple of minutes (took approx 6 mins to run a full set on my i5 3570K, though I usually let it go on a bit longer) for each increase you make on multiplier and voltage (multiplier first, and then voltage increase only if it gets unstable). Once you are happy with your overclock (so many restarts), run a minimum 8hour "Blend" test. Ideally have some kind of logging working in the background monitoring temps and other results. If it passes the 8 hour test it is in the "Very minor instability" range. Running for 24hours is the only way to know that it is "stable".

wotzgoingon

I know all of people on forums tell you to run a stress test for 24 hours but in my own personal opinion that is overkill. You are pushing your CPU un-necessarily.

One thing that made my OC unstable one time was the RAM. It was 1333MHz 9-9-9-24 1T RAM stock but could be overclocked yourself to 1600MHz 7-7-7-20 which I done but it was unstable and I eventually found out that it was the timings that was causing it as I looked up the specifications and at 1600MHz it needed 2T and not not 1T which it was set at stock.

Icyseanfitz

thanks for all the knowledge guys, very much appreciate it, I've fiddled with cpu overclocking before but it was never an informed decision, just messed with the blk as far as i remember. but clearly voltages etc. play a massive part in stability.

One issue i am having though is my cpu fan speed, I've a noctua nh-d14 that never go above 1188rpm, I've tried turning smart fan on/off set it to PWM in bios and I've configured it in smartfan's advanced tab for software controlled but i can never get it over 1188rpm, maybe my mobo and cpu fan dont support manual settings but surely the fan go higher than 1188

Lu Tze

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

thanks for all the knowledge guys, very much appreciate it, I've fiddled with cpu overclocking before but it was never an informed decision, just messed with the blk as far as i remember. but clearly voltages etc. play a massive part in stability.

One issue i am having though is my cpu fan speed, I've a noctua nh-d14 that never go above 1188rpm, I've tried turning smart fan on/off set it to PWM in bios and I've configured it in smartfan's advanced tab for software controlled but i can never get it over 1188rpm, maybe my mobo and cpu fan dont support manual settings but surely the fan go higher than 1188

Depends on the fan. They max out at different rpm depending on their purpose and use

moc moc a moc

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

for the price i got this 390x id only be able to get a 970, and at 4k this card will be better than it

You can pretty much forget about gaming at 4K on either of these cards.

Digital Solitude

moc moc a moc wrote: »

You can pretty much forget about gaming at 4K on either of these cards.

Ah the 390X will be usable in fairness, I wouldn't envy looking at it, I'd take Ultra 60fps 1080p over Medium-High 30fps 4k, but that's probably what he's looking at

Icyseanfitz

I'm not looking at anything at the moment same issue I thought was my failing 7970 has cropped its ugly head up again!
My monitor (either my 4k or lg which had no problem running with my old gtx 460 for the last week) keeps randomly going into standby and I'm unable to wake it up. Since I changed out the 7970 for the gtx 460 last Friday this hasn't happened once! It makes me believe this is amd related but I've no goddam idea what.
I've windows setup to never go into sleep mode, hell I installed a fresh copy of windows 10 last Friday as well just in case it was windows.

I am at a loss

Xenoronin

Dodgy cable?

Icyseanfitz

It happens with a mini dp to dp cable, a dp to dp cable, dvi, and HDMI, when I have the 390x my initial mobo splash screen is all sorts of weird artifacts, but then it loads windows up normally, only thing is windows 10 loads up but now I can't even get into it with going to black screen.

I don't know whether the new GPU has the exact same issue as the 7970 (would be a bit of a coincidence) or my monitors are fcuked, dodgy PSU? I've an antec 1000 watt so output should be grand

So god damn confused and annoyed

wotzgoingon

That would be a weird coincidence that the 390x and 7970 have the same problem.

Do you have a xbox or Play station to check if the monitor is ok?

wotzgoingon

Ok sorry just read over the post a few posts up where you used a 460 with no problems.

Did you clear all old drivers before flashing the most recent driver for the amd card?

Icyseanfitz

Its happening on both my old and newer monitor, wouldn't be a dying PSU? Takes longer for it to happen on my old monitor than my newer

wotzgoingon

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

Its happening on both my old and newer monitor, wouldn't be a dying PSU?

I read over that post again but I do not fully understand what symptoms you are getting.

What is going into stand by? The PC is it?

It may be a failing PSU but I'm not fully sure. Do you know anybody with a gaming PC? So you could use their PSU for a while.

Icyseanfitz

The monitor, the PC stays running, but I can't get video output as it spontaneously goes into sleep mode and its very random as well, it can happen at windows start up or after a few minutes of windows running or the monitor mightn't give any output at all when the PC is powered on, this started happening a week ago with my 7970 on both of my monitors so I did a fresh install of windows 10 and put my old gtx 460 into it and bang it all seemed to work ok.

I then tried the 7970 again and almost instantly after installing drivers I got a white screen with loads of small black bars, I figured it was definitely the 7970 so I ordered the 390x and put the 460 back into it.
I didn't have a single issue for the week I used the 460 and I even over clocked my CPU to a stable 4.0ghz.
And then I installed the new card today. And all the issues I experienced from the 7970 a week ago are back, just reinstalled my gtx 460 now and so far no problems.

My method for driver installation is to uninstall gtx 460/7970/390x from device manager, then uninstall any nvidia/amd software, run c cleaner and then power off, fit new card, power on, download drivers and install drivers, is that the correct way to do it?

wotzgoingon

Try un-installing with this below.

http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

Icyseanfitz

No good maybe my cards a dud

wotzgoingon

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

No good maybe my cards a dud

I highly doubt the card is a dud. Your old AMD card is still good as both cards have the same problem.

A long shot but did you try googling the problem to see if anybody else has had the same problems and see if they came across any fixes as i have no idea what is wrong.

Icyseanfitz

I've been googling my ass off I don't know, I'm generally very good at finding the source of a problem but this seems so random and specific to my amd cards, my gigabyte ud3r mobo splash screen is all fcukd up with weird artifacts but apparently that's a normal issue with 390/390x and gig mobos.
Could this be a PSU problem? If my PSU was dying would it be outputting its rated 1000 watts and if it wasn't would it cause these kind of issues

Icyseanfitz

Fixed it! I hope. My PSU is semi modular, one of the pins on a 6 pin cable plugged into it had a tiny piece of plastic broken off inside the socket, must have been stopping power running, I plugged the 6 pin into a different socket and it seems much more stable.
Is having a power cable with a single metal pin very slightly uncovered inside a socket dangerous?

Xenoronin

Probably not if you aren't plugging it in and out much. Just be careful with it when you do.

wotzgoingon

Glad you got it fixed.

Icyseanfitz

Thanks guys, 390x is sweet witcher 2 @ 1440 all ultra except for ubersampling was a steady 60 fps