Best value graphics card for my current PC setup

DarraghR

Ah think I found them

wotzgoingon

Yes that is them alright.

DarraghR

So I got my card setup last night and ran into a problem. When I run games at ultra settings the whole PC powers off and restarts. My card is the overclocked version so could this be down to my power supply even though its 500 watts? I will use AMD CleanUninstall Utility and see how that goes.

Hopefully the new drivers will resolve it but if it is my power supply what program would people recommend to underclock? MSI after burner?

dreamers75

DarraghR wrote: »

So I got my card setup last night and ran into a problem. When I run games at ultra settings the whole PC powers off and restarts. My card is the overclocked version so could this be down to my power supply even though its 500 watts? I will use AMD CleanUninstall Utility and see how that goes.

Hopefully the new drivers will resolve it but if it is my power supply what program would people recommend to underclock? MSI after burner?

Most likely your PSU cant support the extra power draw. If its a HP model it may only have enough power to cover the parts that came with it.

Check out the software end 1st.

DarraghR

Uninstalling all AMD and Radeon related software only made it worse. Will refit the card in case a cable is not correctly connected

TerrorFirmer

The RX480 draws less power than the 270X generally so it seems unlikely, unless the PSU isn't stable on a single 8pin or something (the 270X uses 2x6).

What model RX480 did you get? Is it a single 8 pin?

DarraghR

I got the Sapphire RX 480 8GB Nitro. My desktop power supply has a 6 and a 2

http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=MMEM311309

Tried to run Dead Space 2 which is an old game. It crashes on the start screen. Removed a mounting bracket to see if more breathing room would help. Also managed the cables better by cutting a cable tie.

TerrorFirmer

What are CPU and GPU temps when these are happening? Use something like MSI afterburner to monitor temps.

Also check if there's a bios update for your PC.

DarraghR

http://support.hp.com/ie-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-envy-700-300-desktop-pc-series/6886619/model/7233335#Z7_3054ICK0K8UDA0AQC11TA930O2

I cannot find any BIOS download on the HP website. My version is from 12/09/2014 but if I cant find a update on HP's site does this mean it is up to date?

Moon54

DarraghR wrote: »

I cannot find any BIOS download on the HP website. My version is from 12/09/2014 but if I cant find a update on HP's site does this mean it is up to date?

There's one there dated Aug 3, 2015. Change the OS version to show Windows 8.1 drivers and then you'll see a BIOS section.

Check the Temperature when gaming. I use MSI Afterburner but it takes a bit of configuring to show exactly what you want on-screen.
Maybe run GPU-Z - https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-gpu-z/
Check the sensors tab occasionally while gaming to see temps, load etc.

DarraghR

I installed it but there appeared to be no change to my version. What about using third party software to remove drivers? I hear that uninstalling does not always remove everything

SickBoy

DarraghR wrote: »

I installed it but there appeared to be no change to my version. What about using third party software to remove drivers? I hear that uninstalling does not always remove everything

Try DDU

DarraghR

Is it possible that the graphics card is touching off a transistor or component on the mother board. Was a pretty tight fit

wotzgoingon

Is there on-board graphics? Disconnect the graphics card and just run a game to see if the computer is acting up. Like you said you may have hit a component. Run the game for at least 10 mins. Then if everything is fine reconnect the RX 480 and test again.

DarraghR

Put my old GPU back in and ran Dead Space 2 and DOOM. No problems what so ever

wotzgoingon

Do you know anyone else with a gaming PC? Just to try your new RX 480 in there. What stands out to me is either the power supply is not great supplying a single eight pin or else your new card is faulty.

Where are you based if you do not know anybody with a gaming PC maybe you live nearby someone on boards who will try the RX 480 on their system.

dreamers75

As mentioned its most likely going to be the power supply.

lmimmfn

- run MSI Afterburner to monitor the temps
- at the same time run coretemp

As benchmarks use something like FutureMark's 3DMark Firestrike demo - it will tax gpu and cpu, if that passes and temps look good its most likely a driver issue. If not, thats a different discussion.

TerrorFirmer

I posted this in the other thread, you should really try to keep them all in one place as it's confusing for people...I think you have about 5 different threads now about this PC/card upgrade!

Most OEM units do deliver on what they promise as they're typically only included in higher end units that are initially sold as 'gaming PCs' versus your average home PC which only come with 200-250w supplies.

The card he replaced was an R9 270 which actually draws similar power to the RX480 - not ruling out the power supply but the whole system under load still shouldn't be drawing more than about 300-350w ballpark and that supply should be up to the job no problem. HP also used these 500w supplies in systems running HD7950's and GTX670 class cards which are actually more power hungry than RX480 or GTX1060 cards.

The other issue is one of three potential problems:

1) RX cards do have issues with some older motherboards, though yours is pretty recent so it should be fine.

2) HP themselves sometimes (not in all models) tend to lock down card support in the bios, therefore any card released after the last bios may work patchily or not work at all. I've encountered this infuriating situation in many older HP machines, but for some reason always the 'home' type - never the Elite range (which tends to be all the gaming models), or the workstations either.

3) The PSU for some reason is having issues supplying enough power on a single 8-pin. You could try a dual 6-pin to single 8-pin adaptor and see if this helps.

In one machine all GTX6 cards inc the GTX690 worked fine but a GTX750Ti and GTX760 would not even boot, and of course there were no new bios' released after about 2013 for the machine in question.

Also, is there an option in your bios to manually select PCI Express revision/compatibility? There should be a list like "Auto", "Gen 1", and "Gen 2" - try manually selecting Gen 2 or Gen 1 at a time and see if either help, this worked for me on an older board with an RX470 by using "Gen 2".

Also where do you live? If you're near one of us we could have it tested and sorted in an hour either way, whatever the problem is.

DarraghR

Sorry your right :P Mod can lock this thread now please

For anyone that wants to help :P here is a link to the main thread - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057700677