R9 390 Problems(or at least I think) any help appreciated

[ricinus13]

Hey everyone,

 

I'm having some problems with my PC, and I think it's my R9 390 acting up. It all started with random black screens in games or YT vids(basically load on the GPU). These were hard crashes as I couldn't do anything except press the reset button. Doing so, the card's fans started spinning at 100% indefinitely, and the PC didn't post/boot. At first I thought it was my PSU, as it wasn't the best(not a bad one though). Then the crashes started getting a lot more common, first some underclocking on both the GPU core and memory helped, but after some time nothing did anything, so I decided to buy a good PSU. With it installed the crashes didn't go anywhere though, so in conclusion it wasn't the PSU. So it's probably the GPU. Today I found a new problem. No matter what I set in Afterburner/Sapphire TRIXX, the GPU core clock is at 300MHz. Launching games doesn't ramp up the clock speed at all, it's stuck on 300. The crashes are random, sometimes I can run(or could at least until the core clock was locked at 300MHz) Unigine Valley benchmark 5 times continuously and nothing happened, sometimes even a twitch stream caused a crash. I tried with multiple drivers and no luck, crashed with every version. I tried OC'ing and UC'ing everything on the card and while underclocking seemed to help at the beginning, now it does nothing. 

So that's my problem, any ideas on what it could be? I don't even hope for a fix at this point(would be a miracle if there was), I just want to identify the issue at least, I don't want to run around buying random parts that could cause the issue.

Thanks for reading and any help appreciated. 

PC: R9 390 Nitro, i5 3570k, Asus P8-Z77V-LX (I know it's old but for World of Warships it's way more than enough for me)

[TTQGaming]

how old is the gpu? it would be good to tell even the age of the whole pc

 

[ricinus13]

The GPU is a bit over 2.5 years old, the CPU/motherboard/RAM is 4.5 if I remember correctly. The old PSU was purchased at the same time as the GPU.

[TTQGaming]

Just now, ricinus13 said:

The GPU is a bit over 2.5 years old, the CPU/motherboard/RAM is 4.5 if I remember correctly. The old PSU was purchased at the same time as the GPU.

have you replaced any of the thermal compound on the processor and/or the gpu

 

[ricinus13]

For the CPU yes, I did it quite a few times last time I did it was when I put an NH-D14 on it, about a year ago. Not on the GPU, since that would have voided the warranty, and the temperatures were never an issue(maxed out at 76-77C). Furthermore the PC is sitting in an air conditioned room so even the summer heat is not a problem.

 

Edit: the whole thing is in a Fractal Design Define R4 case with more than enough airflow.

[TTQGaming]

the thermal compound on the gpu may have dried out

[TTQGaming]

you should  be able to remove the cooler without voiding the warranty

 

[ricinus13]

I highly doubt that, since then the GPU core temps would be higher than normal(the card was running at 75C at full load even when I bought it, which is normal for a 390), which they aren't at all.

[TTQGaming]

this may help you..

not only for better performance and temperature

 

[ricinus13]

I'm certain that this is not the problem, as I stated a few times already that temps are not the issue. Everything seems normal, GPU and VRM temps included. 

[TTQGaming]

then maybe the ram is coming out, try to take them out clean them and put them back in

[TTQGaming]

has your computer beeped?

Black screen, and beeping

 

[ricinus13]

RAM is in place as should be. When I installed the new PSU yesterday I cleaned everything and checked everything. Also with the RAM coming out of the slots it would either not be detected by Windows(which isn't the case) or not boot at all(which isn't the case either). And no sound, just a hard crash with black screen.

[TTQGaming]

is the hard drive ok?

 

[ricinus13]

Yes, as far as I can tell both the HDD and the SSD are fine.

[TTQGaming]

Just now, ricinus13 said:

Yes, as far as I can tell both the HDD and the SSD are fine.

if you could boot your windows test your boot drive like this
Start - Computer - Right-Click ssd - Properties - Tools - Error Checking
 

[ricinus13]

No errors on either.

[TTQGaming]

did you just check it or just guessing?

 

[ricinus13]

Checked both with Windows' on error checking and a 3rd party program, no errors.

[TTQGaming]

interesting... you could take it to a third party pc repair shop for inspection, or take it for inspection if you still have the warranty

 

 

[NelizMastr]

Black screens are usually driver crashes that can happen for a variety of reasons. 

 

Since underclocking worked at first but not anymore points to instability in the card. I'm guessing here that the GPU itself is on its way out. 

[ricinus13]

Just now, NelizMastr said:

Black screens are usually driver crashes that can happen for a variety of reasons. 

 

Since underclocking worked at first but not anymore points to instability in the card. I'm guessing here that the GPU itself is on its way out. 

Yeah, I figured. Do you think a BIOS flash on the card could help? Also any idea on why the core clock is locked at 300MHz?

[NelizMastr]

2 minutes ago, ricinus13 said:

Yeah, I figured. Do you think a BIOS flash on the card could help? Also any idea on why the core clock is locked at 300MHz?

It's worth a shot, but if you flash a mismatched BIOS the card might become a brick/paperweight.

 

Just to be sure, I'd run another DDU and perform a clean install of the latest AMD driver afterwards.

[ricinus13]

Alright, I'll try it later today, see if it does anything. Can't really be worse than this, since it's already almost paperweight, as 300MHz in any game produces laughable performance, probably the same level as the iGPU. 

[ricinus13]

Okay, did a bit of google searching, and found that this issue is actually a very common one with absolutely no fix. Looks like I'll be buying a new GPU.