XFX RX 580 GTS XXX Black Edition BLINKING problem

Mr. Stryker

Supreme [H]ardness
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Mar 15, 2005
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While not gaming, the card works great. But when a 3D application (games) runs, it starts to blink all of my monitors after about 2-3 minutes (when the card's temperature increases to past 55c). And it gets worse the longer I play, to the point where I have to stop playing. I would say it'd blink every two to four seconds during PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS and at least 5 other taxing games. I am using two FreeSync monitors (Nixeus EDG 27 1440p 144hz and LG 27UD59P-B 4k 60hz) with their included DisplayPort cables. Normally, these cables are usually poor quality and can not withstand peak performance as I did experience blinking with them, so I decided to order Monoprice cables. The problem persisted, and there was no improvement. I decided to buy Cable Matters DP cables, and it was the same thing. I wondered if it was temperature related, but it couldn't be - I have hearing loss so I usually leave the fans at 100% speed. It hit 77 degrees at peak. My case is very well ventilated. I put it in my other system, with an AMD 2400G CPU, in a MSI B350 Krait Gaming board with Galaxy Hall of Fame DDR4-3600 memory and a Corsair SF600 power supply, and it also did the same thing, with different monitors (using HDMI with the 1080p monitor). Then I decided to take apart the video card and apply my own thermal paste, because I thought that the blinking was temperature related. (It is, in a way, since the blinking only happens after a certain temperature, like 55-60c) After performing this task, the load temperature dropped to 69 degrees at load, but unfortunately, that did not solve the problem. So I am at a loss on what to do. Before you ask, I always release my body static discharge by touching a grounded piece of metal before touching hardware. I feel that one of the memory modules could be causing this.

XFX support asked me to do some tests and run commands.

This is all on Windows 10 Pro 64-bit.

  1. I already reformatted my main system, and as I mentioned, I already tried the video card in the second system, which was already on a fresh install of Windows.
  2. I've run sfc /scannow and found nothing wrong.
  3. I've run the DISM commands.
  4. I was using AMD Catalyst Adrenalin 18.5.2 drivers on both systems. I rolled back to 17.6.2 as you suggested, but the issue was the same.
  5. I've used DDU before when switching from NVIDIA to AMD, but did not in this case because, again, I was on a fresh install of Windows and the RX 580 was already in the system.
  6. In the Wattman, I already had the power limit maxed out (50%) and the fan speed. Temperatures are great.

Notes:

  • The symptoms and results are the same in both systems.
  • I took the liberty to lend my video card to a friend so that he could play with it for a day. Within 6 hours of lending it to him, he put his video card back in because the blinking was unbearable, and the intervals were short whenever he played The Witcher 3, PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS, Fortnite and Arma 3.
  • What I noticed was that if I took off the back panel (the peak temperatures were already 69 degrees celsius) and pointed a Vornado fan towards my open case, it allowed me to play all of my games a bit longer before blinking. It improved from 2-3 minutes to about 20-25 minutes. This time, it was crashing the whole system, so I had to do a hard reset.
  • I have a feeling that one of the memory modules could be bad. Because the GPU core itself is already so cool (with the Vornado fan pointed at the case, it peaked at 66 degrees celsius with +50% power limit, 100% fan speed, temp 90-75)
  • There is definitely something wrong with the card, if I play games. When I'm just browsing the net, and no games are running, it won't crash.

They created a RMA ticket for me including a shipping label so I sent it out.

Their response:

The unit came in and passed all testing.

Posted Video in all ports.

Survived 12 hour over-night burn in on DX11 test.
  • Passed 4k gaming testing (3+ hours) and confirmed to work in DX 9, 10, and 11.
  • For peace of mind, we will be replacing the unit so you have a different one to try entirely.
  • If you have any more questions or concerns, please let us know. Thank you, Mark at XFX
So at this point I'm at an even bigger loss.

And the new card arrives.

This is very interesting. Got the new card (and thanks for that), but the problem persists. However, this time, using FreeSync, it'll cause the second monitor to blink while the main screen remains fine. Turning off FS seems to make the problem go away. What brand cables are you using? I got CableMatters branded DisplayPort cables, which my friend also has. What I don't get is it doesn't happen to the Vega 56 card I have. Just the specific XFX RX 580 GTS models. I really don't get it. It makes absolutely NO sense. So the last resort is to replace the DP cables. Hoping that you can tell me which brand you have. My friend is using my Vega 56 card because I sold the 580 to him and it was blinking hard for him. This is quite baffling.

I ordered new StarTech DP cables that are supposedly DP-certified. While the CableMatters cables weren't.

Any thoughts?
 
Update 7/20

The StarTech.com certified DP cables made no difference at all for us. However, get this:

My roommate is testing my 580. It has been about 12 hours. It doesn't even blink for him. He's played about 4 hours of PUBG, 3 hours of ArmA 3 and a few other games with no signs of blinking.

His setup is a Ryzen 1700X @ 3.9GHz, ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero, 7 year old Corsair HX 850 PSU, Samsung 850 EVO SSD. Really don't get it.

Blinks for my rig in sig (brand new Corsair SF600w PSU), and for my friend who I sold the card to (we both have the same CPU+board but different RAM, and he has a brand new EVGA Supernova G3 750w), this is on a fresh install of Windows, with the latest audio, chipset and GPU drivers (18.7.1).
 
All I can guess is you guys motherboard doesn't "like" the GPU....

Maybe that's why it works in your buddies Crosshair and not yalls??

Mobo BIOS update maybe? (I had crazy issues with an old 5850 before flashing my board)
 
All I can guess is you guys motherboard doesn't "like" the GPU....

Maybe that's why it works in your buddies Crosshair and not yalls??

Mobo BIOS update maybe? (I had crazy issues with an old 5850 before flashing my board)

This.
I still have a pair of 9800GTX's that will work fine on AM2 mobo's (tried 4) until you reboot the system, than it's like they disappear and refuse to work after that, but they work great on 939 and AM3/+ mobo's, some weird shit.
 
Update 7/23 and 24

Built a completely different system. Different hard drive for the OS. Ryzen 7 2700 on a MSI B350 Tomahawk board, RaidMax 850w gold PSU, OS on a Seagate FireCuda (fresh install of Windows 10 Pro 64-bit). Hooked up to the same monitors (both DisplayPort). 13-15 minutes into PUBG, it blinked once. Which is an improvement, but at this point I really want to sell the card. I don't want to deal with this at all. Swapped out the DP cable for HDMI 2.0 and that made no difference. Disconnected the LG 4k monitor and it still blinked once or twice. I feel like I want a reference card or downgrade to a RX 480 8gb because it doesn't look like XFX has a reference 580 card that has 8GB of VRAM. Really am frustrated at this point. Nothing is overclocked. Even tried with FreeSync off on both monitors.
 
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All I can guess is you guys motherboard doesn't "like" the GPU....

Maybe that's why it works in your buddies Crosshair and not yalls??

Mobo BIOS update maybe? (I had crazy issues with an old 5850 before flashing my board)

Flashed the BIOS to the new one that was uploaded on ASUS's website on 7/20. No difference.

This.
I still have a pair of 9800GTX's that will work fine on AM2 mobo's (tried 4) until you reboot the system, than it's like they disappear and refuse to work after that, but they work great on 939 and AM3/+ mobo's, some weird shit.

I've never had this kind of problem before until now and I build a lot of systems. I mean a lot.

I had to sell my Vega card to my friend who I sold the 580 to in the first place. So now this is my problem. How can I sell this card with confidence?
 
XFXSupport The person who originally did the RMA for me & tested my original card was Mark @ XFX. My original card was fine and passed all testing etc. I would really like to know what the test setup is like and what cables you/he used. I'm at a loss.
 
Update 7/20

The StarTech.com certified DP cables made no difference at all for us. However, get this:

My roommate is testing my 580. It has been about 12 hours. It doesn't even blink for him. He's played about 4 hours of PUBG, 3 hours of ArmA 3 and a few other games with no signs of blinking.

His setup is a Ryzen 1700X @ 3.9GHz, ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero, 7 year old Corsair HX 850 PSU, Samsung 850 EVO SSD. Really don't get it.

Blinks for my rig in sig (brand new Corsair SF600w PSU), and for my friend who I sold the card to (we both have the same CPU+board but different RAM, and he has a brand new EVGA Supernova G3 750w), this is on a fresh install of Windows, with the latest audio, chipset and GPU drivers (18.7.1).


Did your Roomate and you use the same monitors, or are they different? That's the only detail that's not clear from any of your posts.
 
Did your Roomate and you use the same monitors, or are they different? That's the only detail that's not clear from any of your posts.

His monitors were: Benq XL2735 27" 1440p 144hz using the same CableMatters DP cable that I use, plus the first generation Yamakasi Catleap Q270 LED 27" @ 60Hz on dual-link DVI. These monitors do not have FS/Gsync.

My friend who I sold the 580 to but regrettably had to return it to me and I sold the Vega to him so he wouldn't have to deal with this, uses a Samsung 28" 4k w/ FreeSync monitor that is about 1.5 years old, do not know the model, was using CableMatters but now StarTech.com certified DP cable + HDMI connection to an older 22" Dell 1080p screen.

My monitors are LG 27" 4k w/ FS + Nixeus EDG 27 1440p 144hz, both using CableMatters DP cables (also tested a HDMI 2.0 cable so it wouldn't be two DP connected to the video card but it persisted anyway)
 
Am I reading this right that your roommate tested this RX 580 in his computer with his monitor?

My theory: Could be an issue with card under load causing a little current to flow through the cables, which would cause the occasional dropped frame, but not completely overwhelm the signal?

The feedback could only be affecting your monitor, and not your friends or EVGA's test setup (with a bad signal, different devices sometimes give different behavior). If he successfully ran that RX 580 on his machine with his monitor, try plugging his monitor into your machine , and see if you still get blinking?

OR since you got a second card, and you get the same effect, it could be a bad monitor.

You can confirm it's the Monitor by trying your roommate's on your machine.

My only other theory could be your PSU. It sounds like it's working on every other machine you tested.
 
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Thanks for the reply defaultluser. My Vega and my current spare GTX 970 is working great. It's only the XFX RX 580s that really dislike my gear. But I didn't think of that, and I actually have a new monitor that just arrived today (Alienware 25" 240hz 1080p FreeSync that I got on sale for 50% off) and I'll be using that to test with. Will keep this updated.
 
Hey Mr. Stryker -

I just received a new XFX RX 580 today and am facing, from what I can tell, the exact same issue that you had/have. Do you by chance have any update?
 
No. I gave up on this, since XFX support didn't really do much. It didn't matter what I used. However, it worked fine for my friend running on an old i5 2500k and ASUS P67 sabertooth. Don't know if it's because he's running Windows 7 but he liked it and knew about the issues so I had to give it to him for free. Biggest mistake paying $350 for it at Best Buy during the mining hike, to a damn paperweight. cryogenixx
 
I also no longer have the 970 or the Vega, boiled down to an used 1070 which does the job just fine. I honestly don't know if I would buy from XFX again. A friend lent me his Powercolor RX 580 and it worked fine.
 
No. I gave up on this, since XFX support didn't really do much. It didn't matter what I used. However, it worked fine for my friend running on an old i5 2500k and ASUS P67 sabertooth. Don't know if it's because he's running Windows 7 but he liked it and knew about the issues so I had to give it to him for free. Biggest mistake paying $350 for it at Best Buy during the mining hike, to a damn paperweight. cryogenixx

If it worked fine for your friend....

He coulda tossed ya a few dolos.
 
If it worked fine for your friend....

He coulda tossed ya a few dolos.

I couldn't guarantee that it'd work fine in his next build. Or guarantee warranty for it. I tested it so much I feel like I could be working for the QA department somewhere.
 
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