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Defective video card?

F

Faethon

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 31, 2005
Messages
1,071
Hello video card gurus. I just bought a Radeon 6450 (Club 3D). The card seems to work, but, at random intervalls, the screen goes like a chessboard with pink and white small squares, then blacks out, win7 says that the driver crashed and this goes on forever, with occasional BSOD too. Between the intervalls, the card works fine. I even played a bit of Shogun 2 with it.

I tried:

- The latest catalyst drivers.
- The drivers from the CD (11.7). (i uninstalles ALL AMD drivers and reinstalled from scratch).
- Reseating the video card.

The card isn't running hot.GPU-Z says 40C idle, 49C at load. It has a case fan blowing directly to it.

Unless i am missing something, the card is defective?

Thank you.
 
Does this happen during games? If not, this could be that infamous flash crash, and is unrelated to your card, but is the fault of the drivers.

Take note of when the crashes happen: i.e. is the browser running, are you playing videos, etc. My guess is it has to do with 2d applications and clock-switching.

FYI, that issue was the main reason I ditched AMD. You can get around most of this by disabling hardware acceleration in the browser, but that's a sorry situation for a repuatable graphics card maker to be in 9 months after release...
 
Ajiki-kun said:
Does this happen during games? If not, this could be that infamous flash crash, and is unrelated to your card, but is the fault of the drivers.

Take note of when the crashes happen: i.e. is the browser running, are you playing videos, etc. My guess is it has to do with 2d applications and clock-switching.

FYI, that issue was the main reason I ditched AMD. You can get around most of this by disabling hardware acceleration in the browser, but that's a sorry situation for a repuatable graphics card maker to be in 9 months after release...
Click to expand...

Now that you mention it, no, it was outside games. It happened just after getting into Windows (just the desktop suddenly filled with pink squares), while using the browser and while using windows explorer.

The funny is that in Windows experience index, it gives me lower score than my 5450! I think it was 3,5 vs 4,7 of my 5450.

Disabling hardware acceleration is ridiculous! I can't believe AMD hasn't fixed this! So i guess i can't RMA it either...

Thank you!
 
You are very welcome. If that is indeed the problem, I'm glad it was of any help.

Regarding the RMA... hell, I would still try to RMA if I could.

In fact, I've already done so with a 7950: my rationale was that if there were no satisfactory drivers for the card, then it doesn't matter if the card works just fine since the experience owning the card was unacceptable. I returned it for the 660 ti, and I couldn't be happier. But that's me, and my personal experience. People will tell you the AMD drivers work fine for them, etc. and it's still your call to make.
 
Ajiki-kun said:
You are very welcome. If that is indeed the problem, I'm glad it was of any help.

Regarding the RMA... hell, I would still try to RMA if I could.

In fact, I've already done so with a 7950: my rationale was that if there were no satisfactory drivers for the card, then it doesn't matter if the card works just fine since the experience owning the card was unacceptable. I returned it for the 660 ti, and I couldn't be happier. But that's me, and my personal experience. People will tell you the AMD drivers work fine for them, etc. and it's still your call to make.
Click to expand...

Well, RMA will give me new card. Which will have the same problem. So it's hardly a solution. Plus, here in EU, RMA is done through the reseller, who in my case, has a clause, that if you RMA an item that isn't really defective, you pay not just the postal expenses, but also the time they lose to troubleshoot the part. So i bought this 34 euros, i risk to pay it AGAIN... Also i am terribly tired to wait 1 month for the new card to arrive.

I really don't know if it's what you say, but it fits the bill! I tried it again, and the first freeze with pink squares was at the Windows welcome screen. I had to press reset. Once i was in Windows, again many freezes with pink or green squares in another occasion, while i was doing something 2D.

I am back at my 5450, which works flawlessly. The Club 3D card was also terribly ugly! The only reason i bought it was to have a bit smoother motion in Shogun 2 in some occasions while maintaining the same TDP as the 5450, but i can live with that.

I think i will wait for nvidia to come with a 20W TDP card that beats the 5450 and then buy that. Honestly i am a bit tired with Catalyst drivers, although i do want to support AMD and think that compatibility wise it is a safe bet to use "all AMD" products.

But this is really irritating. The card is unusable. Freezes, BSODs, whatever you ask. I tried Catalyst 12.3 too, same story.
 
Update just in case someone else encounters the problem. I contacted the shop's technician and the card is DOA. I bought a new one, a HIS 6570 Silence and works just fine. Surprisingly also runs cooler than the 5450 and FINALLY, i can play Shogun 2 with medium settings. Maybe even high, haven't tried yet. It's almost a new game with new special effects! Very happy with it.
 
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