My awful experience with the 4870X2

O

Orangey

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 22, 2008
Messages
100
Since it arrived yesterday:

-Drivers (official 8.8s) failed to install properly leaving me with a blank screen
-After a hard reset, temps were 100C
-Used a driver cleaner and attempted to re-install, got some bs error about an ini file being missing. Same error no matter what pack I tried
-Finally got some drivers installed "properly" using the outdated ones on the CD
-Only way I could change the fan speed was via XpertTool, which stuck it at 50%, the supposedly almighty RivaTuner method did not work at all (I checked every possible thing I could be doing wrong) and now I'm stuck with this fucking leafblower noise constantly

Avoid this POS card like the plague if you just want something that works.
 
About 2 minutes after posting this thread I finally got it to rev down to 33%. Only thing I did different was click "activate" in CCC profile manager rather than right-clicking the tray icon.

That's pretty weird. At least I can hear myself think again.
 
Orangey said:
About 2 minutes after posting this thread I finally got it to rev down to 33%. Only thing I did different was click "activate" in CCC profile manager rather than right-clicking the tray icon.

That's pretty weird. At least I can hear myself think again.
Click to expand...

Yeah those things get loud. At 50% throttle the fans are louder than my Geforce GTX 280 3-Way SLI setup at 100% fan speed.
 
lol, I think I'd rather hear my card sounding like a Jet taking off then hearing a tiny pop with some smoke :p
 
Sounds like the OP needs to go to Geek Squad for his future tech adventures.:rolleyes:
 
The fan speed fix is on the front page news, accompanied with a nice youtube tutorial. ATI should release a new bios for this card or a driver fix already.
 
I hear about all the problems with this card and I wonder what good all of that horsepower is if you can't reliably use it...
 
Orangey said:
Since it arrived yesterday:

-Drivers (official 8.8s) failed to install properly leaving me with a blank screen
-After a hard reset, temps were 100C
-Used a driver cleaner and attempted to re-install, got some bs error about an ini file being missing. Same error no matter what pack I tried
-Finally got some drivers installed "properly" using the outdated ones on the CD
-Only way I could change the fan speed was via XpertTool, which stuck it at 50%, the supposedly almighty RivaTuner method did not work at all (I checked every possible thing I could be doing wrong) and now I'm stuck with this fucking leafblower noise constantly

Avoid this POS card like the plague if you just want something that works.
Click to expand...

I experienced none of that with my 4870x2, but then again, I consider my technical level to be beyond that of a chimpanzee. I think you would be better off buying a pre-built gaming PC.
 
This is how you change the fan speed using CCC:

<Feature name="FanSpeedAlgorithm_1">
<Property name="FanSpeedAlgorithm" value="Automatic" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedRPMTarget_1">
<Property name="Want" value="0" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedPercentTarget_1">
<Property name="Want" value="23" />


Change the "Property name="FanSpeedAlgorithm" value=" from "Automatic" to "Manual"

Then under "FanSpeedPercentTarget_x", change "Property name="Want" value=" from "23" to your desired fan speed.

I used 40.
 
Don't be pricks, we all started somewhere. Also, if it's available in a retail store it should be user friendly such that you don't need to an enthusiast to properly use the product. Snobbishness like this is what gives PC gaming a bad rap.
 
He didn't ask for help. He posted a bunch of nonsense claiming the card was a POS. That's flamebait if I've ever seen it.
 
Orangey said:
Since it arrived yesterday:

-Drivers (official 8.8s) failed to install properly leaving me with a blank screen
-After a hard reset, temps were 100C
-Used a driver cleaner and attempted to re-install, got some bs error about an ini file being missing. Same error no matter what pack I tried
-Finally got some drivers installed "properly" using the outdated ones on the CD
-Only way I could change the fan speed was via XpertTool, which stuck it at 50%, the supposedly almighty RivaTuner method did not work at all (I checked every possible thing I could be doing wrong) and now I'm stuck with this fucking leafblower noise constantly

Avoid this POS card like the plague if you just want something that works.
Click to expand...

I will happily trade you a GTX280 for it., I will even pay the shipping and the difference.

edit: I am serous BTW
 
I had the exact same prob as the OP the only difference between his story and mine, is i did my research and fixed my problem instead of bitching now my card sits at 62c and 72c under load
 
what a pointless post, my card installed fine and worked first time on my old xp install(no new driver install) and my new vista install, got the simple fan speed work around going via the profile edit and now with the right room temp can get mid forties idle temps with 35% fan speed.

i think the OP's post is very irresponsible as it is clearly the user who is at fault, not the card and telling people to avoid it is just wrong. i turst most people have the sense to ignore it but there will always be a few who will use this as "evidence" to avoid ATI in general.
 
What a bunch of smarmy, smug douchebags.

Yes, I've read all the threads on RivaTuner. I researched and read and read and read. In the end the problem was down to ATI's shitty software.

About 2 minutes after posting this thread I finally got it to rev down to 33%. Only thing I did different was click "activate" in CCC profile manager rather than right-clicking the tray icon.
Click to expand...

This is a dumb bug which should not exist in a retail product. And just because you didn't experience any problems, doesn't mean you're super-leet, it just means you're lucky.
 
The latest version of RivaTuner never claimed to be for the 4870X2.Sometimes it works,sometimes it doesn't.The X2 is supposed to be covered by a later release.
 
necrophile said:
i think the OP's post is very irresponsible as it is clearly the user who is at fault, not the card and telling people to avoid it is just wrong.
Click to expand...

I would agree that it is overly 'ranty' and I certainly wouldn't tell people to avoid the card... but from what I have read this isn't "clearly the user who is at fault" at all.

That said OP, come ask for help next time before the rant and you won't get so many people blowing up at you :)
 
Many people have the product and tons of people have it running flawlessly.
You come in here say its the card thats a POS and that ppl should avoid it if they want something that just works.
Fact is who knows how many things you could have done wrong during installation. Your windows install could be way beyond fucked for everything to just work and be a cause of all your problems.
You had bad luck and just blamed the card posting flame bait.
 
Why's everyone hating on this post? It sounds like a legit problem to me.

I am looking to get 4870x2 and so I would like to know the potential problems of this thing and the workarounds.

Was the solution just something that could be fixed while tweaking in the CCC? Why didn't it work with the ATI default values?
 
He vented his anger. While we understand being upset when a new piece of hardware doesn't end up being just a plug and play for all, asking for help instead of venting gets better responses. ;)
 
don't be misled by this guy, the problem is him and his comp not ATI, their product or their drivers bar deciding to set such a low idle fan speed in the first place but hardly a big deal, if you do things properly things should go without a hitch, just because the OP didn't mention doing anything wrong, doesn't mean he didn't do it.
 
Well, yes, the OP is obviously a tool. However, ATI is partly to blame for introducing a card with these kind of cooling problems. In addition to the usual "why do they use crap TIM on high-end cards?" there's the legitimate gripe about the reference cooler performing this poorly in both noise and heat. There really is no reason for that fan to be that loud.

It's one thing to do such a crap job on a $200-300 card. Once we're talking $550 and up, though, people get a little hesitant to do anything to void their warranties.

I'm on the fence myself, between waiting for some non-reference cooler designs, water-cooling, or just going with a Visiontek for the lifetime warranty and making it their problem. *shrug* I think I'm going with a 4870 for now, and just biding my time on the 4870x2 to see what develops in the next month or two.

-S
 
dont hassle the guy, everyone has to start somewhere. bunch of elitist pricks.
 
i agree there are problems with the cooling solution and this should be addressed with a driver update atleast. Not alot of people are confident enough to go changing files around. BUT if the guy has a legit problem with it, I sincerally doubt that he looked too far into fixing it. Secondly I dont believe he's just starting out, he may be a n00b here but that doesnt automaticly make him a n00b outright. Its one thing to vent its another to tell people toavoid this card outright when there are solutions out there that will satisfy everyone untill the problem is addressed by ATI/AMD. Thats where everyone has problems. They are not being elitist pricks they just dont like someone talking out their ass. Think before you post. i am glad to see the OP fixed his problem tho.
 
SoAndSo said:
dont hassle the guy, everyone has to start somewhere. bunch of elitist pricks.
Click to expand...


QFT.

Its sad the forums with the most knowledge tend to be the most elitist too. It never helps anything. Even if someone does talk slightly out of turn, you're worse for replying with crap like is in this thread.

The behaviour of others shouldn't be a green flag for you to be a prick, half of you act as if he posted saying "All the children I've eaten in the ATI carpark taste horrible, ATI suck".
 
Elitist pricks?
We wouldnt say these things if he didnt come in here just telling people avoid this hardware its horrible for everyone blah blah blah.
And acting like every problem he listed is a problem that will affect every user.
Avoid this POS card like the plague if you just want something that works.
Click to expand...

Fact is he needs to learn that shit happens and I highly doubt its the cards fault.
I have had PC issues myself and the only time I blamed hardware was with a Nvidia 680Sli board that was a piece of shit and still is.

If he is having issues with the card and came looking for help thats one thing.
Kinda like how Dan D is having issues with his card.
You dont see us shouting at Dan D.
 
Its one of the better cards I have purchased. Sorry you had so many issues with it.

Its not a POS card^^
 
I think it might be an I-D-10-T error.

To OP, next time ask for help instead of coming in here an bitching when you obviously have no clue what you are doing.
 
Well the guy is pissed that he's having to deal with bullshit after spending almost 600 bucks. I can understand that. Ya maybe he shouldn't have ranted and raved but it's hardly the earth changing event some of you guys are making it out to be. Instead I think the ati fanboys see a post beating up on this card (for whatever reason) and they lose their fucking mind forgetting about why or any other rational thought. Don't worry kids ati and the 4800 series can survive just fine with 1 person being a little unhappy with them.

Oh and some of you guys in this thread have acted like arrogant douches. Cut the shit please. Thank you.
 
1erCru said:
Its one of the better cards I have purchased. Sorry you had so many issues with it.

Its not a POS card^^
Click to expand...

The 4870 X2 is hardly a POS. I've had a ton of issues using the 4870 X2 in my main gaming machine but in other machines its' worked great. I just think AMD needs to get their act together in regard to the drivers. They need to address CrossfireX scaling the same as NVIDIA needs to address scaling with 3-Way SLI. (Standard 2-Way SLI seems to scale fairly well in most games.) On the other hand I wonder though is if the scaling isn't a problem with the games themselves and not with ATI or NVIDIA's drivers to some degree. Call of Duty 4 really shows that 100% scaling is POSSIBLE. Even with three and four GPUs. That game absolutely loves multi-GPU configurations.
 
Savoy said:
Well the guy is pissed that he's having to deal with bullshit after spending almost 600 bucks. I can understand that. Ya maybe he shouldn't have ranted and raved but it's hardly the earth changing event some of you guys are making it out to be. Instead I think the ati fanboys see a post beating up on this card (for whatever reason) and they lose their fucking mind forgetting about why or any other rational thought. Don't worry kids ati and the 4800 series can survive just fine with 1 person being a little unhappy with them.

Oh and some of you guys in this thread have acted like arrogant douches. Cut the shit please. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Before my 4850 I was a hardcore Nvidia fan even in the face of the ATI 9000 series (at least I think that's the one) that everyone treated as the second coming. Well, I got tired of paying Nvidia prices, the 4850 came along, proved itself to be a great deal for the performance, and I bought mine before Nvidia got their heads out of their ass and started slashing prices down to something reasonable (aka competitive).

Myself, I've had plenty of problems with hardware over the years, including not being able to get a system to POST for whatever reason, to having a board that won't even fire up even though its receiving power. That didn't make me avoid that particular brand or chipset or whatever applied as a POS. It simply told me that I need to learn where I'm going wrong with this. At no point do I simply just blame bad hardware and start telling people about it like the sky is falling. I leave that to the people who can thoroughly test these things out (i.e. reviews and evaluation sites like the [H] and what not) and document WHY it is a bad product.

Frustration is understandable. Everyone here experiences it at some point with this stuff. But the difference is we don't go claiming its a horrible product because it doesn't work out of the box as it should. We attempt to figure out WHY it isn't working. Maybe it really IS something we are doing wrong. Nobody has a problem with the OP being pissed off that his hardware isn't working the way it should. We can -all- relate to that here, and anyone who can't either has seriously lucked out, or is lying.

What people do have a problem with is his claim that it should be avoided just because THEY can't get it working, even in the face of many others having no issues with it. If that isn't elitism, then I don't know what is. Seriously, the attitude that you can do no wrong when it comes to doing it yourself and blaming the equipment you're using, is elitism at its finest, and a much more snobbish behavior than others simply saying "have you ever considered its something YOU are doing wrong?"
 
Dan_D said:
The 4870 X2 is hardly a POS. I've had a ton of issues using the 4870 X2 in my main gaming machine but in other machines its' worked great. I just think AMD needs to get their act together in regard to the drivers. They need to address CrossfireX scaling the same as NVIDIA needs to address scaling with 3-Way SLI. (Standard 2-Way SLI seems to scale fairly well in most games.) On the other hand I wonder though is if the scaling isn't a problem with the games themselves and not with ATI or NVIDIA's drivers to some degree. Call of Duty 4 really shows that 100% scaling is POSSIBLE. Even with three and four GPUs. That game absolutely loves multi-GPU configurations.
Click to expand...

So maybe it IS the game dev's and not a driver.
 
Proxy said:
So maybe it IS the game dev's and not a driver.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm starting to think. I mean if Call of Duty 4 can get scaling that good why can't anything else? Oh, also Doom 3 and Quake 4 scale well with it too. Half Life 2 also scales better than most games with it as well. This leads me to believe that its' all about the quality of the game and its' coding/optimization in regard to multi-GPU scaling. With everyone always tailoring their games to the lowest common denominator I wouldn't be totally surprised by that being the case.For the high end crowd, rather than giving us something extra in the way of features and or graphics, they just depend on the raw power of our machines to make up for their lack of development skill.
 
Hi, I'm relatively illiterate when it comes to Computer technology. I have built about a dozen machines and read tech articles all the time, but I am still a relative newbie. I bought my 4870x2 to replace my 8800GTX.

I took the card out of the box, put it into the PCI-E slot, I plugged in the correct power cables (yes I have a PSU with the appropriate cables), closed my case, and turned on the machine.

I decided to play it safe and reinstall Vista x64. I entered Windows and installed my chipset drivers followed by the 8.8beta driver from ATi. Next, I installed a few games, and played them. The performance was amazing. The card blows warm air into my room, but runs fine at auto fan speed.

If I can handle the card, then those with issues need to RMA their card for a replacement or figure out what other hardware is creating a conflict. To come on here and rant like a pissed off teenager, about your own personal problems with the card, is stupid.

If you are having problems with the card, there are 3 probable causes:

1.) You didn't do your homework and don't know what the hell you're doing.
2.) Something else on your system is causing a conflict.
3.) The card itself is faulty.
 
Dethred said:
Hi, I'm relatively illiterate when it comes to Computer technology. I have built about a dozen machines and read tech articles all the time, but I am still a relative newbie. I bought my 4870x2 to replace my 8800GTX.

I took the card out of the box, put it into the PCI-E slot, I plugged in the correct power cables (yes I have a PSU with the appropriate cables), closed my case, and turned on the machine.

I decided to play it safe and reinstall Vista x64. I entered Windows and installed my chipset drivers followed by the 8.8beta driver from ATi. Next, I installed a few games, and played them. The performance was amazing. The card blows warm air into my room, but runs fine at auto fan speed.

If I can handle the card, then those with issues need to RMA their card for a replacement or figure out what other hardware is creating a conflict. To come on here and rant like a pissed off teenager, about your own personal problems with the card, is stupid.

If you are having problems with the card, there are 3 probable causes:

1.) You didn't do your homework and don't know what the hell you're doing.
2.) Something else on your system is causing a conflict.
3.) The card itself is faulty.
Click to expand...

Umm no.

It's not that cut and dry. Occasionally problems present themselves that are WAY outside the norm and the solutions defy logic. Your statements are flamebait at best and are lacking in perspective.
 
I don't think the card is a pos, but the drivers certaintly are. After two weeks of my 4870x2 I ended up returning due to driver issues. It would work great for a day or two and after a reboot be completely unusable in games, stuttering, significant frame rate drops etc.. only cleaning and reinstalling drivers would sometimes clear it up again for a few days.
 
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