PowerColor Red Devil RX480 refuses to clock

Nebulous

Nebulous

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Nov 16, 2005
Messages
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Man I'm soo fucking pissed. My 480 refuses to clock anything beyond stock (1330/2000). I'm either greeted with black/white screens or a crash.

Temps are not an issue as I've swapped out tims.

Tried AMD's Wattman which is just a confusing mess. Tried clocking to 1350/2200 and was rewarded with a black screen.
Flashing to the "unlocked bios" from powercolor made no difference aside from raising the power limit from 5% to 50%.

Tried Trixx, Asus' Gpu Tweak, Msi AB. All are useless.

The 480 is a RMA replacement from a defective 390 I sent in.

What the fuck am I missing/overlooking something or do I really have a shit ass card?

I posted this same problem in several forums. Nobody has answers.
 
OCing is NOT guaranteed. if it runs at the advertised specs you got what you paid for, which in you case was an rma replacement better than your 390...

ps: I replied to your other post...
 
Yeah tried both ways:

Higher gpu clock, kept mem @ stock = black screen/lock
Higher mem clock, gpu @ stock = black/white screen crash.

I prefer my 390 as I was able to clock that respectably and got a great performance boost from it. Guess you live an learn with brands.
 
Nebulous said:
Man I'm soo fucking pissed. My 480 refuses to clock anything beyond stock (1330/2000). I'm either greeted with black/white screens or a crash.

Temps are not an issue as I've swapped out tims.

Tried AMD's Wattman which is just a confusing mess. Tried clocking to 1350/2200 and was rewarded with a black screen.
Flashing to the "unlocked bios" from powercolor made no difference aside from raising the power limit from 5% to 50%.

Tried Trixx, Asus' Gpu Tweak, Msi AB. All are useless.

The 480 is a RMA replacement from a defective 390 I sent in.

What the fuck am I missing/overlooking something or do I really have a shit ass card?

I posted this same problem in several forums. Nobody has answers.
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You got a better card than you had, after you. Ur ed that one up overclocking, and your bitching about it? AMD should take their,card back
 
Better card? Because it's a new architecture? So what? If it doesn't perform the way I like it to perform I can't complain about it? Tell you what, if you ain't got shit positive to say, go somewhere else to give advice bro.
 
Well, do not be too bothered by it. For example, I love my Sapphire R9 Fury Nitro+ but, it does not overclock at all and is not unlockable. Makes me wish I had stuck with the XFX One I had bought last December and returned when I found it would not fit my case.
 
ManofGod said:
Well, do not be too bothered by it. For example, I love my Sapphire R9 Fury Nitro+ but, it does not overclock at all and is not unlockable. Makes me wish I had stuck with the XFX One I had bought last December and returned when I found it would not fit my case.
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Yeah I know. Just peed-off since other 480's are getting some nice clocks, and I have a dud. It runs stock speeds just fine and since I changed out tims, runs cooler too. I'll hold on to it I guess till I decide what to do with it.
 
Nebulous said:
Yeah I know. Just peed-off since other 480's are getting some nice clocks, and I have a dud. It runs stock speeds just fine and since I changed out tims, runs cooler too. I'll hold on to it I guess till I decide what to do with it.
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Just sell the thing and buy something better.
 
If you apply too much voltage to the card then it just creates heat and instability. I'm on water, but I'll relay my voltage settings to you anyways. Try something between mine and stock and see if you can get higher.

GPU core 1415

GPU Voltage 1243 mv which is +93 according to Asus GPU Tweak II.

Memory Clock(MHz) 8800. If it says 2000 then that is 8000. This can give nice gains without touching the core!

Power Target 150%. (I just pick 150%; not sure if it matters)

GPU Temp Target is set for 80; but I've never seen 60 on water. :)

Do NOT OC the memory and core at the same time when learning limits on the RX 480. Some of the cards have issues with overclocking the Core and Memory at the same time. These cards scream when either is overclocked! So if you happen to have a card where the core is limited; just OC the memory! 8200MHz should be pie to achieve. I might be able to go above 8800, but I haven't tried. They are seriously memory constrained from the factory. Try for 8400 if 8200 is doable. I hope that PowerColor didn't put slower memory than reference on their cards.


On a side note, I bought a PowerColor HD 7950 for $150 off Amazon when the R9 290 series was about to launch. That was the worst overclocking dud I ever purchased. It ran stock speeds beautifully; but hated every attempt to overclock it beyond the mildest of overclocks. My launch Sapphire HD 7950 was so fast that the memory overclocked to 1800 and the core to 1200+. I was a very sad person when I had to limit the Sapphire to stock speeds for the PowerColor to keep up in Crossfire.
 
You have Samsung memory on your card also? I flashed my card with the Asus overclock bios. It is really an AMD reference Sapphire branded card.


upload_2016-10-16_23-2-56.png
 
If you want to overclock you should've bought a GTX 1060.

There are a few reports I've seen with the 480 where the card couldn't even overclock 1MHz above the base 1266MHz.

AMD RX 480 review: The best budget graphics card—but for how long?

Having said all that—and having to deal with the shame of reading the manual—for some reason my sample of the RX 480 refused to overclock at all. Whether it was a bad sample, flaky drivers and software, or simply that there wasn't any headroom for overclocking, no matter what I did, the PC would crash.
Click to expand...

This was a reference 480.

Also, take a look at this video right here:


Basically PowerColor cheaped out. The power delivery components are actually worse than reference (4:30 in the vid).

As opposed to the XFX GTR, which has components similar to the Fury X, and it shows.



I'd advise you to get a refund and buy a different RX480. Also avoid the Gaming G1, btw.

 
I think it's disingenuous to say that a person should have bought a GTX 1060 when his RX 480 has a potential manufacturing issue and not an AMD design issue. Some card manufacturers are great and some try to save money. That's why we have websites like [H]ardocp and Buildzoid to test cards and tells us when they are coming up short.

In the end it comes down to research. Also it's not the OP's fault that his RMA netted him the RX 480 that he has. He followed protocol and that's what he received. I don't even see where this is an AMD vs Nvidia thing. This is a manufacturer's choice issue.
 
If OC'ing the card is really that important to you then you should sell that card and look for something else. I have two Red Devil's myself and they haven't been great overclockers for me either. I hit 1350 and 1365 on the cards out of the box. I've seen some XFX cards hitting 1400+. If you really must have an extra 50-60mhz (which really doesn't matter that much, you might get an extra 2 fps, woo) then sell it.
 
cageymaru said:
I think it's disingenuous to say that a person should have bought a GTX 1060 when his RX 480 has a potential manufacturing issue and not an AMD design issue. Some card manufacturers are great and some try to save money. That's why we have websites like [H]ardocp and Buildzoid to test cards and tells us when they are coming up short.

In the end it comes down to research. Also it's not the OP's fault that his RMA netted him the RX 480 that he has. He followed protocol and that's what he received. I don't even see where this is an AMD vs Nvidia thing. This is a manufacturer's choice issue.
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Ah, I missed the RMA part. It changes the dynamic somewhat, but my advice is still to sell the card and at least buy something else.

FS: FAST SALE!!! EVGA GTX 970 FTW ACX 2.0 (w/ Backplate) & ASUS Strix R9 390X OC (also w/ backplate)

Might be of interest to OP.
 
I didn't watch the Buildzoid video yet. Does your card allow for memory overclocking? My reference PCB has Samsung memory that overclocks very well. It might be beneficial to try lowering the GPU core to say 1300 and then overclocking the memory. Run a benchmark in a modern game that stresses a GPU to see the difference in performance. The 256 bit bus is so constraining on these cards that a memory OC is just as good as raising the core speed.
 
trandoanhung1991 said:
Ah, I missed the RMA part. It changes the dynamic somewhat, but my advice is still to sell the card and at least buy something else.

FS: FAST SALE!!! EVGA GTX 970 FTW ACX 2.0 (w/ Backplate) & ASUS Strix R9 390X OC (also w/ backplate)

Might be of interest to OP.
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Yes, it is sad that some manufacturers will cheap out on components to pay a 5 cent more dividend to shareholders. Then you have other manufacturers like XFX, Sapphire, Asus, and maybe MSI(?) that will bend over backwards to bin chips for special overclocking cards.
 
I've come to the conclusion that this particular card is already maxed with it's 1330/2000 speeds. Since it's a non-reference card, no full cover block available. A universal block is always a good option. Maybe selling the 480 or trading to a 390X might be another viable option for me.

Thanks to all you guys that posted positive advice/recommendations ;)
 
trandoanhung1991 said:
If you want to overclock you should've bought a GTX 1060.

There are a few reports I've seen with the 480 where the card couldn't even overclock 1MHz above the base 1266MHz.

AMD RX 480 review: The best budget graphics card—but for how long?



This was a reference 480.

Also, take a look at this video right here:


Basically PowerColor cheaped out. The power delivery components are actually worse than reference (4:30 in the vid).

As opposed to the XFX GTR, which has components similar to the Fury X, and it shows.



I'd advise you to get a refund and buy a different RX480. Also avoid the Gaming G1, btw.

Click to expand...


Ah nevermind, I see you corrected you mistake. However, please stop constantly telling someone to sell what he has just to buy NVidia. If he wanted Nvidia, that is what he would have bought in the first place.
 
ManofGod said:
Ah nevermind, I see you corrected you mistake. However, please stop constantly telling someone to sell what he has just to buy NVidia. If he wanted Nvidia, that is what he would have bought in the first place.
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I only recommend NVIDIA in this specific case because the OP was very agitated regarding overclocking. And that's where Pascal shines. Otherwise there's really no point to switching, to be honest. More headaches in removing/installing drivers than anything.
 
Seen some Fury cards in the low $200 range in the For Sale section from time to time. I wouldn't bother with water on that particular RX 480 since it already has proven to suck at OC. Water isn't going to fix that unless it was running hot.

Try the undervolt OC method. Seems that some chips respond well to less voltage.
Overclocking the Radeon RX 480/470 - SAPPHIRE Nation - Community blog by SAPPHIRE Technology

And you couldn't get the memory speed to budge? I would take it back to 1300 or slightly less. Maybe even lower the voltage. Then try OC the memory. Unless that card has some crap memory it should respond to that.
 
Welp, went at it again. Yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment. Best I could get was 1345/2200. More voltage just made it worse, so this card doesn't like voltage. @1350 I would get white screen/video locks. Raising mem speed pass 2200 resulted in white-outs.

Guess I should just accept the inevitable.
 
Nebulous said:
Welp, went at it again. Yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment. Best I could get was 1345/2200. More voltage just made it worse, so this card doesn't like voltage. @1350 I would get white screen/video locks. Raising mem speed pass 2200 resulted in white-outs.

Guess I should just accept the inevitable.
Click to expand...

Damn, that thing is literally binned for advertised clocks. Usually there is a 10%-20% buffer, but card is a few percent at best.
 
Nebulous said:
Welp, went at it again. Yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment. Best I could get was 1345/2200. More voltage just made it worse, so this card doesn't like voltage. @1350 I would get white screen/video locks. Raising mem speed pass 2200 resulted in white-outs.

Guess I should just accept the inevitable.
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2200 = 8800 on the memory. I think 8900 is 1% elite status on the memory. ;) Actually the Samsung memory is even faster on the card. AMD has the voltage locked to make the card be more energy efficient. :(

Run some benchmarks and see if you're getting more frames with the 2200. Try other speeds between 2000 and 2200 if you aren't getting more frames per second. If you run a benchmark a couple of times and get less fps, then the memory is thrashing.

Also monitor your clock speeds while gaming. I had to make a profile for Black Desert Online because the card thought I was surfing the web or something. I was at 20 fps until I told Crimson that I was playing a game. Then it shot up to full clocks / voltage and stopped doing the flashing thing that you describe.
 
Nebulous said:
Better card? Because it's a new architecture? So what? If it doesn't perform the way I like it to perform I can't complain about it? Tell you what, if you ain't got shit positive to say, go somewhere else to give advice bro.
Click to expand...

You must be a millennial, bro. Stop expecting something for nothing.
 
Streiw said:
You must be a millennial, bro. Stop expecting something for nothing.
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You're funny bro, I'm far from it. But I must be one of the "special ones" that overclock their system here and expects some sort of a performance gain, right?
 
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Nebulous said:
You're funny bro, I'm far from it. But I must be one of the "special ones" that overclock their system here and expects some sort of a performance gain, right?
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Special in the sense that you received an upgrade from your RMA, and whine incessantly because it doesn't "overclock to your expectations"; Just like a millennial would do. :rolleyes:
 
Streiw said:
Special in the sense that you received an upgrade from your RMA, and whine incessantly because it doesn't "overclock to your expectations"; Just like a millennial would do. :rolleyes:
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Doesn't matter if it's a "free upgrade" or I paid for it. The fact of the matter is RX480's are clocking and this one doesn't. Again I have the right to complain or "whine" as you put it. I paid for a card, it was defective and I got a replacement. I still paid for it. The principle still applies. So if you don't have some information regarding said problem, I'll say this nicely, go grab a cup of coffee-

Thanks for your input-
 
Nebulous said:
Doesn't matter if it's a "free upgrade" or I paid for it. The fact of the matter is RX480's are clocking and this one doesn't. Again I have the right to complain or "whine" as you put it. I paid for a card, it was defective and I got a replacement. I still paid for it. The principle still applies. So if you don't have some information regarding said problem, I'll say this nicely, go grab a cup of coffee-

Thanks for your input-
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Well, I choose to ignore the person that you responded to from here on out. On a different note, what have you decided to do?
 
maybe try breaking/burning it in for a little while like we used to have to do. I have seen people that went back a week or two later that have gotten better results after a breakin period. kinda like a car...
 
ManofGod said:
Well, I choose to ignore the person that you responded to from here on out. On a different note, what have you decided to do?
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Indeed. I decided to just keep the card for now as I need it. Better than nothing. Looking into purchasing a different card in a week or so.

pendragon1 said:
maybe try breaking/burning it in for a little while like we used to have to do. I have seen people that went back a week or two later that have gotten better results after a breakin period. kinda like a car...
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I figured might be needed, good break-in period.
 
I personally think that you are having software conflicts between msi/trix/wattman

use a proper driver sweeper, and start from scratch.

AMD Clean Uninstall Utility

Or DDU

Display Driver Uninstaller Download version 17.0.2.1

I've personally have had my best luck with wattman, but I haven't really messed with the others because when i tried they caused conflicts. (They caused issues with not setting the powerlimit properly)

I am running at 1400mhz core and 2100mhz memory on stock voltage. On a Asus Reference RX-480. The review sample I had reference XFX black edition clocked to 1375/2150mhz again at factory voltage. Unable to really over volt the cards due to temperatures on the stock cooler. I already had to set a custom fan curve and set the power limit to +50% to prevent throttling. Haven't been able to overclock to my liking yet mainly due to the factory voltage, needs more, and cooler temps. The new bitspower waterblock I just got in to review should solve those issues.
 
Thanks, but every utility I used, I did a complete uninstall of drivers using DDU, then I sweep for leftover utility files. I then reinstall new drivers, then the next utility to try. I get the same results. Because this is a non-ref card, the massive tripple fan cooler handles temps quite good after swapping out tims.

AMD's wattman just didn't play nice. Trixx was ok, then MSI AB. I even gave Asus GPU Tweak II a try. I also tried modifying the original bios using Polaris Bios Editor. Results are far from stellar. Best results stable are 1350/2200 with a bump in voltage/power limit :unsure:

No full cover block for this card either as it's a non-ref. I can use a universal block, but then cooling the VRM's is another job.
 
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