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Screen flicker/system freeze
So this is for you folks that know your stuff when it comes to computer hardware. What is causing my screen to flash/flicker when playing games. I recently installed a 5850 black edition video card and now I seem to be having issues with it . I've had this system for about a month now but tried to play a game for the first time this weekend when the problem appeared. I tried playing Vanguard, LOTR, and Eve. All 3 had the same problem. Once the flickering starts, I have about 5-10 seconds and then the whole screen will either turn blue or black and lock the system up. I've used an older Nvidia 7900gto gpu and did not get the same problem. I thought maybe a psu or gpu issue. Btw the whole system is brand new. I will post some hardware.
Asus m4a78te mobo
4 gig Kingston memory(2 gig each)
Xfx radeon 5850 black edition 1gig video card
Corsair cx600 psu
amd phenom II 955 black edition cpu
Not a heat related issue either. Happens as soon as I launch the games nearly. Any thoughts or suggestions would be great..
Comments
If the crash was something that came on suddenly without warning, I'd say video memory, but given the slow symptomatic buildup, I'd say maybe an overheating GPU.
Grab a copy of GPUZ and see what your temperatures come to.
Heat, Drivers, or memory on the GPU possibly. Could not see it being to much else.
If you are overclocking anything, stop, and put it back to stock.
It could very well be heat, it doesn't take a IC long to heat up under load if the cooling is inadequate - check all your fans, make sure they are spinning well. Make sure there isn't excessive dust buildup. Make sure all the heat sinks are tightly attached.
It could be a failing power supply. The same symptoms are also indicative of faulty or inadequate power.
Those would be the three things I would check, they are the most suspect when dealing with problems like this: Overclock gone too far, hardware overheating, or bad power supply.
Checking drivers is also a good idea, especially since you upgraded from one brand to another, however given that it worked ok for a few weeks, I doubt that is the case. I would put money on your power supply or a bad overclock.
You might not have the power supply for the new card.
--John Ruskin
You answered your own question. Its your new 5850. Theres a lot of glitches in some of the new 5000 series GPU's. I myself bought a 5870 and had to RMA, it was also made by XFX.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150456
Read the feedback posts. Apparently they are notorious for it. Register on the XFX website and register your card and RMA it back to them. I had to do this and they said there was no problem with the card but said they will replace it anyways. The new one is working fine.
Hope this helps
PS: They make you pay for the shipping...
Good point, I neglected the fact that it could be faulty hardware too. Since it worked for a while I'd still check out those other factors, but this is a good recommendation to persue if you can rule out overclocking/overtemperature and your absolutely certain your power supply is good and adequate.
I did read over the Newegg reviews for that card, most are positive, but there are more than a few that describe very similar problems to what you have; it looks like XFX deviated from the reference design for the 5850.
Sounds like it might be a bad DDR chip on your GPU, or possibly an errant ramp-up voltage on a controller. Try completely uninstalling the drivers, reseating your card in the PCI-E slot (a different one if you have one available), and then reinstalling the drivers.. If that doesn't work, I'd say theres about a 98% chance its the GPU, and I'd RMA it.
What is the Power Supply Unit model are you using?
How many watts does it support under normal load?
Did you plug your video card into a single rail? (A rail is a line of dedicated power that a PSU utilizes. Each component ideally should have it's own rail. In the case of high-performance video cards it is ideal to have one rail for each of the power inputs.)