I’m trying to figure out what has been causing system instability. I was having trouble passing burn tests. I cleaned out my GPU fans and fixed an issue with a wire touching a fan. CPU and GPU tests were crashing and the GPU would crash at 70 C. I changed the EZ tuning settings from Quiet to Normal and now I can pass burn tests. OCCT 7 hours, IntelBurnTest (very high) and Prime95. Great, my CPU is now stable. The downside of Normal is that my fans, probably CPU, keep revving up and down. GPU is not working currently, however, it would crash with Furmark at 73C instead of the usual 70C. The problem is that the RX 480 has a temperature target of 80C. The RX 480 is stable if I set frequency (%) -4. It is also stable if I set Frequency (MHz) Dynamic. I’m not sure what is causing the computer to lock up. Is the GPU overheating, is it not pulling enough voltage, or is my motherboard not providing enough power. I’m thinking about upgrading my GPU to something with a bit more power and efficiency and want to make sure the card doesn’t have any problem. It could be a PSU or MB problem but I don’t have any spare parts to test. OCCT is supposed to test PSU as well but didn’t find any problems.
So, you think it is overheating, not a power issue? 70°C and 73°C are far bellow the 80°C the card is rated. How can I test this?
Is this the same GPU that we established was very poor? It comes as no surprise tbh. My Vega 64 has very odd behaviour also. You've got two options really mate IMO. Get rid and get something better or whack a Kraken by NZXT on it and a cheap 120 AIO. That should make it behave. This particular GPU reviewed terribly. Just cheap quality and crap cooling. Thankfully Gigabyte now seem to have learned the error of their ways.
I'm planning on selling it, but I want to make sure the card isn't defective. It would also be good to know if my system is limiting the card in some way. Changing the bios setting from quiet to normal did give a bit more headroom.
I've upgraded my system's infrastructure and cooling is much improved. Case: Fractal Design Mechify C Front intake: FROSTFLOW+ 280 w/ 2x ML140 Pro Rear exhaust: 1x ML120 Pro Top exhaust: Phanteks PH-F140MP As far as I can tell this is the optimal airflow with a 280mm radiator. My daughter was playing Spyro and the system locked up twice, requiring a hard reset. I set a much more aggressive fan curve and it passed 3Dmark: Time Spy without crashing or even getting too high of a GPU temp. Is this normal for a Gigabyte Radeon RX 480 G1 Gaming 8GB, or is the card showing its age? Is 3Dmark a good test of stability? I read the Furmark is not the best. I was wondering if my PSU is causing trouble, but it seems less likely now. Still want to upgrade it as it is now out of warranty. I would like to sell this card and upgrade to something a bit faster that doesn't run as hot in the very near future. Not sure what, but faster, newer and less of a heater.
I find in these kind of situations that the only real way of proving where the problem lies is in elimination - swapping bits until you can narrow where the problem is. Sorry, I know this doesn't help in your situation, good luck.
This would be the fastest way to troubleshoot, although a more efficient card would draw less power and produce less heat. I don't think heat should be an issue. I will also need to test it with other games beyond Spyro. I've been playing Terraria in anticipation of the next update, not much of a stress test.
