Problem with new XHD 3870 X2!!

[BULLZI]

Hi guyz,

I am in a weired problem.

Got the card just yesterday. The card has got dual slot cooler. After plugging it in, I saw only one fan of the card is running with a weired cluttering sound. The other fan is not running at all. I am getting display in the monitor. Everything is ok. But the other fan is not running. After 5 mins or so, my motherboard is glowing warning LEDs pointing out that temperature is high. I didnt take risk and turned off the system.

Please suggest what to do now. Please tell whether it is ny power problem or the card is faulty? Shud I ask for a replacement or is there nything like the second fan goes on after reaching a certain temperature?

Your valuable suggestions can help me sort out this problem. Please reply soon.

Model No. : GeCube XHD 3870X2 F5

Thanks.

[topgear]

What is ur psu & mobo ?

[BULLZI]

Mobo Asus X38
PSU Corsair 620 watt.

[darklord]

Have you connected both the PCIe power connectors to the card ? Has the fan wire got off from the connector on the card's PCB ?

[BULLZI]

Yup, connected both the connectors. The fan wires are quite ok .

Guyz, I found out the problem. Yesterday night, while checking my gfx card, I found out that something was being obstacle for the 2nd fan. Hence, I just manually pushed the fins of the fan a bit and the fan started rotating!!!! But the speed was far low than the other fan.
I tested again and again for 20-25 times. In most of the cases, the fan didnt go on automatically. I had to manually move it to make it start rotating. Speed is way too slow than the other one.
I think the problem lies in the fan itself. May be something is jammed or something like that.
Now, its not possible to check everytime whether both fans are rotating or not.
[ Even sometimes both the fans arent rotating at start up. After 12-15 secs, one fan starts rotating].
Its also not a feasible solution to manually turn on the fan everytime. I booted into the system, installed motherboard as well as graphics drivers, everything. Everything else is quite ok except for the fans.
I cant say that the card is totally faulty. So, am I going to get a replacement for it?


Also one thing not related to this problem :
"DXDIAG" is showing graphics memory upto 512 mb. Why is this happening? It shud show 1024 mb. Am I going to need any Crossfire drivers to solve this problem?
Crossfire bridge is onboard for the GFX card. Please reply soon.

[darklord]

Take your card to the dealer and tell him there is some problem with the problem, they should replace with a new piece IMHO.Dont scratch your brain to solve the problem.

What drivers are you using ? use 8.3 (Mostly you are)
Also check with GPU-Z how much memory its showing. Even though its a single card, its basic working method is based on Crossfire so each core has 512MB dedicated and AFAIK, the cores cant share the memory from the other core's buffer, maybe i am wrong here.
BTW,how much did the card cost you ?

[BULLZI]

I paid 22.5 K for the card.
Is any Crossfire driver needed for my card apart from the drivers provided with the card?
If its showing only 512 MB memory, then at the time of games, how can the rest of 512 mb can be utilized?
It seems that only one GPU is active at any point of time

[hellgate]

Originally Posted by BULLZI

It seems that only one GPU is active at any point of time

cud be that the other GPU kicks in when theres sufficient load like when gaming.

[darklord]

22.5k is a good price for that card, congrats.
There is no special crossfire driver, download the latest Catalyst 8.3 drivers from ATI website and install it.
AFAIK it functions as a Crossfire setup, so when both the cores are being used, each core uses its own buffer.Thats how both the 512MB Buffers must be used.
Please check with GPU-Z, things will get clear once you do that.
You have mentioned several times that your card has 2 fans, is this the card you got by any chance ? Gecube 3870X2 X-Turbo Dual

[BULLZI]

ye thats the card and its an overclocked version

Full name GeCube XHD 3870 X2 F5

Isnt this card a decent one for that price??

[Harvik780]

512MB being shown in dual GPU configuration is fine.
AMD/ATI have a power play feature which reduces power consumption by turning some circuitry off.

ATI PowerPlay™ technology was first introduced in ATI Mobility Radeon™ notebook GPUs for on-the-go consumers using their notebooks more with demanding applications and software. Now this power management technology has been built into the ATI Radeon™ HD 3800 Series – the first time such power savings technology has been used on an AMD desktop graphics processor. This exciting break-through technology delivers further on AMD’s commitment to reducing the energy consumption in computing technologies.

ATI PowerPlay™ technology is designed to enable power saving profiles that help reduce power consumption when the GPU is idle or in minimal use in comparison to previous AMD products. This dynamic power management enables the GPU to automatically adjust power between low, medium and high states for a tremendous power efficiency advantage. For example, when receiving and composing emails little demand is on the GPU and it runs in a low state, whereas when gaming, there is high demand on the graphics engine and the GPU runs in a high state.

Since the GPU consumes less power it also produces less heat ultimately contributing to reduced system temperatures and fan noise delivering consistent performance levels for a seamless user experience.

From - http://ati.amd.com/products/powerplay/index.html

Fully test the card.Even if it goes kaput,your not the one whose responsible its a faulty card and you will get a replacement.

[BULLZI]

I called the distributor today. He has asked me to take the card to him. He will test it and give me a replacement.

I am going tomorrow.
@darklord
I guess the card I got has just launched. Its not like normal HD3870X2 as it has got dual slot cooling solution with two fans. I read that I can also overclock the card by 15-20% without ny problem.

@Harvik

"DXDIAG" is showing video memory upto 512 MB.
"Device Manager" is showing two display adapters i.e. HD3870X2.
But tell me, I have heard that in higher resolutions, I need extra vram to get high fi graphics in games. Now say if I am playing CRYSIS at 1600*1200 with everything max out, I may need total 1 GB vram. In this case, will my card use total 1 GB memory and if so, then how can I confirm that total 1 GB memory is being utilized?

[Harvik780]

Since i am familiar which the drawbacks of dual GPU configurations i can say that this fact is true.Dxdiag shows only one card as passed by the driver,the driver though enables crossfire still shows DirectX the two as single.
In dual GPU configurations the amount of data placed in the memory for one GPU should be equal and identical to the data in the other GPU so one's left with a total of 1GB but can only use an effective real 512MB like in your case.This was reason for the introduction of 1GB 8800GT,for SLI'ing.The bandwidth does not double up and heavily depends on the drivers.

[darklord]

the stock cooler of the 3870X2 is also a dual slot one.Thats an awesome deal for this card man, awesome !
Get the card checked thoroughly and if there is a problem and you replicate it at the dealers place, i am sure he will replace for another piece.Happy gaming

[hellgate]

@BULLZI from where did ya get that card?

[BULLZI]

@Darklord
The card is really awsome. Cant say abt the deal. I actually asked for HD3870X2 and got that X Turbo Dual one.

Anyway, got my card replaced today. It was not showing any displays from last nite. But the support was gr8. They just checked the card, saw it was faulty and replaced with a new one .

@Hellgate
Got the card by ordering at theitwares.com.

The card is really future proof with DX10.1, shader model 4.1, etc etc.

[dOm1naTOr]

@BULLZI
gr8 buy man. post some benchs also.
i wonder why on earth it has 4 DVI
later if u wist u can add another 3870 X2 in crossfireX if u have crossfire mobo to have a beast. But CrosssfireX drivers are not yet released. It shud perform lot better than 9600GT in 3 way SLI, or 8800 GTX SLI.

[BULLZI]

i have Asus Maximus Formula Intel X38 motherboard. I will add a quad core maybe Q9450 next month. Dont wanna buy another card soon as I hv to change my psu also .

[dOm1naTOr]

which PSU do u have?

[BULLZI]

Corsair HX 620 Watt

[Harvik780]

This card can drive upto 4 monitors extending the display and if you have FSX(Flight Simulator X) then it'll really be helpful.The first time this card was showcased.....they were running FSX with six displays paired with another 3870(not X2)in tri-crossfire mode.