[Fixed] Radeon R9 290 Problems

mertesnmertesn I am Bobby MillerYukon, OK Icrontian
edited February 2014 in Hardware
I have two XFX Radeon R9 290s that don't seem to display consistent results. First of all, the setup:

Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3
Core i7 2600K
32GB (4x8GB) DDR3-1866
2x XFX Radeon R9 290 (ENFC)
Areca ARC-1230 RAID card (PCIe x8)
PCPower & Cooling Silencer Mk III 1200W PSU
Windows 7 64-bit
Catalyst v14.1 b1.6

I've just installed a fresh copy of Windows and updated it, so there shouldn't be any previous driver issues.

One GPU will mostly perform about where it should, but occasionally has a bad benchmark run. The other GPU is consistently bad. For example, on 3DMark's Fire Strike I'll see scores 8600+ most of the time on the "good" card. The other one will get in the mid-5000 range.

One potential symptom of the problem is the lack of an audible change in fan speed. The "bad" GPUs fan never (by sound) significantly changes its speed. The good one does most of the time...this is how I usually determine mid-benchmark whether the results will be good. I've enabled overdrive and set the maximum fan speed to 100%, but that didn't change anything.

I have tried each card individually in the same slot to rule out any potential lane sharing issues, but the results are still dramatically different between the two GPUs. Crossfire performance is even worse than a single GPU.

I'll post some benchmark results when I get home this afternoon.

Any suggestions?

(cc @thrax)

Comments

  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    edited February 2014
    I should also mention that the performance difference between the cards is up to 40% if memory serves, so this seems to be well beyond a normal tolerance.
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    If you tried them both in the same slot and got the same results (i.e. the bad card was still bad), you might have a hardware issue. The only thing I'd check is go back into CCC and confirm that overdrive settings are still "up" for both cards when they are in individually. Every software update has been resetting my Overdrive profiles, which is annoying, but it's quick to go back in and turn the fan speed back up and target temp down.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    I'll give that a shot. I've tried them both in the same slot and got different results.

    GPU-Z also has some logging tools built in. I'll have to see if it records fan speeds. I kind of suspect that might be the issue.
  • NullenVoydNullenVoyd Orlandish Icrontian
    There was something XFX had me run on an older card I got from them that developed issues a couple months from purchase. I think it tested the card bios and memory, and something was funky with the memory, so they sent me a replacement. This is going back a few years and I can't recall what the program was, but XFX support was decent enough that we worked through the issue and got it taken care of.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    Seems I can now get consistent results between GPUs in non-Crossfire. Oddly 3DMark is a crap shoot until I do a bench run with BioShock Infinite's benchmark. After that, all is well.

    Still having a problem with Crossfire though. I've tried disabling frame pacing (saw that as a suggestion on another site). Didn't work. I have an AMD FX-8150 system with a 990FX board. I'll have to give it a go in that system.
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    I also had lots of issues with getting 3dmark to give any sort of consistent results. dunno :/
    mertesn
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    Same results on the AMD system, if not a bit worse. Performance was a bit lower than the Intel system with a single GPU installed and both installed with Crossfire disabled, but that was to be expected. I'll have to try swapping the card order to see if anything changes on that system.
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    Are those drivers beta?
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    You should have enough power, but how are your voltages looking? No reason a good PSU can't go bad eventually.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    csimon said:

    Are those drivers beta?

    Yes. 14.1 beta 6 or whatever the latest one is called.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    Read the whole thread, still a bit confused. Can you provide an itemized recap for me?
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    What I expect:
    1. Single R9 290 performance good
    2. Dual R9 290 performance w/o Crossfire same as single
    3. Dual R9 290 performance w/Crossfire much better

    I'm failing on #3. I've tried each GPU in the primary PCIe slot and am getting consistent performance from each card now. Put them in Crossfire and at best I have no change in performance - in the AMD system performance dropped by about 20%. Both systems are on 1200W power supplies (AMD is on a Thermaltake ToughPower 1200W), and both PSUs have recently driven the previous 3x7970 setup. The Intel system (specs in the original post) is the one that was running the 7970s, so the motherboard should be good.

    I'm trying to figure out whether it's a bad GPU or if I'm doing something stupid or some combination of both.

    Things I've tried on the Intel board:
    - Fresh install of Win7
    - Disable frame pacing (seemed to help a couple people)
    - GPU in PCIe 0 & 1 (x8/x8)
    - GPU in PCIe 0 & 2 (x16/x16)

    Things I've tried on the AMD board:
    - Fresh install of Win7
    - Disable frame pacing
    - GPU in both PCIe x16 slots with no lane sharing.

    Something I saw this morning which seemed a bit odd was Afterburner's report on GPU 0's utilization. It was up and down quite a bit during Bioshock Infinite. GPU 1 was at 100% as expected. I'll run it again and post an image of the graphs.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    What apps are you testing with?
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    I've used 3DMark and Bioshock Infinite. MSI Afterburner for data. I have Metro 2033 and Last Light installed. Batman Arkham City and Tomb Raider are downloading now.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    And running 3DMark11 Extreme gives no change (or lesser score) on 2xGPUs vs. one?
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    Didn't use 3DMark 11... I used the 2013 version. I'll throw 11 on and give it a go.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    Sorry, I meant the latest 3dmark version. Not 2011. Brain fart.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    I used Fire Strike, but not on extreme. I'll do that once downloads are finished.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    For my own sanity later on, GPU1 = S/N '841 GPU2 = S/N '849

    3DMark Fire Strike Extreme
    On Core i7-2600K
    - Single (GPU1): 4413
    - Single (GPU2): 4413
    - Crossfire GPU1/2 (frame pacing on): fail
    - Crossfire GPU1/2 (frame pacing off): fail

    Bioshock Infinite @ 1920x1200, DX11 w/DDOF (min/max/avg fps)
    - Single (GPU1): 13.62/223.15/81.77
    - Single (GPU2): 15.00/217.42/81.68
    - Crossfire GPU1/2 (frame pacing on): 18.46/214.67/80.16
    - Crossfire GPU1/2 (frame pacing off): 17.55/403.46/80.64

    Batman Arkham City @ 1920x1200, 8xMSAA, DX11 on, Tessellation high, Extreme detail
    - Single (GPU1): 57/142/110
    - Single (GPU2): 27/143/109
    - Crossfire GPU1/2 (frame pacing on): fail - screen corrupted
    - Crossfire GPU1/2 (frame pacing off): fail - screen corrupted

    Tomb Raider @ 1920x1200, Ultimate preset
    - Single (GPU1): 52.0/89.3/68.7
    - Single (GPU2): 50.5/85.6/68.3
    - Crossfire GPU1/2 (frame pacing on): fail - immediate freeze
    - Crossfire GPU1/2 (frame pacing off): fail - immediate freeze

    The Crossfire outcome was similar regardless of GPU order.

    Just for kicks, I tried OCCT for a stress test. No problems.

    Couldn't complete anything in Crossfire on the AMD system - the driver reset each time within a few seconds of starting the first part of Fire Strike. GPU1 had a max usage of 25%, GPU2 was 100%. Temps were 51C at their max. Clocks were as expected. I suspect Afterburner and 3DMark don't play nicely together on either system.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    Can you go back to the latest 13.11 beta?

    Run this: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1XjtK2OjMgnWjBzOGpwTzBHaW8/edit?usp=sharing

    Reboot.

    Install older driver.

    Reboot.

    Report back.

    Please do not skip these steps.
    mertesnGarg
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    Will do that tonight when I get home.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    Single GPU runs are from the original batch because lazy.
    On Core i7-2600K

    3DMark Fire Strike Extreme
    - Single (GPU1): 4413
    - Single (GPU2): 4413
    - Crossfire GPU1/2 (frame pacing on): 7742

    Bioshock Infinite @ 1920x1200, DX11 w/DDOF (min/max/avg fps)
    - Single (GPU1): 13.62/223.15/81.77
    - Single (GPU2): 15.00/217.42/81.68
    - Crossfire GPU1/2 (frame pacing on): 13.56/294.26/133.78

    Batman Arkham City @ 1920x1200, 8xMSAA, DX11 on, Tessellation high, Extreme detail
    - Single (GPU1): 57/142/110
    - Single (GPU2): 27/143/109
    - Crossfire GPU1/2 (frame pacing on): 48/244/147

    Tomb Raider @ 1920x1200, Ultimate preset
    - Single (GPU1): 52.0/89.3/68.7
    - Single (GPU2): 50.5/85.6/68.3
    - Crossfire GPU1/2 (frame pacing on): 70.0/150.0/105.3

    Much better. Thank you @thrax. That worked well.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    So...everything here is with Catalyst 13.12, Crossfire, frame pacing on, and no overdrive:
    BioShock Infinite @ 6000x1920, DX11 w/DDOF: 11.25/184.39/39.77 (min/max/avg)
    Tomb Raider @ 6000x1920, Ultimate Preset, TressFX: 30.1/46.6/40.2 (min/max/avg)
    Batman Arkham City @ 6000x1920, 8xMSAA, DX11 on, Tessellation high, Extreme detail: 31/72/55 (min/max/avg)

    Success!
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