Adjusting performance beyond limits leads to visible red dots and distortion effects.
Adjusting performance beyond limits leads to visible red dots and distortion effects.
Hello,
I recently chose to increase the clock speed of my ASUS R9 290 DC2OC-4GD5. It appears to run smoothly in most games I play. However, after playing Skyrim, I notice flashing dots appear repeatedly. This seems to happen each time I play Skyrim for a short period; I pause and then resume, but it keeps happening. From what I observe, it might be due to overheating. Despite AMD cards typically running very hot, they claim the card performs well even at around 90°C. Below are my specifications:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 @3.2GHz
MOBO: MSI B350 Tomahawk ATX AM4
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8Gb x1
GPU: ASUS R9 290 DC2OC-4GD5
OVERCLOCK settings:
Core Voltage: +13mV
Power Limit: +50%
Temp Limit: 94°C
Core Clock: 1000MHz -> 1020MHz
Memory Clock: 1260MHz -> 1380MHz
I applied MSI Afterburner for the overclock. Attached is a screenshot of my monitor during play; the temperature rises at the start and drops when I close the game due to instability.
https://imgur.com/a/XubeCnh
Lasdant:
Rogue Leader:
If that's the situation then I'd increase the power limit as far as possible and experiment with adding voltage. You might still capture some extra non-artifact power. Go slow, you don't want to damage the device, but setting the power limit to its maximum simply informs the GPU it can draw more, not necessarily more input. It's worth a try—you already know what happens when it fails. I just tried it, raised the power limit to the highest setting and voltage to +13mV, and it led to different colored artifacts appearing instead of flashing dots. Now pixelated squares are flashing across the screen.
The VRAM appears to be overheating as well. The temperatures you observe are typically for the GPU, not the VRAM. You might consider adjusting the fan curve in AMD Wattman to run the GPU at higher speeds with lower temperatures.
There seems to be no way to directly monitor VRAM temperatures, since your current fan curve stays above 70% speed.
Go back and lower that setting to help reduce your temperature. That’s precisely what’s occurring—your memory is overheating.
your overclocking is too high and check if adjusting the game settings might assist.
Rogue Leader:
Reduce the memory clock speed to lower your temperatures. That’s what’s occurring—your memory is overheating.
I lowered the memory clock back to 1260MHz and it repeated again. After playing for a short time, dots began showing up on the screen.
Rogue Leader:
Reduce that memory clock to lower it, that should help bring down your temperatures. That’s exactly what’s happening—your memory is getting too hot.
I lowered the memory clock back to 1260MHz and it worked again. I played for a while then dots started showing up on the screen.
Interesting, still likely a heat problem.
From my perspective, I’d restart everything at the default settings and check the temperatures. Let’s see what range we’re dealing with here.
Rogue Leader:
lasdant :
Rogue Leader :
Reduce the memory clock speed to lower your temperatures. That’s what’s happening, your memory is getting too hot.
I lowered the memory clock back to 1260MHz and it worked again—I played for a while then dots appeared on the screen.
Curious, it seems like a heat problem.
I’d start fresh with everything at stock settings and see if that fixes things, plus check your temperatures. Let’s find out what range we’re dealing with here.
Sorry, I missed it in time. I just reset everything back to stock except the core clock, which stayed at 1020MHz. The red dots came back after a while, but now when I left and checked the temps, the card was at 76°C when it started acting up. I’ll try again completely with stock settings.
Rogue Leader:
lasdant :
Rogue Leader :
Back that memory clock down that should bring your temps down. That’s exactly what’s happening, your memory is overheating.
I adjusted the memory clock back to 1260MHz and it worked again—I played for a while and then dots started showing up on the screen.
Interesting, still likely a heat problem.
From my perspective, I should start fresh with everything at stock and check the temperatures. Let’s see what range we’re dealing with here.
Sorry, I didn’t catch it in time—I just reset everything back to stock except the core clock, which I kept at 1020MHz. The red dots reappeared after a while, but now when I left and checked the temperature, the card was sitting at 76°C when it started acting up. I’ll try it again completely with stock settings.
20 MHz shouldn’t cause artifacts. Please let me know what happens.