Powercolor Radeon HD 3870 X2 seriously a headache

[nach0 party]

Ok, heres my problem.

About 2 weeks ago, I ordered the Powercolor Radeon HD 3870x2 from newegg, as seen here:

Newegg.com - POWERCOLOR AX3870X21GBD4PH Radeon HD 3870 X2 1GB 512-bit (256-bit x 2) GDDR4 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

I was happy to finally have recieved it, went inside and uninstalled my previous video card drivers. I then took the old video card out, then replaced it in the same slot with the new card. It's a big card, I took my time however to make sure I did not damage it and carefully lowered it into the Pci x16 port in my motherboard. Unfortunately, when I went to go turn on my computer after plugging everything back in (I left the side of the case off to watch for problems just in case) the display on my monitor was completely blank. I was a little confused at first, I wondered a few things in my mind such as do I have too little power? Is this motherboard not compatible? Is my RAM not compatible? I began to frustratingly unplug and replug the video card into the pci x16 socket for maybe 3 hours trying a different thing here and there before I gave up.

So, I wrote to newegg, figuring that I would logically try the first option, that the card was DOA. My specs matched up fine from what I thought at the time. ( I will list my specs later) I just recieved my new card today, (Sept 5, 2008) and it's the same card, however the same problem persisted. I kind of got the feeling that it was an issue with my motherboard or power supply, but I can't decide wich one is causing the problem. I will now list my current specs:

ECS motherboard kn3 sli2: ECS KN3 SLI2 (V1.0) Dual-Core nVidia nForce 590 SLI MCP 2000 MT/s FSB Dual Channel DDR2 800 Socket AM2 ATX Motherboard w/ SLI 2x PCI-Express X16, Audio, Dual GBLAN, SATA 3G/II, RAID, USB 2.0, Firewire 1394a (Retail) (Discontinued)

Processor: AMD Athlong 64 X2 Duel core processor 4600+ 2.41 ghz:
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

I have 3 gigs of RAM, 2 gigs is some G-skill Ram (no exact details) and the other is a kingpin or something like that who knows it was a present.

Power supply: 700 Watts, I forgot the make/model but I can find it if you really need me to for whatever reason.

Current Video card: radeon sapphire x1950 pro 512 mb (not a bad card honestly)

Sound card: the soundblaster fatility version it was like 150 bucks but got it half price thanks compusa for going out of business haha.

Now I will tell you about my new card, and some interesting things that it says on the box wich confused and continues to confuse me.
PCI express 2.0 support on the back of the box: Oh? interesting... because right here on the side of the box it says something like.........
-PCI express based PC is required with one X16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard
Do you mean to tell me it is compatible with both 2.0 and pci x16, I don't know much about 2.0, I JUST started looking at computer parts again and I guess it's become quite popular if it wasn't already.
-Certified for windows vista
I've done my research, and I understand it will work with xp, but Direct X 10 and vista seem to be kind of intended for this card, and I DO NOT want to switch my os I'm not liking vista yet although a lot of people have caught on.
-550 Watt or greater power s upply with two 2x3 pin PCIe power connectors required (750 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for dual ATI crossfireX)
OK, well I'm not putting two three pound cards on top of my motherboard, so now I'm a little confused, I seem to meet the power specifications.

Well, that's all I got, just a reminder, when the new card is in the fans do run, the card is working, and I doubt I got two DOA cards. If anyone can help, I could avoid throwing this 300 dollar piece of shit out the window, thanks

PS: I have found some posts stating a few people ironically having the same problem, with the exact same motherboard as mine with the exact same card (like 2 posts) but do not use this information to justify your opinion I need some serious ideas and possibilities. Thanks again.

PSS: check this out, just found it after posting it, specifies basically everything that you may need to know (I would hope so)

|- Welcome to the PowerColor World -|

[KarmaKiller]

Hi, welcome to TechIMO.

1. PCI-E 16x is compatible with PCI 2.0. Same slot, same cards, no issues there
2. Check for a BIOS update.

I'm pretty confident in saying it's nothing to do with the GPU itself.
My money is on the Power Supply. We need thay make/model. And if you could list the specs on the side sticker, that would help. Even though your PSU says "700watts", there is a BIG difference between a quality PSU that pushes 700watts, and a generic that pushs 700watts. Even with that said, the specs clearly say if your wanting to run both GPU's onboard the x2, you'll need at least a 750watt PSU.

So post the specs of the PSU. And check for a BIOS update.

[nach0 party]

Ok, I'll re unplug everything in a moment, however I understand the hd3870x2 has two gpu's. But I believe the box was referring to the 750 Watt for having two cards SLI'ed.

HOWEVER, you may be right, I probobaly should have done some more research about the card before I bought it. I don't know whether they mean the two onboard gpu's or SLI'ing them, this furthers my confusion

However, (again) lol, the first time I had this issue I called powercolor (I later hung up not able to understand his accent whatsoever (product made in china yay)) and he asked me what my psu pumped out, I claimed 700 watts having checked it earlier that day. But, I do realize you speak the truth, there are possibilities, when I originally put together my computer about a year ago, that I bought a semi crappy psu but then again, I don't remember therefore I'll give it a check. I really appreciate any help I can get I'm sure you can imagine what it's like having a 300 dollar piece of metal and plastic just sitting in a box when it should be fitting snug into your computer pumping out fragging mayhem on COD4. I'll get back to you as soon as I open up my case again and disconnect the psu for further inspection. (probobaly in 5 minutes) Thanks

[nach0 party]

Here is my psu make/ model, My buddy helped me assemble my PC therefore I don't understand what most of the amps/ voltage levels mean plus, I'm semi-unexperiences in psu's, wich probobaly explains my massive fail with purchasing this video card (if it ends up this is the problem. Also there IS a BIOS update for my mobo, however I want to resort to that last (unless BIOS updates are generally good for your computer). The manufacturer website (ECS aka Elitegroup) claimed on their page to not update BIOS unless theres something wrong with the current version. However, if updating the BIOS is a common practice and highly reguarded, I'll give it a shot I just hope it doesn't mess anything up drastically if it comes down to updating it.

I'll do my best to recreate what was on the side of my psu:

OCZ Technology
Model # OCZGXS700
AC input 110-240 Vac-10-5A 50-60 Hz
DC Output: +3.3V | +5V | +12V | +12V2 | +12V3 | +12V4 | -12V | +5vsb
Max Output Current: 36A| | 30A | 18A | 18A | 18A | 18A | -5A | 3A
150 W | |-------------------
12 V Output Distribution 680 W | 20 W

Device
12 V1 CPU1
12 V2 PCI-E2/ CPU2
12 V3 M/B Accesory
12 V4 PCI-E1

[KarmaKiller]

Ok, well that's a good PSU, so I have a hard time thinking that's it. But I need to check to see if the 750w is required to run both GPU's on the card, or two cards.
As far as the BIOS update. I think this could be considered a last resort thing. But in general, a BIOS update is a good thing. BUT, you have to be careful while doing them. Read the instructions!! There is a chance if something were to happen, that you could brick your board.
But if your follow the instructions, you'll be fine. Also, if your OC'd at all, make sure you set it to default settings.

Do the BIOS update, then see what happens.

[nach0 party]

I seem to have a problem with the updating of the BIOS, I checked my mobo manual and it claims I need a floppy. However, when I built my computer I did not buy a floppy drive, I know they're cheap but man I don't want to buy one, is there a way around this or is it not worth the risk and should I just purchase a floppy drive?

[nach0 party]

Here is the update where to find my BIOS.

ECS Web Site

I was wondering if any of these fixes may pertain to my problem and also I was wondering if I do have to update my BIOS, wich flash utility is right for me? I don't know jack about updating my BIOS so this is really something I need a lot of information on before I actually do it.

ECS New Technology

the above link are the different flash utilities, I haven't picked one but looked over most of them, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to use a certain one, or if one works better than the other. I read online in some other forums about updating BIOS, some people said using a floppy was better, while others said using a program was better. All I know is I don't know anything lol. If you know anything about updating BIOS as well that'd be great, I don't feel like frying a specific little tiny thing that runs my whole motherboard today, or anytime in the near future. On the bright side, thanks for the help so far, it gives me hope knowing I may not have to purchase a different motherboard or psu. I don't like spending money I didn't plan on spending but who does

[nach0 party]

Oh, and not to post too much garbage, I just opened up the file for the new BIOS update, it came with winflash and AWDflash, I'm going to look up online these two differnet methods and see which one seems easier, I already did some research, it seems like winflash is particularly easier to use I may go with that.

[ShyguyXPC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarmaKiller

Ok, well that's a good PSU, so I have a hard time thinking that's it. But I need to check to see if the 750w is required to run both GPU's on the card, or two cards.
As far as the BIOS update. I think this could be considered a last resort thing. But in general, a BIOS update is a good thing. BUT, you have to be careful while doing them. Read the instructions!! There is a chance if something were to happen, that you could brick your board.
But if your follow the instructions, you'll be fine. Also, if your OC'd at all, make sure you set it to default settings.

Do the BIOS update, then see what happens.

From his first post:

Quote:

-550 Watt or greater power s upply with two 2x3 pin PCIe power connectors required (750 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for dual ATI crossfireX)

[nach0 party]

thanks for the info, inbetween you two I can confirm my suspicions that my psu is not the issue, I was hoping so considering they price much higher than motherboards (if it came down to that drastic decision).

Also, I updated my bios, it was not hard and I even rechecked using msinfo32 in the run menu and it had the updated date of the file. I'll give my card a whirl, hopefully all will work if not then my motherboard is more than likely the problem