AMD R9 270x Crashes when playing games

[Dapper]

Hey guys,

I've had this problem for quite a while now (since December 2015), and it seems to only effect the large triple A titles such as Call of Duty and Battlefield.

I can only get around half an hour of gameplay in before my computer freezes, and a grey or white screen occurs. This doesn't go away, so I have to restart my computer.

I won't state my PC specs here as i'm sure the crashes have nothing to do with anything other than my GPU, as I have another computer which has the exact same components in it, which doesn't have this crashing problem.

So far, I have tried the following ideas to try and fix this, but they have all failed:
- Update drivers to their newest version (16.12.1?)
- Roll back drivers to an earlier version (16.11.5 and 6.9.x)
- Deleted all traces of any AMD drivers on this computer and re-installed them to the newest version (16.12.1?)

Any ideas would be great as I really need to get this sorted!

Conclusion
My GPU seems to be overheating, I will monitor it for a few days and try to get it sorted, new thermal paste may be required!

Thanks to everyone that helped!

[WarmedxMints]

Check you temps, something is likely overheating.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Well it is an old GPU, use older Drivers; such as 16.10.xx

Don't update GPU Drivers, Roll-Back, etc.
Wipe them completely out, reboot and then install the version you wish to use/try.

But yea short-term gameplay and then crashing; that is usually heat related.
Monitor CPU/GPU Temps at all times, like you should be doing anyways.

[Venlord]

Messaggio originale di Dapper:

Hey guys,

I've had this problem for quite a while now (since December 2015), and it seems to only effect the large triple A titles such as Call of Duty and Battlefield.

I can only get around half an hour of gameplay in before my computer freezes, and a grey or white screen occurs. This doesn't go away, so I have to restart my computer.

I won't state my PC specs here as i'm sure the crashes have nothing to do with anything other than my GPU, as I have another computer which has the exact same components in it, which doesn't have this crashing problem.

So far, I have tried the following ideas to try and fix this, but they have all failed:
- Update drivers to their newest version (16.12.1?)
- Roll back drivers to an earlier version (16.11.5 and 6.9.x)
- Deleted all traces of any AMD drivers on this computer and re-installed them to the newest version (16.12.1?)

Any ideas would be great as I really need to get this sorted!

If theres not enough power going to the GPU it will crash.

If you have it overclocked too high without enough voltage it will crash.

And on rare occasions the manufacturer puts too high of an overclock on the card so it crashes. I had this problem with my old Gigabyte G1 Gaming r9 380, it would crash it games usually AAA titles that were GPU intensive, so I returned for a 480. So in that scenario either the clocks need to be lowered or more voltage is needed.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Some games are just picky about a GPU that is pre-OC'ed
Every GPU I have tried that had a decent factory OC, would crash in games like GTA4 and some others, it was almost always the same couple of games. When I would back the GPU Clocks down to that of the "Reference Model" those same games ran just fine afterwards.

[Dapper]

Messaggio originale di Venlord:

Messaggio originale di Dapper:

Hey guys,

I've had this problem for quite a while now (since December 2015), and it seems to only effect the large triple A titles such as Call of Duty and Battlefield.

I can only get around half an hour of gameplay in before my computer freezes, and a grey or white screen occurs. This doesn't go away, so I have to restart my computer.

I won't state my PC specs here as i'm sure the crashes have nothing to do with anything other than my GPU, as I have another computer which has the exact same components in it, which doesn't have this crashing problem.

So far, I have tried the following ideas to try and fix this, but they have all failed:
- Update drivers to their newest version (16.12.1?)
- Roll back drivers to an earlier version (16.11.5 and 6.9.x)
- Deleted all traces of any AMD drivers on this computer and re-installed them to the newest version (16.12.1?)

Any ideas would be great as I really need to get this sorted!

If theres not enough power going to the GPU it will crash.

If you have it overclocked too high without enough voltage it will crash.

And on rare occasions the manufacturer puts too high of an overclock on the card so it crashes. I had this problem with my old Gigabyte G1 Gaming r9 380, it would crash it games usually AAA titles that were GPU intensive, so I returned for a 480. So in that scenario either the clocks need to be lowered or more voltage is needed.

Messaggio originale di Bad-Motha:

Some games are just picky about a GPU that is pre-OC'ed
Every GPU I have tried that had a decent factory OC, would crash in games like GTA4 and some others, it was almost always the same couple of games. When I would back the GPU Clocks down to that of the "Reference Model" those same games ran just fine afterwards.

I messed around with the Overclocking last year trying to see if lowering it would make a difference, however, it didn't.

[Dapper]

Messaggio originale di WarmedxMints:

Check you temps, something is likely overheating.

Messaggio originale di Bad-Motha:

Well it is an old GPU, use older Drivers; such as 16.10.xx

Don't update GPU Drivers, Roll-Back, etc.
Wipe them completely out, reboot and then install the version you wish to use/try.

But yea short-term gameplay and then crashing; that is usually heat related.
Monitor CPU/GPU Temps at all times, like you should be doing anyways.

I'll start to monitor the temperature of my GPU and see if it overheats. If this is the case, is it best to get a new GPU?

Since the AMD Radeon R9 270x in my other computer doesn't have any temperature issues (I monitored it last year for Call of Duty Black Ops III and it didn't have any issues), could it be that I have a faulty GPU?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Again; drivers or heat.

First off you are handling your drivers all wrong.
Download and run DDU app and select Safe Mode and Restart.
Once in safe mode w/ DDU app; select all 3 brands and click "Clean but do not restart"
Do this every time you want to switch GPU Drivers. As DDU is the way to ensure it is done fully and correctly each time. Then download and try 16.10.3

Install a good app like OpenHardwareMonitor and have it run all the time.
Then test your system with Unigine Valley on the Extreme Preset; let it run in a loop for about 30-60 mins; meanwhile, see what OpenHardwareMonitor reports for CPU/GPU MAX Temps during this time.

[Dapper]

Messaggio originale di Bad-Motha:

Again; drivers or heat.

First off you are handling your drivers all wrong.
Download and run DDU app and select Safe Mode and Restart.
Once in safe mode w/ DDU app; select all 3 brands and click "Clean but do not restart"
Do this every time you want to switch GPU Drivers. As DDU is the way to ensure it is done fully and correctly each time. Then download and try 16.10.3

I'll make sure to do this the next time a new AMD driver update comes out, thanks.
Haven't had any problems in my other computer, yet I update their drivers the same way.

[Mike]

Messaggio originale di Dapper:

Messaggio originale di WarmedxMints:

Check you temps, something is likely overheating.

Messaggio originale di Bad-Motha:

Well it is an old GPU, use older Drivers; such as 16.10.xx

Don't update GPU Drivers, Roll-Back, etc.
Wipe them completely out, reboot and then install the version you wish to use/try.

But yea short-term gameplay and then crashing; that is usually heat related.
Monitor CPU/GPU Temps at all times, like you should be doing anyways.

I'll start to monitor the temperature of my GPU and see if it overheats. If this is the case, is it best to get a new GPU?

Since the AMD Radeon R9 270x in my other computer doesn't have any temperature issues (I monitored it last year for Call of Duty Black Ops III and it didn't have any issues), could it be that I have a faulty GPU?

If the GPU overheats I don't think it's necessary to buy another GPU. Better check if the fans from your gpu still work, and otherwise, maybe an extra cooler should do the trick!

[Bad 💀 Motha]

You have problems, yes? thus, I would do it now. This will ensure all AMD GPU Drivers are gone from your system, which is what you want. When you keep updating GPU Drivers one after another, rolling back, etc. Problems arise. That is why Drivers should never be handed that way. The other system is irrelevant.

Another thing is that you GPU is old and no longer updated; thus, stop updating the Driver when it's made for updates for newer GPUs. 16.10 is about as far as you need to go with that GPU. They don't continue to update things for older GPUs beyond a certain point.

If the CPU/GPU is overheating; blow out all the dust, do that every couple of months and/or as needed. Double check that all fans are functioning properly. If they are getting too hot, you obviously need more Case Fans / Better Airflow within your Case.

[Dapper]

Messaggio originale di Bad-Motha:

You have problems, yes? thus, I would do it now. This will ensure all AMD GPU Drivers are gone from your system, which is what you want. When you keep updating GPU Drivers one after another, rolling back, etc. Problems arise. That is why Drivers should never be handed that way. The other system is irrelevant.

Another thing is that you GPU is old and no longer updated; thus, stop updating the Driver when it's made for updates for newer GPUs. 16.10 is about as far as you need to go with that GPU. They don't continue to update things for older GPUs beyond a certain point.

If the CPU/GPU is overheating; blow out all the dust, do that every couple of months and/or as needed. Double check that all fans are functioning properly. If they are getting too hot, you obviously need more Case Fans / Better Airflow within your Case.

As i've stated, I had already removed all traces of AMD Drivers once, which was done during the summer. I then re-installed the newest drivers, which were 6.9.x at the time, which were for Battlefield 1.

Atleast one week went by, of which I had experienced no crashes. Out of the blue, I had one crash, and then I couldn't play Battlefield 1 anymore because I could only get 20 minutes of gameplay in before it would crash to the white or grey screen.

I will do the small tasks first, such as monitoring the GPU's temperature, and then move on to tampering with Overclocking again. After those, I will move on to completely wiping any AMD drivers from my system (again) and see if it makes a difference.

Computer is cleaned every four months, so if the GPU fans are clogged up, i'll found out soon enough.

[Dapper]

Messaggio originale di Mike:

Messaggio originale di Dapper:

I'll start to monitor the temperature of my GPU and see if it overheats. If this is the case, is it best to get a new GPU?

Since the AMD Radeon R9 270x in my other computer doesn't have any temperature issues (I monitored it last year for Call of Duty Black Ops III and it didn't have any issues), could it be that I have a faulty GPU?

If the GPU overheats I don't think it's necessary to buy another GPU. Better check if the fans from your gpu still work, and otherwise, maybe an extra cooler should do the trick!

If the GPU does overheat, i'll inspect the fans and if they're not working properly, i'll certainly look in to getting an extra cooler, thanks!

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Given what you said in Post#11, yea sounds more like GPU is overheating.
Just monitor the temps, run some stress tests and see how hot it gets.
Should be able to narrow down this in a matter of minutes if its really an overheat issue.

[Dapper]

Messaggio originale di Bad-Motha:

Given what you said in Post#11, yea sounds more like GPU is overheating.
Just monitor the temps, run some stress tests and see how hot it gets.
Should be able to narrow down this in a matter of minutes if its really an overheat issue.

Alright, will do, thanks for your help!

[Andrius227]

If the cooler is clean and the gpu still overheats, then you should get new thermal paste.