Does anyone know about PowerColor brand?

[Spider With Web]

I just bought a Radeon PowerColor R7 240 the other day, it is not a capable card i know but it gets the job done for now (i dont have any demaning title as of now)

But guess what, the card are now dead after just 2 month usage, I did overclock a little from 720mhz to 750mhz and Overvolt it +1 through GlobalOverdrive

Whenever i play with it, i always monitor the temperature, it never go hot more than 55'c, it never freeze even once when i play Tomb Raider, until just recently im back to using my PC again from a vacation, it started to freeze after a minute of gameplay, not a blue screen, but a rainbow screen (it is very messy that you know it is broken).

However it always froze only when i play a game, it never happen to my previous card, well i do have this problem before with my laptop that came with a GT540m that are broken from overheating, but my R7 never overheat at all.

Is it the PowerColor fault? Since I haven't heard this kind of story before, anyone using PowerColor? If so, are there any problem too?

Here's my rig for reference:
Intel Core i7-2600
2x4GB DDR3 ram
1TB hdd
PC Radeon R7 240
And 380watt PSU

[Bad 💀 Motha]

While it might not get too hot, it could be as simple as "OC is unstable is this app or game"
OC's even deemed "stable" by something like EVGA OC Scanner, FurMark or AIDA64 might not always be stable in everything. Same goes for CPU / RAM OC's as well.

Best bet is revert ANY OC and go from there.

Most GPU OC's aren't even worth it. As you could even max out the OC ability and still only see real world FPS gains in the single digits.

There is also the OC App and Drivers to consider.
Best bet is try the GPU's factory defaults first as a test method.
Still having issues? Then try wiping all GPU Drivers using the "DDU" app, then try another GPU Driver Version. And NEVER touch any voltages unless the Clocks are unstable.

For GPU Monitoring, Tweaking, OSD features; MSI Afterburner + RivaTuner is a good bet.
As MSI Afterburner works on pretty much any AMD or NVIDIA GPU.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

R7 240 is real trash anyway, get yourself GTX 1050 Ti, should be running fine with your PSU and has miles better performance then R7 240.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Yes, even something somewhat low budget like 1050 Ti will stomp all over even a RX 270
You have good enough CPU and RAM. And going with something like 1050 Ti, that is low enough power requirement to not need a Power Supply replacement.

[Spider With Web]

引用自 Bad_Motha：

While it might not get too hot, it could be as simple as "OC is unstable is this app or game"
OC's even deemed "stable" by something like EVGA OC Scanner, FurMark or AIDA64 might not always be stable in everything. Same goes for CPU / RAM OC's as well.

Best bet is revert ANY OC and go from there.

Most GPU OC's aren't even worth it. As you could even max out the OC ability and still only see real world FPS gains in the single digits.

There is also the OC App and Drivers to consider.
Best bet is try the GPU's factory defaults first as a test method.
Still having issues? Then try wiping all GPU Drivers using the "DDU" app, then try another GPU Driver Version. And NEVER touch any voltages unless the Clocks are unstable.

For GPU Monitoring, Tweaking, OSD features; MSI Afterburner + RivaTuner is a good bet.
As MSI Afterburner works on pretty much any AMD or NVIDIA GPU.

I have revert back to its default settings and even reinstall and updating the driver to the latest, it is still persist, i haven't tried using DDU app, gonna try it as soon as i get my hands on my PC.

And yeah, the differences are so little, it is just that i have not even touch the limit yet it seems like i have pushed it too far.

Anyway, i'm sure it is the hardware now since every game or any other apps that are using the gpu to at least 80+% usage, can't get past 5minute of gameplay, i have tried underclocking it and i did get 5 more minute of it.

[Spider With Web]

引用自 Rumpelcrutchskin：

R7 240 is real trash anyway, get yourself GTX 1050 Ti, should be running fine with your PSU and has miles better performance then R7 240.

引用自 Bad_Motha：

Yes, even something somewhat low budget like 1050 Ti will stomp all over even a RX 270
You have good enough CPU and RAM. And going with something like 1050 Ti, that is low enough power requirement to not need a Power Supply replacement.

How do you know i didnt want to replace my psu haha

Yess, I do regret my choice now! I did buy the r7 240 over a used nvidia gtx750 back then since the latter also cost 20$ more.

Thanks for the feedback guys.
Maybe im going for the 1050Ti later, as for now, im going to complain to the shop where i bought it.

[upcoast]

Get that DDU and run it you might as well rule out the drivers then rma it.

I did and rma with Power color yearssss ago for HD3850 it went fine but they did charge a $9 fee for return shipping back to me.

Sure, if you buy a new card get the GTX1050ti/1060 6GB.

I also agree that overclocking gpus is min gain and not really worth the risk.

Ps, I'm surprised you could get a playable frame rate on that R7 240, the R7 260x is on par give or take with the GTX750ti so the 240 is really down there.

[TehSpoopyKitteh]

引用自 Pitopika13：

I just bought a Radeon PowerColor R7 240 the other day, it is not a capable card i know but it gets the job done for now (i dont have any demaning title as of now)

But guess what, the card are now dead after just 2 month usage, I did overclock a little from 720mhz to 750mhz and Overvolt it +1 through GlobalOverdrive

Whenever i play with it, i always monitor the temperature, it never go hot more than 55'c, it never freeze even once when i play Tomb Raider, until just recently im back to using my PC again from a vacation, it started to freeze after a minute of gameplay, not a blue screen, but a rainbow screen (it is very messy that you know it is broken).

However it always froze only when i play a game, it never happen to my previous card, well i do have this problem before with my laptop that came with a GT540m that are broken from overheating, but my R7 never overheat at all.

Is it the PowerColor fault? Since I haven't heard this kind of story before, anyone using PowerColor? If so, are there any problem too?

Here's my rig for reference:
Intel Core i7-2600
2x4GB DDR3 ram
1TB hdd
PC Radeon R7 240
And 380watt PSU

I do know that PowerColor is a licensed producer of AMD Radeon video cards, and that they are manufactured by Foxxcon.

As for your issues with overclocking...It may have to do with the fact that your PSU is only 360 Watts. For any modern graphics cards that you wish to OC, I would really recommend that you upgrade to a 600~750 Watt power supply. I do know a good website (and no this is not advertising spam...the site is a tool...not a mrketplace) called PCPartPicker that can help you with at least finding the parts you need to upgrade. Send me a friend request if you have any firther questions concering those matters.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

OC'ing a CPU or GPU without a Voltage change rarely ever really will require MORE power. If so, it's usually very small. Due to the fact that CPUs and GPUs have a max supported TDP output range with maybe approx additional + or - 1-5%
You can't really force it to go beyond that. Not without changing things regarding Power/Voltages... and that has a brick wall of it's own; from the CPU, from the Motherboard, and also from the Power Supply.


You could also RMA the GPU and never buy PowerColor again.
You can always find Sapphire or MSI AMD GPUs for basically same pricing as PowerColor or PNY; and with a wider range of model selections, coolers, clocks, etc... Far better brands as well overall, not just their redesign offers but also support.

[upcoast]

BTW, I just tried to rma a faulty visiontek R9 280x and visiontek has lived up to its' reputation and not honored the warranty so you might want to avoid visiontek in the future also.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

引用自 upcoast：

BTW, I just tried to rma a faulty visiontek R9 280x and visiontek has lived up to its' reputation and not honored the warranty so you might want to avoid visiontek in the future also.

VisionTek as anything good, died when Diamond died.

VisionTek was good back when GeForce "3" came out... after that, done for...

[Big Boom Boom]

Biggest newbie mistake, GPU sensor is only on chip not on VRM or VRAM. So when it says it's cool, it's only the chip.

Reviewers always use thermal imaging for this very reasons. Why did EVGA scrap ACX cooler for iCX is also for this reason. ACX with Pascal exposed quite a lot of people with inadequate cooling for everything apart from the chip, especially when OC. They actually skimmed quite a bit on VRM and VRAM unlike virtually all other brand. They gone overboard with iCX to make sure that never happens again.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

ICX is just something every single GPU should have anyways; at least for one about low-budget stuff. Those sensors in various key point is very helpful, similar to what ASUS does on Motherboards like CrossHair, Rampage and all the TUF series boards.

[Big Boom Boom]

Speaking of mobo I think the latest gigabyte bios update broke my sensor. Not physically, but bios wise. My board has 6 sensors, the CPU fan header is locked into CPU sensor. All sensors are working fine, but just for CPU fan header its actually reading System 1 sensor, not CPU sensor like it's supposed to. Other headers read CPU sensor fine, or any other 5 sensors fine and they are not locked so I can change which sensor determine its speed. It's kinda of funny.

Thanks to Intel Optane I can not downgrade BIOS. One way street for Intel.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

引用自 Big Boom Boom：

Speaking of mobo I think the latest gigabyte bios update broke my sensor. Not physically, but bios wise. My board has 6 sensors, the CPU fan header is locked into CPU sensor. All sensors are working fine, but just for CPU fan header its actually reading System 1 sensor, not CPU sensor like it's supposed to. Other headers read CPU sensor fine, or any other 5 sensors fine and they are not locked so I can change which sensor determine its speed. It's kinda of funny.

Thanks to Intel Optane I can not downgrade BIOS. One way street for Intel.

You CAN revert back, simply download the most recent previous bios update, just previous as the one giving you troubles. And update with that instead.

It's not like when you update on a Dell or HP, where you are always locked into the latest BIOS update once applied.

[Big Boom Boom]

Actually no, the download page stated I can't revert to an older BIOS than the Intel Optane update one, which was the version first started giving me trouble. The latest I have is one version after, the problem isn't fixed it's only supposed to fix HT bug identified way back in March. Just have to wait for a later one then.

Not that it matters as I plug the industrial fan NF-F12 on the CPU fan header and the NF-A15 on CPU fan (optional) header which work fine.