Finally the Radeon R9 380 is working correctly, the fix was so simple

transmaster

AK Subscriber
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I finally figured out the solution. One thing I have never cared for with this GPU is it’s cooling setup. It has a big heat pipe type cooler and a pair of 90mm fans. In the default settings the fans only work when needed. The average temperature was 50°C (122°F) it never dropped below that even in idle. According to the gaming forums that was more or less a normal operating temperature. To me that seemed rather high I keep my FX9590 at less than 30°C (86°F) I finally figured out how to take manual control of it’s cooling fans. The fans showed a speed of less than 400 rpm in Automatic. In the Radeon connsole => Gaming => Global Settings => Global Wattman, scroll down to the fan controls you will see speed (RPM) click on the manual control. I increased the fan speed to bit more than 1700 RPM. Noise is not a factor, My Corsair 750D full tower has 3 140mm case fans that run at 1500 RPM. The liquid cooler has a pair 140mm fans also running +/- 1500rpm so 2 more 90mm fans running at 1700, or so, rpm is not going to add much to that. All of the fans are very quiet anyway. Now the GPU is running at less than 38°C (100°F) no matter what the load is, and I have not been able to trigger a freezing incident since going manual, and I have tried very hard.
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As a test I resumed the automatic fan settings and the occasional freezing resumed. I am going replace this GPU. I am going back to Nividia. The Blogs are talking about big sales on the 1080 cards.
 
As if I needed another reason to dump this Radeon card. Freezing again ???? Checked things out the blasted drivers are not saving my applied settings. The fan controls go back automatic what good is a fan with a defectivally heat sensitive GPU turning at 15 rpm.
 
Very interesting, since I installed the Corsair HX1200i power supply I have not had a freeze up. The Corsair CX750M that I replaced tested out just fine using an instrument I have for this purpose but apparently it just didn’t quite have what I needed. The AMD FX 9590 is a very powerful CPU but it does have a reputation of being a power hog. The R9 380 is not a power miser either between the 2 they can consume around 500 Watts. What I learned on the gaming forums is voltage regulation is just as important. The CX750M is a “Bronze” rated PS it does not have as tight a voltage control as the HX1200i which has a “Platinum” rating. Under fast transient power demands this can make a difference.

It has been very interesting reading in the gaming forums. One of the things I learned is you don’t cut corners on your power supply. Corsair makes among the best power supplies money can buy but you still need one with enough horse power to do the job.

I have a 50 amp Astron linear power supply to power the ham station. The reason why I have a 50 amp PS is when I purchased it from HRO they were out of the 70 amp Astron.
 
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It has been very interesting reading in the gaming forums. One of the things I learned is you don’t cut corners on your power supply. Corsair makes among the best power supplies money can buy but you still need one with enough horse power to do the job.

They also make very nice keyboards. Anyone who misses the old style IBM keyboards should check one out.
 
Been looking at their Keyboards. The backlighting they have is controllable using the iCUE console. Their computer cases are just about the best that money can buy.
 
They also make very nice keyboards. Anyone who misses the old style IBM keyboards should check one out.

Guess what the Old IBM keyboards are still in current manufacture by the original company. And if you have one that needs repair you can send it to them and they will refurbish and upgrade it for you. The Das 4 Pro Keyboard with the blue Cherry Switches has ended my longing for a IBM Model “M”.

https://www.pckeyboard.com/
 
My Corsair has the Blue Cherry Switches.
I have two IBM's (one not working) in addition to the Corsair. Thanks for the tip that someone is repairing them.
 
I used to have 5 of these IBM “M”’s ‘they all wore out had I known about Unicomp I could have had them all refurbished. Unicomp makes all of the old IBM keyboards they even have the one with a trackball in the upper right hand corner. This keyboard went out of general use when the mouse appeared.
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I have tried everything I can think of to trigger a freeze up without success. It would seem it was indeed an inadequate power supply. The $200 Dollars I spent on the replacement was a whole lot cheaper than what I was looking at paying for a new GPU which would not have solved the problem.
Now I wonder how many of the people reporting freezing with these R9 380 GPU have under sized PS? It isn’t easy to tell. The Corsair HXi series is great because of it’s USB data link you can Monitor it in real time
 
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