robAP Posted January 2, 2015 Posted January 2, 2015 (edited) [EDIT: found problem and solution. This was a case of the video cable from card to monitor crapping out. New cable and I was fine. 5850's work just fine. I still ordered up an R9 280 in the end) Been a long time guys. How are ya? The 2009 X-mas grand prize rig has a pair of hd 5850's and the display ports are really causing a problem. What was the occasional one or two second black screen of my third monitor became a permanent black screen after a while until the reboot, but now, everything seems fine until i load up a game or something requiring the graphics. system reboot. (keep in mind, through out all of this, the screen orientation did not change, so it didnt revert to a two screen setup, it remained a widescreen three monitor set up just missing the right third of the visual....so i could have been getting shot at by someone and not know it.) I tried running just one card on three monitors, same problem. Swapped the cards around (bottom to top, top to bottom) and hooked it up and the same issue. Ran single cards next, changed it out to the other card, same problem. the display port connected monitor goes black and system reboots now. If I disconnect the display port cable, Catalyst changes orientation and tells me of a DP failure reverting to two-monitor only, so it's not really a failing cable connection. So it was a problem that slowly over time has become this. I now have a center monitor on one card hooked up and thats about 4 feet of desktop unused Searching the Google yields a thread somewhere that discussed the past history of them, saying the display ports were chronically under-volting themselves and one commenter posted a link to his own personally modded bios update for the card with a tweaked DP voltage but that's a broken link and i can't find anything new on the subject. Another non-issue here (since these were free) is the possibility of the warranty. It seems to qualify for the XFX extension into the lifetime period of warranty, however since i was not the original purchaser it is not transferable to me. Ideas folks? OR is it time to pony up the funds for the first time since 2008 and buy a powerful single card? -rob Edited December 14, 2016 by robAP Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waco Posted January 2, 2015 Posted January 2, 2015 I'd probably jump to a 290X or GTX 970 to be honest. They'll be 2-3 times faster in nearly everything, especially with 3 displays. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IVIYTH0S Posted January 2, 2015 Posted January 2, 2015 Have you tried fully wiping drivers and installing the newest? Barring doing that and a full reinstall of windows, you may need to look at a newer card Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robAP Posted January 3, 2015 Posted January 3, 2015 Have you tried fully wiping drivers and installing the newest? Barring doing that and a full reinstall of windows, you may need to look at a newer card This started happening with the original install, and then continued happening into worse territory after a fresh install on to a new SSD. I even swapped around the monitors. I suppose a new card would be good since I haven't bought a serious performance card since an x1900xt in 2006...replaced with a used 4850 for almost equal ebay money. So I guess i'm due for something good. Next question is...they are perfectly good for a single monitor if not two monitors, i could sell them i suppose with a disclaimer that the DP is gone for all intensive purposes. I don't know what I would get from them but they work very well for that scenario. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
xPETEZx Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 I had this EXACT issue with my Pair of HD5850's. At first it only happened after about 20-30 minutes of full load gaming. I updated to the latest drivers, and this seemed to cure the problem. Then one day it started to happen at desktop. Lost my DP connected monitor. Kept flashing black and computer was unusable. Disconnected the DP monitor and all was good. The next day from cold boot the DP monitor worked again, but only for about 30 minutes. I took the 2 cards out and cleaned them up, hoping it would help. No dice. In a last ditch attempt, I took the Heatsink and fan off the main card and cleaned the Thermal paste off the core and heatsink. Also clean all the dust off the bits I couldent get to with the sink attached. Re-applied fresh paste and put the card back together. To my amazement, no more black screen on the DP connected monitor. I did this just after Xmas. Then got a new PC just after the new year. So not sure how long the fix would have lasted, but went at least 2 weeks without issue. Worth a shot before you buy a new card imo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkakmanH Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 I had a friend wiht one HD5850 was having a similar problem with blackouts and bad raster. I did the same for him as !!Meat!! and pulled off the fans and totally cleaned the card, new paste, etc. He has not had a problem since. This is not the first time I have experience this. The HD5850s that are out there may have been assembled with a bad batch of paste. I would clean and repaste before getting rid of them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IVIYTH0S Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 I didn't think about it but you could also bake the cards if they repasting doesn't work Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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