3870 running at 0C?

Well, I turn my laptop on today, start HWMonitor, and one of my 3870s is running at 0C apparently.

That is slightly scary...Now I'm actually worried that the slave card may have died. Might this be because I started on battery?

I'm about to try a game to see if it really might be dead...

 

have you try benchmarking ? look at the score to determine if it is still working... maybe it's just the sensor has spoiled.

 

Could of been shutdown by default cause you started on Battery.

 

Just restarted on power and the same thing happened.

Tried Crysis and MW2, both seem to be showing sub-standard FPS, MW2 especially. Found no difference from disabling crossfire or enabling it.

So looks like my slave 3870 is busted.

I'm downloading 3DMark06 now to confirm it but it's going to take 6 hours. (Crappy Hotel internet in Dubai...)

If I do have to go through AW support, does anyone have any advice on how to get it fixed or replaced quickly?

 

Did you try another monitoring tool like hwinfo32?

 

GPU tool read out as -1C.

About to try hwinfo32...

I believe there is something wrong with the slave card, as I've said before games are performing only as they would on a single 3870 and no difference comes from crossfire being disabled...

Oh well, I'll look on the bright side. I might get an M17x replacement

If they have to replace it with an M17x, I suppose I could push for a dual 4870 configuration? (As I'm now an ATi gamer, and a single 4870 is worse than 3870 xfire) I could say they can use my old M17's RAM, CPU and hard drive I guess.

Problem is I use my M17 for work as well so I can't send it to them for repair if it needs it.

EDIT: Attached a picture showing hwinfo32, HWMonitor and GPU-z side by side, so you can see how messed up the info is. Have a look at the clock and memory speeds especially...

EDIT 2: As another note hwinfo32's temp sensors didn't pick up my GPUs.

 

Are you still under warranty by Alienware? if yes then you should be able to call them and ask for a replacement slave card. They will send you the new one and you will need to return your old busted slave.

 

Yeah it's still under warranty, for another three months. I'm on holiday right now, but I'll be calling them once I get back home. Already contacted them via email, let's see what they say.

Thank goodness it wasn't the master card, I've got important work I need to do...

I'm half hoping they'll have no more 3870s left so I can get an M17x replacement Still it's probably more hassle than it's worth.

 

The thing that does add up since that temp is COLD. If your system is running even if it's disabled it would be warm. So the card may be fubar but the temps can't be accurate.

 

Either the temperature sensor itself is busted or it's being read wrong. Because, obviously, I'm not using my laptop in a sub-0C ambient...

I'm wondering if the card might have been knocked loose. This started happening after reaching my hotel room after a short flight.

Note also though that the core and memory clocks are way off...either something is seriously wrong with the card or it's just loose.

Could a loose connection be a possible cause?