Hi guys!

I've got a problem, and I can't get it fixed. I would appreciate all help, since I really can't figure it out. I've tried every trick in the book. Please read through.
I have a nice Sapphire radeonHD 5870 Vapor-X OC edition graphics card. It works fine, cools well.

The problem:
Whenever I play certain more demanding games (F12012 and COD4), I get a driver crash after some time. (around 15 minutes). The game freezes, a few seconds later the game continues (sound only), but the image is still frozen. When I alt-tab out of the game, I see a "ATI driver has crashed and succesfully recovered" notification. By that time the game has shut down.
I'm rather sure the card itself is fine, since it runs stable under torture tests without heating up excessively. (<65°C)

System:
Win8 pro (fully updated)
Current driver: 9.012-121219a-152192C-ATI
Catalyst: 13.1
Direct3D: 9.14.10.0945
OpelGL: 6.14.10.12002

MOBO: P8Z77 V-Lx
CPU: i5-3570k
RAM: Corsair vengeance 8GB
GPU: Sapphire radeonHD 5870 Vapor-X OC
Disk: Intel SSD 180GB
PSU: Corsair 430W non-modular (only few months old)

What I've already tried:

• Different drivers / CCC: Old one's, new one's. I've ran 12.4 for a while, since the previous owner told me that was the version he had run stable for a long time. All show the same problem.
• I've tried multiple versions of drivers supplied by amd, AND by sapphire, specifically for my exact card.
• Setting EVERYTHING to stock. I did a hard bios reset, and the GPU is running at stock settings. I've even tried underclocking it.
• reducing the game graphics settings to bare minimum, at a lower resolution. This only seems to postpone the problem slightly.
• Reinstalling the drivers, again and again. Uninstalling CCC, removing driver, physically taking out the card and reinstalling it... I've also used the ATI software removal tool to make sure everything was clean before a fresh install.
• Windows update, direct X update, etc etc.
• Checked for overheating: The card is in a very well ventilated case. It can suck up fresh air from outside the case. No temperatures ever go over 60°C.
• There currently are no other GPU related programs installed on my computer.
• Running the game in compatability mode
• Many more little things.

Please help me, I'm desperate
I'm truly baffled why the thing crashes in certain games, while not under burn-in testing. I've tried many many different drivers, and checked everything that came to my mind that could cause problems. I really suspect a software issue, since the card works fine under torture test. There is no indication of hardware failure. Could it have to do with windows 8? :s Any help or idea is appreciated!
Are there perhaps other alternative, community drivers I can try?

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Free hamburgers for he who solves my problem.

Edited: 02/16/2013 at 04:30 PM by Dino_Martino

Try underclocking the card to standard 5870 clock speeds (or even below that). If it stops doing this, you have a faulty card, RMA it ang get a new one (from a different manufacturer). Stress tests mean nothing, it's not even possible to monitor VRAM temps for example. Can be a problem with voltages and a lot of other stuff. Stress tests are very different from games, they use the GPU differently.

PS: Remove that advertisement before it gets you banned.

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CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 810 @ 3250MHz | RAM: Kingmax 2x2GB DDR2 800 @ 833MHz| MoBo: MSI K9A2 CF v1.0 (BIOS: 1.D)| GPU: Asus HD 6850 1024MB (DirectCu) @ 850/1100MHz | Display: Chili Green Vision L24FHD | PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad | OS: MS Windows 95 x64 Edition

CPU: Pentium 4 Northwood S478 @ 3200MHz | RAM: 1,5GB DDR 400| MoBo: Gigabyte GA-8S661FXMP-RZ | GPU: Abit Geforce Ti 4200 | Display: Dimarson 19" CRT | PSU: Noname 400W | OS: MS Windows XP Pro, Fedora 18

Thanks, I'll try that.

But the weird thing is, I got this card second hand, and the previous owner never experienced such problems, while running the same game (F1 2012).

and, advertisement? I'm not sure what you are referring to...
My signature? That's not an ad, I don't have free burgers, it was a joke. I'll remove it.
-- EDIT: Whoops! That wasn't intentional at all! I copy pasted my post from that forum, and somehow I accidentally copy-pasted a little too much, I guess. Sorry about that, I really didn't notice, not even now. It didn't appear when I was posting. Apologies!!

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Free hamburgers for he who solves my problem.

Underclocking the card did indeed fix the problem...
Perhaps I should have a word with the guy I bought it from.

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Free hamburgers for he who solves my problem.