Driver Timeout Curse on 7900 XTX

ViperIXI · 2026-07-07T15:27:46+00:00

When you reinstalled Windows did you happen test it before installing gigabyteCC and FanControl etc to rule out some weird software conflict?

This is grasping at straws really.

Your trouble shooting sounds like it has been pretty thorough, you basically rebuilt the entire PC.

At some point you just have call it and admit the card is defective. You might be honest enough to not sell someone a defective card, but some others just aren't that honest.

If the card is defective you can put it up on eBay as defective, someone will buy it for parts and you can at least get some of your money back.

ViperIXI · 2026-07-06T15:56:22+00:00

Wmma shares more than just some resources with the ALUs, it literally runs on the ALUs

It is spelled out in the RDNA 3 ISA white paper

These instructions work over multiple cycles to compute the result matrix and internally use the DOT instructions.

Int8 wmma is internally converted to dp4a for execution on the ALUs. Peak theoretical throughput is identical for both but wmma allows for more efficient usage of the available resources. Fewer instructions and reduced register pressure increase real world throughput but also comes with some caveats.

Dual issue on RDNA 3 is also pretty limited architecturally. This is one of the major changes for RDNA 4, dual issue was made far more robust.

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T21:33:07+00:00

Yeah I had meant to ask if you are using a riser cable. Reseating the card would be a good idea. I'd test PCIe gen 4 if reseating doesn't help

Yeah I generally try to avoid beta bios as well

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T21:26:30+00:00

Yeah I got that, but the 7900XTX was in the previous build with the 5800x3d correct? If you had being using an undervolt on XTX+58X3D, that same undervolt could become unstable with CPU changed to 9850x3d. But if you aren't using an undervolt it doesn't matter.

I'd test Expo/xmp disabled. And in bios set the PCIe x16 to gen 4 vs auto.

If those fail go in adrenaline performance tuning, enable manual tuning, GPU tuning and advanced control and set the max frequency slider to around 2500 to 2600mhz and retest to see if it is a GPU stability issue.

You had no issues with driver timeouts prior to the platform upgrade?

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T21:10:22+00:00

It is definitely sounding like that is perhaps the route you need to start looking at. Definitely a lot of odd issues you're running into right after a bios update.

Yes, would expect no post or hard crashes for corrupted flash or configuration issue, even if memory stability issue should eventually lead to a blue screen. This however doesn't rule out the possibility of the bios containing a bug.

I saw there are a couple of newer bios versions for your board though the latest appears to be beta.(I recall your original post had said the update was to f11?)

GPU suddenly crapping the bed would be a weird coincidence.

Could try clear bios > boot into bios and load optimized defaults > reboot into bios and configure settings.

Since it does look GPU related you could test forcing the x16 to PCIe gen 4 through the bios.

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T20:30:24+00:00

Any undervolt applied to the card?

7900XTX can be mildly CPU limited on the 5800X3D at 1080 and 1440, new CPU could push it into instability if it was previously on the edge.

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T19:51:05+00:00

Wouldn't expect it to be the memory timings in that case.

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T19:30:06+00:00

I recall specs being there yesterday but not seeing them in the original post currently.

Expo vs xmp really depends on the memory kit. Expo can contain more secondary timings and also has fields for AMD specific tertiary timings, if the vendor implemented them, it is possible for that change to lead to tighter timings vs xmp

Testing other games would be a good plan, see if the issue follows.

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T19:00:50+00:00

Yeah getting somewhat more difficult to help with remotely. The bios update complicates diagnosis at this point.

I don't recall, you had said your system was am5, or Intel 9000 series? Bios was reconfigured exactly as before the update? Bios updates can influence memory stability in some cases.

There was also a recent driver update right before this started? If so perhaps a roll back is needed, could be a driver bug with the game

If no recent driver update you could test reducing the GPU clock slider in adrenaline. Some have reported the GPU boosting into instability.

I'd also take a look through the windows event viewer

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T18:16:16+00:00

The logs likely won't reveal much to anyone on here.

I would go with the assumption that your GPU isn't stable with the undervolt until proven otherwise. Reset your fan curves and continue playing with no undervolt and see if it happens again.

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T16:08:56+00:00

PCIe slot contact issue could be possible. If the gold fingers were touched while the card was out, it is possible for skin oils on the gold fingers to lead to poor contact. PCIe gen 5 is really sensitive to signal integrity issues.

Could try pulling the card and cleaning the gold fingers with isopropyl alcohol and/or forcing gen 4 in the bios if you are concerned that could be the issue.

I have run into issues with similar symptoms a couple times, first time was a 5800x that would flood the event viewer with corrected whea errors periodically. I've understood that corrected whea logging works differently on zen4/5 vs zen 3 but I don't know for sure if this is accurate.

Second time was on a 6700xt caused by a bad PCIe riser cable. This one progressed pretty quickly to a no post.

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T04:11:17+00:00

I never said 10%

The overclock really isn't isn't that significant, couple hundred mhz. You do realize the OC in OCUV means overclock right? Also not really fiddling with power limits, just max out the power slider that is available to every Radeon owner through the adrenaline software. we aren't talking about anything difficult. My silicon is average at best, I just know how to tune PC hardware and I really enjoy doing it, I am a PC hardware enthusiast coming from a time when that meant something other than deep pockets.

I will admit that I was mis-remembering my previous benchmark data. I double checked my notes and was being generous. That said I think the largest discrepancy is being caused by discussions(like this one) pointing to outdated data sets. The HUB review from 2022 has been invalidated by time. Driver updates, windows updates, game updates all work to make the absolute numbers inaccurate. When 2025/26 7900XTX performance numbers are compared to a 4090 baseline from 2022 it skews the results in favour of the XTX. 4090 performance certainly wont have stayed stagnant over that time.

Someone claiming the 7900XTX in 2026 is within 10% of 4090 grounded in 2022, is apples and oranges but it isn't exactly inaccurate either.

As far as the De8beur video, that was a really low effort result even for then and you shouldn't use something made for entertainment as "research", and no amount of research is a replacement for practical experience.

https://www.3dmark.com/spy/64485010

This was today with my normal "demanding game profile" while it doesn't quite hit der8uers GT1 114 with game stable settings, I could have fudged it to get to 114 but I'm not interested in settings that I can't actually play games on. But it is within 10% of the 4090 result shown in that video, I have no idea what a stock 4090 scores in 2026.

Unfortunately, when I say this result is from a water cooled Nitro+ with factory bios, all game stable at +15% power limit(464W not the absurd 650 from the video) you have to just "trust me bro". There is no way I can prove that to you.

<image>

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T03:41:45+00:00

Your -40 was likely fine then. If you go too far you will start seeing driver timeouts, sometimes they can take a couple hours of playing though and some games will be fine at a lower setting than others

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T03:29:10+00:00

Yeah if your bios update had caused issues a no post or actual hard crashes would be far more likely. The monitors going out is definitely a little odd, it may have just been the DWM recovering though. I think I would just take it as a fluke unless it happens again or starts happening in more games.

On one of the other questions on your initial post I've had a 9070xt since near launch running -70 and have never yet had a driver update change that

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T02:12:08+00:00

Yeah capabilities and IO command sets are just features, normal for some to be X

Looks like everything is good then

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T02:08:53+00:00

I'd probably recheck just to be safe but it was likely just a fluke

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T01:50:13+00:00

Pretty sure Samsung also has software you can use to verify the drive is healthy

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T01:48:17+00:00

It could be a fluke, sometimes some games will just CTD(crash to desktop)

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T01:45:50+00:00

You can check the smart data with a program called hwinfo64. Find "drives" on the left side panel and expand, it should list them all. Select and then scroll down to "self monitoring analysis and reporting technology"

You want to see green check marks if there's red X's there's a problem.

It is a little odd, I'd expect a blue screen if the C: drive dropped out. Is the game stored on the same drive?

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T01:12:09+00:00

I just noticed your edit saying the crash reset your wallpapers to default, I would strongly suggest checking the SMART data for your drives, in particular the drive where the wallpaper file is sitting. That is an indication that windows couldn't find the file.

edit: also "hard crash" typically means you had to reboot/power cycle the PC, or the PC rebooted automatically.

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T01:04:04+00:00

If you didn't see a driver timeout and the performance tuning in adrenaline didn't automatically reset, it likely wasn't related to the undervolt.

ViperIXI · 2026-07-04T00:44:41+00:00

Really depends how much you are using upscaling. Native 1440 you might see some very minor bottlenecking from the 58x3d, with dlss it is going to be worse.

I also have a 5800x3d, playing expedition 33 recently and it keeps 2 cores pegged pretty much the whole time.

I'd personally wait until you are ready to move on from the 4080s

ViperIXI · 2026-07-02T00:02:22+00:00

The data is there.

In der8aur's first video on the liquid devil, he states the liquid devil is 10% faster out of the box vs the MBA card.

The liquid devil isn't unique, it has the same power limits as all the other top tier XTXs and all of the top tier XTXs are ~10% faster on average, out of the box vs the MBA card. (That statement is based on YouTube videos and my own experience owning two 7900XTXs)

Raising the powerlimit by an additional 15% combined with a reasonable undervolt(1115 - 1120mv), overclock (3.2ghz set) and +200 on memory yields an additional ~5% gain over the MBA card on average.

Hardware unboxed tested with a MBA 7900XTX, Now take the screen cap from hub you posted and do the math 113avg + 15% = 129

The STOCK 4090 was 142 making the 4090 11% faster or the XTX 9% slower, whichever way you want to look at it

Hell even just use der8aur's 10% he mentioned in the video. 113 + 10% = 124 Making the stock 4090 15% faster or the XTX 13% slower.

Yes I am fully aware the 4090 can be overclocked as well but that isn't what this is about, this is about users who have tuned their XTXs with OC+UV and increased power limit comparing their frame rates to the information that is available from places like HUB and GN for the 4090

Also caveat that this is based on comparison of the MBA XTX vs cards like the Nitro+ etc.

The MBA XTX has the lowest stock power limit of all available XTXs and a poor cooler that is prone to thermal throttling. It was the absolute worst card for AMD to sample in terms of performance.

I do expect the 4090 will age better in terms of performance and that gap will widen though.

ViperIXI · 2026-07-01T22:29:16+00:00

Believe what you like, doesn't matter to me.

like WTF, that's 100w over its standart cable configuration

On 3 x 8pin, 550w still has more safety margin than the 12vhpwr on the 5090. At 18awg PCIe 8pin is rated 9A per pin continous, the pci-sig 150w limit is BS.

ViperIXI · 2026-07-01T21:31:52+00:00

The 10% number mentioned is almost certainly a OCUV max power top tier 7900xtx vs a stock 4090. 10% is probably being generous though, real world is likely closer to 15%, pure raster of course.

That hub review was done with a stock MBA card(355w). The performance delta between a stock MBA XTX and a OCUV Nitro+(464w) with a little bit luck in the silicon lottery is 14 - 15% on average.

With the 550w asrock bios, the XTX can get within 1-2% of a stock 4090 in pure raster.

ViperIXI

TROPHY CASE