How to stop RX 7800 XT Polar Edition from crashing in Dead Space 2?
Getting a black screen followed by a driver reset notification right in the middle of a horror sequence is a total mood killer. The factory OC on the Sapphire RX 7800 XT Polar Edition is pushed way too high; while rendering dynamic shadows in Dead Space 2, the core voltage was swinging violently between 1.1V and 1.2V, triggering TDR crashes. I tried updating to the latest WHQL drivers, but it actually made things worse, moving from one crash per hour to one every ten minutes. It became obvious that the clock speed was the culprit. I jumped into the AMD Software, dropped the max frequency by 100MHz, and manually locked the voltage curve at 2200MHz. In 3DMark stress tests, a system that used to choke in 15 minutes now runs for 2 hours straight with core temps at 62-68℃. I lost about 5 FPS initially, but the actual feel is way smoother because the instant freezes are gone. VRAM temps settled at 75-82℃ with fans at 1600 RPM. After a 5-hour marathon, zero crashes, with VRAM staying between 76-81℃.
