CriminallyUncool

I think I might have a bad GPU on my hands, but I'm not sure. Here is the rundown. I have a MSI GTX 970 OC that I bought used about a year ago. It worked fine in my main PC for nearly all of that time, absolutely no problems. Upgraded to a GTX 1080 about 4 months ago, and put the 970 in the new rig I was building for my girlfriend. 4 months with no issues, and then it just started shutting her PC down soon after she launches a game. I took the card out of her rig and put it in mine to see if I could replicate the problem. Same issue. I got her a GTX 980 TI as a replacement, and she is having absolutely no problems. I would really like to use this card, if I can get it working, in a build I'm putting together for my nephew. I tried rolling back drivers to see if an update might have been the problem, no success. I know that it is not a power supply issue, our current cards are working just fine, and they are both 750w 80 + gold certified. in between tests the card was cleaned of dust and debris, but I have not gone as far as reapplying thermal paste. Please help. If I don't get this card working my nephew is going to be stuck with a ryzen APU until I can get something better. He is 6 so he doesn't really need anything too powerful right now, but I want him to enjoy PC Building and have a full experience. Oh, and the fans do spin up.

Yeah, I kind of figured that putting 3200 MHz Ram in a board that was configured for 2400 MHz would work fine, it would just cap the Ram at 2400. But I wasn't sure. I don't really want to go spend the premium price on RGB Ram just to have it not be compatible.

Okay before I ask my question, please understand that I am a complete Noob when it comes to PC building. I am building my first custom gaming PC. Currently I am waiting to see benchmarks for the Ryzen chips before I make any big decisions. From what I hear Ryzen boards will support 2400mhz Ram. I was looking at the Gskill Trident Z RGB Ram, but can only find it in a 3200mhz variant. I have checked a few forms, I will admit pretty superficially, and can't find out if 3200mhz ram will work on a AM4 board.