Jump to content

Huge GPU issue. Some help would be appreciated.

Helay98

Something weird keeps happening while playing games and I don't know what the issue is exactly. I'd be in a game and the screen would randomly freeze up and display these weird colors and shapes after which the game would CTD or the whole PC would be frozen and would need to be restarted (images attached below). The weirdest thing about this whole problem is that if I unplug and replug the GPU back into the PCI socket, the problem could go away for a few weeks then pop right back up eventually. Troubleshooting is also kind of hard to do since this problem happens randomly and not very frequently but I've been able to take a few pics of the freezes with my phone for reference. It's also worth mentioning that the audio sometimes bugs out along with the video but not all the time. This is a newer computer that I built a year ago and I'm kind of worried about the fact that its giving me issues this early in its life, especially considering the specs which are:

 

i7 8700k

GTX 1080ti

16GB RAM

OS is installed on an SSD while games are on a HDD

 

I hope the problem isn't a straight up faulty GPU because I'm not currently living in the country I bought it from so returning it is not really an option. I hope you guys can help me out.

 

IMG_20190608_042932345_HDR.thumb.jpg.1b4014268f8f835b5f77bcfb280a15b4.jpgIMG_20190725_103020868.thumb.jpg.58770338f2473f08eb4dc9bfd6dea725.jpgIMG_20190629_155638571.thumb.jpg.47ef314426d8a48dbefab1205630e525.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

clean the gpu PCI-E connector with contact cleaner and the pci-e slot with compressed air

if this doesnt help... that gpu might be dying :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, chen57 said:

clean the gpu PCI-E connector with contact cleaner and the pci-e slot with compressed air

if this doesnt help... that gpu might be dying :(

Same thoughts here...

 

OP: Have you tried a different PCIe Slot? It's possible that that slot was damaged during install or is letting dust in.

An 8x slot would work fine in your case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Try the PCI-E slot change & clean everything as already suggested.

Clean re-install the GPU driver & mobo sound driver. Also disable all audio devices that you are not using via the windows sound settings.

 

If after that it still happens, I would gravitate towards overheating VRAM or an insufficient PSU.
 

Both can cause this more or less randomly as depending on room temperature, system stress and continuous time being used it might seem “random” while it's not. Heat causes efficiency to drop in the case of the PSU and, well, since I’ve seen this:
https://youtu.be/morJq0HJoCc?t=374
It's probably not too far fetched that a similar, half-arsed design might be plaguing your GPU. 

You could always try to down- or overclock the GPU’s VRAM and see if it changes anything though. Probably start with downclocking first.

@Nord or quote me if you want me to reply back. I don't necessarily check back or subscribe to every topic.

 

Amdahls law > multicore CPU.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Blatcher2 said:

Same thoughts here...

 

OP: Have you tried a different PCIe Slot? It's possible that that slot was damaged during install or is letting dust in.

An 8x slot would work fine in your case.

Yes, I've tried different slots but they all yielded the same results unfortunately so cleaning them probably won't do much. Thanks anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Nord said:

Try the PCI-E slot change & clean everything as already suggested.

Clean re-install the GPU driver & mobo sound driver. Also disable all audio devices that you are not using via the windows sound settings.

 

If after that it still happens, I would gravitate towards overheating VRAM or an insufficient PSU.
 

Both can cause this more or less randomly as depending on room temperature, system stress and continuous time being used it might seem “random” while it's not. Heat causes efficiency to drop in the case of the PSU and, well, since I’ve seen this:
https://youtu.be/morJq0HJoCc?t=374
It's probably not too far fetched that a similar, half-arsed design might be plaguing your GPU. 

You could always try to down- or overclock the GPU’s VRAM and see if it changes anything though. Probably start with downclocking first.

That would actually make sense since the model of my GPU is actually one of the lower end ones. As for the PSU, I've got a 750w unit which should be plenty and I've already tried re-installing drivers to no avail. I'll look into the VRAM next I guess. Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

If it's a “crappy” PSU even 750w might not do it.
For your build you would need around 550W, +/-50W depending if you OC or not and the amount of case fans and similar “small” power draining stuff, including flashy RGB peripherals or your charging phone.

 

Now if you would have a 750watt crappy - or very old - PSU, especially if it has no efficient rating, that 750w could in reality be far, far away from the advertised 750watt. Especially in constant loads.
 

Like there is a literal wackton of things that make a good PSU apart of a brand name, a wattage rating & a 80%+ sticker on it and I’m far from an expert in these things, all I know is, that there is a whole lot I don't know.
But for your specific issue, I’d assume it could very well be possible that the PSU can “handle” everything for some time due to its peak power rating but the constant power rating is too low. Think of it like nvidia GPU boost 2.0.
Or  for a similar matter, maybe the 12v rail (i think it is) is too weak to handle a fully boosted GPU draw, which with a 250watt GPU could be possible. Same can be applied to the 8 & 6pin connectors and how the card is designed to draw power from them. 8pin = 125w~ 6pin = 75w~ (numbers might be off), so maybe, if it only draws from one of them because inser-reason-here, thats too much for the PSU and it freezes the system. Hence why PSU quality matters, a lot.

If you can, snap a picture of the side of the PSU you are using, they usually have a sticker on it with voltage rails etc.
Or list the exact model name of the PSU.

@Nord or quote me if you want me to reply back. I don't necessarily check back or subscribe to every topic.

 

Amdahls law > multicore CPU.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Nord said:

If it's a “crappy” PSU even 750w might not do it.
For your build you would need around 550W, +/-50W depending if you OC or not and the amount of case fans and similar “small” power draining stuff, including flashy RGB peripherals or your charging phone.

 

Now if you would have a 750watt crappy - or very old - PSU, especially if it has no efficient rating, that 750w could in reality be far, far away from the advertised 750watt. Especially in constant loads.
 

Like there is a literal wackton of things that make a good PSU apart of a brand name, a wattage rating & a 80%+ sticker on it and I’m far from an expert in these things, all I know is, that there is a whole lot I don't know.
But for your specific issue, I’d assume it could very well be possible that the PSU can “handle” everything for some time due to its peak power rating but the constant power rating is too low. Think of it like nvidia GPU boost 2.0.
Or  for a similar matter, maybe the 12v rail (i think it is) is too weak to handle a fully boosted GPU draw, which with a 250watt GPU could be possible. Same can be applied to the 8 & 6pin connectors and how the card is designed to draw power from them. 8pin = 125w~ 6pin = 75w~ (numbers might be off), so maybe, if it only draws from one of them because inser-reason-here, thats too much for the PSU and it freezes the system. Hence why PSU quality matters, a lot.

If you can, snap a picture of the side of the PSU you are using, they usually have a sticker on it with voltage rails etc.
Or list the exact model name of the PSU.

Turns out I was mistaken. It's actually a 650W unit. Heres the link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LYGFRL6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

I was so sure that I picked the 750W model but I guess I didn't. 650W should still be enough especially considering the quality of the PSU but I would understand if it wasn't since I have a lot of fans and storage drives hooked up to it. I do have a 750W CX750M on another PC so I guess I'll try to swap them and see what happens. Now that I think about it, the PSU seems like the most likely culprit to me so far because if the GPU truly was dying, there would be signs of some sort of progression of the problem but that isn't really the case. The freezing still happens as frequently as when it first started and there hasn't been much change in the overall behavior of the PC since the problem started 3 months ago or so. I'll swap the PSUs and report back if the problem occurs again. Thanks again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

650w Gold should be sufficient.
The 750w version of your PSU got a 9.8/10 on johnyguru, so it's safe to say its excellent.
https://www.jonnyguru.com/blog/2016/12/26/evga-supernova-750-g3-power-supply/6/

 

But yea, if you got another PSU to test, definitely go for it as PSU defects are literally near impossible to check for other than swapping the unit.

@Nord or quote me if you want me to reply back. I don't necessarily check back or subscribe to every topic.

 

Amdahls law > multicore CPU.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Nord said:

650w Gold should be sufficient.
The 750w version of your PSU got a 9.8/10 on johnyguru, so it's safe to say its excellent.
https://www.jonnyguru.com/blog/2016/12/26/evga-supernova-750-g3-power-supply/6/

 

But yea, if you got another PSU to test, definitely go for it as PSU defects are literally near impossible to check for other than swapping the unit.

Will do. Thanks for taking the time to try to help me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×