Fautly GPU?

[mathijs727]

Hey guys,

 

In Januari I bought a second hand R9 290X (Club3D Ace 8GB) to replace my GTX780 (couldn't run The Witcher 3 at 1440p smoothly).

When I tried overclocking I observed two things: OC on memory makes my screen go drunk (stripes and stuff), OC on core would just insta reboot my system.

Overclocking the CPU results in freeze or reboot, but my mobo would recognize this and ask me whether I want to return to stock clocks.

Since then I haven't found any OC that works 100% stable so I have left everything at stock.

Every game, program or whatever runs perfectly stable and I havent had a single problem since.

 

Now here's the problem:

Yesterday I installed the BF1 beta, but the insta reboots (like when GPU core clock OC) keep happening.

This happens every 5 minutes and it makes me sad  .

Downclocking the CPU core by 1% didnt seem to help.

So now I've downclocked to 950Mhz (this card runs 1030Mhz stock) core and 1250Mhz memory (5000MHz effective) instead of the 1375Mhz (5500Mhz) stock.

This seems to run stable (I have been able to finish a whole match without crashing), going back to stock speeds crashes instantly.

 

I've taken a look at Windows Event Viewer but the only thing critical error is "Kernel Power" (EventID 41), which just means it shutdown unexpectedly (duhhhh).

Because the PC instantly shuts down and I believe it makes a click noise (hard to hear with headset on), it would suggest a PSU problem.

But running OCCT PSU stresstest or OCCT bench + Unigine heaven together works perfectly fine.

Furthermore, 650W should be more then enough for this system and it is a high quality power supply with enough voltage on the 12V rail.

 

I dont feel comfortable knowing something in my system is misbehaving (and may cause damage to other parts of the system?).

The only other system I can test this card in is my brothers system with my old PSU (850W Cooler Master Silent Pro).

But that system runs a Nvidia card and I don't want to mess with his system too much (driver mess).

 

What should I do?

1. Sell the card, hope it's stable in someone else's system (not sure to be upfront about this problem or not), and buy a  EVGA GTX1070 FTW (seriously considering this option)
2. RMA PSU although it's probably fine (problems started with the R9 290X while my overclocked GTX780 ran fine while using tons of power too)
3. Underclock, hope it's stable and do nothing. I was hoping to upgrade to Vega when BF1 released but seems like it is going to be released 2017 H1 (aka Q2) which makes me sway towards Nvidia.

[dantayy]

What PSU do you have?

[mathijs727]

Just now, Ernest_L said:

What PSU do you have?

See signature:

Cooler Master V650 (80 Plus Gold with good reviews).

[dantayy]

Try finding a overclocking guide on your card and see which is the best overclock setting for your card, if you cant make it overclock then just stick with the underclock until you upgrade your GPU

[mathijs727]

Just now, Ernest_L said:

Try finding a overclocking guide on your card and see which is the best overclock setting for your card, if you cant make it overclock then just stick with the underclock until you upgrade your GPU

I don't need it to overclock, I need it to be stable at stock clocks.

Furthermore, it scares me to think that it may take down other components in my system.

[mathijs727]

Just now, Ernest_L said:

Try finding a overclocking guide on your card and see which is the best overclock setting for your card, if you cant make it overclock then just stick with the underclock until you upgrade your GPU

I don't need it to overclock, I need it to be stable at stock clocks.

Furthermore, it scares me to think that it may take down other components in my system.

[mathijs727]

I cant put my card in my brothers PC because he uses a Mugen 4 cooler which is enormous and blocks the PCI-express slot hook which locks the card into place.

 

Is it a bad idea to remove his power supply and hook it up to my GPU, while using the installed power supply for the rest of the system (mobo/cpu/ssd/hdd/fans)?

It should be possible as they did it in one of the scrapyard wards, although it was a "do as we speak, not as we do" thing.

 

EDIT: nevermind, requires a jumper to start the second PSU. Seems to getto for me, not gonna destroy good components like that.