GPU, CPU or PSU? I'm at a loss.

[XzzDSA]

Yo o/

So I've had this combo for a while:
Mobo: Asus Maximus VIII Gene.

CPU: i7 6700k @ 4GHz.

RAM: 16GB of HyperX DDR4 Memory.

PSU: 550W Corsair something something - fully modular.

GPU: GTX Geforce 980

 

TLDR;

Spoiler

- CPU is set to 1.4v to not cause bluescreens.
- Graphical artifacts with a freeze of 3-5 seconds, screens never recover but windows continues afterwerds with sound (check spoiler for picture).
- Happens on startup.

- Temperatures that I've been able to gather while I could still run the PC with a game, are normal according to readouts on speedfan. However idle temperatures are in BIOS is 38c in a watercooling loop that holds both the CPU and GPU. In a relatively cool room, I'd imagine somewhere around 20c. 

Is my GPU fried? Is it a PSU issue considering the CPU troubles? Maybe it's even the motherboard? I've run RAM tests with no errors (6 hours). Is it some oddball temperature fault, is my system really overheating but sensors are not able to read it?

 

 

 

So recently I started having some troubles with my PC. 
Firstly I started getting some weird bluescreens and after a LOT of trial and error with reinstalling windows and the like, I first thought that it was RAM related, then SSD but turns out that manually setting the CPU voltage to 1.4v fixed the blue-screens.

For a while I had no issues again, up until the machine started with some odd freezes, just for a few seconds to then continue. Also really bad performance on 3d accelerated programs. Just opening something like spotify, discord or google chrome would TANK performance of any other 3d application and the pc as a whole. This I fixed with using DDU and reinstalling drivers completely. 

For about a week It was going fine until I decided to reinstall windows 10, again. For the usual reasons, space, all sorts of crap on the boot drive, so on...
 

But, since the reinstall I've encountered problems again. As an example, every time I start my PC there's ALWAYS a freeze of about 2-3 seconds. Just after windows boots onto the desktop.
I've done the same with reinstalling drivers and the like... Doesn't seem to have fixed that particular issue.

 

Then the other night my PC just crashed with graphical artifacts on the screen: 

Spoiler

This particular picture is just me watching some stuff in VLC. This happened in game too.
It hickups with these artifacts and freezes for about 3-5 seconds. Then the sound continues and seemingly windows, but the screen / graphics never recovers and a hard reset is required.

So this happened a few times last night too. Monitoring temperatures debunks that as an issue, steady 50-70c depending on the application.

Today, I can't even boot into windows, it happens instantly on startup.
 

Temperatures that I've been able to gather while I could still run the PC with a game, are normal according to readouts on speedfan. However idle temperatures are in BIOS is 38c in a watercooling loop that holds both the CPU and GPU. In a relatively cool room, I'd imagine somewhere around 20c. 

 

 

Is my GPU fried? Is it a PSU issue considering the CPU troubles? Maybe it's even the motherboard? I've run RAM tests with no errors (6 hours). Is it some oddball temperature fault, is my system really overheating but sensors are not able to read it?

I'm at a complete loss, and going out to get a new GPU right now with how prices are atm. would be really unfortunate...

[XzzDSA]

UPDATE: 

Okay, so I get similar artifacts during boot even...

[Connor Price]

6 minutes ago, XzzDSA said:

UPDATE: 

Okay, so I get similar artifacts during boot even...

To me, it looks like graphics corruption. I'd say your GPU is going bad. Have you got any other sort of GPU to test? 

 

EDIT: Just seen you have everything in a custom loop, so trying a different GPU would be a big pain in the ass I guess. You could try running with the iGPU instead of the 980 and see if that solves anything. 

[XzzDSA]

2 minutes ago, Connor Price said:

To me, it looks like graphics corruption. I'd say your GPU is going bad. Have you got any other sort of GPU to test? 

 

EDIT: Just seen you have everything in a custom loop, so trying a different GPU would be a big pain in the ass I guess. You could try running with the iGPU instead of the 980 and see if that solves anything. 

Yea, i Just did and I havn't encountered any issues yet... So it's very likely that it's my GPU.. But I'm still a bit puzzled to the whole CPU issue I was fighting a little while back, and to why I need to run my cpu at 1.4v for my pc to be stable.....

I've been dreaming of getting rid of my loop for a while now, so I guess this is the time... Just do NOT feel like buying a new GPU these days, but maybe I can pick something up for cheap from a buddy or something....

 

But yea... So sad...... 980 served me well... Had it literally since day one, and was hoping it would've held out till next generation...

Anyway... gonna keep doing some troubleshooting here, and if anyone has any clues to the whole CPU issue, please let me know.

[Tabs]

13 minutes ago, XzzDSA said:

Yea, i Just did and I havn't encountered any issues yet... So it's very likely that it's my GPU.. But I'm still a bit puzzled to the whole CPU issue I was fighting a little while back, and to why I need to run my cpu at 1.4v for my pc to be stable.....

I've been dreaming of getting rid of my loop for a while now, so I guess this is the time... Just do NOT feel like buying a new GPU these days, but maybe I can pick something up for cheap from a buddy or something....

 

But yea... So sad...... 980 served me well... Had it literally since day one, and was hoping it would've held out till next generation...

Anyway... gonna keep doing some troubleshooting here, and if anyone has any clues to the whole CPU issue, please let me know.

1.4v is crazy high voltage for stock speeds mate. That's way outside intel spec for the 6700K. What in the world caused the chip to start needing that much voltage?

[XzzDSA]

1 minute ago, Tabs said:

1.4v is crazy high voltage for stock speeds mate. That's way outside intel spec for the 6700K. What in the world caused the chip to start needing that much voltage?

I dunno man... I've never done anything crazy with it. So i'm thinking it might've been a voltage delivery issue.

 

[XzzDSA]

3 minutes ago, Tabs said:

1.4v is crazy high voltage for stock speeds mate. That's way outside intel spec for the 6700K. What in the world caused the chip to start needing that much voltage?

When you say "way outside intel spec"..... I mean it's not running hot ever...

I might experiement with going back down to stock voltage.. Maybe it was an anomaly with the gpu...

 

[Tabs]

1 minute ago, XzzDSA said:

I dunno man... I've never done anything crazy with it. So i'm thinking it might've been a voltage delivery issue.

 

I assume you tried basic stuff like updating the bios and resetting everything to defaults? I really don't think my 6700K is a particularly good sample, and I'm on basically the cheapest Z170 board I could find - it runs 1.28 at stock, but I'm sure it can go lower.

 

I'd never dream of running 1.4 even if I planned on heavy overclocking. I have a NH-D15 air cooler instead of a clc or a custom loop, but the idea of needing 1.4 at stock is just crazy to me.

[XzzDSA]

7 minutes ago, Tabs said:

I assume you tried basic stuff like updating the bios and resetting everything to defaults? I really don't think my 6700K is a particularly good sample, and I'm on basically the cheapest Z170 board I could find - it runs 1.28 at stock, but I'm sure it can go lower.

 

I'd never dream of running 1.4 even if I planned on heavy overclocking. I have a NH-D15 air cooler instead of a clc or a custom loop, but the idea of needing 1.4 at stock is just crazy to me.

Well yea. Atm I'm running at stock voltage again and so far so good, but we'll see if it continues.. If this runs fine without a GPU, the next step is to throw a new GPU in and see how that affects things...

[Tabs]

19 minutes ago, XzzDSA said:

When you say "way outside intel spec"..... I mean it's not running hot ever...

I might experiement with going back down to stock voltage.. Maybe it was an anomaly with the gpu...

 

By "way outside intel spec" I was thinking about the VID range that I read about when Skylake released - most publications like Anandtech showed voltage ranges for ES and Retail chips to vary between about 1.24 for great chips to 1.32 for absolutely awful ones. I haven't seen a stock VID higher than 1.32, not even for first stepping silicon.

 

However, the official intel spec sheet claims that the chips can handle up to 1.52v, but whether or not this is some kind of theoretical design ceiling of the power delivery (without extreme cooling) or an expected actual operating voltage (with spikes for droop), I have no idea. It's possible I was just mis-remembering, but I've not seen anyone ever run stock speeds needed 1.4 at stock.

 

I guess I was more curious as to whether the chip was new when you bought it and needed that voltage or if it needed ramping over time or something.

 

Edit: just saw your last post. I'd be really curious if you could update this thread if you manage to try another GPU. I've never heard of a gpu causing the cpu to require more voltage, unless - as you suggested - the motherboard is having some issues with power delivery.

[XzzDSA]

4 minutes ago, Tabs said:

By "way outside intel spec" I was thinking about the VID range that I read about when Skylake released - most publications like Anandtech showed voltage ranges for ES and Retail chips to vary between about 1.24 for great chips to 1.32 for absolutely awful ones. I haven't seen a stock VID higher than 1.32, not even for first stepping silicon.

 

However, the official intel spec sheet claims that the chips can handle up to 1.52v, but whether or not this is some kind of theoretical design ceiling of the power delivery (without extreme cooling) or an expected actual operating voltage (with spikes for droop), I have no idea. It's possible I was just mis-remembering, but I've not seen anyone ever run stock speeds needed 1.4 at stock.

 

I guess I was more curious as to whether the chip was new when you bought it and needed that voltage or if it needed ramping over time or something.

 

Edit: just saw your last post. I'd be really curious if you could update this thread if you manage to try another GPU. I've never heard of a gpu causing the cpu to require more voltage, unless - as you suggested - the motherboard is having some issues with power delivery.

Yea so to clearify, the CPU was bought as new. But I only started experiencing this issue recently (a few months ago). Up until then it has been run at stock speeds and stock voltages.