gtx 970 GTX 970 causing shutdowns

[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.

Edited July 20, 2018 by CriminallyUncool

[AtlasWraith]

Based on your description, it could be that:

-you bought a heavily used card (seeing as it is within the crypto hype window)

-may have messed up the cooling configurations (fan positioning, calibration, so on) during the cleaning process

-damaged any part of the PCI connector

 

One recommendation would be finding out if the card is still under the MSI warranty (which it might be if it wasn't used for crypto mining and it wasn't registered by the previous owner) and see if they can help you fix it. You can call tech support and they should be able to help you.

 

My personal recommendation is to just buy a new card. GTX1060 3GB is about the same as 970 for roughly the same price point, but if a 900 series card is what you want, they are not that expensive anymore and you can get a 970 for about 250.

 

[Zerkan]

I bought an used gtx 970 oc and it doesnt even work.. so I gotta stick with my old gtx 660ti abit longer  FEELS BAD

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Have you tried all of the display outs? I thought my Gigabyte 1060 3GB was dead but it turns out it just had a bad HDMI port (static shock. Ground yourself, people)