CPU Overclock Causing GPU Driver Crashes

[Tierney11290]

When playing several games such as Elder Scrolls Online, Final Fantasy XIV, World of Warcraft, and Battlefield 4, I noticed my GPU driver would crash every so often. It always said that it recovered when switching to the desktop, but some of the games I would have to close and reopen due to a black screen, others I didn't. I troubleshot the situation like crazy from removing the drivers, reinstalling them, installing the beta drivers, reverting back to stock clocking on my GPU and RAM, etc. I even went to lengths of wiping my SSD, which contains my OS and most played games, but it didn't work.

After finding out that the GPU driver was still crashing, I finally went back into the BIOS and reverted the clocking for the CPU to stock (didn't think it would cause issues with the GPU driver to be honest). After doing this, it started working like normal; no crashes at all! The situation has been remedied, but I'm confused as to why I cannot overclock my CPU. The CPU and GPU temps all seem fine (below 70 degrees Celcius), though the GPU load was almost at 100% most of the time, which I found was normal after some researching. I also tested it when using a single monitor as well as multi monitor. I was able to overclock my old build, in which I had a different motherboard and CPU, but can't with this one. Anyone know why this might be? Is it a faulty GPU, Motherboard, or even the CPU? New and Old build is listed below.

Old Build:
Case: Thermaltake Chaser MK-I
Motherboard: Gigabyte 990 FXA-UD3
RAM: 16GB GSkill Sniper 1866
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz Edition
CPU: AMD-FX 8350 OC to 4.6Ghz (w/ water cooling)
Power Supply: Corsair 850W
SSD: Seagate 240GB (OS and most played games)
HDD: Toshiba 3TB 7200RPM (Games)
Monitors: Acer H6 Series H226HQLbid Black 21.5" 5ms

New Build:
Case: Thermaltake Chaser MK-I
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-G1.Sniper Z97 LGA 1150 Intel Z97
RAM: 16GB GSkill Sniper 1866
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz Edition
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K Haswell Quad-Core 4.0GHz LGA 1150 (with water cooling)
Power Supply: Corsair 850W
SSD: Seagate 240GB (OS and most played games)
HDD: Toshiba 3TB 7200RPM (Games)
Monitors: Acer H6 Series H226HQLbid Black 21.5" 5ms

The upgrade of the Motherboard and CPU was certainly yielded an increase in performance, but I am just unsure as to why overclocking the CPU would affect the GPU drivers, causing them to crash.

 

[firo40]

Its an unstable overclock is why how are you over clocking? It sounds like your voltages were off

 

[Elija Firebrand]

When playing several games such as Elder Scrolls Online, Final Fantasy XIV, World of Warcraft, and Battlefield 4, I noticed my GPU driver would crash every so often. It always said that it recovered when switching to the desktop, but some of the games I would have to close and reopen due to a black screen, others I didn't. I troubleshot the situation like crazy from removing the drivers, reinstalling them, installing the beta drivers, reverting back to stock clocking on my GPU and RAM, etc. I even went to lengths of wiping my SSD, which contains my OS and most played games, but it didn't work.

After finding out that the GPU driver was still crashing, I finally went back into the BIOS and reverted the clocking for the CPU to stock (didn't think it would cause issues with the GPU driver to be honest). After doing this, it started working like normal; no crashes at all! The situation has been remedied, but I'm confused as to why I cannot overclock my CPU. The CPU and GPU temps all seem fine (below 70 degrees Celcius), though the GPU load was almost at 100% most of the time, which I found was normal after some researching. I also tested it when using a single monitor as well as multi monitor. I was able to overclock my old build, in which I had a different motherboard and CPU, but can't with this one. Anyone know why this might be? Is it a faulty GPU, Motherboard, or even the CPU? New and Old build is listed below.

Old Build:
Case: Thermaltake Chaser MK-I
Motherboard: Gigabyte 990 FXA-UD3
RAM: 16GB GSkill Sniper 1866
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz Edition
CPU: AMD-FX 8350 OC to 4.6Ghz (w/ water cooling)
Power Supply: Corsair 850W
SSD: Seagate 240GB (OS and most played games)
HDD: Toshiba 3TB 7200RPM (Games)
Monitors: Acer H6 Series H226HQLbid Black 21.5" 5ms

New Build:
Case: Thermaltake Chaser MK-I
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-G1.Sniper Z97 LGA 1150 Intel Z97
RAM: 16GB GSkill Sniper 1866
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz Edition
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K Haswell Quad-Core 4.0GHz LGA 1150 (with water cooling)
Power Supply: Corsair 850W
SSD: Seagate 240GB (OS and most played games)
HDD: Toshiba 3TB 7200RPM (Games)
Monitors: Acer H6 Series H226HQLbid Black 21.5" 5ms

The upgrade of the Motherboard and CPU was certainly yielded an increase in performance, but I am just unsure as to why overclocking the CPU would affect the GPU drivers, causing them to crash.

I'm having the same problem when I OC my 4790 to 3.8 using 1.6 voltage.

 

[4Ryan6]

Its an unstable overclock is why how are you over clocking? It sounds like your voltages were off

I agree, you're not supplying enough voltage to stabilize the CPU overclock?

A stable overclock is simply a balance of increased CPU multiplier, and supplied voltage, to stabilize that multiplier increase.

Stability testing is a step by step gradual process requiring booting and rebooting of the PC adjusting your BIOS settings as you go, seeking a rock solid stability point of the overclock you are attempting to run.

The stability point is when you are supplying enough voltage to maintain a stable level of the increased CPU multiplier you are running.

Many are under the disillusionment that successfully completing a stress testing program with zero crashes or core dropout, means they are stable, and that is absolutely incorrect, as stress tests, test outside of a video and audio operating system load!

Step 1, Stress Testing, (Using, Intel Burn Test, or Prime95, or OCCT, totally your choice, I personally use IBT as it is faster)

Step 2, Benchmarking, (Adds Graphic and sometimes Audio load, a crash indicates needing another bump up in voltage and retest ), Futuremark Benchmarks are good for this, your choice.

Step 3, Gaming, (Adds a full Audio and Video load, a crash indicates needing another bump up in voltage and retest)

Note: Once you reach stability, always uninstall and reinstall your graphic drivers, as you've surely corrupted them in the overclocking process.