Do I have a faulty GPU?

[Maxarini]

So In my PC I had an evga gtx 980 and wanted to go SLI. I bought another one and was happy until about 3 months.

After 3 months whenever I turned on my pc, all of my fans (including the gpu fans) would go max speed and there would be no signal to the monitor.

I took out the second graphics card and then it worked fine. I decided to send it back for a replacement.

I got the replacement and installed it and the same thing is happening except instead of 3 months its is happening the same day I installed it. Sometimes it works for a while and then does really weird things. Sometimes it reboots randomly or the screen goes black or the fans go at max speed.

Could it be a faulty card again or could it be something else? How can I check to make sure the card is properly seated?

THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME!

My PC:http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Q93Kt6

 

[Cons29]

specs would help a lot, esp the psu

 

[Rookie_MIB]

Yes, list the full build and details...

 

[Maxarini]

Sorry here it is:http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Q93Kt6

I'll make sure to include it from now on.

 

[Rookie_MIB]

1) Remove all overclocks?
2) You're assuming it's the new card causing the problem. Have you tried switching the cards around? Also, try running a single card in the secondary gpu position (bad pci-e slot on mobo?)

 

[Maxarini]

I'll try removing the overclocks on the GPU's when I get a chance. I haven't tried switching the cards around or running a single card in the second GPU slot and I wont be able to test anything for a few days.

When you install a graphics card how hard are you supposed to push? Is the retention lock thing on the slot supposed to click? (I don't remember it clicking).

Thanks!

 

[Rookie_MIB]

The connector might not 'click' but after pushing it in firmly, but without trying to 'force' anything too hard and bending the s*&# out of the mobo, the latch should wind up in the 'locked' position. You should be able to look and see the card fully seated into the PCI-e slot.

The reason for removing overclocks on everything simply is a precaution against overloading the PSU. You have an EVGA Supernova 1k PSU (nice pick there!!!) which should be more than sufficient for a stock clocked unit, but remember what overclocking does - power usage goes up exponentially. Combine that with the fact that while the wattage estimate on the build is 600ish watts - that's not right, it might be higher than that.

Just the GPU's (200w each), and the CPU (90w) at stock speeds under load should be 600w. Add about 30w for the CPU overclock. 75w for the mobo. 20w for the drives. 10w * 8 fans (!!!). Overclocking the GTX 980's adds another 70w per card (140w total).

At this point, full load, overclocked CPU/GPU on your build:

CPU - 130w
GPUS - 300w each - 600w ttl.
Drives - 50w (all 3 ttl) 50w (lower after startup, but during boot, it loads)
Mobo - 75w
Fans - 80w
----------------
Total wattage: 935w.

Take off the OC, and you'll be down into the 750w range which would be more suitable to this PSU. Running it at 100% (well, ok, 94% capacity) might be a bit to close to the edge. Make sure the GPUs are seated properly. And try the single GPU swap to the secondary PCIe port and test it under 1 GPU.