EVGA GTX 970 overclocking problem

[Lare111]

Since I bought my GPU (2,5 months ago) I've always used 1440Mhz/7700Mhz clocks and I haven't had any issues until now. I've got several "grey screens" while playing and after that comes the message "Graphics card stopped working and recovered".

Today the GPU crashed in 10 seconds while starting Fallout 4. I was running at 1430Mhz/7650Mhz cand I downclocked to 1420Mhz/7600Mhz and after 20 minutes I got another crash. It had never crashed before no matter what I did or played. Now it might crash in every game and at 1440Mhz Furmark crashed almost immediatilly.

Asic quality is 71.5% (good?) and I've set power limit to 110%. Maximum voltage is 1,2V. For some reason I cannot adjust it. I've also tried different drivers. So why is my GPU becoming more and more unstable? I thought that 1440Mhz/7700Mhz was 100% stable because I didn't have any crashes during two months. I'm now running at default clocks (1370Mhz) because I got fed up with crashing during gaming.

 

[hiyabusared]

Hate to ask how far back in the drivers did you go? Also when you did the reinstall/downgrades of the drivers did you do a clean install? I can speak saying I know Fallout 4 has had driver crashing issues for a lot of people. I would say if you have any mods for fallout 4 that you added recently try removing them. Bethesda games especially Fallout are great for issues with graphics problems. What other games have been causing this specific issue or is it all the games you play?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The EVGA SC has some issues ....

1. On early versions, 1 of the 3 heat pipes completely missed the GPU.
2. The EVGA SC is simply a reference card with a better cooler, they don't upgrade the PCB components, no additional heat sinks and thermal pads, stock VRM, etc ...

Now summer has arrived and you are wandering "why all of a sudden" ? from the information provided, weather is the most likely cause.

Compare the PCB, components cooling of the EVGA SC and 2 competitors here. It very well explains (focus on bottom third of pages 2 thru 4), why the card can't do what the other cards can do.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/09/19/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-review/3

 

[Lare111]

I had pretty old drivers and I upgraded them for Doom. I did a clean install with DDU. Fallout 4 isn't the only crashing game. I've had problems with BF4, The Witcher 3 and American Truck Simulator too.

Max GPU temperature in Furmark is 74c and while gaming it's usually around 70c. I have 4x120mm case fans in my case so airflow is pretty good. Ambient temperature doesn't seem to cause crashing. Today Fallout 4 crashed when my room temperature was about 23c. I just can't understand why I got 2 months without any crashes and now I have lots of crashing even with lowered clocks.

 

[junkeymonkey]

bottom like is ocing is never guaranteed and luck of the draw is a factor its all at your own risk [any brand or part ] only thing the cards vender guarantees is it will work as expected as stated factory set clocks not a drop more ..

ya jack you had to dig way back to a first release card for that and that was quickly changed [but sad they released that in the first place] he said he got the card 2 1/2 months ago ?/ unless he got some old stock that card should have the acx 2 cooler that has a full plate instead of the exposed heat pipes [well documented ]

http://www.evga.com/articles/00892/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-970-SSC/


he should of given his cards part number to be sure on what he really got there wer I tyhink 3 aftermarket sc cards 4 if you count the reference cooler one the first like jack posted 2ed was the revised cooler the 3ed was the revised cooler from the acx to acx+[shp] also I think gen2 vrms were added as well

 

[JackNaylorPE]

ya jack you had to dig way back to a first release card for that and that was quickly changed [but sad they released that in the first place] he said he got the card 2 1/2 months ago ?/ unless he got some old stock that card should have the acx 2 cooler that has a full plate instead of the exposed heat pipes

Actually not all. All of the 970 reviews that do more than rewrite press releases noted this. EVGA subsequently issued a lame press release insisting that they card was released "as designed" ... and that it was intentionally designed this way. The press release is quoted in the review.

It was quite a while before the SSC version which corrected that single misalignment deficiency was released. And no, they did not fix any of the other deficiencies noted in the article... same VRM, same chokes, same power connectors, same number of phases, still no thermal pads or heat sinks as described in the review.

I did see that they did change the VRM on one card, can't remember which one, might not have even been a 970. But tho it was not the "stpock" VRM used by nVidia, it was an equivalent model with the same number of phases.

That's like saying that we improved our Power Supply twice from the Antec High Current Gamer the the XFX TS and then to the Seasonic S12 .... they are all equivalent PSUs all built on the same Seasonic GB Bronze Platform. The new VRM was a different brand but didn't have more phases, better cooling or anything else.

 

[junkeymonkey]

you need to go back and look jack

as you can see theres 4 of them and just as I said difference

http://www.evga.com/Products/Compare.aspx