Question Freezing or black screens with RTX 4090 ?

[DaveB_55]

I apologize in advance for this long drawn out post but it seems rather complex so I thought I'd share all my thoughts. So to start off I just finished my 13700K build and I did use the Thermal Grizzly Contact Frame for my ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero. I followed der8auer's and Gamer's Nexus instructions on how to install it and everything seems to be working fine. The only issue that I've been having is the inclusion of my RTX 4090 FE. My new build specs:

Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero
CPU: Intel i7 13700K w/ Noctua NH-U12A Chromax.Black
RAM: 2x 16GB Corsair Dominator 32GB DDR5 @ 6200Mhz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founder's Edition W/ Seasonic 12VHPWR Cable
PSU: Seasonic PX-1300 1300W 80+ Platinum
SSD: Samsung 980 Pro 2TB
OS: Windows 11 Pro

I would assume everything in this build would be compatible and just work but for some reason the inclusion of my RTX 4090 FE has caused frequent instability. At first, I only used the BIOs version that introduced 13th Gen Intel CPU support to my Z690. When using this BIOs I seemed to get mostly black screens after about 1-5 minutes of being on Windows 11. I have since updated to the second to newest BIOs and I seem to be getting a frozen screen now instead of the screen turning black. Within BIOS I've tried disabling the ASUS Multi-Core enhancement as well as the XMP profile of my RAM but neither fixed it. I ran memtest86 from my BIOs and came back with 0 errors (passed 40/40 tests) so I think the ram is good. I actually ended up changing my GPU out for my 3090 to see if that would change anything, and in fact it did. I was able to browse the internet, watch Youtube, and play games for an hour or so without one black screen or issue. And what's even stranger is that I was able to use my RTX 4090 on my old 9700k build just prior to building this new build with ZERO issues. The issues seem to only occur with this 13700k build... Here is my old build for reference:

Motherboard: MSI MPG Z390 GAMING PRO CARBON
CPU: Intel i7 9700K w/ Noctua NH-D15
RAM: 2x 8GB G.Skill 16GB DDR4 @ 3200Mhz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founder's Edition W/ Seasonic 12VHPWR Cable
PSU: Seasonic PX-1300 1300W 80+ Platinum
SSD: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB
OS: Windows 10 Pro

I ended up swapping out my 1300W PSU for my Seasonic PX-850 850W PSU and installing my 3090 inside the 13700k build. Worked fine without issues. I went back to my 1300W PSU and 4090 installed on my 9700k build, no issues at all. So the issue to me seems to be a hardware configuration with the Z690 Hero motherboard and the 4090 but it appears to only affect the 4090 and not my 3090 at all.

After scouring the internet endlessly for any kind of solution I was able to find a workaround. Within NVIDIA Control Panel, by setting the Power Management Mode to Prefer Maximum Performance, my system no longer unstable with the 4090. I no longer get black screens or even complete freezing (requiring a hard reboot). Has anyone here had this issue before and does anyone know of any possible fixes for it?

 

[Jhorg4]

I had the same exact issue. I just got a 4090 Strix OC, and I have two monitors. My cursor would disappear, and my HDR monitor went black first then the other, and my monitors acted like the PC was shut down.

I had to restart my PC. It does this randomly but did it twice in a row when I had a different game on, but it doesn't do it with other games.

I then looked up the issue and found this post, thankfully. I changed that setting, and it hasn't frozen again so far, crossing my fingers. That's some strange stuff. Thanks for this.

EDIT: I should mention that I have a Seasonic Vertex GX-1200 PSU and a 12700K. My brother has a 4090 and has not had any issues like this, but he is using the 12VHPWR adapter it came with.

 

[Jhorg4]

I want to give an update on what I have found.

I was using the Studio Driver version 536.99 when I had those same instability issues with the 4090. I switched to the Game Ready Driver and set the Power Management Mode to Normal. The instability issue of the 4090 is no longer an issue.

It has something to do with the Studio Driver. That's the case for me at least.

 

[zorgan.roman]

I want to give an update on what I have found.

I was using the Studio Driver version 536.99 when I had those same instability issues with the 4090. I switched to the Game Ready Driver and set the Power Management Mode to Normal. The instability issue of the 4090 is no longer an issue.

It has something to do with the Studio Driver. That's the case for me at least.

NVIDIA drivers are a disaster....when will they finally redo the control panel.