Geforce 280 GTX strange errors/crashes, please help!

[JAYDEEJOHN]

PC Power & Cooling uses a single rail on their psus. It eliminates not having enough power on any given line out, having all the power needed using the 1 rail

 

[Zalgradis]

Ah, i see. Maybe i should get hold of one of those.

Currently running something similar to PsyKhiqZero's suggested setup:

Molex 1: HDD, DVD, Fans
Molex 2: GPU (via dual molex to 6 pin pci-e)
PCI-e 1: GPU (via dual 6pin pci-e to 8 pin pci-e)
PCI-e 2: GPU (via dual 6 pin pci-e to 8pin PCI-e)
Sata 1: HDD + DVD
Sata 2: 2x HDD

Using driver 177.83

I'll post any glitching if it happens. I still have 10 days to test it until a refund is no longer possible, and wondering if, using this configuration, i can run a second card in SLI (PCI-E 3 + 4 going to 8-pin via adapter, and connecting a dual molex to 6-pin to both molex rails, so essentially one will be powering 3 connectors for the GPU, and the other will be powering 2 drive s+ one GPU connector.

 

[Zalgradis]

Sigh..

although the system didn't lock up and cause a video freeze after exiting the game, it still glitched with artifacts:

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/8696/crysisartifactpc3.jpg

Is this still looking like a PSU problem, or going along the lines of graphics card failure as well? :/

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

Well it's definately looking like a load balancing issue for sure as your situation is getting better as you move the power connectors around. Are you talking about the wiered blue lighting? Can you run like futuremark or something aside from crysis?

Here is the link to futuremark
http://www.futuremark.com/download/3dmarkvantage/

If your running out of time on returning the video card it be best to just swap it also to be safe.

 

[Zalgradis]

From the image posted previously, you can see artifacts (small squares) all over the screen if you look very closely. They were also moving southeast down the screen. Weapons on the floor were also bright (bloom) white :/

Update: I updated my BIOS to the latest version, and noticed that i had forgotten to uninstall nTune along with my drivers before installing the 280 >_< im wondering if ntune had been messing with the system.

I test played several games other than crysis, but the problems happened a lot more frequently with crysis. I'm back to driver 177.41, and so far (since uninstalling ntune and reinstalling drivers), the only problem ive had is that call of duty 4 bluescreened very early on. The eror message disappeared mmediately as the system rebooted, but there may be a log of it somewhere. I then reloaded and played the game for a good 2 hours, and the problem did not repeat itself.

I noticed that the voltage on 'VCore' was jumping past its threshold slightly, with the desired value being 1.19, and it jumping to 1.31 (monitored by Pcprobe, an Asus program for my motherboard). I was also running Speedfan at the time of the bluescreen, and i did not run it while playing CoD 4 afterwards... it may have been the cause of the crash. Other than that, 3 hours of gaming in crysis, call of duty, world of warcraft didnt recreate any glitching.

I'll update again after a longer session of gaming tomorrow, and ill post soe 3dmark vantage stats. Thanks again for all of your help.

 

[Zalgradis]

5 hours or so of WoW with no errors, but i have gone ahead and purchased a new PSU, and sending the OCZ one back.

Coolmaster 1000w PSU: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/129034

My friend is using this to power 6 Sata drives + dual 9800GX2's, so it should have no problem with my single 280. Reviews state that the 12v rails provide 30 amps each, and their voltage ripple is massively lower than the OCZ psu.

I am also considering sending

 

[Zalgradis]

I'm also considering sending back the 280 for a replacement, just incase it is faulty, though i have a good 3 years to do that.

Thanks again for your help PsyKhiqZero and Jaydeejohn, without your help i most likely would have shrugged it off and lived with this shoddy gaming PSU.

I'll update the thread once the new PSU arrives.

 

[Zalgradis]

3 hours of Crysis, no errors.

Surely the older version of nTune wasnt causing the problems?

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

Is this with the new PSU?

 

[xrodney]

If possible return the unit and get the corsair 1000 watt unit. It only has 2 12v rails but each can supply 40amps, your less likely to get a load balancing issue with that unit.

Your unit as 4 12v rails rated at only 18 amps. You need to try to get 3 of the 4 rails from your PSU to your GPU to provide the 40+ amps it takes to power the GPU.

It really sucks they don't label the rails. Good luck and god speed my friend. lol

I am little confused
GTX280 should not take more then 300W even overclocked and also up to 75W is provided by PCI-e 2.0 bus. Why then need to put another 480W thru external connectors on graphics card.

40A on 12V is sugested to provide enough power for whole system not just graphic card itself.

"A single x16 card may now draw up to 300 W of power (75 W from the slot itself, 150 W from an 8-pin PEG connector, 75 W from a second PEG connector)" small note from specification.

 

[Zalgradis]

@PsyKhiqZero: That is with the old PSU.

I just completed crysis (last few levels, around 4 hours played) - no errors. It's really starting to look like it was all caused by my not uninstalling nTune >_<

@xrodney: My mobo is not PCI-e 2.0. I'm not sure what it is, but it is atleast 16 speed.

 

[Zalgradis]

Just to clarify: Since uninstalling the graphics drivers and nTune, then reinstalling 177.41, i have had one random bluescreen (i think was caused by a third party monitoring software), but other than that, no problems at all.

The coolermaster 1000w PSU is still on its way, and i have 10 days to test it. The problem now however is that Ebuyer may not accept the OCZ PSU back.

 

[Zalgradis]

I'm also back to using PCI-E 1 and 2 to power the graphics card, rather than he molex adapters.

 

[xrodney]

@PsyKhiqZero: That is with the old PSU.

I just completed crysis (last few levels, around 4 hours played) - no errors. It's really starting to look like it was all caused by my not uninstalling nTune >_<

@xrodney: My mobo is not PCI-e 2.0. I'm not sure what it is, but it is atleast 16 speed.

PCI-e 1.x had only 50W output i think but with 2 external connectors to supply enough power it should not be problem.
If i remember GTX 280 should take around 246W under full load

 

[Zalgradis]

system starting to fail (still using OCZ psu, new one arriving tomorrow).

Almost 2 days of no problems, then while playing WoW the screen turned off (no signal), then a few seconds later, the system froze, repeatingf the last 0.1 seconds of sound.

Upon starting the system up again, Pc Probe (asus voltage monitor etc) was setting off warnings all accross the board, mainly rhe DDR and Vcore, SBcore etc. voltages peaking over 4 volts, when the desired is around 1.2 volts - 2 volts.

I shut the system down and turned it on a few minutes later. The readings were all ok, but then all of a sudden (while idle and in windows), same thing happened again..

What the f*ck tbh. Does anyone have any idea at all what might be causing this?

 

[gamerk316]

4 volts?!?!?!? Something is seriously messed up. Can you check a diffrent PSU?

 

[Zalgradis]

it is indeed... reading might have been incorrect though, as it also said the power fan was at 0 rmp, but i could clearly see it spinning :/

note: when this happened while playing woW, the 280 was at 53 degrees, and when idle in windows, 43 degrees.

A friend mentioned that if the voltage was spiking insanely, it may be causing a bios reset, which would make the screen go black and system crash. He said that the system being fine after a system reset also supports this theory.

 

[Zalgradis]

System continuously blacking out now, going to leave it off until i can install the new psu.

 

[cjl]

Definitely wait - you could damage something if the old PSU is that strained.

 

[Zalgradis]

I'm now running the new PSU, though im experiencing something rather wierd..

It 'feels' like i'm getting slightly lower FPS than i did before... but the only item i have changed is the PSU. Could using a different PSU actually lower your frame rate? Or is that an indication that it is not supplying enough power to the GPU?

Thanks again for all of your help.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Yes. If your gpu was underpowered itd definately slow down. It was nt getting enough power, and slowed because of it. Have you tested it? Maybe its perceived and not actual?

 

[Zalgradis]

@jaydeejohn: the system does atleast seem stable, as for the underpowered GPU, i don't really know how to test it. The old PSU is packed up ready to be sent back, and i don't have nor know of any software that could check the power the card is recieving.

The slower performance may just be perceived as you said. I would have expected some more serious problems than lower frame rates if the GPU was being underpowered.

 

[Zalgradis]

My current (new) psu:

http://www1.coolermaster.com/index.php?LT=english&Language_s=2&url_place=product&p_serial=RS-A00-ESBA&other_title=+RS-A00-ESBA+Real%20Power%20M1000

If you scroll down that page, you will see an image under the "miscellaneous" heading. Referring to that picture, i have my PSU cables set up like so:

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/8281/coolersetupzalud1.jpg

As far as i can tell, that is a perfectly good setup. The PSU has 6x 12v rails, unfortunately it does not label which connectors are on which rail

Does this look ok?

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

No, it doesnt. It appears going from left to right, theres a 6 pin and a 8 pin. Then theres two sets each. Top and bottom. If this is so, you need to use 1 top and 1 bottom connector, as youre pulling everything from 1 rail. I could be wrong, but from the pictures, it appears there are 2 sets of connectors, top and bottom. If not ignore this, if so, try 1 top and 1 bottom

 

[Zalgradis]

True, i had wondered if that image was to indicate the "sets of connectors per rail", but there was no information to support it I'll swap one of the connectors some time tomorrow and see if it makes any difference.

I generally thought that, since this PSU was designed to support SLI cards, even if both connectors were on one rail, it would be more than enough to power the graphics card its connected to.