GPU activity spikes/computer crashes

[mpatt66]

Over the last few weeks my computer has been experiencing a new problem where, while playing games, my GPU activity will spike to 100% when there's no reason it should be so high. My computer then crashes, only to immediately reboot. I have a Sapphire 7850 and it has been working perfectly since I built my computer this summer. I have disk defragged and ccleaned, but I feel like with these GPU activity spikes the problem is definitely there.

For reference the games I've experienced crashes in are: TERA, League of Legends, and Skyrim. It happens with most frequency in TERA (every single time I launch it) and least frequency in Skyrim (often doesn't happen at all). Here is a link to my parts list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yAk5

The only thing I have changed recently is added a new HDD and I can't see why that would be an issue. I have dusted all my parts, rerouted cables I thought could be causing problems, updated drivers, everything I can think of. If you have any ideas on how to fix this problem, please let me know. I appreciate the help

I've never posted here before, so if I posted in the wrong forum or something, I'm sorry, just let me know.

 

[Outlander_04]

have you tried updating the drivers?

 

[mpatt66]

Yes I'm updated to the latest AMD driver. Thanks for the reply

 

[Outlander_04]

when you are running a game are you doing anything else with the computer?

Have you tried rolling back to a previous driver?

 

[mpatt66]

No I have nothing else open. I haven't tried that because this started while I had been using the same driver for awhile. I will try that now, though.

 

[aicom]

Does the core frequency drop during these GPU usage spikes?

 

[mpatt66]

I tried rolling back and that did not resolve the issue.

aicom I took this screen as a spike was happening: http://imgur.com/FIrhZVj
I'm not sure which core frequency is, I assume it is GPU clock? If so, then no it doesn't drop, it spikes. The activity was actually at 99%, but after I minimized it began to go back down.

 

[tenaciousk]

Do you have any program monitor the temp? maybe your gpu is getting to hot?

 

[mpatt66]

I use Catalyst Control Center to monitor. I've never seen the temp go higher than 50(C) under fairly heavy load.

 

[Outlander_04]

Head for Task Manager

Look or programs that are not running but are using a lot of RAM .
In particular look for programs that use hardware acceleration
Maybe image/video editing /encoding
Maybe Flash

try ending that process manually and then start your game running and see if the result is the same

 

[mpatt66]

None of my processes appear to be abnormally high. I appreciate your continued help

 

[Outlander_04]

Have you tried uninstalling CCC ?

and have you used windows diagnostic tools for Direct X ?
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-NZ/windows-vista/Run-DirectX-Diagnostic-Tool

 

[mpatt66]

Uninstalling CCC did not correct the problem.

I ran dxdiag and it says those 3 things are enabled so I followed the instructions and went to advanced display settings-->troubleshot, but the box to change settings was unclickable.

 

[mpatt66]

*bump* issue is still not resolved. Any help still appreciated.