Graphics Card Hangs

[rburton17]

Hello,

Before I start, here are some of my system specs:
- OS: Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit
- Processor: Intel i7 3770k @3.5 gHz (8-core)
- GPU: Nvidia GTX 660 Ti
- Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth z77 (bios date: 12/19/2012)
- Cooling Unit: Corsair h100i w/radiator and thermal paste for processor
- 16 gb Ram
- 2x 2TB Hard Drives
- PSU: Corsair TX850

-

Okay. So I have an issue where, upon any kind of graphical stress (even just drawing the screen sometimes), the GPU will crash, the windows timeout will attempt to recover the driver. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't, and the monitor will remain black, as it's not receiving a signal from the graphics card anymore. Under heavy load (playing Battlefield, Skyrim, etc), or any kind of moderate-to-advanced graphics rendering, the GPU hangs and crashes within the first few minutes of playing. Other times, even opening the start menu or Google Chrome will cause the graphics driver/card to hang and crash as well. This is extremely annoying and I haven't been able to pinpoint a cause. I have not installed any new hardware as of late that could possibly be interfering with the driver, or the GPU. It just sort of started "happening."

I have closely monitored the temps of the CPU and the GPU, and neither of them yield irregular temperatures under load. (nothing above ~45 C)

Tidbit: I don't know if this matters, but around the same time, the LED "Corsair" insignia that contains the thermal paste that sits directly over the processor turned from white to red on the inside of the PC. I have opened a ticket with Corsair to see if it has anything to do with it but haven't yet received a response.

Here's what I've tried to resolve the problem:
- Reinstalled/downgraded graphics drivers
- Reseated the card
- Reapplied thermal paste to processor
- Edited the windows timeout to allow GPU more time to process (doesn't help, just gets slower and slower until it times out)
- Reset the CMOS battery on mobo

I don't know what could possibly be causing the problem here. Some people I've consulted say it's an issue with an out-of-date BIOS, but the BIOS is supposedly able to update itself. Others have said a manual re-install of Windows is necessary, but I don't want to do that until I am sure I've exhausted any other solutions.

Let me know what y'all think. Thanks for your time.

 

[Xibyth]

What is the model type of your GPU, and could you provide the clock speeds of the GPU and its memory, also the voltage.

 

[rburton17]

What is the model type of your GPU, and could you provide the clock speeds of the GPU and its memory, also the voltage.

GPU is an Nvidia Geforce GTX 660 Ti, I have the version with 3gb of graphics memory. The base clock speed of the GPU is 915 Mbps, and the base clock speed of its memory is 6 Gbps. I am driving it with 2x PCI-E from the power supply to the bus of the card.

If you need any additional information on the card, here's the website. I haven't overclocked anything at all, so the stats I am using are the base ones.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-660ti/specifications

 

[Xibyth]

What is the model type of your GPU, and could you provide the clock speeds of the GPU and its memory, also the voltage.

GPU is an Nvidia Geforce GTX 660 Ti, I have the version with 3gb of graphics memory. The base clock speed of the GPU is 915 Mbps, and the base clock speed of its memory is 6 Gbps. I am driving it with 2x PCI-E from the power supply to the bus of the card.

If you need any additional information on the card, here's the website. I haven't overclocked anything at all, so the stats I am using are the base ones.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-660ti/specifications

This card has some interesting history, I have never actually owned it so I looked into it. Refer to this forum, I believe your issue may also be coming from insufficient power being supplied to the GPU as well. http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1690027/issue-660ti-power-clock.html
Though I would try another power supply before attempting to adjust the power target, if you still have the driver crash than try using EVGA precision x and set the power target to 105% rather than all the way.

 

[iAboodz]

I think you are having vram problems. It's the only thing that comes to my mind.
And what do you mean by 2x PCI-E from the power supply ? you mean the 6+2 pin right ?

 

[Xibyth]

The card uses two 6 pin connectors and I believe that is what he meant.

 

[rburton17]

What is the model type of your GPU, and could you provide the clock speeds of the GPU and its memory, also the voltage.

GPU is an Nvidia Geforce GTX 660 Ti, I have the version with 3gb of graphics memory. The base clock speed of the GPU is 915 Mbps, and the base clock speed of its memory is 6 Gbps. I am driving it with 2x PCI-E from the power supply to the bus of the card.

If you need any additional information on the card, here's the website. I haven't overclocked anything at all, so the stats I am using are the base ones.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-660ti/specifications

This card has some interesting history, I have never actually owned it so I looked into it. Refer to this forum, I believe your issue may also be coming from insufficient power being supplied to the GPU as well. http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1690027/issue-660ti-power-clock.html
Though I would try another power supply before attempting to adjust the power target, if you still have the driver crash than try using EVGA precision x and set the power target to 105% rather than all the way.

Took a look at the thread - a good read. Tried using Precision X to crank the power up on the GPU and, of course it didn't work. Tried tuning it down and it crashed even faster, as expected. I don't think it's an issue with the clock.

As far as the rest of the thread - it does seem to be a DX11 problem. DX11 games (Battlefield, Metro: LL, Skyrim, even 2D games that use DX11 like Starbound) crash the card within the minute, while games with different engines (i.e., Minecraft with OpenGL) often never crash when I use them.

Thanks for that link - definitely did help pinpoint the problem. As far as power allocation to the card goes, this PSU is the only one I have, and it worked fine for about the first year of having this PC. Is it really due for a replacement?