Question is it the GPU dying or drivers issue?

[angardia]

Hi all!
in past few months (since august) i started to have issues with my games.
i used to play Dead by daylight, but after some time - from 10 minutes to one hour or sometimes every 5 minutes - i got a crash to desktop with unreal engine error.
Fatal error: [File:Unknown] [Line: 198] Unreal Engine is exiting due to D3D device being lost. (Error: 0x887A0007 - 'RESET')

DeadByDaylight_Win64_Shipping {0x0000000000000000} + 69260495 bytes
DeadByDaylight_Win64_Shipping {0x0000000000000000} + 69179681 bytes
DeadByDaylight_Win64_Shipping {0x0000000000000000} + 69221707 bytes
DeadByDaylight_Win64_Shipping {0x0000000000000000} + 79500080 bytes
DeadByDaylight_Win64_Shipping {0x0000000000000000} + 73695966 bytes
DeadByDaylight_Win64_Shipping {0x0000000000000000} + 62977731 bytes
DeadByDaylight_Win64_Shipping {0x0000000000000000} + 79760690 bytes
DeadByDaylight_Win64_Shipping {0x0000000000000000} + 79761859 bytes
DeadByDaylight_Win64_Shipping {0x0000000000000000} + 64421159 bytes
DeadByDaylight_Win64_Shipping {0x0000000000000000} + 64389553 bytes
kernel32 {0x0000000000000000} + 94260 bytes
ntdll {0x0000000000000000} + 337489 bytes


i went to event viewer to see the reason:
Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered. 4101 code

so i thought it might be DBD with another lame update (like always)
cause i can play Assassins creed valhalla, odyssey, cyberpunk and you name it i run it on a medium-high graphic and im happy.

but i also started to notice that on random days when i turn on my pc, the screen stays black.
only after i unplug hdmi cable and also the cables from the gpu - it turns back on.
i tried to change to a different hdmi cable, used dpi cable as well - it happens regardless.
sometimes its enough to unplug the hdmi and reset the pc and sometimes i need to unplug the power supply cables as well and might take few tries.
a week ago i bought ME legendary and wanted to start from ME1 - but randomly from 0 minutes to random time, the game started to crash without errors.
i went to the event viewer to find out this:
Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered. 4101
also 2 more warning comes with it but they are the same thing:

The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{2593F8B9-4EAF-457C-B68A-50F6B8EA6B54}
and APPID
{15C20B67-12E7-4BB6-92BB-7AFF07997402}
to the user DESKTOP-TBNM46A\Anna SID (S-1-5-21-2385141925-3017368002-3129268116-1001) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC) running in the application container Unavailable SID (Unavailable). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.


Now i play ME2 instead of 1 and it crashes only 1 time after hours of playing with the same error:
Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered. 4101
but ME1 unplayable for me.
The most interesting part is when the game crush - i hear this unplugging sound - like when you take out the usb and reconnect it sound.


so im trying to figure out is it a driver\windows fault or my GPU is dying?

my pc is pretty old but again, i can run top games no issue
Intel Core i7 4770 @ 3.40GHz
Haswell 22nm Technology
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 666MHz (9-9-9-24)
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Z87-K (SOCKET 1150)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (EVGA)
953GB Samsung SSD 850 PRO 1TB (SATA (SSD))
1863GB Western Digital WDC WD2003FZEX-00SRLA0 (SATA )

PSU from amazon Ordered on November 23, 2018
EVGA 220-G3-0750-X1 Super Nova 750 G3, 80 Plus Gold 750W, Fully Modular, Eco Mode with New HDB Fan, 10 Year Warranty, Includes Power ON Self Tester, Compact 150mm Size, Power Supply

Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

BIOS i have no idea. never touched there, never updated.

 

[Lutfij]

You forgot to mention the make and model of your PSU and it's age. Please include that. Also, what BIOS version are you on for your motherboard? OS? Windows 10? If so, what version(not edition) are you on? As for your system, you are leaving a lot of performance on the table since you're on DDR3-1333MHz rams, your platform(motherboard and processor) can do DDR3-2133MHz.

 

[angardia]

You forgot to mention the make and model of your PSU and it's age. Please include that. Also, what BIOS version are you on for your motherboard? OS? Windows 10? If so, what version(not edition) are you on? As for your system, you are leaving a lot of performance on the table since you're on DDR3-1333MHz rams, your platform(motherboard and processor) can do DDR3-2133MHz.

i updated my post.
PSU EVGA 220-G3-0750-X1 Super Nova 750 G3, 80 Plus Gold 750W
windows 10 pro 64
never touched bios so no idea what version - i always avoided updating bios.
also if relevant my CPU fan is noctua nh-d15

 

[angardia]

Hi! This is most likely to a driver error 🙁

try updating your drivers or try clean installing them using DDU software

Good Luck

i already tried.
put old drivers, from safe mode disable the windows update.
if you have any other ideas on how to put clean drivers ill be happy to hear but using DDU didnt help me much at all

 

[DRagor]

If not for problems with starting up I would also say it's driver problem. However for me it looks like GPU is starting to die. And if I'm right it will get worse with time. Like games that you can play fine now will start crashing.
That said, here and now, finding a right driver version that 'works' might be possible to at least lessen the symptoms (crashing ones, that won't help with black screens on start). You just have to try different driver versions until you find one that works better for your system. That's a lot of work though and no guarantee it will do anything.

 

[angardia]

If not for problems with starting up I would also say it's driver problem. However for me it looks like GPU is starting to die. And if I'm right it will get worse with time. Like games that you can play fine now will start crashing.
That said, here and now, finding a right driver version that 'works' might be possible to at least lessen the symptoms (crashing ones, that won't help with black screens on start). You just have to try different driver versions until you find one that works better for your system. That's a lot of work though and no guarantee it will do anything.

thats what i try to figure out - is it driver related or GPU failing.
thing is i live in israel... lets say GPU prices here are crazy... 3080 here starts from 2k USD and goes higher. the 3080 ti starts from 2700USD
old cards :
GALAX nVIDIA Geforce GTX 1080TI EX OC 11GB DDR5+ TV OUT- HDTV-out / Dual DVI-I/ , PCI-E - 1300USD
if you manage to find them for sale....
so its important for me to figure this out.

i know buying new GPU with my system so far will cause a bottle neck at best... so it means ill have to build new pc from scratch.
buying pc parts in israel is investing around 3,000 usd without the GPU for some mid gaming pc and if ill try to buy from amazon\newegg which are the only stores selling to israel and show the import and tax fee.... ill be broke as the tax will eat me alive.

 

[angardia]

update - tried to start up the pc in the morning and got black screen.
tried all the regular process - unplug hdmi, restarts, remove the PSU cables... nothing.
i hear the fans but the screen doesnt turn on.
plugged hdmi into the motherboard - works like a charm