Question Is my GPU done?

[DeemonTools]

Hi!
I have been getting freezes while gaming and wanted to investigate the problem. I mainly play Diablo 3. While playing I get these random "mini-freezes" that first freeze my screen ingame, then tabs out of the game, then put me back ingame and graphics first showing my character then skillbar and inventory etc comes back gradually. This scenario usually takes about 10-15 seconds then I can play normally again, until the next freeze happens. Sometimes I can play for over 30 minutes without it happening again and sometimes it happens after just a couple of seconds. A complete freeze happens everyy now and then and I have to use power button to switch computer off. I have tried other games, like Call of Duty Black Ops 4 to see if it was game related, and thats when I really started to suspect the GPU because the graphics in there were really messed up, full of artifacts, zombies heads not showing etc. I didn't get the same "mini-freezes" as in Diablo thou but got a complete freeze after about 10-15 minutes of playing. No artifacts/messed up graphic in Diablo 3 except for when the mini-freezes occur.

Nothing in my system is overclocked, everything is running at stock.

I have been using MSI afterburner to track GPU temp while playing. In Diablo 3 the temp never passed 55C and in CoD BO4 it didn't go above 70C. I have also been using Core Temp to watch CPU temp and it rarely passes 40*C.

When using OCCT V6.2.0 to stress test the system I have been able to use every test (OCCT, Linpack, Memory, VRAM and Power) successfully without any problems. When I ran the Power test for over 20 minutes GPU temp was stable at 78-79C and CPU temp stable at about 70C without any crash occuring. However as soon as I try to run the 3D test I get a complete freeze and need to use power button to switch off the computer. The temperature in the GPU doesn't even reach 70*C before this crash happens.

My PC is kinda old but I don't think the games I am playing should be any problem if everything is working properly, never had any problems in the past. My PC specs are:
i7 4770k Processor with Noctua NH-D15 Cooler
Zotac GTX 980Ti AMP! Graphics Card
EVGA Supernova 850 P2 , 850W power supply
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Motherboard
Crucial Ballistix Tactical DDR3 16GB (2x8GB) 1600 MHz (PC3-12800) CL8 (8-8-8-24)
Fractal Design R4 Chassis with 2x 140mm fans in the front for air intake and 2x 140mm fans in the top and 1x 140mm fan in the back as exhaust.
Operating system is Windows 10 64bit.

I don't know that much about computers, but from what I could find searching around I think my GPU might be done. My question is if this could be the case and all I can do is buy a new GPU, or if there is anything else that might be wrong?
Thanks for any answears!

Screenshot from BO4

OCCT Power test

/edit: Forgot to mention, but my PC had lots of dust in it, but didn't have temperature problems even with the dust. Got rid of the dust properly but still have these freezes/problems.

 

[domjam]

i remeber back when i had diablo 3 ..i had the mini freezes when moving ..and what fixed it was eventualy getting an SSD. normal drives really do not cut it for games now. i started noticing this on alot of titles once i upgraded from windows 7 to windows 10. so if I had to guess. that is part of the problem. if you are already on an SSD. then it could be anything from corupted drivers or worst case the gpu or the psu failing. its hard to pin point the main problem. but there are a few things you can try

download DDU (display driver uninstaller) boot into safe mode. remove the driver then reboot and install the latest Nvidia driver for your card.

try to reseat your ram and graphics card..make sure you uninstall the gpu driver before you do this

check the powersupply. I see your also on a evga one so this would apply to you also.

Taken from evga site
in your bios look for the "12v rail" The 12v rail should read between 11.8v and 12.4v . It should be stable, with little to no fluctuations. A slight fluctuation of up to .05v is generally fine as long as it happens no more than once every 10-15 seconds. A larger fluctuation, up to .1v can be safe as long as it happens no more than once every 1-2 minutes. A fluctuation higher than .1v, or more often than every 10 seconds could be an indication of an issue with the 12v rail, and you should consider having your power supply tested or replaced.

if you are still having issues after trying all of the above, then it probably is the gpu going bad. and your only option is to eaither replace it with a new one or at extream messures. you can try to bring it back to life by baking it in an oven. I have not done it myself but there are alot of videos and articles saying it can work. I hope this helps.

 

[DeemonTools]

Thank you for your reply.

Sorry for not including in the specs, I have been using SSD drives the whole time. I got a Samsung 840 Pro 256GB and a Samsung 850 Evo 500GB. Tried the game on both drives and still get the freezes.
Could be worth noting that I have been playing Diablo (and other games like BO4, Battlefield 4 and 1, GTA V, Skyrim etc) on the same computer and setup since late 2015. Never had any problems with freezes like this while gaming before, these problems started occuring about a month ago and have only gotten more frequent.

Had forgotten about DDU, will try that and also check voltage in bios later when I get home.

 

[madmatt30]

Sometimes when this happens you can gain stability back by underlocking a little with msi afterburner or nvidia system tools.

Dropping 100mhz in both memory and core clock is a good start.

The artifacting absolutely looks like the GPU is on the way out.

All nvidia drivers etc up to date??

 

[DeemonTools]

Ok so an update after trying some stuff,

i remeber back when i had diablo 3 ..i had the mini freezes when moving ..and what fixed it was eventualy getting an SSD. normal drives really do not cut it for games now. i started noticing this on alot of titles once i upgraded from windows 7 to windows 10. so if I had to guess. that is part of the problem. if you are already on an SSD. then it could be anything from corupted drivers or worst case the gpu or the psu failing. its hard to pin point the main problem. but there are a few things you can try

download DDU (display driver uninstaller) boot into safe mode. remove the driver then reboot and install the latest Nvidia driver for your card.

try to reseat your ram and graphics card..make sure you uninstall the gpu driver before you do this

check the powersupply. I see your also on a evga one so this would apply to you also.

Taken from evga site
in your bios look for the "12v rail" The 12v rail should read between 11.8v and 12.4v . It should be stable, with little to no fluctuations. A slight fluctuation of up to .05v is generally fine as long as it happens no more than once every 10-15 seconds. A larger fluctuation, up to .1v can be safe as long as it happens no more than once every 1-2 minutes. A fluctuation higher than .1v, or more often than every 10 seconds could be an indication of an issue with the 12v rail, and you should consider having your power supply tested or replaced.

if you are still having issues after trying all of the above, then it probably is the gpu going bad. and your only option is to eaither replace it with a new one or at extream messures. you can try to bring it back to life by baking it in an oven. I have not done it myself but there are alot of videos and articles saying it can work. I hope this helps.

So I did try to reseat the card after using DDU. Didn't work and still had the same crashes.
The power supply seems to be stable both in BIOS and also when checking via other apps.

Sometimes when this happens you can gain stability back by underlocking a little with msi afterburner or nvidia system tools.

Dropping 100mhz in both memory and core clock is a good start.

The artifacting absolutely looks like the GPU is on the way out.

All nvidia drivers etc up to date??

Yes and no about the drivers. When these crashes started to occur I did have an older version at first (however I had it for months before any crashes and everything were running perfectly). Tried updating the drivers to latest version, but didn't help and had the same crashes. Tried using an older driver but didn't help, same crashes.
I did try underclocking and that made Call of Duty playable without those nasty artifacts ingame, but it was laggy in the menues etc. Underclocking didn't seem to help in Diablo thou because the crashes were as frequent as before.

I had the opportunity to borrow an older card from a friend (GTX 560 Ti) and installed it. Did not help in Diablo, still had frequent freezes, and didn't even bother to try it in CoD.

I also had the same "freeze" in windows that I had been getting before with my card. I see I forgot to mention that in my original post. What happens is at startup or about a minute after starting the system up, I would get some kind of semi-freeze. I can move the mouse cursor around and if I have an app running (like Google Chrome web browser) I can press the button to open a new tab, but nothing will load. I can press the Windows key and press "Restart" etc, but nothing happens and I have to restart manually by holding down the power button. If this freeze doesnt happen in the first minute after startup, it doesnt seem to happen at all.

Anyway since it didn't help with the "new" card, I switched back to my card (the 980 Ti). That was Sunday afternoon and since then I have only got one of these Windows freezes, and only had two freezes occur in Diablo while playing intensively for hours, which is a huge improvement compared to getting them every 1-5 minutes. I am also now able to run the OCCT 3D test without the computer freezing, while it only took 1-3 seconds for a complete freeze to occur while running that test before.

So at the moment I am using my 980 Ti and not a single crash the last 3 days (fingers crossed). I just hope my PC continues to function so I don't have to buy new stuff right now....
(Edit: and the card is not underclocked at the moment, it is running at stock speed)