Is my Power Supply Enough?

[Evan Shaffer]

So, recently I've been having issues with freezing and crashing. I just upgraded from an AMD setup to a new Intel Skylake as well as added a second graphics card for Crossfire. But every now and then, anywhere from 30 minutes in to 6 hours from power on, my display will freeze and crash. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with load either, it just happens whether I'm playing a game or browsing the web. I've even overclocked my GPU's quite a bit, and it had no problems with stability (it had problems with heat, but that's another issue... or is it?). I've since turned my clocks down and it still crashes every now and then. So, here's my current setup:

CPU: i5-6600 Skylake
RAM: 16GB 2400MHz DDR4
Mobo: MSi Z-170A Krait
GPU: 2x Crossfire R9 280 3GB, one is MSi, other is Sapphire, both clocked at 970 MHz
240GB SSD and 1TB WD Hard Drive configuration
750W Corsair HX
Triple Monitor 1080p, 5760x1080 rez

So my question is, is it my power supply that's the culprit? Is 750W enough for my CPU and two GPUs, or am I pushing it with that much? Or could it be the Crossfire that's causing the issues just because Crossfire does that?

 

[geofelt]

Likely your psu is not sufficient, particularly since the graphics cards have been overclocked.
Here is a useful chart:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

Yes, heat can affect performance too.

 

[Quarkzquarkz]

It could be any number of things. You would have to troubleshoot by focusing on one part and moving along to the next. From your setup I would move systematically from RAM, to GPU, to POWER supply then to cpu and motherboard. So how would I do this?

Try taking your 16gb ram slots out and just leave 1 module. Test that for 30 minutes or until a crash occurs. If it does then you know your ram should be okay. If it doesnt crash then quite possibly your memory is the culprit.

Next try moving to your SLI setup, only have 1 gpu slotted and try the test again. If a crash occurs, then you know it could be something else (i.e. power suplly, cpu, motherboard, etc). If it doesnt crash then its your sli setup that's gone haywire.

Good luck!

 

[Evan Shaffer]

Likely your psu is not sufficient, particularly since the graphics cards have been overclocked.
Here is a useful chart:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

Yes, heat can affect performance too.

Ah, that website's very helpful. Turns out I need just about 100W more, so I'll probably order a new one.

It could be any number of things. You would have to troubleshoot by focusing on one part and moving along to the next. From your setup I would move systematically from RAM, to GPU, to POWER supply then to cpu and motherboard. So how would I do this?

And if it crashes again here soon, I think I'll try to take out one of my GPUs and see if it happens again. Thanks.

 

[geofelt]

Trying a single card is useful, it can identify a bad card.
Try both individually.
Here is another useful chart as to quality selection:
https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx?Redirected=true

If one of the cards should prove defective, consider selling the other also and using a single GTX980ti.

 

[Evan Shaffer]

Trying a single card is useful, it can identify a bad card.
Try both individually.
Here is another useful chart as to quality selection:
https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx?Redirected=true

If one of the cards should prove defective, consider selling the other also and using a single GTX980ti.

Well, the power supply doesn't seem to be the issue. I've switched between cards, using one at a time and the problem still occurs. Less frequently, but I still get complete graphical freezes. I've ordered another PSU already, but I'm not entirely sure that power is the culprit here. I've read some other threads with similar problems with Skylake, saying it's most likely a driver issue. I'm hoping that's the case at this point and a fix will come soon, since I'm not really sure what to RMA if I need to right now.

 

[Evan Shaffer]

UPDATE: Oddly enough, it appears the problem was RAM related. The sticks seemed to be getting pretty warm, so I added an intake fan next to them, and miraculously, no freezing for two days and multiple sessions of Battlefront. DDR4 memory must not be refined enough to operate at higher temperatures just yet.