[SOLVED] Is my PSU dying, or is it my GPU?

[hcruL7]

Hi all,

For the past year or so, I had an issue where when playing intensive games, my monitor would go black (not turning off), my keyboard/mouse becomes unresponsive (num lock light wouldn't come on/off when pressed, & dpi light on mouse won't change when dpi button is pressed) and my sound would loop. I replaced my poor quality psu (Artic 850W) with a Corsair CX 650W which I was told would be enough to power it.

The problem seemed to be fixed for what has been about two months now. I was able to play games and run programs that I couldn't before, but over the past two weeks when playing ANY game and sometimes even while browsing, the same problem occurs. My GPU fails a stress test and does the same thing within 30 seconds to a minute of running it. I noticed that a couple of times it happened when a game JUST finished loading in, or when I Alt+Tab into another program/game. There have been days where it happens 5-6 times within the span of 10 hours, and some days where it only happens once.

Thanks in advance.

GPU: AMD Radeon R9 290
Motherboard: MSI 970 Gaming
CPU: AMD FX 6300
PSU: Corsair CX 650W

 

[cdrkf]

Well based on what you have described it sounds like the GPU is the issue. That behaviours is typical of things overheating- the R9 290 is a pretty old card these days (still plenty fast enough for games though, was a beast when it launched). I'll bet the thermal paste on the gpu has dried up, could also be clogged up with dust.

I'd recommend taking the cooling assembly off the board and fully cleaning it, then applying some new thermal paste to the gpu and putting it back together. You probably should do the same with the cooler for the cpu whilst your at it, then test again.

Here is a video example:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw5xpgh4_QM

 

[hcruL7]

Well based on what you have described it sounds like the GPU is the issue. That behaviours is typical of things overheating- the R9 290 is a pretty old card these days (still plenty fast enough for games though, was a beast when it launched). I'll bet the thermal paste on the gpu has dried up, could also be clogged up with dust.

I'd recommend taking the cooling assembly off the board and fully cleaning it, then applying some new thermal paste to the gpu and putting it back together. You probably should do the same with the cooler for the cpu whilst your at it, then test again.

Here is a video example:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw5xpgh4_QM

Thanks for your reply! I'll for sure try this, however I forgot to say that it often happens when the GPU isn't at a high temperature, like 40-60C. Do you think that's still a plausible cause considering I haven't actually cleaned it and applied paste for a few years? Thanks again

 

[cdrkf]

Thanks for your reply! I'll for sure try this, however I forgot to say that it often happens when the GPU isn't at a high temperature, like 40-60C. Do you think that's still a plausible cause considering I haven't actually cleaned it and applied paste for a few years? Thanks again

Well those temps don't sound high, it's worth trying cleaning it just in case but might not be the problem.