MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X died??

[IPazo25]

Hi everyone. I've look a lot on this problem but didn't find a clear answer yet and that's why I ask you here.

I use a WaterBlock to liquid cool my graphics card and start tweaking for overclocking (MSI afterburner). I have previously OC'd a lot of graphics cards and never had a problem, always making little steps when increasing first the core clock and, when stable, start tweaking the VRAM.

This time, I was tweaking my graphics card with GTA V opened. I opened the game, change the window with alt + tab to use Afterburner, increase the core clock by 50 aaaaaaaaand boom! The game started crashing and MSI afterburner showed an increase in core voltage of 999999. The PC was frozen and I had to switch off by holding the power button.

At first time, I prayed and hope that it had not damaged the graphics card. But after that, the games that I have tried (GTA V and Project Cars) crash when under load. I've tried every Afterburner-related issues (overclocked, not overclocked, MSI afterburner switched off).

I have to say that when using Valley Benchmark or Furmark, I do not have any crash.

And now, my conclussion is that I have fried a VRM. I say this because I read that a died VRM could cause an increase of GPU power consumption. Consecuently, I tried to downclock my CPU (which is an i7 3770k at 4,6 GHz) to 4,0 GHz and games did not crash anymore (I have to make more tests anyway, I have not been able to make more tests with this theory).

Lastly, I want to remark that before this issue with MSI Afterburner, I always had estable gaming.

What are your opinions? Any advice, test, etc would be very appreciated.

Best regards and thanks a lot in advance.

My build:
i7 3770k OC'd to 4,6 GHz (now downclocked to 4,0 GHz)
Mobo: Asus P8Z77-V
Graphics Card: MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X
16 of RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X DDR3 1600
Power Supply: I have to check this afternoon, but I think it is 850W
Custom liquid cool loop for CPU + GPU (EK WaterBlocks)

 

[renz496]

so everything working fine after downclocking your CPU?

 

[IPazo25]

Yes, I have been trying a few days and I can play after downclocking but with issues. I have some freezings in GTA V when the game is in load (high car density, fast camera rolls due to impacts while driving, etc), but it is a "quick" freeze (1 second) and after that, the game keeps working.

The card is almost new but I cannot RMA it since I have installed the water block and one screw of the backplate had a warranty seal. How much will a repair may cost?

 

[renz496]

yeah common practice by MSI. removing the cooler is equal to voiding the warranty. but if you did fried the VRM the card might refuse to start at all. because without the VRM how will the card able to deliver power to GPU core? have you tried doing clean driver install using DDU? also does the freezing happen on every game? might as well want to reseat you GPU and all the power connector to the card. if possible use separate power connector to power plug on the card as well.

 

[IPazo25]

yeah common practice by MSI. removing the cooler is equal to voiding the warranty. but if you did fried the VRM the card might refuse to start at all. because without the VRM how will the card able to deliver power to GPU core? have you tried doing clean driver install using DDU? also does the freezing happen on every game? might as well want to reseat you GPU and all the power connector to the card. if possible use separate power connector to power plug on the card as well.

I said that about the VRM because I maybe just one or two of the modules (I think that the card has 12 or so) are fried, not all of them. Anyway, I will try your suggestions and let you know. Thanks!

 

[renz496]

well electronic component is quite sensitive. i've once accidentally scratch the back of my mobo in the past. and it was just a single minor scratch and the mobo refuse to power up at all after that. but if the VRM indeed fried it should have somekind of burned smell on it.

 

[IPazo25]

yeah common practice by MSI. removing the cooler is equal to voiding the warranty. but if you did fried the VRM the card might refuse to start at all. because without the VRM how will the card able to deliver power to GPU core? have you tried doing clean driver install using DDU? also does the freezing happen on every game? might as well want to reseat you GPU and all the power connector to the card. if possible use separate power connector to power plug on the card as well.

Hello, sorry for the late answer. I tryed everithing that you suggested and nothing: reseat of every component, drivers in another OS (I have 2 ssd's, one with windows 7 (in which everything happened originally) and other with windows 10), power cables... and nothing works: if I overclock CPU and7 or GPU, games freeze.

I am going to try to use the stock cooler and if that does not work, I will ask any friend to install into their mobo.

 

[renz496]

so your issue keep happening when the GPU load is high even on stock setting only less than when the system is overclocked. am i right about this? maybe you should try the GPU on other system first.

 

[IPazo25]

so your issue keep happening when the GPU load is high even on stock setting only less than when the system is overclocked. am i right about this? maybe you should try the GPU on other system first.

Not exactly, I will try to summarize in a timeline:

Initial configuration (everything working fine): CPU overclocked at 4,6GHz - graphics card with stock cooler overclocked at +100 (core) and +250 (memories)

Second configuration (everything working fine): CPU overclocked at 4,6GHz - graphics card with waterblock cooler overclocked at +100 (core) and +250 (memories)

Third configuration (not working): exactly the same configuration as second one but after the issue trying to increase graphics card overclock with the game running at the same time

Fourth configuration (not working): CPU overclocked at 4,6GHz - graphics card with waterblock cooler without overclocking

Fifth configuration (not working): CPU not overclocked - graphics card with waterblock cooler overclocked at +100 (core) and +250 (memories)

Sixth configuration (working): CPU not overclocked - GPU with waterblock cooler not overclocked

Anyway, you are right, I want to test the graphics in a friend's PC, but it is not easy for me (everyone has gone to the dark side - laptops! )

Do you have in mind any other configuration to test?

 

[renz496]

okay then is this working properly even when playing demanding games or the system is heavily stressed like running stress test program like furmark or prime95?

Sixth configuration (working): CPU not overclocked - GPU with waterblock cooler not overclocked

 

[IPazo25]

okay then is this working properly even when playing demanding games or the system is heavily stressed like running stress test program like furmark or prime95?

Sixth configuration (working): CPU not overclocked - GPU with waterblock cooler not overclocked

It is working in both, demanding games and testing programs (indeed those 2 are the ones that I use).

In "configurations" from 3 to 5, I only had the issue on demanding games, since stress programs only stress GPU or CPU, not both at the same time. Or at least this is what I supposed, I did not try to run them together at the same time.

For example, when I was on third configuration, I tested with furmark and prime95 and they work properly and didn't give any problem.

 

[renz496]

hmm so this thing happen to all games? or GTA V specifically? would be good if you have other power supply to test your system with. system freezing is one of the issue that can arise when the power supply cannot provide enough power to the system. but current driver recovery function is quite good. in GPU overclocking for example when driver crash the game sometimes did not stop working completely. it will freeze momentarily but it will continue to work as if nothing has happen (and you can play games as usual). the only thing that will change is the GPU clock will operate at factory default setting.