My GPU keeps crashing in graphic intensive games (EVGA GTX 970 SC)

[Julianrod04]

So lately i have been experiencing strange crashes that causes my monitor to turn black and completely freeze my computer. it always happens when i play games like ArmA, Battlefield 3 and 4, and Metro Last light. I have tried uninstalling the nvidia drivers and reinstalling the drivers in safe mode and still kept crashing. i monitored my temps while playing games and i have my fans spinning at a bout 50% power and maintain temps under 80 degrees but my graphics card keeps crashing. I have downloaded a performance tester to test my ram, cpu, and gpu. The test for my ram and cpu was successful but when i ran the test for my gpu my monitor turned black and my computer was in a frozen state. I suspect the problem is coming from my psu but i want to make sure i have tried everything i can before buying a new power supply and if all fails which power supply to buy for future upgrades.

specs:

cpu: I5 4690k
ram: ddr3 20gb ram @ 1333
hdd: WD black 1tb
gpu: evga gtx 970 SC 4gb
mobo: MSI z97 Gaming 3
cpu cooler: h80i water cooling
psu: ultra 750w lsp

 

[Rossdowling321]

It sounds like you have faulty hardware, have you tried different PCI slots? also check on multiple softwares to find your temps such as "Speccy" and "MSI" to make sure they match, another thing is making sure your graphics card isn't chock full of dust clogging the fan.
If worst comes to worst then send it back if your on your warranty, honnestly i know it seems like alot of effort and it is frustrating but once you've gone through the effort of contacting and sending it then you will appreciate it because you will realize that you could snap the thing in 2 and still get it sent back in mint condition.

 

[Julianrod04]

It sounds like you have faulty hardware, have you tried different PCI slots? also check on multiple softwares to find your temps such as "Speccy" and "MSI" to make sure they match, another thing is making sure your graphics card isn't chock full of dust clogging the fan.
If worst comes to worst then send it back if your on your warranty, honnestly i know it seems like alot of effort and it is frustrating but once you've gone through the effort of contacting and sending it then you will appreciate it because you will realize that you could snap the thing in 2 and still get it sent back in mint condition.

see but the thing is its only in certain games in which i experience the crash, i play games like the division and rainbow 6 siege and i experience 0 crashes. very recently the new Dayz 0.60 patch came around and i cant play it because every time i load dayz or any arma game it freezes my pc and gives me the black screen.

edit: I bought the graphics card on thanks giving week through amazon and my psu is almost 4-5 years old, would you recommend i buy a new psu and see if the problem is resolved or send the gpu back to evga for a new one.

 

[Rossdowling321]

Well the best option is to try your GPU in a different PC, if you can't do that then buying a new PSU is taking a risk on needlessly spending money.

Edit: But if you can wait then sending the card back is the best option, and worth it.

 

[Rossdowling321]

Also try underclocking your GPU to see if it is actually your GPU causing the problem, so for example go on MSI afterburner and reduce the clock and memory speed by 50% and increase fan speed by 10% and then try the same game on low settings.

 

[Shaun o]

Hi, Julian.

There are a few reasons why a graphics card may crash and black screen when trying to play a set game title, and where it does not when playing another title.

Each game when it is run will use a set percentage of the Gpu in % utilization.
Some use more of the Gpu`s processing power than others.

The more the processing power of the gpu is used the more power the card will draw from the power supply unit in your system.

The GTX 970 cards have a good power consumption of a max of 180w drawn from the power supply unit.

It would help if you named the power supply unit by it`s brand name.

Half of the problem is finding out how good the power supply unit in the system is, as a lot of not well known or branded power supply's often do not really out put the wattage ratings that they state, or have a low amp value or rating for the 12v power rails found on the power supply.

Power supply's come in what we call tier rating, based on there ability to produce the stated wattage output on the unit, and the amount of amp rating they provide for the 12v power rails, the protection circuits built into them, and also how efficient they are at supplying the wattage and amp outputs.

It is one of the first things to suspect when running a graphics card fitted to a system, and to test by using another power supply if the current unit is also of some age as power supply units degrade over there up time or powered on state, and often loose the ability to output the correct voltages or amps of the unit.

The second thing that can cause some games to black screen, can be as simple as the current video driver used with the video card. The easy way to test this is if the driver is the latest version try an older version to see if it makes a difference. preventing black screen problems when running a game or your system freezing.

Make sure that your version of direct X is up to date also.

Visually check the graphics card for any dust build up, if it has been in the system for a few months, and clean it also.

Check the temperatures of the card, Gpu when the system is Idle and when running a game to see if it is running hot.

Air flow is essential, so if you have room for case fans in the system tower then fit some to help with air flow around the graphics card as it will keep it slightly cooler.

You can also try if you wish, to alter the clock settings of the gpu on the card.
Simply down clock the Gpu, and the memory of the graphics card by about 100Mhz each and see if it helps to stop the card from crashing or the system freezing when you run a game.

By lowering the Gpu and the memory frequency by 100Mhz you will only loose about 1 to 2 fps in games.
But it helps keep the card cooler slightly.
Plus in relation to the Gpu and the memory a reduction in the speed it works at reduces the amount of power required.

If you can borrow a power supply from a friend, for at least a hour or so to test with your system to see if it stabilizes
It and the graphics card it is a good idea before you go out and blindly by another power supply yourself to confirm if the problem is the power supply unit you currently use, and not something else in the system causing the problem.

Anyway there is just a few things to check other than the power supply.

And if your feeling brave it never hurts to take the cooling solution off the card and re apply some fresh thermal paste between the gpu chip, and the cooling of the card.

But only if the warranty is out on the card, would I do this as an option.

 

[Julianrod04]

Hi, Julian.

There are a few reasons why a graphics card may crash and black screen when trying to play a set game title, and where it does not when playing another title.

Each game when it is run will use a set percentage of the Gpu in % utilization.
Some use more of the Gpu`s processing power than others.

The more the processing power of the gpu is used the more power the card will draw from the power supply unit in your system.

The GTX 970 cards have a good power consumption of a max of 180w drawn from the power supply unit.

It would help if you named the power supply unit by it`s brand name.

Half of the problem is finding out how good the power supply unit in the system is, as a lot of not well known or branded power supply's often do not really out put the wattage ratings that they state, or have a low amp value or rating for the 12v power rails found on the power supply.

Power supply's come in what we call tier rating, based on there ability to produce the stated wattage output on the unit, and the amount of amp rating they provide for the 12v power rails, the protection circuits built into them, and also how efficient they are at supplying the wattage and amp outputs.

It is one of the first things to suspect when running a graphics card fitted to a system, and to test by using another power supply if the current unit is also of some age as power supply units degrade over there up time or powered on state, and often loose the ability to output the correct voltages or amps of the unit.

The second thing that can cause some games to black screen, can be as simple as the current video driver used with the video card. The easy way to test this is if the driver is the latest version try an older version to see if it makes a difference. preventing black screen problems when running a game or your system freezing.

Make sure that your version of direct X is up to date also.

Visually check the graphics card for any dust build up, if it has been in the system for a few months, and clean it also.

Check the temperatures of the card, Gpu when the system is Idle and when running a game to see if it is running hot.

Air flow is essential, so if you have room for case fans in the system tower then fit some to help with air flow around the graphics card as it will keep it slightly cooler.

You can also try if you wish, to alter the clock settings of the gpu on the card.
Simply down clock the Gpu, and the memory of the graphics card by about 100Mhz each and see if it helps to stop the card from crashing or the system freezing when you run a game.

By lowering the Gpu and the memory frequency by 100Mhz you will only loose about 1 to 2 fps in games.
But it helps keep the card cooler slightly.
Plus in relation to the Gpu and the memory a reduction in the speed it works at reduces the amount of power required.

If you can borrow a power supply from a friend, for at least a hour or so to test with your system to see if it stabilizes
It and the graphics card it is a good idea before you go out and blindly by another power supply yourself to confirm if the problem is the power supply unit you currently use, and not something else in the system causing the problem.

Anyway there is just a few things to check other than the power supply.

And if your feeling brave it never hurts to take the cooling solution off the card and re apply some fresh thermal paste between the gpu chip, and the cooling of the card.

But only if the warranty is out on the card, would I do this as an option.

Thank you for the good tips but i found the solution to my problem. I decided to check each and every wire in my pc and switched from hdmi to dvi and it stopped crashing. I ran furmark and it worked flawlessly and played bf4 for about 5 hours and no performance drop. So thank you everyone for the help . i am also using a ULTRA 750 watt power supply that is about 3-4 years old if you still want to know. I dont really know if this power supply is very reliable but i do plan on upgrading it when i buy the 1080 in a few months.

 

[haemophile]

just my point but i thought of temperature when i bought my GPU and i got the Gigabyte Windforce 3x 980 GTX even when playing ESO and fallout 4 i can run highest settings at 1920x1080 at 100 fps and the temps on my card never go above 60 degrees so you could need more fans i got mine attached to the card when bought and have never had any problems in a year