New GPU, random OS freezes

[Horadric]

I brought a new GPU, because the old one ran at 60c idle and crawl up to 100c within 10 minutes
even in simple games like Torchlight. After that the system just shut down to protect the hardware.
The new card runs at 40c idle and 60c gaming, but I also experience random freezes since I installed it.

Spec:
ASUS Radeon R7 260x DirectCU2 OC 1GB
Pentium Dual Core E6600 3.06GHz
Kingstone DDR3 2x2GB 1333MHz RAM
Asrock G41M-VS3
Samsung 300GB HDD
Codegen 450W PSU

The old GPU was an GeForce GT 460, the new one eats 20W more and needs a 6pin connector. A 450W PSU supposed to run it without a problem, this system eats like 300W in total. I'm aware about the bad reputation this PSU brand gets though.

The system simply freeze in place, no keyboard respond, mouse pointer doesn't move, system tray clock freeze, like a still image. Bluescreenview says it's an error 124 (generic hardware error) and blames ntoskrnl.exe+4adb3c. Fun thing is, sometimes I can game for the wole day and end up getting the freeze after 6-8 hour. I have a dual boot Win7 64bit, XP 32bit, booth can freeze. Some kind of pattern I noticed, that it will definitely freeze on the first boot in the morning, after a long period of power off time, like the system needs time to warm up and get the proper voltage. Does not happen in safe mode though.

Tried so far:
BIOS update from 1.40 to 1.80
Clean boot and messing with startup services
Windows memory diagnostics

I blame the PSU, but I'm unemployed and after the GPU upgrade I barely have spare money.
I relly want to make sure it's the PSU before investing in one. I would appricate the help, thanks in advance!

 

[jaimelmiel]

I brought a new GPU, because the old one ran at 60c idle and crawl up to 100c within 10 minutes
even in simple games like Torchlight. After that the system just shut down to protect the hardware.
The new card runs at 40c idle and 60c gaming, but I also experience random freezes since I installed it.

Spec:
ASUS Radeon R7 260x DirectCU2 OC 1GB
Pentium Dual Core E6600 3.06GHz
Kingstone DDR3 2x2GB 1333MHz RAM
Asrock G41M-VS3
Samsung 300GB HDD
Codegen 450W PSU

The old GPU was an GeForce GT 460, the new one eats 20W more and needs a 6pin connector. A 450W PSU supposed to run it without a problem, this system eats like 300W in total. I'm aware about the bad reputation this PSU brand gets though.

The system simply freeze in place, no keyboard respond, mouse pointer doesn't move, system tray clock freeze, like a still image. Bluescreenview says it's an error 124 (generic hardware error) and blames ntoskrnl.exe+4adb3c. Fun thing is, sometimes I can game for the wole day and end up getting the freeze after 6-8 hour. I have a dual boot Win7 64bit, XP 32bit, booth can freeze. Some kind of pattern I noticed, that it will definitely freeze on the first boot in the morning, after a long period of power off time, like the system needs time to warm up and get the proper voltage. Does not happen in safe mode though.

Tried so far:
BIOS update from 1.40 to 1.80
Clean boot and messing with startup services
Windows memory diagnostics

I blame the PSU, but I'm unemployed and after the GPU upgrade I barely have spare money.
I relly want to make sure it's the PSU before investing in one. I would appricate the help, thanks in advance!

 

[jaimelmiel]

Sorry but I have to ask if you removed all the old drivers and then after loading your card loaded the drivers that came with the card?

 

[Horadric]

Sorry but I have to ask if you removed all the old drivers and then after loading your card loaded the drivers that came with the card?

I used (the creatively named) Display Driver Uninstaller to remove the nvidia drivers, then swapped cards and installed latest catalyst (same process for both system). EDIT2: Win7 failed to boot 3 times now, there is a few seconds long black screen with mouse before it jumps to the welcome screen, but in this case the mouse disappeared and i'm stuck on a black screen. Booting in safe mode first works. The freezes are very random, but it always has problem with fresh power on. Here is a HWmonitor screenshot, Voltage seems OK for a very budget PSU, but those max temps on CPUTIN and AUXTIN are too high, or are they?

 

[Horadric]

I just had the first freeze during gaming and it's awfully familiar. With the old GPU the screen turned black during gaming and the music still played/looped a few seconds, while the display turned to no signal.
This crush was exactly the same but without the signal loss (and the card doesn't heat up like an oven either). There were no random freezes with the old one though, just gaming related, maybe it's just seems similar. EDIT: Actually the bsod error code was different too so probably no relation.
I'm clueless now. What I would give for a test rig/spare parts!

 

[Horadric]

I just figured there are a "couple of" threads b*tching about this particular card and issue. I installed the latest drivers straight from the ASUS support, will see tomorrow if still freezes. Will probably edit the answer closing the topic as solved by concluding on RMA.

 

[Automatiic]

I got rid of my AMD cards last week in favor of nVidia because of freezing in games too. I think it's just an ongoing issue with AMD drivers. But your PSU could absolutely be the culprit as well.

 

[Horadric]

I got rid of my AMD cards last week in favor of nVidia because of freezing in games too. I think it's just an ongoing issue with AMD drivers. But your PSU could absolutely be the culprit as well.

Exact problem with a lot of other people with better PSU, can"t be a coincidence, also previous card was stable, except the temp issue, but thats another thing, especially since it's quiet old.