[SOLVED] New PSU crashes GPU, but decade old PSU works ?

[juiced_koala]

I recently bought new parts to build a new pc. For likely obvious reasons, I could not purchase a new GPU. I built my pc this weekend and utilized my old GPU (ASUS Strix 970).

My original purchase for PSU was an NZXT C750. Everything worked great until I asked my GPU to do more work - playing graphic heavy games. I crash to black, pc still runs, audio still runs, video is out. Requires a hard reset.

I ended up trying my old PSU purchased more than 10 years ago (PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk II 650w) and everything worked perfectly. I figured it was a faulty PSU, so today a traded in the NZXT for and EVGA 850GA. The same types of crashes occur when the GPU is under heavy load. I cannot for the life of my understand why my PSU that is more than a decade old runs my GPU just fine, but newer PSU's do not. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I've tried various cables between the new PSU's and the GPU, all of them result in crashes. Although, one seemed to keep things running for a bit longer, but it may have been a fluke.

I've also tried the newest and rolled back versions of my GPU driver.

Since I get no error message it's hard to know where to start. I've looked through the event viewer and their are no app error/warning reports. Sometimes system warnings pop up when a crash occurs, but not always.

Again, when I run the pc on my old PSU, everything works perfectly.

Here's details on my build:

OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10900KF CPU @ 3.70GHz, 3696 Mhz, 10 Core(s), 20 Logical Processor(s)
Motherboard: ASUS PRIME Z490-A
RAM: Crucial 32 GB 16x2
Installed RAM: 32.0 GB
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970



Thanks for any ideas!

 

[Juular]

There were some problems with old revisions of Seasonic Focus based PSUs and ASUS Strix GTX970 specifically (in addition to general problems with this platform with high-transient GPUs like AMD Vega), which Seasonic fixed by sending customers shielded PCI-e cables and later by revision of the PSU. But NZXT C albeit based on Seasonic Focus, was released after the fix was effective so it theoretically shouldn't exhibit this problem ... As of EVGA GA, there are really no information or reviews on it, maybe it has the same issue, try another PSU, something more known this time, check the tier list in my signature, look for tier A gold or blue colored units except Seasonic Focus or Antec, Phanteks and NZXT units (since most of them are Seasonic Focus based just like NZXT C), like Corsair RM-x/RM-i/HX, Thermaltake Toughpower GF1, Super Flower Leadex III (and variants), Bitfenix Whisper, MSI MPG A-GF, be quiet! Straight Power 11 Gold. You can also try to contact Seasonic first and ask if they could send you these shielded cables if you buy their PSU and it wouldn't work, if the PSU would be significantly cheaper than aforementioned options.

 

[Vic 40]

Could try using two pcie cables instead of 1 cable=2 connectors. See if this helps.

 

[juiced_koala]

Could try using two pcie cables instead of 1 cable=2 connectors. See if this helps.

Do you mean to use one of the cables that has the two plugs on it? If that's the case, I've given that a go, no luck. My EVGA has 4 pci plug slots and I've tried all of them with various cables with no luck yet.

 

[juiced_koala]

There were some problems with old revisions of Seasonic Focus based PSUs and ASUS Strix GTX970 specifically (in addition to general problems with this platform with high-transient GPUs like AMD Vega), which Seasonic fixed by sending customers shielded PCI-e cables and later by revision of the PSU. But NZXT C albeit based on Seasonic Focus, was released after the fix was effective so it theoretically shouldn't exhibit this problem ... As of EVGA GA, there are really no information or reviews on it, maybe it has the same issue, try another PSU, something more known this time, check the tier list in my signature, look for tier A gold or blue colored units except Seasonic Focus or Antec, Phanteks and NZXT units (since most of them are Seasonic Focus based just like NZXT C), like Corsair RM-x/RM-i/HX, Thermaltake Toughpower GF1, Super Flower Leadex III (and variants), Bitfenix Whisper, MSI MPG A-GF, be quiet! Straight Power 11 Gold. You can also try to contact Seasonic first and ask if they could send you these shielded cables if you buy their PSU and it wouldn't work, if the PSU would be significantly cheaper than aforementioned options.

Thanks for the awesome information here - I'll look into trying out a different psu (from your recommended list) this weekend!

 

[Vic 40]

Do you mean to use one of the cables that has the two plugs on it? If that's the case, I've given that a go, no luck. My EVGA has 4 pci plug slots and I've tried all of them with various cables with no luck yet.

Meant two cables and use one connector from each instead of using one cable with the two connectors that are attached.