Question nvlddmkm.sys BSOD during Benchmark post GPU upgrade Gigabyte 3070

[xShadowPro]

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***DESCRIPTION***
I've just moved from a 1080ti to a 3070 and I'm experiencing an issue ONLY during benchmarks. Game-wise, everything is smooth as butter; I have yet to find a game where it crashes. I tested the 3070 in my wife's PC, and the benchmarks finish without issue. I've also re-tested my 1080ti in my PC, and the benchmark runs fine.

I’ve checked the mini dumps and found that the crash is caused by an nvlddmkm.sys failure every time. Typical driver issue from what I have read. I’ve run DDU clean and restarted in safe mode. I freshly installed the latest Nvidia driver and even tried the previous version for good measure—no joy.

I've tried several other troubleshooting steps, but I’m lost as to whether this is a faulty card, conflicting software, or a dodgy driver. I’m hoping the community here might have some insights or suggestions for the root cause. Below is a detailed breakdown of the scenario, what I've tried, and all the relevant specs.
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***SPECS***
Main PC:
- CPU: Ryzen 7 5800X
- GPU: Gigabyte RTX 3070 Gaming OC 8GB GDDR6 (rev 2.0)
- RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4 3600 MHz
- Motherboard: MPG X570S CARBON MAX WIFI
- PSU: Seasonic Focus GX 850W
- OS: Windows 11 Pro

Test PC:
- CPU: Ryzen 5 5600X
- GPU: MSI GTX 1080 Ti GAMING X 11GB
- RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x8GB 3200MHz - White
- Motherboard: ROG STRIX B550-A Gaming
- PSU: RM650 80 Plus Gold
- OS: Windows 11 Pro

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***CRASHING SCENARIO***
Running 3D Mark Demo Steel Nomad Test
* Soon after the benchmark starts, the screen goes black as shown in this VIDEO. This is followed by an auto-reboot after 2 minutes. The minidump contains nvlddmkm.sys.

Running Benchmark Test on Unreal Engine Heaven
* This can vary, but it seems to black screen around scene 20, followed by a reboot after 2 minutes. (Max GPU temp 80 degrees, CPU 70)
Though I've only had the GPU for 24 hours, I've played Teardown on modded maps, a few other games, and COD to intensify the GPU load, but with no crashes so far.

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***WHAT I'VE TRIED***
- Ran DDU clean and restarted in safe mode, clean installed the latest Nvidia driver, and also tried the previous version (with WIFI OFF).
- Checked the BIOS; PCIE is set to Auto, manually set to Gen4 for testing.
- Disabled Nvidia Container LS, enabled Low Latency Mode.
- Yet to flash Windows 11 on a drive to test.
- Confirmed it works on another machine, and the former GPU can run a benchmark as well.
- No overclocking.

Mini toolkit output

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***CONCLUSION***
Given the steps I’ve taken and the comparison between different PCs, I’m leaning towards this being a firmware/software issue. However, I’m not entirely sure how to prove or resolve this.

I would appreciate any suggestions. If anyone has experienced something similar or has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

First, what BIOS version are you on(without stating latest, assuming you're on the X570 board and not the B550 board)?

I’ve checked the mini dumps and found that the crash is caused by an nvlddmkm.sys failure every time. Typical driver issue from what I have read. I’ve run DDU clean and restarted in safe mode. I freshly installed the latest Nvidia driver and even tried the previous version for good measure—no joy.
Ideally you use DDU in Safe Mode, to remove all GPU drivers(Intel, AMD and Nvidia) then manually install the latest GPU driver sourced from Nvidia's support site in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

 

[BFG-9000]

Video driver crashes are often caused by unstable system memory, and technically you are overclocking that.

Zen 3 is officially rated for DDR4-3200 and while DDR4-3600 is commonly recommended as the sweet spot and almost always works with two sticks (even 4000 does), it is considered overclocking. And then you have placed a heavier load on the memory controller by using four sticks. Unlike previous Ryzens though, it is still rated for DDR4-3200 even with 4 sticks.

Try either temporarily removing two sticks or setting them at DDR4-3200 to see if the problem goes away. If it does you can try the usual overclocker tricks of more voltage or slacker timings when at 3600

 

[xShadowPro]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

First, what BIOS version are you on(without stating latest, assuming you're on the X570 board and not the B550 board)?

I’ve checked the mini dumps and found that the crash is caused by an nvlddmkm.sys failure every time. Typical driver issue from what I have read. I’ve run DDU clean and restarted in safe mode. I freshly installed the latest Nvidia driver and even tried the previous version for good measure—no joy.
Ideally you use DDU in Safe Mode, to remove all GPU drivers(Intel, AMD and Nvidia) then manually install the latest GPU driver sourced from Nvidia's support site in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

Thank you for the welcome.

Currently running on E7D52AMS.140 - (I am aware it's 2022, however when the next update came out there were so many issues so I left it as is "WORKING" so never bothered to do another bios update. X570s is my board yes.

Sorry for there is any confusion, I carried out the DDU run within safe mode, and ran the latest GPU driver installation, clean installed as admin without safe mode.