[PROBLEM] GIGABYTE R9 270 freezes and stop working when gaming

[Giullio Savi]

I've built my PC January last year, in the beginning it was working perfectly, but around 3 months ago it started to freeze during games, even games I've already played and completed. It only freezes when I'm playing high demanding games. I've noticed that there's loss of video signal at the monitor, the GPU fans stops spinning and some kind of metallic sound comes out from the speakers. Also, in some games it freezes in a particular spot, like the login screen from Guild Wars 2, or the Uber Bosses at Diablo 3. After the freezing I can't do anything and have to hard reboot, although the CPU and mobo are still on. The GPU temperature doesn't go beyond 60 ºC (althought I didn't keep track right before the freezing) , I've tried older e newer drivers, cleaning and repasting CPU.

MOBO: GA 970A dS3P
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 4GB x(2) 1600mhz
CPU: AMD FX 6300 3.5 Ghz
GPU: AMD Radeon R9 270 Windslash OC
PSU: Thermaltake 650W Smartseries 80 plus bronze
HD: Seagate 1T 7200
Case: Thermaltake V3 Black edition

Spoiler

http://br.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4840#ov
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4591#ov
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00001976

I will do the following tests: monitoring of the GPU temp before the crashes, try a borrowed GPU and see if the problem persists. Any sugestions?

Thank you!

 

[Giullio Savi]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

Thermaltake 'Smart';
Maybe not so Smart.. Symptoms point at power supply (deterioration),..
Replace first and see what gives;
You cant get out of replacing that junk unfortunately.

Yeah, I'll do this on this weekend. I'll use my GPU in a friend's PC, if my GPU doesn't freeze in his PC I'll borrow his PSU and try it out in my PC with my GPU. If the freezing stops the PSU is the guilty but if the freezing keeps going that will show that neither the PSU nor the GPU are disfunctional. I guess I'll test RAM and CPU and finally if nothing works out, the mobo.
btw he has a 650W PSU, a corsair one.

About Thermaltake Smart, I found this review:
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/5613/thermaltake-smart-750-watt-80-plus-bronze-power-supply-review/index5.html and another one saying they do have Japanese Capacitors, although is only the primary one and the others are Chinese and Taiwanese but that they're somewhat good, I don't know their durability tough.

 

[shomil khatana]

Yes i have the same problem. I spended countless hours to find the solution but no progress. I'm really getting frustated now , any help ?

 

[Giullio Savi]

I've tested my GPU with another PSU, the crash/freeze continued, then, I've tried my PSU with another GPU. The crashing stoped.

But I do recall having some PSU problems . The first time I've tried to turn my pc on, nothing happened, I've insisted and then it turned on. After some time it happened again, I couldn't turn it on unless I kept the power button pressed and flicked on and off the PSU power button, some time later it was normal And now when I've tried to turn my pc on after I've replaced the tested PSU with my PSU I had to try 3 times before it went on.

Maybe the PSU is damaged and did some damage to my GPU?

The PSU has 5 year warranty, I'll try to contact them but the GPU's one has expired, I'll try to contact Gygabite anyway.

@shomil khatana
I'm against underclocking because you've paid the whole price for the whole GPU potency, If I've wanted something worse I could get it cheaper.

 

[shomil khatana]

Some cards are factory overclocked and in my case it was way too much overclocked. I have a decent PSU which can hanle much powerful card than the one i own. But underclocking the card a bit lower than the stock clock speed will surely solve this problem and it does not effect on FPS of games too. I'm playing battlefield 3 at ultra settings and its giving me now 150+ FPS which used to get crashed after minute or two.

I've contact nVIDIA support about the issue and they asked for a bit time to resolve this issue.

But literaaly i had tried everthing but UNDERCLOCKING is the only one that worked.

Atleast give it a try !

 

[shomil khatana]

Some cards are factory overclocked and in my case it was way too much overclocked. I have a decent PSU which can hanle much powerful card than the one i own. But underclocking the card a bit lower than the stock clock speed will surely solve this problem and it does not effect on FPS of games too. I'm playing battlefield 3 at ultra settings and its giving me now 150+ FPS which used to get crashed after minute or two.

I've contact nVIDIA support about the issue and they asked for a bit time to resolve this issue.

But literaaly i had tried everthing but UNDERCLOCKING is the only one that worked.

Atleast give it a try !

 

[Giullio Savi]

Some cards are factory overclocked and in my case it was way too much overclocked. I have a decent PSU which can hanle much powerful card than the one i own. But underclocking the card a bit lower than the stock clock speed will surely solve this problem and it does not effect on FPS of games too. I'm playing battlefield 3 at ultra settings and its giving me now 150+ FPS which used to get crashed after minute or two.

I've contact nVIDIA support about the issue and they asked for a bit time to resolve this issue.

But literaaly i had tried everthing but UNDERCLOCKING is the only one that worked.

Atleast give it a try !

The base clock for my GPU is 950Mhz and it's slightly Oc from factory to 975Mhz. I've tried to underclock to 950Mhz and it froze anyway and I refuse to go under the base clock unless I have no other way.

 

[shomil khatana]

Then i guess there is no otherway.
Underclock to 900@ and try then

 

[shomil khatana]

And let me know if it worked