Question Random reboots since upgrading to a Radeon 6950 XT ?

[JLW123178]

I have been experiencing random Kernel 41 category (63) reboots ever since I upgraded from a powercolor radeon 6700 xt to a Reference Radeon 6950 xt. When I upgraded I also bought 2x8 sticks of ram. This has been going on for the past two weeks. The error only happens when I'm gaming during either graphic intense times, loading or even just playing a scene. None of this happened while I had the radeon 6700 xt. Here is my pc setup. I'm beginning to think that the issue is that I was unlucky and got a new GPU bad out of the box. I had a similar experience when I had the radeon 5600 gpu. I've only had the PSU since 04/2022 so almost a year old. Overall I can be watching youtube or internet surf all day with no issues. But while gaming these Kernel 41 errors will randomly happen anytime. When I look for the dump file turns out that none was made. Also I've noticed no spikes in voltage or heat once this error happens. When the pc reboots the AMD adrenaline software does not show the wattman error. Any tips will be appreciated. I'm going back to microcenter to exchange the GPU since I have the extended warranty. Hopefully I can replace it with the same GPU. If not I might go and try a NVIDIA 3000 series.

CPU: AMD RYZEN 5600X
MOBO: MSI X-570 PRO
RAM: 4x8 RIPJAWS G.SKILL 3600
MEMORY: TWO M.2 1 TERABYTE DRIVES, 1 TERABYTE SSD
GPU: REFERENCE RADEON 6950 XT
PSU: CORSAIR 80+ PLATNINUM HX1000W
WIN 10

Here are the troubleshooting steps I've tried:

• DDU removal, in safe mode, and installation of radeon drivers
• Removed and reseated the gpu
• Disconnected and reconnected gpu power cables
• Disconnected and reconnected all power cables to PSU
• Removed the two new sticks of ram
• Performed memory test and found no error
• Nothing overclocked and no xmp profile on
• Performed stress test on GPU, CPU, and PSU with no crash and no errors reported
• All chipset drivers and BIOS up to date, also reinstalled latest chipsest drivers and BIOS

 

[Viking2121]

Any Blue Screens?

Im going to place my bet on the PSU, I just helped a guy on another topic that was having weird crashing issues on a HX PSU, I also had weird random crashing on a HX850, The reason it might not on a 6700xt is due to the power draw, and each case you could place the system on an un realistic load and it would pass with flying colors. If you can, I'd recommend to try a different PSU or a different system if you have access to one that can power a 6950xt.

I doubt its the card to be honest, usually if the card is the cause, its rare it restarts the PC especially at stock, it would normally crash the driver or give other really weird issues like not responding, causing you to have to hard reboot.

Thats my only recommendation, you pretty much went over everything else I'd reccomend, a different GPU with the same or more power draw might fix this, or it might not, its hard to day, but I do now that some HX models seem to suffer from this, and is why I'd recommend to try a different PSU.

Good Luck!

 

[5900x]

I would say its the card. Personally I would avoid 6950xt, it is a bloated card with excessive power draws and 6900xt is the max of the RDNA2 series I would try. Its a joke when new gen cards can run sufficiently on a 1000W psu but this 6950xt won't. Since you haven't mentioned anything about the money, I would get a 3080Ti or more depending on your budget, even a 4070Ti for new features and efficiency. These are just my opinions though with a pinch of salt.

 

[GarrettL]

Get a new psu.

 

[JLW123178]

Any Blue Screens?

Im going to place my bet on the PSU, I just helped a guy on another topic that was having weird crashing issues on a HX PSU, I also had weird random crashing on a HX850, The reason it might not on a 6700xt is due to the power draw, and each case you could place the system on an un realistic load and it would pass with flying colors. If you can, I'd recommend to try a different PSU or a different system if you have access to one that can power a 6950xt.

I doubt its the card to be honest, usually if the card is the cause, its rare it restarts the PC especially at stock, it would normally crash the driver or give other really weird issues like not responding, causing you to have to hard reboot.

Thats my only recommendation, you pretty much went over everything else I'd reccomend, a different GPU with the same or more power draw might fix this, or it might not, its hard to day, but I do now that some HX models seem to suffer from this, and is why I'd recommend to try a different PSU.

Good Luck!

It was the GPU. I exchanged it for the same gpu at microcenter two weeks ago now and not a single kernel 41 error. The psu is less than a year old. I also put the two new sticks of ram that I bought with the gpu back in and still no kernel 41 errors. I've been unlucky a few times with new pc hardware being bad out of the box. When I would get the kernel 41 error's the pc would just black screen and reboot, no blue screen.

 

[JLW123178]

I would say its the card. Personally I would avoid 6950xt, it is a bloated card with excessive power draws and 6900xt is the max of the RDNA2 series I would try. Its a joke when new gen cards can run sufficiently on a 1000W psu but this 6950xt won't. Since you haven't mentioned anything about the money, I would get a 3080Ti or more depending on your budget, even a 4070Ti for new features and efficiency. These are just my opinions though with a pinch of salt.

Ya it was the 6950 xt bad out of the box. I got it replaced with my microcenter warranty two weeks ago and not a single kernel 41 error reboot since. I did consider exchanging it for a 3080 or 4070 since I've had nvidia gpu's in the past with no issue. But wanted to give AMD another chance and I wanted to keep using the SAM feature. The only reason I replaced the 6700xt is because one of the fans on it started rattling pretty bad when it start spinning. When I was at microcenter to replace the 6700xt they didn't have another one on the shelf, only reference radeon 6950xt's, 6500 and 6600 xt's.

 

[Avro Arrow]

It's definitely a power issue, either the PSU is unable to handle the RX 6950 XT or there is a power distribution issue on the card itself. I think that it's probably your card because your system's symptoms do remind me of my first XFX RX 5700 XT Triple Dissipation card. I would get hard power-off crashes during gaming with my EVGA 1000 G2 Supernova PSU. Now, a lesser individual would think that it was a driver problem but drivers can't cause system resets, only a power issue can. I spoke to XFX (I've been a long-time customer of theirs since my first XFX card, a GeForce 6200 AGP) and got an RMA number.

I sent the card back and they replaced it with an upgraded model, a THICC-III. Since everything has been hunky-dory from that moment on, it was definitely the card and so I believe that in your case, it's also definitely the card.

My 11 year-old OCZ Z1000M PSU had no issue running a mining rig in the first half of 2022. I was using a Gigabyte 990FX motherboard with an FX-8350 CPU (running with 4 cores disabled), my XFX RX 5700 XT and my OG ATi RX 6800 XT using 8GB of DDR3-1333 and a 1TB HDD.

My 1000 G2 Supernova is my main PSU and my Z1000M is my backup PSU. My EVGA and OCZ PSUs are both 1000W and 80+Gold-certified. They have also both powered twin Sapphire R9 FURY Nitro OC+ cards in Crossfire without a hitch. Those cards can draw 275W EACH which means that both my PSUs handled the equivalent of a 550W GPU in the following:
3DMark Firestrike and TimeSpy
Unigine Heaven, Valley and SuperPosition
Passmark BurnIn Test and Performance Test

If my two 80+Gold PSUs (the OCZ Z1000M is now 12 years old) could handle a 550W draw from my R9 Furies benchmarks, then I don't believe for a second that your 80+Platinum PSU can't handle a 335W RX 6950 XT. It's not impossible that the PSU is the problem, but it's extremely unlikely, kinda like winning the lottery.

I would contact AMD about getting an RMA if you got it direct (like my OG ATi RX 6800 XT) or whoever sold it if it technically has a brand-name like ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, MSi, Powercolor, Sapphire or MSi.

 

[JLW123178]

It's definitely a power issue, either the PSU is unable to handle the RX 6950 XT or there is a power distribution issue on the card itself. I think that it's probably your card because your system's symptoms do remind me of my first XFX RX 5700 XT Triple Dissipation card. I would get hard power-off crashes during gaming with my EVGA 1000 G2 Supernova PSU. Now, a lesser individual would think that it was a driver problem but drivers can't cause system resets, only a power issue can. I spoke to XFX (I've been a long-time customer of theirs since my first XFX card, a GeForce 6200 AGP) and got an RMA number.

I sent the card back and they replaced it with an upgraded model, a THICC-III. Since everything has been hunky-dory from that moment on, it was definitely the card and so I believe that in your case, it's also definitely the card.

My 11 year-old OCZ Z1000M PSU had no issue running a mining rig in the first half of 2022. I was using a Gigabyte 990FX motherboard with an FX-8350 CPU (running with 4 cores disabled), my XFX RX 5700 XT and my OG ATi RX 6800 XT using 8GB of DDR3-1333 and a 1TB HDD.

My 1000 G2 Supernova is my main PSU and my Z1000M is my backup PSU. My EVGA and OCZ PSUs are both 1000W and 80+Gold-certified. They have also both powered twin Sapphire R9 FURY Nitro OC+ cards in Crossfire without a hitch. Those cards can draw 275W EACH which means that both my PSUs handled the equivalent of a 550W GPU in the following:
3DMark Firestrike and TimeSpy
Unigine Heaven, Valley and SuperPosition
Passmark BurnIn Test and Performance Test

If my two 80+Gold PSUs (the OCZ Z1000M is now 12 years old) could handle a 550W draw from my R9 Furies benchmarks, then I don't believe for a second that your 80+Platinum PSU can't handle a 335W RX 6950 XT. It's not impossible that the PSU is the problem, but it's extremely unlikely, kinda like winning the lottery.

I would contact AMD about getting an RMA if you got it direct (like my OG ATi RX 6800 XT) or whoever sold it if it technically has a brand-name like ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, MSi, Powercolor, Sapphire or MSi.

Ya it was the GPU. I replaced at microcenter just over two weeks ago. Haven't had a single crash since. I've been unlucky a few times with new PC hardware being bad out of the box.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Ya it was the GPU. I replaced at microcenter just over two weeks ago. Haven't had a single crash since. I've been unlucky a few times with new PC hardware being bad out of the box.

It happens to all of us. When it happens to me, I just try to remember that anything made by human hands will always have X-number of defective units per thousand. It's just the nature of the beasts that we are. 😉