Upgraded to 780 TI sli and having freezing problems

[Delerium89]

I've already posted about this before about a week ago, I'm just gonna repost an updated version.
System Specs:
i5 4670k 4.6ghz
gtx 780 Ti classified SLI
asus maximus vi formula
16gb ddr3 1600
Corsair ax860
samsung 840 evo 250gb // WD caviar black 1 TB
1440p display @ 110hz

I upgraded from a 4gb gtx 670 SC to 2 gtx 780 ti classfieds. I have been having freezing problems in battlefield 4 ever since. Just a freeze that lasts around 5 seconds usually.(1 of them resulted in a BSOD). They seem to happen randomly. I can go 30 minutes without a freeze, or It can freeze like 10 times in a single match. Just gonna throw it out there, dont try and say its because BF4 has alot of issues, Im aware of them. I've never had this problem prior to putting these cards in. I also tried Tomb Raider, it froze after about 30 min and I had to hard reset. The cards were not OC'd. I've done a good amount of troubleshooting and have somewhat hit a wall, I don't know what else to try. Ill try to explain all my trouble shooting I've done as detailed as I can

I tried disabling SLI, that failed.
Then I tried uninstalling all nvidia software and then running driver sweeper in safemode and reinstalling fresh drivers(still using SLI), that failed.
I then took out the bottom card and just used 1 card(I also rolled back 1 driver version when I did this). this failed as well.

Next I just swapped cards(still using 1 card). This is where things get weird. So now I'm using 1 card, and its the card that was originally the bottom card. Playing BF4 for about 2, maybe 3 hours and no freezing at all. I'm thinking hell yea the other card is just a defective card and that's an easy replacement. I wanted to be thorough with my trouble shooting so me and my friend decided to make him a guinea pig. We put the card that we thought was defective into his computer. He has a similar set up to mine. He played for around 5 hours maybe more and not any single indication of any problems on his system. This worried me so I decided I just need to test mine out more. I get on BF4 and it freezes right away, and it starts freezing more frequently after that. I turned off my OC on my cpu so its stock. No change at all still freezing frequently. Im somewhat at a loss of what to do now. I was hoping that the cards were just defective because that's an easy fix. But that doesn't seem like its the case since the original card worked fine in a different system.

Guinea Pig specs
sandy bridge i5 @ 4.6ghz
my 780 ti
Mobo is some ROG variant micro atx 1155 socket(i dont remember exactly which)
8gb ddr3 1600
750w psu
1440p display @110hz

Sorry about the length of this post I tried to be as detailed as I could. I apologize if I left out any details that would be helpful, let me know if you need to know anymore information. Anything helps even if its a hunch I'm open to try just about anything thanks.

 

[chriscornell]

This sounds like an issue with heat or a PSU struggeling.

What are your temps. on graphics cards and CPU? and how much space is between the cards when you run them SLI'ed?

 

[Mahisse]

Just to be sure; do you have the latest drivers for your motherboard/BIOS? Sounds like it could be your problem. Or maybe your second PCIe is faulty? Test your card in both ports seperately.

 

[Delerium89]

This sounds like an issue with heat or a PSU struggeling.

What are your temps. on graphics cards and CPU? and how much space is between the cards when you run them SLI'ed?

Temps vary on the card, theyre usually mid 70s, Ive seen em be mid 60s as well. I dont see it being a PSU issue since I mentioned my friends 750w PSU runs it just fine. There is a slot between them when they're SLI'd (Im planning on spacing em further I just need a longer sli bridge) Temps in sli were about the same, I think my top card may have reached 80 a few times and the bottom card was always about 10 degrees cooler. But my point is its having this problem even single GPU

 

[Major_Trouble]

I would say PSU. 750w for 780ti SLI would be borderline for a quality PSU and you've overclocked your CPU and don't specify the PSU brand to give a good idea of it capabilities.

 

[Delerium89]

Just to be sure; do you have the latest drivers for your motherboard/BIOS? Sounds like it could be your problem. Or maybe your second PCIe is faulty? Test your card in both ports seperately.

Well this computer isn't even a month old yet and when I built it I got the latest chipset, lan, audio, and usb drivers on my mobo. I updated the BIOS before I did my CPU OC. Im going to try testing it in another pci slot

 

[Mahisse]

Well if everything is up to date I would also think your PSU may be the problem. Depnding on the PSU brand 750W is probably a bit borderline for 780 ti OC SLI.

 

[Major_Trouble]

When you switched the lower (faulty?) card to the upper slot did you use the same PCI power connectors or the ones you were using on the top (good) card. Might be a rail on the PSU not providing stable voltages.

 

[Delerium89]

I would say PSU. 750w for 780ti SLI would be borderline for a quality PSU and you've overclocked your CPU and don't specify the PSU brand to give a good idea of it capabilities.

Well if everything is up to date I would also think your PSU may be the problem. Depnding on the PSU brand 750W is probably a bit borderline for 780 ti OC SLI.

I didnt specify the brand? Do you not see where it says corsair ax860 under system specs? The 750 w psu is my friends which it had no problem running with

 

[Eggz]

So, based on your description, there are three variables left: (1) the PCI-e slots themselves, (2) the power cables running from your AX860, and (3) the power supply itself.

To test the first, I would play your game for an hour or so with each card in the top slot, and then another hour or so with each card in the bottom slot. That will give you 4 data points: (a) card A in slot 1, (b) card A in slot 2, (c) card B in slot 1, and (d) card B in slot 2. These are all single-card configurations, by the way. Have you done this?

To test the second, you'll need to know which of the four configurations above replicate the issue. Assume it was configuration (b) with card A in slot 2. Keep that card there, but use a different PCI-e power cable from your AX860. If that solves the issue, it was just the wire. I've had that happen before. Wires are finiky. If not, then move on to your power supply.

I saved testing your power supply for last because it's least likely the issue, and because it's also a pain in the butt compared to the other things. The only way to test it is to swap out the power supply and try your desired SLI configuration. If that solves the problem, your AX860 probably just wore out. In that case, check the warranty. If it's expired, call Corsair and ask for whatever help they can offer -- maybe a discounted replacement?

If all of this fails to resolve the problem, I'll be really confused because your testing so far makes the cards seem like they work. Nonetheless, if you get to this point without success, that would suggest your card(s) is (are) bad. At that point, you could try reseating your RAM just to take a stab at that possibility. Also, the cards might just not being playing well together. You could try putting both into your friend's (or any other) computer. Do they function properly in SLI there? If so, the issue is somewhere in your computer; otherwise, it's the cards not being friends.

That's all I can think of. Hopefully you'll find the answer. Keep me updated here, and good luck!

 

[Gigahurts711]

So, based on your description, there are three variables left: (1) the PCI-e slots themselves, (2) the power cables running from your AX860, and (3) the power supply itself.

To test the first, I would play your game for an hour or so with each card in the top slot, and then another hour or so with each card in the bottom slot. That will give you 4 data points: (a) card A in slot 1, (b) card A in slot 2, (c) card B in slot 1, and (d) card B in slot 2. These are all single-card configurations, by the way. Have you done this?

To test the second, you'll need to know which of the four configurations above replicate the issue. Assume it was configuration (b) with card A in slot 2. Keep that card there, but use a different PCI-e power cable from your AX860. If that solves the issue, it was just the wire. I've had that happen before. Wires are finiky. If not, then move on to your power supply.

I saved testing your power supply for last because it's least likely the issue, and because it's also a pain in the butt compared to the other things. The only way to test it is to swap out the power supply and try your desired SLI configuration. If that solves the problem, your AX860 probably just wore out. In that case, check the warranty. If it's expired, call Corsair and ask for whatever help they can offer -- maybe a discounted replacement?

If all of this fails to resolve the problem, I'll be really confused because your testing so far makes the cards seem like they work. Nonetheless, if you get to this point without success, that would suggest your card(s) is (are) bad. At that point, you could try reseating your RAM just to take a stab at that possibility. Also, the cards might just not being playing well together. You could try putting both into your friend's (or any other) computer. Do they function properly in SLI there? If so, the issue is somewhere in your computer; otherwise, it's the cards not being friends.

That's all I can think of. Hopefully you'll find the answer. Keep me updated here, and good luck!

Hey there, this is the friend here. I'll post a more detailed description of my specs:
i5 2500k @4.6ghz 1.35v
asus maximus iv gene z mobo
8gb 1600 ddr3 ram
750w psu (cant remember the brand, not a big name brand though)
32gb ssd and 1tb hdd
nzxt vulcan case
and then normally 2x gtx 560 ti 448 core classifieds in sli

Now getting one of those gtx 780 ti classys in my case was hard enough (m-atx mobo and nzxt vulcan), I dont think both will fit with sufficient cooling because of there being no space between the cards. I'm also sure I dont have 4 8 pin pci power connectors.
His (maybe faulty?) card ran fine in my pc and was hitting 79c max temp wise. Played about a total of 6 hours of battlefield 4 on it with no issues.

 

[Major_Trouble]

I would say PSU. 750w for 780ti SLI would be borderline for a quality PSU and you've overclocked your CPU and don't specify the PSU brand to give a good idea of it capabilities.

Well if everything is up to date I would also think your PSU may be the problem. Depnding on the PSU brand 750W is probably a bit borderline for 780 ti OC SLI.

I didnt specify the brand? Do you not see where it says corsair ax860 under system specs? The 750 w psu is my friends which it had no problem running with

Apologise didn't see the ax860 on the first read through. I would expect that PSU to be able to power 2x 780ti and your spec machine as I am sure you did when you purchased it.

I would still try powering one card trying different PCI connectors. It could be a bad rail on the PSU. The fact the card works fine in your friends machine does not point to a card fault. At least not yet.

 

[Eggz]

Now getting one of those gtx 780 ti classys in my case was hard enough (m-atx mobo and nzxt vulcan), I dont think both will fit with sufficient cooling because of there being no space between the cards. I'm also sure I dont have 4 8 pin pci power connectors. His (maybe faulty?) card ran fine in my pc and was hitting 79c max temp wise. Played about a total of 6 hours of battlefield 4 on it with no issues.

Try everything I listed up to the point of putting SLI in your (i.e. the friend's) computer, then. Instead just switch the power supplies. You'll be okay on a 750-watt to just run the cards for a test as long as you don't do max settings on a high resolution. Just to test, you can lower settings and resolutions to keep the power intake low. If the SLI works with your (i.e. the friend's) power supply, then you've identified that the power supply's the issue. Again, though, there's no reason to take this step if you identify the issue with one of the other steps I mentioned above. Do those first.

Also, the 780 ti is a pretty hot card. You're getting normal temperatures for a case with limited space. Mine ran at 82c in my small case, but switching to another with better air flow helped a lot (about 15c lower). It's probably just the air flow in a compact case. The card can take it.

Finally, another person had a similar SLI issue. His problem was the power wires running from the power supply to the graphics card. Switching out that cable fixed it.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2073579/sli-working.html

Good luck!

 

[CCapG]

This probably isn't the issue you are experiencing, but it might be... How do the cards run in other games? Are you sure that its a hardware issue and just isn't microstuttering that is usually caused by cards that are running in SLI?

Definitely something to consider...

 

[Delerium89]

This probably isn't the issue you are experiencing, but it might be... How do the cards run in other games? Are you sure that its a hardware issue and just isn't microstuttering that is usually caused by cards that are running in SLI?

Definitely something to consider...

Well its definitely not microstuttering. When it freezes its frozen for atleast 5 seconds. I tried them with tomb raider and it froze as well.
People seem confused so I wanna note that I'm not doing any trouble shooting with both cards, I've just been doing it with a single card and its having freezing issues.

 

[Mahisse]

I'm sorry but I'm still a bit confused.You say that one of the cards freezes the game when not in SLI? Then just RMA that card.