Question Video Card and possibly PSU problem

EDToShred

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May 26, 2015
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10,510
I've been running a Titanx GPU for several years. No problems. I use this PC primarily for 3d modeling, particle simulations and general VFX. About 2 months ago I started getting hard crashes where it would, without warning, reboot. 99% of the time when this happens I'm rotating a 3d asset in the 3DS Max Viewport. The viewport is GPU accelerated. 1% of the time it will do this when I'm watching a YouTube video - this has only happened a few times.

My primary thought was that the video card is overheating. This behavior didn't start until it started warming up outside - I don't have AC. Last week I took my system to a buddy's house. He has central AC. I had my system sitting on top of one of the AC vents - it was cold. My system didn't reboot once the whole time I was at his place - 5 days. I get home and hook it back up and within 30 seconds of getting into a scene in Max it started pulling this <Mod Edit> again. And it was only around 70F in the house.

It has occurred to me that it could possibly be the PSU taking a crap as well.

Is there any way I can test the GPU and PSU at home? I have no meters. Are there any software tools to help figure out the health of these two devices?
Any other suggestions?

This <Mod Edit> is killing my progress on my project. Any help would be appreciated.

System:
Intel 5960x
EVGA TitanX Hybrid
EVGA 850 PSU
EVGA FTW x99 MB
64 gb ram
 
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EDToShred

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May 26, 2015
17
0
10,510
The readings below are without 3DS Max open.
kn8.png
 

EDToShred

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May 26, 2015
17
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10,510
The MB & CPU are hovering around 41C with 3DS Max open. I changed the Max viewport driver from hardware accelerated to Software. I figured that would bypass the load on the GPU. So, far it's working. The viewport is sluggish, but it's not crashing - which is progress.

Does it sound like my GPU is taking a crap?

Edit: Right as I hit submit on this message it rebooted again. Max was open with the Software Viewport driver - which in theory should bypass the GPU acceleration. I'm not seeing crazy high temps prior to the crashes.
 
Jul 30, 2020
80
4
45
Use msi afterburner, free download (just google it). Once open you will see a power limit bar. Drop it to 85 percent to start. Then click the tick to apply. Now run something which would normally cause your gpu to crash, and if it does not, then the gpu is the problem. Did you have the gpu from new? And have you modded it in any way? Bios, shunt mod etc.
 

EDToShred

Honorable
May 26, 2015
17
0
10,510
Use msi afterburner, free download (just google it). Once open you will see a power limit bar. Drop it to 85 percent to start. Then click the tick to apply. Now run something which would normally cause your gpu to crash, and if it does not, then the gpu is the problem. Did you have the gpu from new? And have you modded it in any way? Bios, shunt mod etc.

Thanks, I'll try this. I got the card as a refurb from EVGA as part of a sponsor deal. No modding that I'm aware of.
 

EDToShred

Honorable
May 26, 2015
17
0
10,510
Use msi afterburner, free download (just google it). Once open you will see a power limit bar. Drop it to 85 percent to start. Then click the tick to apply. Now run something which would normally cause your gpu to crash, and if it does not, then the gpu is the problem. Did you have the gpu from new? And have you modded it in any way? Bios, shunt mod etc.

Well, I tried Afterburner. It doesn't seem to have stopped the issue. To make matters worse it seems to be progressing to crashing randomly. I'll be looking up stuff on Google or YouTube and it will take a poo. Those crashes are only every few hours. But, I can still get it to crash fast if I open up 3DS Max and start moving stuff in the viewport.

About 6 weeks ago, I bought some additional ram. Went from 4 sticks to 8 for a total of 64 gb - Crucial Ballistic Sport the Camo stuff. I have a Noctua air cooler on the CPU. I had to remove that to get the Ram in. Is it possible that maybe I didn't put enough paste in there or it wasn't distributed properly? And that is causing this? I'm going to go watch a refresher on applying the paste and redo that and see if it makes a difference.

Any ideas?
 
Jul 30, 2020
80
4
45
To be sure just monitor your cpu temps while running something like cpuz stress test. It shouldn't go above 75 degrees in this test. It could well be the ram. I suspected the gpu when I was crashing out of games before, turned out to be the ram was unstable at the speed and timings used. Try running the ram at default, not xmp settings and try again.
 

EDToShred

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May 26, 2015
17
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10,510
I ended up having the psu tested. I failed. So, I bought a new one installed it. The MB kept recycling. A buddy suggested my eBay ram might be the problem. I took that out. It fired up again. I think it was a combo of suspect ram and a failing PSU.