[SOLVED] Video driver crash under load

[Verbanderbog]

Long time troubleshooter, first time poster. I have a somewhat old desktop (~5 years old) And have recently been encountering issues with it where, when under load, the video driver crashes. Furmark crashes in about a minute. My first inquiry was the drivers. A new NVIDIA driver update came out recently so I updated it only for furmark to crash again. Next I checked if it was a GPU issue —maybe it's dying — so I pulled it out of my PC, and plugged it in to my boyfriend's. I let Furmark run for a full 10 minutes on his PC and encountered no crashes. I feel pretty confident that I've eliminated it as the cause of my issues. I'm not really sure where to point my finger next. My intuition says it might be a PSU issue but I'm not sure if that's the best place to start. I also have realized that my PSU's fan is pointed downwards, directly into my carpet, and has been that way since I installed it all those years ago — perhaps the seed of my problems. Here's a full list of all my hardware: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Verbanderbog/saved/#view=txQj4D

Any help on where to go from here would be appreciated.

 

[Vic 40]

My intuition says it might be a PSU issue but I'm not sure if that's the best place to start. I also have realized that my PSU's fan is pointed downwards, directly into my carpet, and has been that way since I installed it all those years ago

Heat is a problem,if the psu can't breath might it well be psu. You could check if you are able to blow it out with some compressed air. Of course make sure it's of the power and might want to use the adapter that comes with it to short the green and a black wire plus a standalone fan to get rid of any leftover current.Let it dry if some condense comes out of the can.
Do advice to put something under the pc like a plate of wood (however ugly that might look)for better airflow to the psu.

Oloy ram is pretty recent if i'm not mistaken,can try memtest86 too to check that.
MemTest86 - Official Site of the x86 Memory Testing Tool

You do keep the pc clean?

Could also check paste on the gpu,if never been changed might it still be better to put fresh paste on it,something like Arctic MX4. Clean the cooler while you're at it.

 

[Verbanderbog]

I haven't kept the PC very clean but I cleaned it in the process of trouble shooting my issues and the problem still persists after a thorough clean with an air canister. As I said before, the GPU worked totally fine in another rig so I doubt the thermal paste is an issue. In addition to that, Furmark crashes LONG before my GPU gets up to temp. I don't have the tester that came with my PSU (it was a long time ago) but I've ordered a new PSU, I'm paranoid it's going to fail completely and destroy my rig so better safe than sorry. Hopefully swapping it out will solve the problem. I've also run memtest64 and the RAM is totally fine.

 

[Vic 40]

Hope replacing that psu wil solve your problem,do let us know. The old has warranty so do make use of that if it is the problem, unless full of crap from the floor might you get a replacement.