[SOLVED] Why my new GPU Crashes ?

[Metatrix]

Hi there, I'm new here and i created an account specifically for asking this question.
So here are the specifics... and then the story...

My PC
Processor : Core i5 4690
RAM : 16 gb
GPU : ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 Strix - 6gb
PSU : Antec EDGE 650 (with the "80 plus" yellow sticker)


The Story

I just recently had a GTX 950 strix, so I got myself a very nice GPU upgrade...
( GTX 1060 Strix) for 200$ CAD.
Buy used ftw.

But the thing is, it sometimes crashes.

With my 950, when the card had difficulty at higher settings,
the game would stutter, FPS would be very bad and loading would just take forever, etc.
All that either a little bit, or a lot, depending on how much stress I put on the card.
But it never crashed.

But now that I installed my 1060, when the most demanding games settings are very high,
and in certain situations only (when there are too many elements for the card to manage),
the games crash.

Why ?

Considerations :

Some of these might not help at all, but I'm noob so I'll just telle anything that seems like it could give a hint on what the situation truly is...

• There is no GPU overheating while the crash happens,
• the game otherwise runs very smoothly at near 60 FPS (it crashes suddenly),
• I have made a clean install of the newest nvidia drivers, used DDU in safe mode before install,
• having MSI Afterburner running at windows startup, was making all my games crash at startup (I therefore uninstalled it and replaced it with... GPU tweaks 2, wich does not seem to cause any problems)
• GPU tweaks 2's fonction of stopping windows services and processes while gaming, has a very noticable positive FPS impact on gaming.
• FurMark benchmark does not crash
• The crash is a return to desktop, no blue screen, no error message, just the game/application crashes.
• In the most extreme situation, where I went and put the graphics at Ultra settings (I usually play around Very high) and played through a situation that I knew would crash, even the sound jumped from my usual speakers to the sound on my monitor.

What do you guys think is the problem ?

Why the GTX 1060 is running smoothly 100%, but suddenly crashes,
where the GTX 950 would just be having a hard time but still push through with lesser performance ?

What should I be looking for ?

 

[dotas1]

You should be looking inside your case for the make and model of your PSU.

 

[Metatrix]

You should be looking inside your case for the make and model of your PSU.

Right you are sir.
So, I just did :

Antec EDGE 650W (80 plus yellow sticker)

I will edit my original post with the information.

 

[dotas1]

It's not a bad PSU but if it's aged, it has lost its performance. Can you try a different PSU or the GPU in another PC?

 

[Metatrix]

I guess I could try it in a friends's PC...
But then all the other componants would be different...
How would I extract a diagnostic or valuable information, from that process ?
What do you suggest I should be trying or looking for, if I put my 1060 in another PC ?

 

[Christiansenn]

Hello, try to install different driver versions also when installing them perform a fresh install. If not working try reinstalling windows.

 

[Metatrix]

Hello, try to install different driver versions also when installing them perform a fresh install. If not working try reinstalling windows.

Well, I did install the drivers in the cleanest possible way, on a fresh windows 10 install, and they are the drivers specified for this specific card by the manufacturer... Do you have reasons to think it might be a driver issue ? Although thinking about it, i haven't used DDU "after" figuring out that Afterburner messed up my GPU capacity. I uninstalled it, but I havent made a clean install of the drivers post Afterburner... I guess I'll try at least that.

For the windows yeah, it's a fresh new install.
I just upgraded from 7 to 10.

From what I can see, you suspect that my card crashes at high demanding gamaing situations because of something in the drivers version, or in the windows install ? Could you explain your reasonning to me ? Because I also want to learn from this. I mean, i'm currently gaming at close to very high setting everywhere and its all good, even Ultra is ok most of the time, so re-installing windows and and trying many version of GPU drivers in order to safely game at Ultra settings ... I mean, i would need to understand why I'm going that direction for it to make sense to me. If I feel like it's a shot in the dark, I'd be feeling like I'm not spending my time wisely, you know ?

So yeah, please enlighten me as to your reasoning ! i'm eager to learn !

 

[dotas1]

I guess I could try it in a friends's PC...
But then all the other componants would be different...
How would I extract a diagnostic or valuable information, from that process ?
What do you suggest I should be trying or looking for, if I put my 1060 in another PC ?

Trying your GPU in another PC can help by testing the GPU if it works properly when placed in complete different hardware than yours. If it does work well, then your problem is somewhere in your PC, if the problem remains the same, then the GPU is faulty.

 

[Metatrix]

Trying your GPU in another PC can help by testing the GPU if it works properly when placed in complete different hardware than yours. If it does work well, then your problem is somewhere in your PC, if the problem remains the same, then the GPU is faulty.

This makes perfect sense.
I will try this.

Also if anyone here has sufficient knowledge to grasp data gathered from HWMonitor, and if this would make sense, I could take screenshots of it. I don't know how to use HWMonitor properly, but a simple youtube tutorial would certainly do the trick.