XFX r9 380x Azza 700W voltage on GPU spikes every few seconds under load

ultrabiome

Commendable
May 12, 2016
8
0
1,510
Just upgraded from a XFX r7850 2GB to a XFX r9 380x 4GB graphics card, with a Azza 700W power supply (now 4 years old).

Installed the card, tested out a few games, seemed fine. Played for over 10 hours and then got an unresponsive green screen - and repeated that a few times, every few hours. Then looked online, then updated the drivers. Played for another 10 at least, and then another green screen.

After reloading the game I was playing (Doom 3 BFG edition, should be able to run smoothly at 1080p), I started getting weird random row tearing. Decided to check my voltage plot, and found that while idle, was running just under 0.9V steady, but under load, the base voltage increased slightly, but also spiked to ~1.15V every few seconds. I can't imagine that's good for the power supply or the card.

I've been reading and finding voltage spikes with the r9 380x aren't uncommon. Is there something I didn't do that I'm missing or do I need to buy a new power supply?

 
Solution
It could. An unstable voltage from the PSU could indeed cause card problems. That, or it is possible just that the card is dead on arrival. Still, Azza is not something safe to hook up a gaming PC to.

ultrabiome

Commendable
May 12, 2016
8
0
1,510


Does the symptoms match that diagnosis? Is there something else that could cause my problem besides a failing power supply?
 

ultrabiome

Commendable
May 12, 2016
8
0
1,510


Ok, got a 80 gold certified EVGA 650W power supply. Just installed it and everything seems to work. Still getting row tearing and the CPU voltage still spikes to similar levels playing Doom 3.

Seems my power supply might not have been the culprit :/. Maybe a bad card? or bad drivers (on 16.3.2)?