PSU or GPU? Overclock reboot - 7950 earthwatt 500

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bigbadwill

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Aug 1, 2009
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Hi, I've had my system running for a few months . Everything is stable and runs well. Until I overclock my GPU. Problems start when i overclock the GPU. I know it's stable at 1000 Mhz Vcore and 1600Mhz Ram on stock voltage(1,094Mv). But when i bump the Vcore to 1100Mhz and 1.238V, i get mostly stable games but what happens when i try Furmark or Kombustor burn in test is instant reboot, no BSOD or freeze, just instant reboot. That also happens with Metro 2033 (about the only game that does that). Other than that, I sometimes get driver crash which crashes the game but not the system itself.

On the extreme burn-in test the temperatures get to 77C top.

I've done some research on google about system reboot but haven't found anything concerning overclocking. I know unstability mostly manifests itself with artifacts, BSOD or freezes and i know a lack of power from the PSU can result in random reboots.

I only have an Antec Earthwatt 500W and i know my 7950 requires a minimum PSU power of 500watt so it's already borderline on stock voltage. I was wondering if it was possible that the overclocking was drawing too much power. I tried pretty much every overclocking setting and i get the same result when raising the voltage. I'm about to buy a new PSU but i want it to be worth it. So i'd like an outside opinion.

my rig.
Asrock z77 pro4-m Motherboard
I5 3570K @ 4,4Ghz
antec khuler liquid cooler heatsink
Gygabyte radeon 7950 Windforce III
16 GB of patriot G2 RAM @ 1.5V (4x4)
Samsung DVD drive
3 internal fans
seagate barracuda 500GB (x2)
120gb corsair force gt
antec earthwatt 500 (3 years old but less than a year of use)

Update: It seems that the same crash happens at 1.238V Vcore and stock clock speed so i do think it's the power supply failing to provide enough juice. I will try to unplug the DVD drive and one of the HDDs from the RAID array.
 
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steddora

steddora

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Nov 13, 2012
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Definitely sounds like power issue.... I'm sorry to say but with all that rolling off that power supply.. I'd be iffy myself. If I remember correctly the earth watts models weren't the best in the business. I know when I purchased the one I have, I stayed away from those and ended up with a Quattro 850 instead.

But certainly, pull the plug on the two barracuda's and then see what happens. If the crash goes away; then there's your issue in a nutshell. But honestly, I'd suggest that first as it's simple and easy to do. If everything works good from there; you know what you need to do. The 7950 itself pulls a bunch of power, and when they are overclocked; it's even MORE! They are a power hungry card if you ask me, and I look at your numbers and hardware and just say the math is too close for comfort. So try it, let us know what happens!
 
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bigbadwill

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Aug 1, 2009
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Thank you all for your answers. I did pull the plug on one of the barracuda (I need the other one for games and documents) and the DVD drive. I realized that when i tested with stock core clock and 1.238V I forgot to get the memory clock back to stock. It was at 1600 stock voltage which is a lot so it rebooted. But i still think it would have crashed as i tried getting it to stock before and i still got crashes.

With the two drives unplugged i could get it stable at 1125 on the extreme burn in test in both Furmark and Kombustor which is encouraging as i have never been able to achieve such stable speed under any setting i've tried, I would only get reboots. I'm now pretty positive it's the PSU failing. Unplugging stuff helps but i can feel that i'm still on the edge as if fails on higher clocks.

I need to run more tests but it's time consuming. But i'm positive enough that i went ahead and ordered a 650W integra PSU from Fractal Desing. I love Fractal Design even tough this model is not modular.

Thank you for your answers and I hope it can be useful for others. I will post an update with the results when i install the new PSU.

And if you look the forums because of a similar problem, don't listen to the people who claim a whole overclocked system won't drain more than around 350 watts (of which there are a lot) these people have clearly have never faced a lack of power from the power supply.
 
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steddora

steddora

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Nov 13, 2012
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Good news my friend. If you're unplugging stuff and getting a stable system; you pretty much narrowed it down then. And absolutely it can cause a big gain in wattage. My 2600k from stock to 4.4Ghz goes from 95w rated (max load usually pulled 90 in Hardware Monitor) to over 120w. I can't imagine what my 7950 from 800 to 1175 is pulling! :) I'm not worried though, when I built this rig initially, I went ahead and got more than enough power. :)
 
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bigbadwill

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Aug 1, 2009
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Hi everyone, Here is my update.

I got the PSU this morning (talk about fast delivery) and installed it. I just plugged it and i have been running kombustor on the highest setting for 15 minutes now and i went straight up to 1175Mhz core and 1400Mhz memory @1.238V. So far so good. I would never have been able able to run this setting with the earthwatt. It would have crashed within 1 minute.

Bottom line, it was the PSU indeed, got myself 150 additional watts and it's all good! I'll even try to get higher clocks after this test!

Thanks again to everyone!
 
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