Can a PSU cause these problems??....... (Gigabyte 7950)

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l1ghtm4st3r

l1ghtm4st3r

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Hello,

I'm running a Gigabyte 7950 Windforce 3x graphics card. I've had the graphics card since about March last year so it's just in warranty with Ebuyer. I had a problem with the card where I would randomly get black lines appearing across the screen so I sent it back for a repair. Their report was that they found nothing wrong with the card. I then concluded to myself that the problem may have just resolved itself or that I should just leave the card issue down to being a software problem (Catalyst 13.4).

Once I received the card back I tested again with Heaven 4.0 and I had masses of blue lines flashing across the screen. I recorded this and sent it off to Ebuyer who said I should conduct prime95 and Memtest+ testing on my system to ensure the problem is with the card.

My system passed both, after sending back the card and then again them testing for even longer, they concluded that the problem must be due to the PSU in my system.

Is this even possible that after running the card for 9 months the PSU is now causing problems?

I've noticed the card also produces ticking noises when stress testing which I also forwarded to them. They made no comment on this issue but only sought to resolve the initial one.

Is it possible I could send it back again for a 3rd RMA based on the amount ticking once it reaches 68 degrees?


Thanks for all your contributions,

Erkin
 
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cozmium

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Can a PSU cause such problems? Yes it can. A psu doesn't last forever, and if it's a cheaper one, or one that has been constantly near it's max output for a long time it will wear down and basically weaken it's output as components start to go outside their specs.

I'm not going to tell you it IS the psu since I can't know that unless you can say whether you have any other problems etc. For example in a failing psu I had last year, hard drives would randomly turn off but I had no gfx problems.
 
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l1ghtm4st3r

l1ghtm4st3r

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System spec:

AMD x6 1090t @3.8GHz
Asus M4a87td/usb3
12gb Corsair XMS3 1600MHz
Gigabyte 7950
Seagate 500gb HDD
OCZ ModXStream 600w PSU

@Cozmium, I Haven't had any problems at all with the system besides from this.
@Someone somewhere under load (stress testing) I get about 65-70 degrees Celsius
 
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l1ghtm4st3r

l1ghtm4st3r

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CPU hits 55 degrees when stress testing with prime95, I think system temps stay cool at around just under 30 degrees.

It's just strange that it would suddenly start going wrong after such extensive use.

EDIT:
These guys seemed to like the PSU:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/OCZ-ModXStream-Pro-600-W-Power-Supply-Review/936/9
while these guys sort of liked it:
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/ocz_mxs_pro_600w/7.htm
And there's some good looking results here:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/500-700w-power-supply-group-test_Page-11
 
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Someone Somewhere

Someone Somewhere

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Teapo caps all the way through, so it would die an early death. Also, the ripple is quite bad (~80mV), and will get substantially worse as the caps age.

Max 500W @12V, and it crashed twice while delivering that.

Standards have changed a little since then, but I wouldn't get it today.

See what you get with a good ~600W. I suspect it will be better.
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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It's possible, over time the critical capacitors in the PSU loose their effectiveness (Google 'capacitor ageing) lowering its output. Check its cooling fan is turning and the intake/exhaust are not blocked, it may just be overheating.
The temperatures look OK, but also check the VRM temperatures, GPUZ will show these but not all 7950s have the sensor, so don't be surprised if nothing shows up-it should be near the bottom in the 'sensors' window.
Also take a look at the motherboard temperatures, an overheating chipset can send false data to the PCI-E slot-CPUZ or Sandra will tell all.
You can also try underclocking the card, drop the core by 100MHz and the memory by 200MHz and retest.
 
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l1ghtm4st3r

l1ghtm4st3r

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So are you advising a 750w PSU to deliver 600w?
I'm not too knowledgeable in PSU's but...http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=20840

"The only failed teapos I've found in PSUs were in units that were 5+ years old with allot of hours on them (corporate/commercial systems running 8+ hours a day"


The fan is still going on the PSU.
I'll be getting the card back tomorrow and I'll check the VRM cooling on that too, I've heard that the later models of the 7950 have had lack of cooling over the vrm or something along the lines of a lot of heat not being dissipated from it efficiently.
 
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