Possible GPU problem

Snnok · Apr 15, 2014

So its been around a month or two and I'm about to pull my hair out over this.. All I remember is one day all my games just started looking terrible and cant remember anything I could have done to cause this issue. ive changed and updated drivers tried every NCP setting combination I can think of and even did a complete reformat. The next obvious thing to do would be start changing out hardware but thats more than I can afford at the moment. Plus I've read multiple post on people with this same problem who have changed out almost everything to no avail.

Some symtoms I'm seeing

Terrible shimmering and AA on things like shadows, fences and distant objects etc..
Lots of general picture shimmering and flickering when moving the camera
Reduced LOD distances. objects pop in way closer than normal

My specs
CM 690 III chassis
AMD FX 8320 @4.1ghz with Enermax ETS-T40 black twister cpu cooler
8GB of RAM
220GB intel SSD
WD black 1tb storage drive
EVGA GTX 770 2GB
ASUS Sabertooth 990FX motherboard
OCZ ModXstream pro 700W PSU
ASUS 1920x1080 21" Display
Win 7 64bit

really just looking for advice on new things to try. Ive been all over the net and there seems to be no fix for this very strange "arising" problem. Thanks

clutchc · Apr 15, 2014

Assuming the card itself isn't defective, you could try rolling back the gfx driver to an earlier version and see if anything changes. If you had access to another PSU of adequate size, you could temporary it in and try it to see if the original PSU is defective and not maintaining the +12V necessary for the card. Does the monitor look OK with normal 2D displays? It could be a monitor issue. Or a cheap HDMI or DVI cable that is failing.

Snnok · Apr 15, 2014

I've tried lots of drivers old to most recent.
Ive stress tested the card and it looked fine.
The psu is questionable. i dont have one around but apparently the PSU I have has a big tendency to go bad after about 2 years according to newegg reviews. I got it in like May of 2012.. Are these signs of a possible failing PSU?

As for the monitor..I just bought it two weekends ago along with a new cable. that also reminds me of something stupid i might have done before this happened if I remember right. I overclocked my monitors refresh rate just to mess around not really thinking about it. It was only up to like 67hz and I set it back to default after realizing it was pointless.

clutchc · Apr 16, 2014

If the monitor allowed a 67HZ refresh rate, then I doubt it hurt it.
OCZ has had some issues with their PSUs. If the +12V rail can't maintain the voltage when stressed, it can cause problems like shutdowns and crashes. But I never heard of the effect you describe.

The card itself could be defective. Do you have another gfx card to test with? If you did, you could see if the problem goes away.

Snnok · Apr 16, 2014

I have an old 460. i guess I could slip that old timer in for testing purposes.

clutchc · Apr 16, 2014

Try it first with the same driver you have in now. It will probably require a couple re-boots for it to be recognized.

Later, you may want to uninstall the current driver, run Driver Sweeper from safe mode (F8), and reboot, and install the correct driver... just to eliminate any driver issue. http://www.techspot.com/downloads/4266-driver-sweeper.html

Snnok · Apr 16, 2014

Did as follows. No difference noticed

clutchc · Apr 16, 2014

Snnok :

If the old card with the same driver installation showed the same symptoms, and the old card with a clean driver install showed the same symptoms, I think you can rule out the new card as being defective... and the driver as being the culprit.

It's looking more and more PSU related. Or possibly something wrong with the MB chipset. Obviously it would be less problematic and possibly cheaper to try a new PSU. It's too bad you don't have access to another one for testing w/o spending more cash.

Before you do that, why not make sure it isn't software related by running CCleaner and do the Clean and Registry portions both:
https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Then run a FULL scan with your virus pgm after getting any updates. Same with Malwarebytes: https://www.malwarebytes.org/

Snnok · Apr 16, 2014

Is 700w enough power to run my machine With Some headroom?

clutchc · Apr 16, 2014

Snnok :

According to the nameplate specs, yes. More than enough. It has 50 Amps available at the +12V rail(s), at 562W. More than enough for a 125W CPU (10.4 amp) and a 230W (19.1 amp) gfx card. The card will peak occasionally a bit higher, but not enough to make a difference. Drives, fans, MB, etc. will only add a small additional load to that.

Snnok · Apr 16, 2014

A new power supply is doable right now. whats the lowest Wattage you think I can go with? Something that would be able to work when I have the finances to go back to intel.

Whats your thoughts on the xfx psu's?

clutchc · Apr 17, 2014

Snnok :

If you notice in my sig below, I have an 850W XFX PSU. I've had it for several years running daily with pairs of HD 7870 OC cards, GTX 660 OC cards, GTX 570 OC cards, and now the single R9-290X. Never a problem. XFX is one of the best PSU manufacturers in my opinion.

If you plan on staying with a single GTX 770, you can get by with a high quality 600W PSU. If you go to SLI with those cards and plan on OC'ing that CPU, I wouldn't get anything less than a 750W quality PSU. For extra headroom, go with a 650W single card, 850W SLI.

Snnok · Apr 17, 2014

Thank you.

it kinda just occurred to me that the problem seems to be not being able to force AA. Rather its in game or in the ncp

clutchc · Apr 17, 2014

Snnok :

Do you have adaptive vsync enabled? Triple Buffering off? Try it with FXAA turned ON.

Snnok · Apr 17, 2014

No luck man. This is the weirdest thing I've ever experienced. The fact that nobody on the net has found a fix and it's not obvious what hardware is causing it.

clutchc · Apr 18, 2014

Can you try the system on a different display to rule out the monitor as the issue? Since the problem is with 2 different cards, I would tend to think the PSU first, the monitor next, and the 990 chipset last.

Snnok · Apr 18, 2014

I already bought a new monitor last weekend. I think im going to go ahead and order a new PSU and if that doesn't work I'll have to start saving for the Intel setup

clutchc · Apr 18, 2014

Snnok :

Unless a person has extra parts he can swap around, it is often hard to determine the exact cause of something like that. Good luck.

Snnok · Apr 22, 2014

OK well I spent a 120 bucks on new corsair PSU. No fixy. So last night I put a hurting on the wallet and bought a z87 pro with a 4670k. What do you think could have happend to my 990fx?

D Hoffmann · Apr 22, 2014

Did this fix the problem?

Have you tested this issue on other games?

Make sure you're screwing your videocard down. Video cards are a lot of weight on the PCI-E slot and this could cause it to become faulty.

Snnok · Apr 22, 2014

Its every game. And I orders the parts off newegg last night

Possible GPU problem

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Share this page