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Either my GPU or PSU is screwing up.. And I dont know which.

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  • Components
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September 13, 2014 7:57:07 AM

Let me start off by saying this may be confusing - as there is really no lead in this situation - leaving me completly baffled.
My specs are as followed
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XFX AMD R7970 Core Edition
8 GB corsair Vengence RAM
Corsair GS600 PSU (which I believe due too it's age and strength - may be the culprit.)
msi Z87-G45
Intel i5 3470 OC @ 4 ghz
Windows 8.1 , latest AMD drivers (14.20)
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So last night I was doing some gaming and all of the sudden my screen went pink with purple lines going down it horizontally (resembling the grey screen of death with the 5000 series of AMD). My audio and everything still worked just my screen was blank with this. I figured it was a fluke, reset , and it happend again - this time only after a few minutes - and this time breaking everything (no audio , CPU jammed etc). So I reset once more only to find my PC not booting and with no display nor keyboard lights going off (USB keyboard) - but the odd part was that every USB except my keyboard + all fans and lights appeared to work fine (lights lit). I could not turn on the computer until I held down the power button and unplugged the PSU for 30 seconds - re plugged everything - and proceeded to attempt a boot. This time it booted and I went to bed.

Fast forward too the next day. I come home, PC boots fine, and I start browsing YouTube. 10 minutes later my PC crashes once more (and keep in mind every crash screen has a different assortment of colors - sometimes purple sometimes grey etc). Reset PC and couldn't boot again. Redid the power dump PSU process from the other night to get my PC up again, only to have it crash once more. Checked MOBO (removed ram too see if I got beeps) and sure enough I got beeps from it. I tried re sorting the ram slots too see if that effected the PC - and sure enough it booted and left me feeling relieved to have solved it!.. only to have my PC crash 10 minutes later. I then discovered in this reboot (the power dump stopped working so was trying anything to get my machine up and running again) - that the PC boots normally if my PCIE cables aren't hooked up too my GPU. Too make things further complicated - my PC appears too boot if I remove ONLY one of my PCIE cables leading from PSU to GPU (leaving only one 8 slot left) - but I got no display doing this.. Everything else appeared to work fine, however (this to curse opposed to the PC just flat out not booting at all with both cables plugged in).

So I screw around with the PCIE config and eventually get the PC too boot up normally with the GPU plugged in, launch a game, and PC crashes. It appears to crash during memory intensive programs - but the odd thing is, sometimes it only takes a program such as YouTube to crash the PC (and you can tell it's coming after the video you're watching starts stuttering). Further more, the PC after the death screen pops up sometimes functions fine , sometimes does not, and sometimes only specific functions breakdown (e.g audio is fine but keyboard inputs are dead).
Currently, I tried switching the GPU to another PCI slot with no luck and now am sitting here with a PC that will not boot. I really am stumped and have never seen anything so flat out misleading and odd. Further more- I'm afraid I will have to pay lots to fix this in terms of new parts (I'll sacrifice $100 for a new PSU - because I know my current is in need of an update - but the $400 XFX is what scares me...)

Anyway, any replies figuring this out would be appreciated , and the sooner the better! If we find this out in the coming hours, id like to stop by my local PC shop and grab the new parts by tommorow and give an update.
Praying it's the PSU .. The tension.


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EDIT : So I posted this last night on another board meaning the above is a copy and paste - early in the thread I reference too how the unplugging one PCIE cable will make the computer run - well, after further testing, I can take it a step further and say that if I flip the PCIE cables (e.g two go into my GPU - so if I take the closer one and put it in the further slot and vice versa) my PC boots, just without my GPU (so everything is plugged in but only the onboard GFX works). Is this an indication of a PSU failure?

More about : gpu psu screwing dont

September 13, 2014 8:03:44 AM

You can try the PSU - it could also be heat related....are all the fans spinning properly? Are any of the fans making unusual noises?

The first check should be the fans - also try HW Monitor - http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html - and see what the temps are.

The second thing I would try is to remove all the OC - go to factory standards and see if it keeps happening. Then try the PSU swap.
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September 13, 2014 8:06:17 AM

ronintexas said:
You can try the PSU - it could also be heat related....are all the fans spinning properly? Are any of the fans making unusual noises?

The first check should be the fans - also try HW Monitor - http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html - and see what the temps are.

The second thing I would try is to remove all the OC - go to factory standards and see if it keeps happening. Then try the PSU swap.


Didnt mean too select best solution - dont know how to remove :??: 

Anyway, according to CCC and realtemp, CPU and GPU are running fine. I'll dl HW monitor and check that out in a second.

EDIT : Nothing is over 40 C according to HW - so not a heat issue.
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September 13, 2014 8:11:26 AM

It sounds like it is your PSU to me. I think that the reason the computer can boot after you unplug the GPU is not because the GPU is the problem, but because the PSU can't quite handle your GPU anymore. When you unplug it, the PSU is able to handle the load.

I must say I am not quite sure what you mean when you were talking about unplugging the GPU. Do you mean that you are unplugging one of these? :

I would not recommend that. I may be completely wrong, but I think you can damage the GPU or motherboard if you run the PC with the GPU installed, but without the extra power connections.

I would replace the PSU. Either way, you need a better one. After that, the problem should be solved, but if the problem persists, replace the graphics card, too.

If you need help finding a good PSU, I will be happy to help!
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September 13, 2014 8:38:22 AM

That PSU should be able to handle your specs.
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September 13, 2014 8:39:32 AM

SR-71 Blackbird said:
That PSU should be able to handle your specs.


But how old is it, actually?
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