Gtx 680 not compatible with msi z79 Motherboard

billqs · Oct 20, 2014

I have a GTX 680 Graphics Card and an MSI z79 motherboard running an i7 3930 with Socket 2011. I am running 16GB of Cosair Vengeance Memory.

I get frequent failures to post when starting up, but it's intermittent. This weekend it kept refusing even to post. I would get either no video output or output that looks like old analog television snow. I got it working again yesterday afternoon. Last night it quit in the middle of watching a video, restarted & would not post. Sometimes, I get one long beep & two short beeps.

This has happened before and I switched out this video card I have with an AMD 4670 from another computer and placed the GTX in there. The 2nd computer is running an i5 on a 1155 Socket board. Both graphics cards behave fine in the other computer, and there are no posting/booting issues.

While in the other computer I ran one of the "torture tests" and it ran with no errors.

Can it be the GTX 680 and the MSI Z-79 motherboard are somehow incompatible?

rolli59 · Oct 20, 2014

Should be fully compatible but looks like your board slot may have connection issues.

maestro0428 · Oct 20, 2014

Have you tried switching slots? Maybe the slot is going bad as rolli59 said.

billqs · Oct 20, 2014

I tried it one of the other pcie 16 lanes and got the same effects.

rolli59 · Oct 20, 2014

Hard to say what is going on but does the replacement card work fine?

billqs · Oct 20, 2014

Yes, the Radeon 4670 works fine. I used it before to update the MSI's motherboard bios to see if that would help with the GTX 680 issues.

rolli59 · Oct 20, 2014

Intermittent failure complicates things because sometimes nothing is wrong and sometimes it is which I believe could be the card contact in the slot.

billqs · Oct 20, 2014

It could be contact in the slot, especially as heavy as this card is, but I have repeatedly seated the card and checked carefully to make sure it was firmly in the contact slot, yet still got either the "snow" or no video out at all.

rolli59 · Oct 20, 2014

Works fine in the other rig!
Other card works fine in both rigs!
Should be fully compatible!
What else can it be?

billqs · Oct 20, 2014

It's a troubleshooting nightmare that's for sure. Just for a kicker, I came home and booted up the original PC with the GTX 680 in it and at first it gave snow then booted into Windows and played video correctly. That should rule out the card seating, but it makes me wonder if it's heat related or maybe another component's failure is manifesting this way.

billqs · Oct 23, 2014

billqs :

Someone from another board suggested I change out the memory to see if that was causing my issues. I did, but nothing changed. I bought a GTX 760 to try and see if I can get it working dependably (the Radion 4670 won't do 3D or 4k). If it works dependably I'll keep the card, if it flakes out too, I'll probably try to change out power supplies to see if there is a voltage issue & return the card.

BTW, is performance from a GTX 760 pretty close to that of the GTX 680?

rolli59 · Oct 23, 2014

It is about 15-20% lower the GTX770 is a tweaked GTX680 and similar to it.

billqs · Oct 25, 2014

I had some time to debug today. I put back in one of my old sticks of memory & got same results (snow... no posting). I changed out the GTX 680 and put in the GTX 760 and got the same (snow... no posting.). I next decided to clear CMOS.

Doing so restored my ability to boot. I went into Windows and restarted. It still worked. I pulled out the GTX 760 and put back in the 680 and it worked. I watched 20 minutes of a tv show and the computer restarted and refused to post.

I put in my other stick of RAM and cleared CMOS and everything started. This time the computer remained on through 60 more minutes of viewing. I left it on and running. That's where I am sitting. I went into Event Viewer and it said I got a blue screen, and that power terminated unexpectedly.

If things continue running with this stick or RAM then maybe the other stick was the problem. If it reboots mid view and refuses to post upon restart, I'm guessing the next stop is the Power Supply.

billqs · Oct 26, 2014

Well, the computer refused to post on reboot so it doesn't seem to be the memory stick after all. What's left? I guess the power supply. If not that then the motherboard... yeez....

rolli59 · Oct 26, 2014

What PSU do you have?

billqs · Oct 26, 2014

It's a Thermaltake 700Watt Power Supply. Still new.

rolli59 · Oct 27, 2014

Not the best but big enough it is more likely the board is the issue but since you do not have a quality PSU may be worth trying replacing it first.

billqs · Oct 27, 2014

I had an Antec 430W in there first, but felt I'd better up the wattage. I have a Thermaltake 400W in my HTPC in the den and it's been running 24/7 for 5 years. What are some good brands?

rolli59 · Oct 27, 2014

Useful list but not complete https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx
In general Seasonic, Antec, Corsair TX,HX,AX series, Enermax, XFX, The new EVGA G2, some of the newer Rosewill and so on.

billqs · Oct 27, 2014

Thanks, if it turns out I have to replace the PSU, I'll look into those brands... probably should have stuck with Antec since it's been good to me.

billqs · Oct 29, 2014

billqs :

Update- My system continued to refuse to boot giving me one long beep and two short beeps which according to several websites means "indicates a video error has occurred and bios cannot initialize the video screen to display any additional information."

I tried reseating the GTX 680 and it posted and went into bios once letting me into Window 7 64bit. I went to plug in the lan cable and the system crashed and rebooted, but would not post and gave me the same 1 long beep 2 short beeps.

I had a Radeon HD 6850 from my previous HTPC build. I installed it and still got the 1 long beep 2 short beep. I then cleared CMOS and it booted into safe mode to attempt to recover. After that it rebooted with no errors into Windows 7. I downloaded AMD Graphics Drivers and they rebooted the computer after installation and it came back up yet again.

I decided to torture test the system, so I've been running Prime95 since 8pm last night. When I left for work this morning it was still running, so whatever the problem is, it doesn't seem to effect longrun 100% CPU use and the drain on the power supply that this uses.

I will see if it still is working when I get home, then will try to shut it down and attempt to restart to see if it comes back up. The HD6850 is probably not the long term solution. Although it does 3D great, it doesn't have 4k ability.

rolli59 · Oct 29, 2014

Keep us posted.

billqs · Jul 23, 2015

Hate to resurrect an old thread... I finally got my system stable- changed video cards to an R9 280x and replaced my 25+ foot HDMI cable run with Redmere. Had complete stability. About 2 months ago I replaced the R9280x with a GTX960 because it had an onboard HEVC decoder.

All worked well with the GTX960 and my system was completely stable for months. Fast forward to 3 days ago when we had a series of power outages. Went to start the HTPC and got no boot sound and no picture even though the hard drive light and power lights were on, fans were running and I could hear the hard drive working.

I tried multiple restarts with the same result- still no video no boot sounds. I cleared CMOS and got 1 long beep 2 short beeps which I believe indicates a video problem- still no video. At this point I'm assuming it's most likely the motherboard. Is there anything left to try before I get another one?

Gtx 680 not compatible with msi z79 Motherboard

Reputable

Titan

Splendid

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Share this page