I need to figure out if my PSU or my GPU is shot. (Desperate for help)

Aluwolf · Dec 26, 2014

This has been ongoing A LONG time. I have made a few threads but this is basically been going on a long time and it's become obnoxious enough that I need it fixed.

My issue is basically this, for no apparent reason my computers screen turns a color (usually blue) and then stops working, sound still plays if it's a single audio file like youtube, if its a game it stutters and dies. Power stays on until i turn it off.

The top of my screen has been what is best described as flickering.

In the past, all I had to do was undo a factory overclock on my graphics card and it fixed up for months. Now it's back and worse than before.

It cannot really be anything else than my GPU or PSU.

Psu is not a good brand, it's a raidmax 630 watt.

Gpu is an HIS ICEQturbo 6850

both are out of warranty.

http://i.imgur.com/th7J08h.png

Here is an HWmonitor of idle voltage.

THIS ALL STARTED AGAIN AFTER MONTHS OF ZERO PROBLEMS WHEN I ADDED A SECOND HARD DRIVE, I assume the power consumption is too much for my PSU but I don't know, it can go for HOURS playing an intensive game like metal gear rising, but as I was typing this it already crashed once.

If you can give me good reasoning to which one is broken, I can replace it finally, but everytime I ask it's always been split.

Also if I leave my computer on and don't do anything at all it never does this.

GhislainG · Dec 26, 2014

Are there issues with the GPU if you run Furmark or a similar stress test? Your PSU may not be very good, but adding a hard disk won't cause that display issue.

Aluwolf · Dec 27, 2014

I ran furmark extensively without issue. Ram test passed, prime 95 passed. The problem basically went away from underclocking my system and reducing the power draw until I added a second hard drive.

That's why I'm concluding after all this time its the psu.

GhislainG · Dec 27, 2014

Then you are very close to the PSU's limit. Fortunately a quality PSU isn't expensive.

Aluwolf · Dec 27, 2014

I've ordered a name brand psu this time. I only have an FX-4100 and a 6850 so I shouldn't be drawing a lot of power, sadly as I've learned the hard way Raidmax is tier 5 garbage.

I've got a 620 watt Seasonic that I've seen a lot of people give good recommendations for on the way.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151095&cm_re=620_seasonic-_-17-151-095-_-Product

GhislainG · Dec 27, 2014

It's a good PSU, but I would have selected a PSU with a single 12V rail like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151118
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182068

Aluwolf · Dec 28, 2014

Why single rail. Everyone I've asked has told me it doesn't matter anymore.

GhislainG · Dec 28, 2014

Aluwolf :

It doesn't really matter because you selected a quality SLI certified PSU. Read http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3990 about the pros and cons of single and multi rail PSUs.

Aluwolf · Dec 28, 2014

The reason I chose that one instead of the pricier gold certified ones you posted was because it had a promotion for 25 dollars off. Came out to be 55 including shipping.

GhislainG · Dec 28, 2014

It's a great buy at that price.

Aluwolf · Dec 31, 2014

It's still crashing. My screen went black and I had to hard reset.

GhislainG · Dec 31, 2014

On December 26 you wrote "The problem basically went away from underclocking my system and reducing the power draw until I added a second hard drive." Did you underclock the CPU, the GPU or both?

Aluwolf · Jan 1, 2015

Just the GPU. I reduced the voltages, and the Mhz and memory clock speed.

This particular GPU model has a factory overclock and an upgraded cooling system.

I had to take the GPU out of the case to add the hard drive as the case design isn't the best.
I thought maybe i didn't seat it properly but I tried twice to reseat it.

The problem can appear constantly for days and then dissappear for months

GhislainG · Jan 1, 2015

Since it runs Furmark for hours without issues, it's difficult to be absolutely sure the GPU is at fault. If you reduce both the voltage and frequencies again, is it stable?

Aluwolf · Jan 2, 2015

Yes it is very stable when I mess with the voltages and clock/memory. The issue was mostly gone until I added in a second hard drive, so I thought it was a bad power supply, but I have bought a new one and installed it so I'm stuck on what it is.

I should also mention that I never seem to crash when I'm running a truly demanding game that uses a lot of my resources. It's mostly something casual like an indie game, or random computer use.

Something else worth mentioning is that I don't often fully power down my PC, and not once have I ever gone back to my PC after long term idling to find it has done this. It's always whenever it's actually being used.

My temperatures are lower than ever at the moment, I put in new thermal paste around mid 2014, and although one unimportant fan in my case has stopped working, this problem has existed back when everything was still new without any dust at all and I never go past 55C.

GhislainG · Jan 2, 2015

The original symptoms indicated there was a PSU issue. The latest symptoms "something casual like an indie game, or random computer use" still indicate the issue could be caused by a bad PSU, but we know that most likely isn't the case unless the utility power is not clean (bad ground, voltage out of specs, something else is connected to the same circuit and it causes the issue, but I presume you already checked that).

The problem has to be caused by something else like a flaky motherboard, GPU, etc. What bothers me is that adjusting the video card's voltage or lowering the clock/memory frequency seems to prevent the issue from occurreing. Too bad you can't test that GPU in another system to verify that it works fine when the default settings are used.

Aluwolf · Jan 3, 2015

I've used the same outlet for various consoles in the past, so as far as I know the outlet is fine.

What puzzles me most is how it can go away, I haven't crashed in close to two days but the day I installed the new PSU i ended up crashing five times.

Voltages seem fine, however oddly enough when I check HWMonitor my GPU voltages don't change, even when I try and force a new voltage via MSI afterburner. They are at 0.950 and kick up to 1.15 when I run a game, which as I've seen is the normal voltages, but I always thought a factory overclocked card was supposed to use more voltage.

Here are the voltages now with the new power supply. http://i.imgur.com/V1MpBXZ.png
I don't see anything off but then again I don't know much about electrical stuff.

GhislainG · Jan 3, 2015

Checking voltages with software isn't the best. Check them in the BIOS, use a DVM or utilities provided by Gigabyte (if available).

Aluwolf · Jan 14, 2015

Everything seems normal, but I've found a disturbing discovery.

In event viewer, around the times I crash I get this message:

The driver \Driver\WudfRd failed to load for the device SWD\SensorsAndLocationEnum\LPSensorSWDevice.

GhislainG · Jan 14, 2015

Googling for that error leads me to believe it's caused by a hardware issue, but I couldn't find anything really helpful. Replacing the PSU or the GPU sometimes resolves it, uninstalling drivers that aren't necessary does it for others, etc. Google the error code as that may also help finding a solution.

Aluwolf · Jan 19, 2015

Well a lot has happened and the problem is mostly solved.

The issue is basically when my GPU is in 2d clock mode. Using a program recommended by my GPU manufacture has disabled 2D clock. No more screen flicker, no more crashes.

The only issue I have is if I check the program and have it start with windows I get a BSOD, the software they linked me isn't well coded.

Do you happen to know of any other programs that can disable 2D clock on a graphics card? I'm currently using HIS Iturbo.

GhislainG · Jan 19, 2015

No and I never had to do that.

sonofhendrix · Jan 31, 2015

In my experience (just tinkering with my own pcs overclocking and such) blue screen errors like you described happen when i tried to push the RAM too fast OR pushed the CPU just a tad over its limit resulting in blue screen of death... Your GPU is an HIS ICEQ like my 7970, it has VERY effective cooling and i highly doubt you have burnt out your GPU, and i mean highly doubt.

I need to figure out if my PSU or my GPU is shot. (Desperate for help)

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