PC Restarts while playing taxing games - GTX 970

Jhah · Apr 21, 2015

I Just upgraded my graphics card to a new GTX 970, but every time I do anything graphically taxing my computer shuts off. It works fine with my old GTX 660 ti.

Here are my specs:
asrock z77 extreme 4 mobo
Intel i5-3570k (Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler)
GTX 970 - EVGA superclocked
samsung Evo ssd 250gb
Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB

I clean installed the new video card and removed all my drivers before hand. I have been able to run benchmarks without any extreme temperatures before my pc shuts off.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Sergeant_Sneaky · Apr 21, 2015

What power supply do you have?
The computer turning off/restarting while under load is usually an inadequate or dying PSU.

Jhah · Apr 21, 2015

It is a 650 watt Corsair. I can get the exact model if you need it, but I thought that this should be enough power. Is it possible that it is malfunctioning?

Sergeant_Sneaky · Apr 21, 2015

Jhah :

The exact model would be good please, yes.
It is a possibility yes, do you have a spare PSU to try in your system?

Jhah · Apr 21, 2015

Sorry it's not a corsair, it's a Seasonic here's the exact model:
SeaSonic 650W Power Supply X650 SS-650KM3

Unfortunately I don't have a spare on hand that I could try.

Sergeant_Sneaky · Apr 21, 2015

Jhah :

That seems like a very good power supply, you don't get any blue screens or error messages? The PC just shuts off?
Check the event log to see if it says what causes the crash.

Jhah · Apr 21, 2015

Yeah it shuts off and instantly powers back on by itself. It does it during some benchmarks but always when running games heavily. My friend (who is far more computer savvy than me) used MSI to monitor everything during the benchmarks, and everything looked good, but it still shuts off.

I did get error message before a crash twice whilst playing, but I cant remember exactly what it said, and I cant get it to show up again.

Sorry that's not much help

Sergeant_Sneaky · Apr 21, 2015

Jhah :

Do you remember roughly when the error showed? The event log should show what happened that time.

Jhah · Apr 22, 2015

Sorry I got tied up with other things last night, I will check as soon as I get home today.

Thank you for your help so far, I was at a complete loss.

Just as a side question, do you think updating my mobos bios could help? I looked at the most recent updates, and none of them mentioned GPUs, but is it worth a shot? I got the mobo a couple years back and have never had a reason to update...

Sergeant_Sneaky · Apr 22, 2015

Jhah :

Take your time, its your PC

No problem, I hope we can get to the bottom of the issue.
It may be worth it, it may not make a difference but you can try, its a bit of a risk flashing the bios in case it goes wrong but if you know what you're doing then it should be okay.

Jhah · Apr 22, 2015

Well... I think checking the logs was definitely a good recommendation... every day that I had my 970 in, there are critical Kernal Power failure. I'm assuming that means PSU if I'm using the logs correctly.

The thing that confuses me is that my PSU should be capable of running my specs, and it runs my old 660 ti fine, which, according to the NVIDIA site, uses slightly more power than the 970.

I read on another thread that someone was having issues with this card and older PSU's, but I really wouldn't consider mine that old. I think I got it about 2 years ago. Apparently 970s can cause some PSUs to shutdown, since the card draws power and cuts off power so rapidly. (for the sake of efficiency). The post mentioned that that enabling a "Maximum Performance" setting could solve the issue by keeping the power flowing into my GPU more consistent, so I might try that.

I have also heard that power failures like this can really damage a PC. Do I run the risk of damaging this 970 or any of my other components by potentially pushing them to more crashes?

Edit: I'm not actually sure what is the cause of those Kernal Power errors. They show up in my log when I just use the power button on the front of my case, regardless of the GPU i have in. Is there a filter Icould use to look at errors just related to my GPU?

Sergeant_Sneaky · Apr 22, 2015

Jhah :

Your PSU is definitely strong enough to run a 970, but my guess is that it's got something wrong with it.
Power failures can damage your hardware yes, usually if it keeps happening, the Hard Drive is usually the first to go from power failures because it has moving parts and cannot park correctly when the power is suddenly cut.
I'm not really sure about a filter, the best bet would be to stress it with a game, let it crash and then check the log but don't turn it off using the power button, you should see the time it happened, so you'll know which one is the correct one.

Jhah · Apr 22, 2015

Ok so what in the logs, what info would you like me to post/look for leading up to the kernel power failure?

Edit: The only reason I think it still may not be the power supply is the fact that my old GPU still works fine. I don't know though... it all just seems pretty strange.

Sergeant_Sneaky · Apr 22, 2015

Jhah :

That's strange, have you used DDU to reinstall the drivers? Just in case it's something corrupted that's causing massive problems.
If you click on the kernel power failure, it should show a box with more information in it? If you could screenshot that, that may give some clues.

Jhah · Apr 22, 2015

For the Kernel Power Error, Event ID 41

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power" Guid="{331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}" />
<EventID>41</EventID>
<Version>2</Version>
<Level>1</Level>
<Task>63</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000002</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-04-22T20:55:55.022409700Z" />
<EventRecordID>315028</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="8" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>JHAH-PC</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
- <EventData>
<Data Name="BugcheckCode">0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter1">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter2">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter3">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter4">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="SleepInProgress">false</Data>
<Data Name="PowerButtonTimestamp">0</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

This Error also has an event log error just before it, should I post this aswell?

Sergeant_Sneaky · Apr 22, 2015

Jhah :

A few people have said that reinstalling/updating their audio drivers stopped this crashing, is your onboard soundcard realtek?
Please post the event log error aswell, thanks.
How much RAM do you have? And in what configuration?

Jhah · Apr 22, 2015

For the Event Log Error, Event ID 6008

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="EventLog" />
<EventID Qualifiers="32768">6008</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-04-22T20:55:59.000000000Z" />
<EventRecordID>315024</EventRecordID>
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>JHAH-PC</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
- <EventData>
<Data>4:55:13 PM</Data>
<Data>‎4/‎22/‎2015</Data>
<Data />
<Data />
<Data>185</Data>
<Data />
<Data />
<Binary>DF07040003001600100037000D00C003DF07040003001600140037000D00C003600900003C000000010000006009000000000000B00400000100000000000000</Binary>
</EventData>
</Event>

Jhah · Apr 22, 2015

I know it is realtek but I am not sure how to check exactly what soundcard I have...

I have 16 gigs of ram total divided up between four 4gb corsair vengeances.

Edit: I have reinstalled my realtek drivers

Sergeant_Sneaky · Apr 22, 2015

Jhah :

Try and leave only the ram stick that is in slot one in and try a game, if it crashes, try one of the other sticks in slot one.

Jhah · Apr 22, 2015

Sergeant_Sneaky :

How can I tell which is in slot 1?
Edit: Nvm got it figured out

Jhah · May 4, 2015

Sorry I left this thread out to dry, but after trying just about anything, I ended up ordering a new power supply and everything works fine. My old one must have just been defective or dying. Thank you for all of your help, that was one of the weirdest issues I've ever encountered.

Sergeant_Sneaky · May 4, 2015

Jhah :

No problem, glad I could help. Enjoy your working PC

PC Restarts while playing taxing games - GTX 970

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