Overclock Started Failing

[ifreestylin]

Hi I have overclocked my CPU for about a month now and everything was stable until i upgrade my 7770 to an 7870.
Now OCCT began failing stress in under a minute which is leading me to believe my PSU is at its limit.
Is this the case? i checked my PSU usage here
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

[daswilhelm]

i wouldn't recommend running that card with a 430w psu.

 

[stickmansam]

It seems like it, as your PSU can only output 384v on the 12v and with a heavy OC and a 7870 + OC ram? you are hitting the limits of your PSU

 

[spawnkiller]

Yeah, most likely the additional draw of the new GPU saturate the 12V and then the 12V go down to 11.9-11.8-11.7 (don't know where yours stop but it stop when it reach the max draw...)

but the 12V needed by your cpu is likely on the same voltage regulator (newer PSU have 1 big 12V regulator and all other voltage are made out of it to increase efficiency) It then drop the Vcore of your cpu at the same time...

To test, replace the 7870 with 7770 to see if your system is stable or not... If it's stable, most likely you'll have to change your PSU for a stronger (BTW 430w and the 7870 require 500+ watts on the reference design so if card isn't a reference or if it's overclocked, you need more than that...

 

[stickmansam]

Well if you don't OC your FX6300 it should run fine on the 430W but Yes I am saying that with an OC and a 7870 the PSU is being maxed out.

As you mentioned it was fine with the 7770 and likely no need to change drivers so must be the card. Either PSU is not giving enough power or card is the issue. You could test stability by lowering OC and then running the card to test the card.

Had a friend with 2x7970 and an 4.5ghz i5 2500k on 600W and instead of OC failing his 7970's throttled and upgrading to a 1000W PSU increased his performance

 

[ifreestylin]

Yeah, most likely the additional draw of the new GPU saturate the 12V and then the 12V go down to 11.9-11.8-11.7 (don't know where yours stop but it stop when it reach the max draw...)

but the 12V needed by your cpu is likely on the same voltage regulator (newer PSU have 1 big 12V regulator and all other voltage are made out of it to increase efficiency) It then drop the Vcore of your cpu at the same time...

To test, replace the 7870 with 7770 to see if your system is stable or not... If it's stable, most likely you'll have to change your PSU for a stronger (BTW 430w and the 7870 require 500+ watts on the reference design so if card isn't a reference or if it's overclocked, you need more than that...

Gonna have to do that test tomorrow, I upgraded my system and forgot to upgrade my PSU.
I play games without any problems.

 

[ifreestylin]

Well if you don't OC your FX6300 it should run fine on the 430W but Yes I am saying that with an OC and a 7870 the PSU is being maxed out.

As you mentioned it was fine with the 7770 and likely no need to change drivers so must be the card. Either PSU is not giving enough power or card is the issue. You could test stability by lowering OC and then running the card to test the card.

Had a friend with 2x7970 and an 4.5ghz i5 2500k on 600W and instead of OC failing his 7970's throttled and upgrading to a 1000W PSU increased his performance

Am a try going back to stock and see if that helps. If it does am not gonna overclock until i can get my PSU upgrade

 

[ifreestylin]

i tried swapping out my 7870 for the 7770 and the problem persists. I added a little more voltage (1.464) and it seems to be stable right now.
Am still looking at a new PSU tho, does this ones seems OK?

http://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-Single-Certified-Active-ST60F-ES/dp/B004MKNNH6/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361490817&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=selverstone+600w

 

[stickmansam]

Not the exact series

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=227

This a model I am using and I have good things to say so far

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

 

[ifreestylin]

Not the exact series

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=227

This a model I am using and I have good things to say so far

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

+1^ I might go with Corsair cause i never have any problems with them and i have been using them from day 1

 

[ifreestylin]

Best answer selected by iFreeStylin.