Weak PSU results in gfx problems?

[dnagroove]

Dear helpers,

I've been experiencing some stability problems with my video card (sudden freezes during games which usually end up in a restart), researching the symptoms led me to believe my PSU may be a little on the weak side. I don't usually play very gfx intensive games (Civ5 and LOTRO? pfft). This is my setup -

OCZ 6Gb DDR3 1866MHZ Reaper
Gainward GTX470
WD 1TB WD1002FAEX Black
Intel Core i7 930
Intel 40GB SSD
Seasonic 620W

Should I suspect the PSU for my woes?

Thanks

 

[saint19]

Hi and welcome to Tom's forum.

Can you provide the PSU's link?

 

[dnagroove]

Thanks!

Here's the link -
http://www.seasonicusa.com/M12II-Bronze.htm

 

[saint19]

You have a very solid PSU, I'd think in a RAM problem more that a PSU problem. What temps are you getting?

 

[dnagroove]

It peaks at around 48... but then again, it happens only occasionally. I could be playing for a couple hours and it'd be fine. And the next day it could happen after 10 minutes of casual gameplay. I also read that the GTX470 were problematic and that I might need to flash the card but I don't know any more.

 

[saint19]

Do you have the latest driver version installed? I don't trust much in Gainward as manufacturer.

 

[hunter315]

Random errors that arent consistent are often memory issues, if it were the PSU or the GPU it would occur consistently(AKA every time you start up Civ5 the load on the GPU and PSU would be the same as the last time so it should consistently crash, if it happens randomly its not anything where the load is identical). Memory tends to be more sporadic because sometimes nothing will get put in the bad sector for days or weeks at a time.

 

[dnagroove]

I can understand your mistrust... and yep, latest drivers.

 

[dnagroove]

Random errors that arent consistent are often memory issues, if it were the PSU or the GPU it would occur consistently(AKA every time you start up Civ5 the load on the GPU and PSU would be the same as the last time so it should consistently crash, if it happens randomly its not anything where the load is identical). Memory tends to be more sporadic because sometimes nothing will get put in the bad sector for days or weeks at a time.

Yeah, thought about that too. Can you recommend a trusty memcheck program I can test that with?

 

[saint19]

Memtest86+

 

[dnagroove]

Excellent, thank you both!

 

[dnagroove]

Just thought I'd update the thread if someone has the same symptoms... the memory checked out after 3 passes with 0 errors. I'm back to square 1. Might have to resort to what I've dreaded... replace the Gainward dud. Thanks again guys.

 

[galeener]

Ah before you replace the Vid you may try to under clock your memory a bit and see if that helps. Just that checking it is free and buying a new vid card well cost money. You also didnt specify your Motherboard I had an issue with 2000 mem on my gigabyte and ended up going to 1600. then it ran fine.

 

[dnagroove]

Well I ran every possible test I could think of and it turns out that my video card's memory is faulty. :/
I even found a website that describes exactly what part of it - http://www.playtool.com/pages/artifacts/artifacts.html
And my case fits the symptoms perfectly.

Already contacted the store and I still have warranty. They'll probably replace the card.
Thanks

 

[galeener]

Ah nice well you know what I mean glad you found the issue and can get it fixed.

 

[saint19]

Good, let me know how this ends.