To RMA or not to RMA

[Javaslinger]

Very often my screen suddenly goes black for a few seconds and then returns with the error - Driver stopped responding but has recovered...

I'm using a PNY GeForce 560 Ti OC (factory overclocked - not by me)

I'm running the latest 280.26 drivers. It's a new system so I don't have any drivers to roll back to.

I have a Visiontek 700W power supply with Dual +12V rails. There are 2 6 pin connectors (one is a 6+2 - not using the +2).

Anyway, the issue crops up very often, mostly during video's or games, but sometimes even when simply browsing.

I need to know if this is a hardware fault so I can just swap it out at Best Buy, or a driver issue with Nvidia. Help?

Thanks,

Javasligner

 

[Mousemonkey]

Have you tried down clocking the card?

 

[Javaslinger]

I really have no clue how to do that....

 

[Mousemonkey]

Download and run MSI Afterburner.

 

[Javaslinger]

I have a PNY GeForce 560 Ti that is factory overclocked. And I've had nothing but trouble with it...

I get repeated driver not responding blackouts which flick back on after a few seconds. Happens during movies/videos, games, and less so browsing.

I have downgraded from the current 280.26 drivers to the 275.xx drivers. Still does it...
I have turned off power management in windows for the PCI express... no change...
I upgraded to the beta 280.36... even worse...

Now as this happens with multiple driver sets it seems it may not be a driver issue... Yet over on the Nvidia forums it seems LOTS of people are having this issue with this driver... and this card...

Anyway, I got this card from Best Buy and I can return it, exchange it, or keep it... but time is running out... Should I swap it out for the same card and see if I had a bad card? Get a different 560 Ti through amazon/newegg?

Or just wait for a new driver...

Help?

Javaslinger

 

[purple stain]

It's possible that the Factory O.C. isn't sufficent.

Try Downloading MSIAfterburner and downclocking to the GTX560ti stock clocks.
Core Clock=822
Shader Clock=1645.

 

[benski]

That message is not one particular problem or issue, it just means the card stopped working and then started working again. Could be a faulty card, overheating, or the power supply isn't capable of delivering as much power as the card needs.

 

[benski]

If you have to down clock the card to get it to work and it's under warranty I would just go ahead and return it.

 

[purple stain]

Was trying to troubleshoot to see if it was a defective card.

 

[Javaslinger]

I have a 700W Visiontek GPU with 2 12+Amp rails I think... that should be plenty right??

 

[purple stain]

Yes it should.

How many amps are on the +12v rails?

 

[dextermat]

+1 for RMA

 

[Javaslinger]

26 I think

 

[benski]

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=606572&CatId=2533

That one? Should be fine if it's close to spec.

 

[purple stain]

It looks like it's only capable of delivering around 500+ watts but even that is enough for a single GTX560ti.

 

[Javaslinger]

Yeah, so using MSI AFterburner I set the clocks to the stock clocks as suggested above. Definitely DID NOT help... IF anything it was worse...

Does that indicated a bad board?

 

[Javaslinger]

In another thread I saw mention that the factory overclocked cards might not have the correct voltage to provide stability. They were mentioning bumping their voltage up form 1036 to 1050.

So I thought I'd check to see what my PNY card was at. MSI afterburner put it at 975Mv??? That's quite a ways off from 1036...

Anyone have a clue if this seems low for a factory overclocked 560 Ti?

In anycase I set it to 1036 and gave it a shot on Deus Ex:HR which previously I could barely play for 10 minutes before it would crash. Even when just playing simple movies I'd get the dreaded 'Driver stopped responding error'...

Well I played for a full hour without a single stutter much less a crash.... Could I finally have found the problem???

The temps while playing Deus Ex:HR on the card did get up to 87. Is that overly high? I understand that's your major concern when increasing voltage...

Anyway, any and all advice is much appreciated...

Thanks,

Javasligner

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

I think playing for a couple of hours without any problem gives you the answer. 87 is nicely warm but not to hot i think, maybe try to set the fanspeed a bit higher.( round 75C is nice )
I have an gigabyte 560ti soc and it even uses higher voltages ( 1.15V or more ), before with older driver and lower voltage settings i had the same problem, crashes, driver stopping etc.

 

[Javaslinger]

Hmm, it keeps resetting back to 975 when I have to reboot. Can you permanently change it to the higher setting somehow? I'm using MSI Afterburner...

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

Did you download the latest driver from MSI ? I think you can configure Afterburner so that it will automaticly starts with Windows and you can also configure a "profile", not sure though if it automaticly adjust the voltage then or you have to manually click on a "profile".

 

[purple stain]

Yah that mean's the card is defective.

 

[Javaslinger]

So... it turns out that PNY has shipped their cards under-volted... My PNY was reading 975mV via MSI Afterburner. I bumped it up to 1012Mv and I haven't had a single issue since...

 

[purple stain]

That doesn't make sense.If it was undervolted that means that O.C.ing it higher would only make it worse.

 

[Javaslinger]

I didn't overclock it higher.. I upped the voltage a bit. The voltage was too low for the clock speeds

 

[purple stain]

Hmm.That still doesn't make sense because I asked you to lower the clocks to stock.So if it couldn't support the stock clocks with the voltage allowed then it must have been really low.But this is what I meant by lowering the clocks.The card wasn't getting enough voltage.