PSU causing sapphire radeon hd 6870 GPU issues?

[salamakajakawaka]

Here are my system specs:

RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-730SS 730W (I know... boo)
AMD Phenom ii x6 1090t BE (currently running at stock 3.2)
Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 (This is the second one. RMAed the first one for the same problem.)
12gb RAM (passed memtest many times)
32gb ocz ssd
500gb free agent go external hard drive
Windows 7 64 bit ultimate


Basically anytime there is a graphics intensive process going on the system crashes. Black screen, reboot begins. There is no BSOD (that I can see). I have tried CCC 11.6, 11.8, and 10.6. I reinstalled windoze twice. I had this same problem with the same card so I RMAed it. Before I go through that again I want to get everyones opinion. Could it be something else?

CPU passes prime95 stress test for an hour no problem.
Memtest shows no errors on ram.
I can't really think of what to test or try next other than it possibly being the psu. It is so difficult to diagnose these types of things.






TLR

My sapphire radeon 6870 crashes into a black screen reboot. It is most likely two bad cards or a bad psu. Opinion?

 

[beenthere]

I can't find any reviews on that PSU but Newegg has it for $59.95 so it's highly unlikely that it's a good PSU let alone a quality PSU. That however doesn't mean that it is the cause of your issues but it could be. I'd try to borrow a known good PSU and test.

I also do not understand why you are running 12 GB. of ram in a dual-channel mobo but if you are mixing RAM then this could still cause issues even if it passed Memtest86+. I'd try two DIMMs only and see if the system crashes. I run Prime 95 for a minimum of 24 hours. You can do faster stress testing with OCCT's "extreme" option. Troubleshooting isn't easy but you can narrow the possibilities.

If you're not aware there have also been a number of issues on OCZ SSDs so you might want to confirm that your firmware is up to date and not one of the problem SSD models.

 

[salamakajakawaka]

I have had no problems using a different card. I was using radeon hd 5670 no problem. And I have 12 gb of ram because I had 16 but 1 stick was bad. I don't understand why the sad has anything to do with anything. Will 3 dimms cause sit driver issues?

 

[beenthere]

Three DIMMs cause the PC to run in single channel instead of dual channel. If the RAM was mixed it could cause problems. SSDs can crash a system like any other piece of hardware. The only way you're likely to determine if the PSU is the issue is by trying a known good one capable of powering the 6870 - which does draw a fair amount of current.

 

[salamakajakawaka]

I will stop by a brick and mortor shop to see if I can get a reliable psu to isolate the prob with. I'll check back in 24 hours.

 

[salamakajakawaka]

Well it was the psu. I switched to corsiar 700 gamer edition and now everything works smooth. And just to clear something up 3 dimms instead of two causes a 3 percent loss in speed buy I get 4 gigs more of ram. Thanks for the answers.

 

[salamakajakawaka]

Best answer selected by salamakajakawaka.

 

[beenthere]

Glad to help.

FWIW- If you buy ONE matched, tested RAM kit with a lifetime guarantee from the Top Tier RAM suppliers, they will replace the entire set of RAM if one DIMM fails.