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Started by P-Stew | | 1 answers
System crashing, no BSOD -- Could it be GPU?
I posted this in the system subforum a couple weeks ago, but did not get any bites, so I tried working through the problem myself and gathered some new info that led me to think it might be a GPU or PSU issue.

OP:
I built this system about 2 months ago, and until this week had not had any issues. Earlier this week I had the system suddenly shut down on me, almost as if it had lost power. I peeked inside the case window, and the mobo power button was illuminated (telling me there was indeed power -- at least at the time I was looking), so I hit the power button on the case, started the system back up, and all seemed well. Fast forward to today and the same thing happened twice (except the system rebooted on its own) within an hours span of time. At this point, I am thinking there is a short somewhere. Candidates are motherboard, psu, and maybe the case itself.

Specs are as follows:
Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz (have not OC'd yet)
Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H ATX LGA1150
G.Skill Ripjaws X 16GB DDR3-1600
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB 2.5" SSD
Windows 7 Home Premium
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 4GB
Corsair 850W Gold Power Supply

Edit: Forgot to mention what I was doing at the time of the crash. Two of the times, I was gaming while it happened. I have a Noctua U14S cooler in there and RealTemp has never shown the cpu above 62C even under heavy load (gaming + streaming baseball on a tv connected to the system + itunes + browsing). (Idles high 20s, low 30s -- also ambient house temp is between 73 and 77F.)


Then, earlier this week, it started to happen with more frequency. It probably crashed about 5-6 more times over the week (after not doing so for about 10 days). I should also mention that other than the very first time, when the system simply shut down, every subsequent crash has rebooted the pc.

What follows is the most recent activity.

Yesterday, it crashed about a half dozen times, making me think that the issue was getting worse, i.e. the component was closer to complete failure. So I took the only spare GPU I had, a GTX 260, and put it in this system. Nothing happened for most of the day, but it just crashed again while I was gaming. I had temps up on a 2nd screen and GPU never topped 80, so I'm doubting it was a temp problem. Now I'm starting to think it is the PSU. I had my doubts that the 260 could push the PSU hard enough (if that is indeed the issue) but today's crash seems to point in that direction.

I'm really at a loss guys. Hopefully you have some ideas.
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September 12, 2014 5:19:33 AM

Had a second crash with the GTX 260. In my mind that rules out the graphics card as the culprit. Also leads me in the direction of power supply since the 260 doesn't pull as much of a load as the 770. I'm going to swap the 770 back in and see what happens. Would love to be certain before I send the PSU back to Corsair.

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