GPU cutting out/Monitor going blank when gaming.

[drdeadlift]

Hi guys,

I am hoping that someone can help me. I have just upgraded to an i5 3570k from a Phenom II 955.

After installing everything today, I began to play some games such as Guild Wars 2 and Planetside 2, both games crashed within 5 minutes with the screen going blank, the fans, hdd etc stay active in the computer but I am forced to restart.

This is a clean install of Win 7 with all latest drivers and BIOS.

My spec:

Asus P8Z77 -V LX motherboard
4 x 2GB corsair XMS3
MSI 7950 Twin Frozr 3GB (stock speed)
i5 3570k (stock speed)
1 x Samsung F3 1TB HDD
5 x 120mm case fans
Hiper Type M 530w (36A on 12v)<----This could be the problem?

I think it could be my power supply not giving enough juice to the GPU as Furmark causes the same crash about 2 minutes into a benchmark. This power supply was running my system fine before I changed the motherboard and processor, so could it be that the cpu is allowing the 7950 to run free and thus placing a higher demand on the PSU?

When a PSU doesn't supply enough juice can the PC still stay on? Or could it be that it just doesn't give enough to the GPU causing that to cut off.

I ran Furmark and saved a log, you can see where it crashes at the point where the GPU clock goes from 880mhz to 0mhz. Looks like the 12v line drops a bit when GPU load increases.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/37251449/GPU%20Log.txt

Just to add, GPU temps are fine and CPU temps are about 50c.

So, do you guys think it is the power supply at fault?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Martin

[profJim]

Re: GPU cutting out/Monitor going blank when gaming.

Check with MSI and AMD and see what the recommended minimum wattage is for your video card.
I suspect that the psu can't deliver stable power. How old is your power supply?
Even if you don't do any overclocking, I think that you should have quality power supply that is rated for 650 - 750 watts at 45^o (C) or higher.
Keep in mind that you should never run a power supply higher than 80% of its rated power output for extended periods of time, especially when gaming. Sites like HardOCP and TweakTown report total system electrical loads when they review video cards.

Your power supply is the foundation of your system, don't buy or use a low quality cheapy power supply.
Many cheapy power supplies can't deliver their full rated power.

[wazza300]

Re: GPU cutting out/Monitor going blank when gaming.

please dont run furmark,its overly stressfull on a gpu,far better to test it in normal gaming imo

if its not crashing under normal gaming conditions/stresses then its fine

your psu wattage is borderline,but its hard to say if its fine or not,no issues with a 600w here and overclocked cpu and gpu

sudden crashes like that usually point to pc memory or gpu memory,are you setting xmp for memory?

[drdeadlift]

Re: GPU cutting out/Monitor going blank when gaming.

Hi guys, thanks for the reply.

After checking power requirements, there is no doubt that I am on the limit of my PSU. The power supply is roughly 5 years old and has been used pretty much constantly, so capacitors are bound to be ageing!

Wazza sorry, I haven't much experience with XMP, I haven't touched anything in the BIOS and everything is running at stock.

Any game that remotely stresses the card will cause the video to stop displaying.

I have a new PSU arriving tomorrow so we shall see if it helps, it is an Antec True Power Modular 750watt, which should be more than enough for my system.

Will update thread tomorrow ! Thanks guys.

[profJim]

Re: GPU cutting out/Monitor going blank when gaming.

The Antec TP-750 New power supply is excellent and is made by Seasonic.
JonnyGuru, HardwareSecrets and other premium review sites gave it excellent ratings.
My TP-750 psu is almost three years old and powers my overclocked N460GTX Hawk SLI setup with no problems.
I've run many gaming benchmarks with the TP-750 in my MSI N460GTX Hawk overclocking thread.

[drdeadlift]

Re: GPU cutting out/Monitor going blank when gaming.

Thanks for the help guys, got the Antec True power 750 this morning and it works perfectly, was able to play Planetside 2 beautifully for about 1hr 30 mins, no problems at all.

[profJim]

Re: GPU cutting out/Monitor going blank when gaming.

Glad to hear that your new power supply fixed the problem.
Thanks for the update.