Need advise on gaming crashes and HW changes

BottomsUp

Gawd
Joined
Aug 29, 2010
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My game was crashing non stop even with stock defaults. my mother board had been sketchy for years. it would not sleep properly, USB was flakey, etc.. I would get signal lost all the time in various games. it started happening so frequently it became intolerable. this was a Z170 Asus board with i6700k.
I decided to replace the board and got a Gigabyte Z270. The sleep and USB problems went away and crashes seemed less frequent but then signal lost started again.
I decided to replace my 980Ti with a 1080Ti and things worked really well with multiple 5-8 hour marathons etc.. however a few days later I started to get hard crashes where the PC would shut off entirely. This happened 2x in a row yesterday. I am running a 650w Corsair PSU. Maybe I don't have enough power for the 1080Ti and I fixed one problem only to introduce another with higher powered components?
 
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My game was crashing non stop even with stock defaults. my mother board had been sketchy for years. it would not sleep properly, USB was flakey, etc.. I would get signal lost all the time in various games. it started happening so frequently it became intolerable. this was a Z170 Asus board with i6700k.
I decided to replace the board and got a Gigabyte Z270. The sleep and USB problems went away and crashes seemed less frequent but then signal lost started again.
I decided to replace my 980Ti with a 1080Ti and things worked really well with multiple 5-8 hour marathons etc.. however a few days later I started to get hard crashes where the PC would shut off entirely. This happened 2x in a row yesterday. I am running a 650w Corsair PSU. Maybe I don't have enough power for the 1080 and I fixed one problem only to introduce another with higher powered components?
I would guess psu too. id try a 750w or more.
 
My game was crashing non stop even with stock defaults. my mother board had been sketchy for years. it would not sleep properly, USB was flakey, etc.. I would get signal lost all the time in various games. it started happening so frequently it became intolerable. this was a Z170 Asus board with i6700k.
I decided to replace the board and got a Gigabyte Z270. The sleep and USB problems went away and crashes seemed less frequent but then signal lost started again.
I decided to replace my 980Ti with a 1080Ti and things worked really well with multiple 5-8 hour marathons etc.. however a few days later I started to get hard crashes where the PC would shut off entirely. This happened 2x in a row yesterday. I am running a 650w Corsair PSU. Maybe I don't have enough power for the 1080Ti and I fixed one problem only to introduce another with higher powered components?

What you've probably figured out by now is that the mobo wasn't the problem, nor the gpu. You definitely have enough power with a 650W but now by process of elimination either your PSU is faulty or your CPU. Since a PSU is cheaper I'd buy a new one and see if your problems go away. If not it might be time to RMA the CPU.
 
PC would shut off entirely
Definitely try a new, larger PSU. The instantaneous current draw from the 1080ti under certain loads (games, benchmarks) can exceed a PSU's OC protection trigger and your PC will shut down, even if the average current draw is a bit less than the rated wattage of the PSU.
 
650w should be enough if nothing is super overclocked but also depends on how old the psu is. also are you using two separate 8 pin pcie cables to power the card? but the way it's crashing is definitely psu related but not because you need a higher wattage psu.
 
I would say the 650.. it should be enough, but if its low amp on the 12v rail.. I have a 5820k Overlclocked with a 1080 overclocked running a custom loop with 6 fans running, some leds, yada yada yada.. I run everything on a EVGA 850GQ.. I think Pendragon is right. Go get a good brand 750w atleast.
 
Yeah two different 8 pin. I estimate the PSU is 5-6 years old
yeah it may just be kicking the bucket, but you could probably try testing it by putting the gpu and cpu under full load and see if it instantly shuts off or if it takes a bit of time it might be overheating.
 
yeah it may just be kicking the bucket, but you could probably try testing it by putting the gpu and cpu under full load and see if it instantly shuts off or if it takes a bit of time it might be overheating.
what's a good program to test that? fur mark and prime95 at the same time or something like that?
 
what's a good program to test that? fur mark and prime95 at the same time or something like that?

yeah that should work. even with the full load on both you should still be 100w+ under the max load on that psu. gpu's around 300w with furmark and cpu's around 175-180w.
 
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PSU is definitely my first suspicion but heat or low fan speed could cause thermal protection to kick in and cause a hard shutdown.
 
When i run the occt PSU test it only stresses my video card to like 35%. does not seem to be pushing it as hard as it can go. RAM ~14GB of 16 and CPU 100%
 
When i run the occt PSU test it only stresses my video card to like 35%. does not seem to be pushing it as hard as it can go. RAM ~14GB of 16 and CPU 100%
try increasing the gpu test settings. and try full screen.
 
yeah that should work. even with the full load on both you should still be 100w+ under the max load on that psu. gpu's around 300w with furmark and cpu's around 175-180w.

And it would also be worth running them serially, to attempt to isolate issues.

Attack your CPU - how does it hold up?
Attack your GPU - how does it hold up?
And - run memtest - attack your memory - how does it hold up?

If they individually work well - that does point to a power issue a bit. As some have said, the steady-state power is one aspect, but PSUs also have to deliver stable power in the face of possibly wildly-changing demands. Otherwise-good PSUs can show their dirty unmentionables in such cases.
 
It's more about the amps on the 12v rail as how much does that card need and how much do you have to offer ?

I own 3 Corsair power supplies = TX650 /TX950/ CX650M , my TX 650 has my R5 1400 overclocked and RX 580 /RX 570 Crossfired at once .. it can run my 375 watt++ plus some 290X that would draw more amps then you dreamed .. so yes ,, you buy the power supply for it's 12v rail amps say like 54amps on a single 12v rail should handle anything AMD can make .. lol as the very first specs I look at on a power supply is the 12v rail amps .

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139148


I don't run Nvidia products so the number 1 thing you need to know is how many amps does that card need on the 12v rail maxed out and then start shopping .

This one has 62 amps on the 12v rail https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817139216
 
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Yeah two different 8 pin. I estimate the PSU is 5-6 years old

Could be the PSU for sure. They get less powerful as they age, or more accurately as their capacitors age they aren't capable of handling full load. Also you have to remember that there aren't good standards in terms of PSU output wattage, meaning that while 650 watts is more than plenty for what you have, your PSU might not be really capable of it. For a cheap PSU "650 watts" might mean "650 watts at 20 degrees C, which is colder than it will ever actually be, and then only for a short while and then only when new." It might more realistically deliver 300-400watts. For a high end Titanium PSU "650 watts" may well mean "650 watts at 40 degrees C, 24/7 operation even after years of use."

We've encountered this at work where cheap PSUs will sometimes crap out on us after a few years of use, even though the load is well below what they are supposedly capable of.

If you can afford it, I'd look at getting a nice new high end unit. Seasonic is my preference, but any good brand is fine. Get a Platinum or Titanium unit. The components and build decisions that make them more efficient also make them more reliable. That should easily last you 10+ years, and will be warrantied for that period as well. While spending money on a PSU isn't fun, I always recommend getting a high end PSU as the PSU can cause lots of problems if it has issues, and they can be sneaky ones that are hard to track down.
 
Which Corsair PSU? I mean, CM are crap while AXi were good....
Pick a tier 1 PSU and call it a day (Corsair AXi was =>7 years warranty).
 
Grab a evga 1200/1300 watt psu and call it a day and rest assured your covered for a long while.

And yes if the pc is shutting off while use.. it's the psu. Dont think just buy a new psu.
 
Update. thanks everyone. i bought a thermaltake 750w gold. the price seemed right at $75 and it's modular.

no crashes for a few weeks gaming. now i want to return this 1080ti but i love it!. got it open boxed for 630 out the door with tax.
 
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