Calling all Gurus, I'm in desperate help here, please come in and help regarding GPU issues.

[TonyTurbo78]

Ok fellas.

Will try and not make this a wall of text, but I've got some serious issues here, 24 hours later after dozens of different troubleshooting and fault finding exercises, I come to you desperate and all for some serious help.

Here's the situation.

Previously I had been running crossfire MSI 390 cards in my system on a BenQ 144hz Freesync screen, the one in my sig. Everything was getting way to toasty so this past week I've put together a water cooling project, finally get it filled last night and got rid of all the air.

Ok so anyway, when I tried gaming or running benchmarks last night, within a few seconds the screen starts going black (but not in standby) then a second later the visuals of whatever i'm playing displays again, then after that point the screen just constantly flashes black randomly again flicking the game back on the display in intervals etc etc. There is no issue on the desktop, no issue watching videos, it just seems to be when running anything 3d. Temps are around 25c idle and 40c on the core when benching and 60c on the VRM's.

I tried reinstalling drivers last night, tried different display port cables, running different screen hz rates, tried turning off freesync, only used 1 card each test but every time I tested a game or bench the same outcome. I then tried using HDMI on the monitor and was absolutely fine, and also tried using DVI and was fine also, no black screens flashing on and off at all.

So this morning I decided to drain the loop, and swap the cards around to see if the same black screens would occur on the other gpu. Well exactly the same. When running DP and gaming, black screens again. Tried HDMI and DVI just fine no issue.

I then did a windows reinstall and latest drivers, black screens when gaming again.

I bought a brand new Superflower 1300w PSU for this water cooling, thought then to check the PSU (clutching at straws now) so connected my old PSU up outside the case with a cable across the pins and just connected to 1 GPU, still black screens.

Now, this problem seems to only revolve around DisplayPort and gaming/benching. I need to test another Freesync monitor on this system to rule out the monitor, I just don't know if it's the DP port on the monitor playing up. I've never borked any piece of hardware in my life, I'm incredibly thorough and careful when doing any work on components, but if maybe there was an issue with one card, what are the chances that I've messed up both cards which show the exact same issue, you know what I mean. None of us our perfect, but I'm so lost of any idea what to do now. I don't want to send two GPU's back to MSI for RMA then find they send them back nothing wrong, and exactly the same for the screen. I just need to find a way of ruling out the monitor once and for all.

I need all you gurus to please throw some light on this one, I'm actually destroyed at the minute, just completely out of ideas.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

Have you tried an older version of Windows (not 10) and older drivers.

No I've not gone back to older version of Windows Kaap, I was running this setup (without the watercooling) on this same screen and Windows 10 previously with no issue what so ever.

So using HDMI and DVI gives no issues at all? Previous to your WC setup, your DP connection worked fine, including in X-fire?

Correct, no issues using HDMI and Dual Link DVI. Previous to my WC setup yeah every pretty much perfect, the odd black screen when playing BF4 but I put that down to the black screen issues with the Cat 15.7.1 drivers that had a known black screen issue.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

As you've swapped the GPU's around my call would be DP/Monitor issue - which you know already.

Don't suppose you tried setting the Monitor to 60Hz and try DP?

Only other offering would be new DP cables.

Nice rig by the way



Good shout - wasn't a few others having issues with win 10 and 390 variants?

Tried 2 DP cables that I have at home, I know both of them to be ok. And also tried setting refresh rate to 60hz last night and used DP with the same black screen issue. Weirdly, when I ran a few tests in windowed mode, it was absolutely fine. But today when I've tried Windowed mode, the black screens are back also.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

In that case, the chances of both your DP's on your cards being faulty are zero to none.

I take it all was good when your cards where on air?

Daft question - does your mobo have onboard DP?

yes both cards absolutely fine using DP on air before the WC. And this is the thing, we are all not perfect and from time to time things do happen, but to have exactly the same issue on both the cards seems a bit to much for me. Does anyone live near Southampton/Eastleigh/Winchester that has a monitor I can try lol. I really need to rule out this screen. And yes motherboard has DP

 

[TonyTurbo78]

On board DP to try?

not tried it actually, not going to lie.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

yes Zia, I've tried both cards singularly one at a time with the other one disconnected, and they both give out the same black screens issue when running games or benches.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

Worth a shot to clear the monitor

cant even find anything that the IGPU will run lol. 1fps in Valley haha

 

[TonyTurbo78]

its fine, no issue when using either DVI or HDMI. But ofcourse this is a Freesync monitor which doesn't work with anything but DisplayPort.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

Try the OpenGL test in Cinebench.

just tried, apparently "your GFX-Card does not support the required features for this test"

Managed to get through 3dmark at 1fps with no black screens using the IGPU and DisplayPort. Called that be classed as a good test running 1fps/ bypassing 144hz and Freesync though, this is the question lol.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

Few more people having same issue.could well be that fact mem is hotting up.try putting a fan direct in front, over them, and see if it fixs it?

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=399708

Zia

tried that fan last night thinking exactly the same thing. Still got the black screens then, memory temps and VRM temps were pretty much below 50c so well below what I would call overheating.

Memory temps would be no different using dp, HDMI or dvi if running same fps.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

yep everything just went on lovely, no leaks, no slips, no issues, just simply putting on a water block, doing everything on anti static straps etc there should be no issue. The annoying thing is, for both cards to do exactly the same thing, I find that to peculiar.

I will speak to the guys here on Monday see what they advise. I need DP to be working though, that's the one thing I do need for 144hz and 1440 Freesync. I'm just totally wounded here right now. I just dont know what to do now regarding what path to take.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

Only finger tight, not loose but not wrenched up so hard to strip the threads. Would that cause an issue with dp as apposed to dvi or HDMI just ny tightening to much

 

[TonyTurbo78]

Reading the description my first thought was that you might be overloading the power supply ( extra wattage from the pump or something ) but you said that you had made sure it was fine

I'm not really sure what to say in that case, the system looks well built so I assume its not your first time doing hardline watercooling, it can be quite a physical task to get everything connected and an amateur could easily cause damage to a card,
that would be my second guess, but as I said it looks well built

If the hardware hasnt changed and the monitor hasnt changed then I cant see what could be causing the problem

You say you dont get the 'driver crashed' message ? could try looking for other information using GPU-Z or the like, might give some clues as to what is happening
in those intervals when the screen is black

Try plugging the pc into a hdmi TV if you dont have another monitor

PSU is a 1300w Superflower Ash, got a meter on the plug and it's not even drawing 800w under load.

It is my first time building with hard tubing, but coming from a Precision Engineering background (13 years working in the aviation/optical industry working to thousands of an inch tolerances) I'm very particular with measurements, triple checking things and taking my time to be precise. The fits were perfect, no leaks, over effort needed to connect bits.

No driver crashed message, as far as I can tell whatever is running in the background continues to run because I can see that the clocks, usage graphs in MSI Afterburner do not dip at the times of the black screens.

And regarding the HDMI in the TV, have been doing that.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

Gonna throw a random thing out there,almost 100% it wont make a difference but at this point it cant hurt really.

If your mobo has the option in the bios set the PCI slots to gen 2.0 rather than 3.0? See what happens?

ok will give that a go when I get home. Needed a break, been on it solid for 24 hours, albeit a few hours sleep in between and im not to far from throwing stuff out the window and calling it a £700 write off.

Just to rule it out - does your monitor have a factory reset option? If so - worth a try?

Possibly, will have a look later.

If all this fails, what would you say is the best thing to do. Drain the loop, take out the cards, remove the blocks and passive heatsinks then put the air blowers back on and re-try? I really want to rule out the monitor once and for all first before I do any of that. Only way I can see me doing it now, is to go and buy a 1440 freesync screen, take it home and test then returning it to the shop with some sort of excuse.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

I dont kiwi, would be so much easier If I had one at hand to rule out the monitor before I go tearing things apart. I've already drained the loop this morning and messed around, I don't want to do it again for the sake of it. I don't have any pc gaming friends down here with high end rigs. If I did then would be easy to rule out the screen.

There's no way in hell I've damaged both cards exactly the same. That's just not happening. It's not like I'm some clueless bull in a China shop when it comes to upgrading and doing pc upgrades.

I'm just really lost at the moment. I need another freesync screen to try dp on with things how they are first, that's the tricky bit.

Only other thing I've changed is the psu. But I tried my old one this morning just to power 1 gpu whilst running the rest of the system off the new psu, still got the black screens.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

ok guys big update.

Drained the loop this morning, removed the waterblock from one card and put the original msi 2 fan cooler shroud back on, ran some tests, games, no black screens.

So monitor is fine, card is fine, must be something to do with the blocks right?

Obviously the heatsink chokes sit on the VRM's and memory chips with the original cooler, could passive cooling not be up to the trick when I have the block on? I did look at VRM temps when it was on water, they were only 60c, funnily enough the same temps now I have the cooler back on so I can't see that being an issue, certainly not after a few seconds. chips are fine up to about 100c right??

 

[TonyTurbo78]

no greg, there isnt a full waterblock available for the 390msi. Even passively cooled, the VRM's and memory chips were still very cool, exactly the same as now that I've tried with the cooler back on. Last night I did stick a huge honeywell fan in there to see if the temps were causing it, still blacked screen then. I highly doubt looking at the temps that this is the cause.

I'm going to remove the blocks again, reapply the TIM, double check everything and see what happens. Few things from this, at least now I'm sure it's not cable, monitor or GPU borked.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

yeah exactly Greg, I'm thinking something was shorting when the waterblocks were placed on the cores. Will have a look at the height closely this time. It's obviously something to do with the blocks or the little passive heatsinks I've put on. Must be touching something somewhere that it shouldnt be.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

Tipes, I already did that, see a previous post just above. I put the air cooler back on and no black screens.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

Blocks back on, loop filled yet again, tested and guess what.......black screens yet again.

Yes the pcb is flexing a little kaap, I've got a pillar made that I had planned on screwing in place to keep the cards from drooping but left it at the pub after I left from making it. Am planning on making another tjough, I wouldn't say it's drooping a lot though.

I'll drain the loop again for the 4th time tomorrow. Take the blocks off again and take some pictures, but I need a break tonight.