Computer resetting woes - 3d clocks?

Man of Honour
Joined
25 Oct 2002
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Having a bit of a nightmare with my recent rebuild:

MSI GD65
i5 750
2*2GB Gskill Ripjaw PC12800 7-7-7-24
850W NorthQ Black Magic Modular PSU
Leadtek GTX 280

Basically when I load a game, or other 3d application (furmark), by system resets itself within a couple of seconds. I should point out that this didn't happen with my old mobo/ram/cpu combo (S775/E4300/DDR2)

My first thought was maybe PSU, but it should be capable (it's quad SLI rated, and got a pretty good write up on jonnyguru: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=93) and for testing purposes, I unplugged my soundcard, unnecessary USB devices, DVD-RW, extra HDs etc.

I reset everything to default in BIOS, then I also disabled two CPU cores and underclocked the others to less than half speed (9x multi). I removed a stick of RAM and tried different sticks/slots. I also tried different cables (modular psu) and tried running the mobo just sat on the desk outside the case.

I also installed Windows 7 (on a different HD) and tried that to rule out any OS problems.

I'm pretty much certain that it's not down to a problem with temps because it happens so fast - it's not like I even get into play the game, it'll just crash in the menu.

So after many hours of faffing about, I thought hmm, maybe the crash is occurring when the card ramps up to 3d clocks. So using Rivatuner I set the gpu and RAM speeds as low as possible for performance 3d - and this seems to have done the trick, no more crashing.

Now the question is, why is this happening? I can think of two possibilities:
1) PSU can't handle the extra strain. It's got 4 25A 12v rails, maybe it just can't hack it and needs something with more juice on a single rail (does it share with anything else?)
2) GPU has somehow got borked during the migration, seems unlikely as it was working fine in old rig - I may test this sometime

As a workaround I'm currently experimenting with the following:
-Set 3D clocks as low as possible
-Load game
-Alt-tab back to windows
-Reset 3D clocks to default
-Alt-tab back into game

Seemed OK when I tried it but that was only for 30s or so, will have to see how it stands up to a proper gaming session.
 
It definately seems like either the GFX or PSU. Seems more likely the GFX card. Since the PSU had 4 rails, have you tried spreading the connections across the 4 rails? Maybe one of them is overloaded. Also is the RAM running at the default speed?
 
How do I spread the connections?
I've tried running the RAM at default and spec speeds, it makes no difference. I'm almost certain that it's either a gpu problem, or a PSU problem (maybe in conjunction with the high draw from the i5, although I tried to mitigate that by underclocking and disabling cores).
 
The PSU doesn't come with a manual :)

All a bit of a moot point now, as well, it literally went BANG! on Friday night. Bought a Corsair TX 750W to replace it (single 60A 12v rail, I don't think I can trust a multi-rail PSU again!) and all seems well.
 
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