GTX 770 crashes..

[mndrwd]

System Spec

Asus GTX 770 4MB @ driver 347.09
Z97X GAMING Motherboard
16 GB RAM
I7 4790 CPU
Corsair CX 750 PSU
Thermaltake Chaser A31 Ghost Edition Case
Windows 8.1

So I am still having a few crashes despite following what I think is the full list of Google-able fixes suggested thus far so I hope that someone can help.

1. Nvidia Control Panel set Power from Adaptive to Performance. - This stopped the crashing everytime I booted up a game.
2. Disabled then uninstalled the Nvidia Audio driver. - This helped stop a number of crashes.
3. Changed the Power settings to turn off Fast Start Up. - This didnt do a lot other than occasionally it reboots without all of the config being messes up. Occasionally.

I run Asus' own GPU Tweak and the temperature, even after an hour of Wolfenstein, doesnt rise about 50-55 degrees. Voltage at 1150 max. Both I think should be ok.

CPU runs pretty warmly and I am looking into a better fan/cooling method than the stock fan.

RAM tested all ok.

But... the Graphics seem to just stop working. e.g. I play an hour of Wolfenstein all ok. No stuttering, pixellation etc etc. All is perfect. Then I close down the game and go do something else e.g Handbrake and off it goes into either a black screen or one with a choice of funky colours. The rest of the machine whirring away in the background but unusuable.

Pressing the reset button boots back up but pretty much doesnt work properly everytime.

Cold restart works about 50% of the time. 5 minutes later generally is the best.

So. I have been building PC's for a long time and this is the first time I have experienced this set of anomalies. I hate RMA'ing kit so I want to explore any further thoughts anyone has before sending the card back. Especially as I really want to send Windows 8.1 back... horrible horrible OS. I am not overly chuffed with the case either. Antec 1200 has been my case of choice in the last two builds but I ran out of money this time.

At this point I am happy to try out any reasonable suggestion.

 

[mndrwd]

nothing?

 

[Disco_P]

Everyone is busy arguing over rumoured 960 benchmarks and AMD's first quarter results

My thoughts. First port of call for GPU problems is to reinstall drivers.

It wasn't clear in the original post, do the crashes happen at random or only in the situation you described?

Handbrake will hammer your CPU hard, how are CPU temps?

 

[mndrwd]

Thanks for the reply.
I will do the reisntalling of the drivers later thanks.
Crashes are fairly random with one or two repeat performances.
I had a day off yesterday and played Wolfenstein through to the end without a single crash, then closed down all ok. Then a little later I switched back on, played Alien Isolation and 5 minutes in ...kaleidoscope!

When I said "go do something else like Handbrake" I should have said "click on". It doesnt need to do anything hahahaaha.

Fun, Fun, Fun

 

[ghost.florian]

You could try to refresh windows 8. There is an option for that in the recovery menu. Try uninstaling the nvidia drivers first before you do that.

If this doesn't work, then you are left with two options:
- a hardware problem - to see if the GPU is the culprit try running your rig on the CPU's integrated graphics display adaptor, and run handbrake or any other software that you run. Do you see the same problems ? If so, then you are left with option 2 ...
- ...a software problem - less likely but it's possible.

 

[mndrwd]

Thanks again.
Each suggestion lessens the crashes. There was a new driver available through the Geforce Experience so I took the opportunity to do a fresh install. I also told it that I didnt want the Audio drivers as this has been noted as a problem.
I have had only one crash since.
However, looking at the Device Manager this morning I see that the Nvidia Audio drivers are there despite my custom install requesting that they werent. Ho hum. I have uninstalled again and will keep an eye on it for a few days.

 

[Cozzi]

My brother is having the same issue with his GTX 770.

We built a new pc using only the GPU from his old pc, and since the new build it hasn't worked 100%. It seemed to run fine for a few days, all fresh drivers, new copy of windows etc, and now it crashed often, and throws a fault code on the ASUS Ranger mobo.

We thought it was just a compatibility issue but it shouldn't be really?

 

[mndrwd]

No it shouldnt old chap. But I am somewhat cheesed off too.
The Nvidia Audio driver keeps mysteriously re-appearing after I have uninstalled it and crashes still occuring.
I am inching closer to sending the damned thing back and getting another, but I find no confidence in the posts on other forums along the lines of "I have RMA'ed the 770 and it still crashes". Its a bit too late to get my money back now. I think OC only offer repair/replace after 28 days