Is my issue with my 7900 XT? Drivers? PSU? Motherboard?

[GoogalyMoogaly]

Originally posted this in the AMD Drivers thread but not sure that's the best place for it as not sure it's drivers.
So I'm having issues with my 7900 XT (moved into a new PC). Fresh Windows 10 install.
So I'm currently using the 24.12.1 drivers but have used the 25.3.2 drivers ands got the same thing (so I rolled back to the drivers I was using with this card in the other PC).
I'm not sure if it could be drivers, GPU, PSU or possibly HDMI/DP cables.
It seems that when I do anything graphically intensive, for example playing a game (Black Ops 6 seems to cause it most consistently), one or both of my displays (4K @ 120Hz monitors) got black for I'd guess 15 seconds or so. depending on the situation they might then come back and be fine for a while or it might last about a second and then go again. Reducing the Power limit (-10%) and undervolting seems to make it less frequent, but it's sort of unpredictable. It seems the closer the GPU gets to 320W the more likely it is to display this behaviour, but it's not 100% consistent.

I was previously using the GPU in another PC and didn't notice any of these issues. I was also using the CPU (Ryzen 7 7700) in the same PC as the 7900XT but the current motherboard is new. The monitors were connected to that PC too.
The PSU (Corsair AX1200, the original, so it's quite old) was in a different PC running a 4060Ti using the current HDMI/DP cables. Obviously the 4060Ti was only drawing about half the power of the 7900XT.

I'm wondering if it's the PSU because it is old and the issue seems to happen more often at higher power draw. Drivers would obviously be the nicer solution, but I went back to what I thought was a "known good" (for me) version.

Has anyone else had these issues or got any ideas?


On a probably unrelated side note, when I first got the card I had issues using both the HDMI ports. I thought this might be because you could use both ports at the same time connected to high resolution high refresh rate displays (because the ports shared bandwidth). But having tested again now it seems like it might actually just be that one HDMI port is dead. Unsure if this is in any way connected.

 

[eeii]

Are you getting any error messages in eventvwr. Are you using separate power cables to your card from the psu. You could try furmark. That will put a big load on the graphics card.don’t run it more than 15 mins.
You also say you have a new motherboard. Have you updated the bios and chipset drivers.

 

[jonww74]

When the display recovers from a 'blackout', is the application still running as before? Or has it quit back to the desktop with an error?

If the rail voltage has dropped sufficiently to knock out the display it would most likely affect the application/system as well.

If things run as normal between events then I'd look at the cables. I had something similar which was the result of using a long or poor hdmi/dp cable.

 

[Arcane]

I'm sure someone had a similar issue with their 9070xt in the owners thread, sorted it by swapping the cables on the PSU.

 

[melmac]

Have you tried using just one monitor? If it doesn't happen with one monitor, it might be a driver issue. However, if the same happens when using just one monitor, it's probably a PSU issue.

Have you another Power supply? I think I remember you saying you have a second PC? It might be worth trying that.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

OK so a bit of an update...
I used an old PSU just to power the GPU and tried all the tests again. This time it seemed to work fine. Even when I upped the power limit to +15% and the card was drawing ~366W I didn't notice any issue.
I then had a dig around and found the other PSU cables and there were 2 more 6+2 pin PCIE power cables, so I used those in the existing PSU (using different ports) and connected up the GPU again. This time is seemed better, like when using the other PSU it was able run all the stuff I tried going up to ~366W withioout the issue occurring. So I'm starting to think it's the power cables.
Then I was playing Black ops 6 last night and it happened once. When I checked HWINFO it showed the TBP (the one I've been monitoring) had hit over 500W!
This on a card with 2-pin connectors!
So it would seem it is caused by power delivery issues, but I can't really blame the PSU for not being able to supply 500W+ over 2 8-pins and the PCIE slot.

 

[melmac]

OK so a bit of an update...
I used an old PSU just to power the GPU and tried all the tests again. This time it seemed to work fine. Even when I upped the power limit to +15% and the card was drawing ~366W I didn't notice any issue.
I then had a dig around and found the other PSU cables and there were 2 more 6+2 pin PCIE power cables, so I used those in the existing PSU (using different ports) and connected up the GPU again. This time is seemed better, like when using the other PSU it was able run all the stuff I tried going up to ~366W withioout the issue occurring. So I'm starting to think it's the power cables.
Then I was playing Black ops 6 last night and it happened once. When I checked HWINFO it showed the TBP (the one I've been monitoring) had hit over 500W!
This on a card with 2-pin connectors!
So it would seem it is caused by power delivery issues, but I can't really blame the PSU for not being able to supply 500W+ over 2 8-pins and the PCIE slot.

They are called transient spikes. Good quality PSU's can handle them, bad quality ones or ones that are on the way out, can't.

Long story short, you need a new PSU.

 

[AgedIdiot]

Good to hear that you have found the problem - my problem was a little different - sudden switching off when power was needed BUT switch to a new Asus 1000w psu sorted it.Hopefully a new psu will sort your issues !!

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

They are called transient spikes. Good quality PSU's can handle them, bad quality ones or ones that are on the way out, can't.

Long story short, you need a new PSU.

That's disappointing it's only, counts..., 14 years old...
It is massively overspec'd for the PC though, being a 1200W PSU powering a system that probably uses 550-600W under heavy load.

Guess I need to think about getting a decent but not overly expensive PSU then. I was looking at these (although should probably make a post in the PSU section of the forum):
My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x CORSAIR RMe Series RM850e Fully Modular ATX 3.1 Power Supply (CP-9020296-UK) (SKU: POW-CRS-03875) = £124.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming 850W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-060-AS) = £129.95
• 1 x Seasonic Core GX-850-V2 ATX3.1 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: POW-SSC-03647) = £129.95
• 1 x Super Flower LEADEX III GOLD UP 850W 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply PCIe 5.1 ATX 3.1 (SKU: POW-SFL-04174) = £129.95

Total: £514.84 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

Or I think I have an old (but not 14 years old) EVGA 750W Gold Supernova G3 I could try...

 

[Tetras]

Or I think I have an old (but not 14 years old) EVGA 750W Gold Supernova G3 I could try...

Looks like they're around 2017 onwards? Worth a shot, I'd say.

Of the PSUs you mentioned, I'd personally rule out the RMe and Core GX because they're lower tier units with 3 years of warranty deducted.

The TUF reviews fine (apart from the unknown pedigree of some of the parts). Not sure on the Leadex.

If I were you, I'd consider a 1000 watt unit, not necessarily because the XT needs it, but the cost increase isn't huge and is a bit more insurance for future cards.

 

[AtaRo]

So it would seem it is caused by power delivery issues, but I can't really blame the PSU for not being able to supply 500W+ over 2 8-pins and the PCIE slot.

Does your psu uses the connector as in the pic1? Curious to know if corsair uses this same pins on there premium psu.

Check that the connector has not sunk pic 2.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

Does your psu uses the connector as in the pic1? Curious to know if corsair uses this same pins on there premium psu.

Check that the connector has not sunk pic 2.

I checked and there might be signs of it on one of the connectors, it's hard to tell.

In other news I tried it again last night with the same PSU to see if it happened again. This time while playing Black Ops 6 I kept getting the AMD driver crashed and the game crashed with a DirectX error.
I also got 1 blue screen with the error "Driver Power State Failure". I think the blue screen issue happened outside of Black Ops, but the driver only seemed to crash during Black Ops, when running benchmarks/stress tests it seemed fine, even when running Black Ops' benchmark.
Does this still seem like a PSU issue?

 

[no_1_dave]

That's disappointing it's only, counts..., 14 years old...
It is massively overspec'd for the PC though, being a 1200W PSU powering a system that probably uses 550-600W under heavy load.

14 years ago you didn't have components that would jump from 100w - 600w in a fraction of a second.
Modern PSUs can handle it, old PSUs can't

 

[tamzzy]

Not sure on the Leadex.

the superflower leadex is extremely reliable and up there with the best of them
i'm still using the OG leadex platinum (my psu was made 2014) to power my main rig

 

[Craig_d1]

I was just looking at psu, and on other well known site they have the NZXT 1200W C1200 atx3.0 for £139.99...as an alternative

NZXT C1200 Gold 1200 W Review

The NZXT C1200 Gold is a high-performance power supply, meeting the strict ATX v3.0 and PCIe 5.0 requirements. It has a 600 W 12VHPWR connector, which makes it compatible with any current or upcoming GPU. Thanks to the Channel Well platform, performance is good, too.

www.techpowerup.com

 

[BUDFORCE]

Have you had a look at the new Antec range of PSU 's?

They look decent and they always were solid in my experience.

14 years ago you didn't have components that would jump from 100w - 600w in a fraction of a second.
Modern PSUs can handle it, old PSUs can't

My Corsair hx850 is about that and my 7900xt runs just fine.

 

[welshrat]

That's disappointing it's only, counts..., 14 years old...
It is massively overspec'd for the PC though, being a 1200W PSU powering a system that probably uses 550-600W under heavy load.

Guess I need to think about getting a decent but not overly expensive PSU then. I was looking at these (although should probably make a post in the PSU section of the forum):
My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x CORSAIR RMe Series RM850e Fully Modular ATX 3.1 Power Supply (CP-9020296-UK) (SKU: POW-CRS-03875) = £124.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming 850W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-060-AS) = £129.95
• 1 x Seasonic Core GX-850-V2 ATX3.1 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: POW-SSC-03647) = £129.95
• 1 x Super Flower LEADEX III GOLD UP 850W 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply PCIe 5.1 ATX 3.1 (SKU: POW-SFL-04174) = £129.95

Total: £514.84 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

Or I think I have an old (but not 14 years old) EVGA 750W Gold Supernova G3 I could try...

Super flower gets my vote. I just bought the 1000w version for my 9070xt and 9800x3d and it's been faultless

 

[no_1_dave]

My Corsair hx850 is about that and my 7900xt runs just fine.

Great logic!!
My 5090 does not have a melted connector, so I guess no 5090 has a melted connector..?

 

[Alt0153]

Great logic!!
My 5090 does not have a melted connector, so I guess no 5090 has a melted connector..?

all 5090s will get a melted connector in time

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

I was just looking at psu, and on other well known site they have the NZXT 1200W C1200 atx3.0 for £139.99...as an alternative

NZXT C1200 Gold 1200 W Review

The NZXT C1200 Gold is a high-performance power supply, meeting the strict ATX v3.0 and PCIe 5.0 requirements. It has a 600 W 12VHPWR connector, which makes it compatible with any current or upcoming GPU. Thanks to the Channel Well platform, performance is good, too.

www.techpowerup.com

I've never been a fan of NZXT stuff. That is cheap for a 1200W though, maybe too cheap...

Have you had a look at the new Antec range of PSU 's?

They look decent and they always were solid in my experience.



My Corsair hx850 is about that and my 7900xt runs just fine.

I have looked at the Antecs, although not recently I looked at an 850W SFX PSU they did. They're probably good, but they're expensive.

Super flower gets my vote. I just bought the 1000w version for my 9070xt and 9800x3d and it's been faultless

The Superflower was the way I was leaning, like @tamzzy I have one of the OG Leadexs in another PC.