PSU causing GPU driver crashes

Dazzo

Dazzo

Dazzo

Associate
Joined
30 Sep 2008
Posts
246
Hi Guys,

I'm getting driver crashes during game play (BF4 and Diablo3) and have tried every driver, settings and suggestions possible regarding reducing/eliminating this.

I contacted OC and they believe it to be a PSU issue and advised me to get my system checked by a technician. Has anyone experienced this? I assumed that a PSU wouldn't affect the graphics drivers but have not come across this.

Just gathering information and will be buying a different PSU to see if it is a problem.

Spec:
AMD 8320
Asus m5a97 evo r2.0
8GB Teamgroup Black 1600mhz
Gigabyte windforce 280x
OCZ Modxtreem 700W PSU
120GB sandisk ssd
2x Samsung spinpoint F3 500GB
 
Steampunk said:
It can happen. The graphics card can pull a lot of power, and if the PSU can't supply it properly, the system crashes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, use this utility to check how much power your system needs. It may also be the quality of the PSU, low quality ones are more likely to fail when it comes to graphics cards.
 
Some of the lower quality PSUs have a bit too much droop where the power dips under load and goes out of spec. The good ones barely dip at all and still stay right on the correct specs.
 
Jak3 Mac said:
This one is pretty good, you can't go wrong with it, SuperFlower is a good brand for quality PSUs
Click to expand...

Thanks! I think I'll pick that one up and test it next week as I'm at home all week so will be able to send it back if it doesn't help.

Kinda wish I went Nvidia now.....
 
Dazzo said:
Thanks! I think I'll pick that one up and test it next week as I'm at home all week so will be able to send it back if it doesn't help.

Kinda wish I went Nvidia now.....
Click to expand...

You're blaming the wrong thing- a high end Nvidia card isn't going to thank you for a dodgy PSU either.
 
Are you OC'ing any of the components? Also how old is the PSU and is it still in warranty? Your CPU or GPU are hungry so probably get at least a bronze rated and branded PSU. If the OCZ is still in warranty and you can get it replaced without extortionate costs do so and sell that one on to recoup some £.
 
ocmanus said:
Are you OC'ing any of the components? Also how old is the PSU and is it still in warranty? Your CPU or GPU are hungry so probably get at least a bronze rated and branded PSU. If the OCZ is still in warranty and you can get it replaced without extortionate costs do so and sell that one on to recoup some £.
Click to expand...

I believe it's not but OCZ were bought out and they won't honor the PSU warranties anyway. Apparently from what I've read they are only going to honor the SSD warranties and that's for the ones they shortlisted rather then all of them.
 
Dazzo said:
I believe it's not but OCZ were bought out and they won't honor the PSU warranties anyway. Apparently from what I've read they are only going to honor the SSD warranties and that's for the ones they shortlisted rather then all of them.
Click to expand...

I did research on this when I looked for a new PSU. It was a big sticking point regarding warranty, replacement and returns. I could not find a good, branded and certified PSU for my budget which had a UK based return address. I decided to buy a bronze certified 750W from a good UK retailer who sell their own brand ones. The warranty is only 2 years, but I've got the reassurance that I won't be charged extortionate return costs (if any) and the turn around in the event of failure will be quicker than from Europe.
 
Last edited:
ocmanus said:
I did research on this when I looked for a new PSU. It was a big sticking point regarding warranty, replacementment and returns. I could not find a good, branded and certified PSU for my budget which had a UK based return address. I decided to buy a bronze certified 750W from a good UK retailer who sell their own brand ones. The warranty is only 2 years, but I've got the reassurance that I won't be charged extortionate return costs (if any) and the turn around in the event of failure will be quicker than from Europe.
Click to expand...

I went with the recommended psu which I already heard great things about and should arrive tomorrow ready to be fitted Friday night. Hopefully this is the end, if not gotta find someone local to help test my components.
 
For OCZ you can get it sorted out under warranty by http://www.firepower-technology.com/ they have taken over the PSU side of OCZ and are honoring the warranties. The only downside is that you have to send it to the US so if like mine it wasn't that expensive a PSU then its just not worth it.
 
dazza13 said:
For OCZ you can get it sorted out under warranty by http://www.firepower-technology.com/ they have taken over the PSU side of OCZ and are honoring the warranties. The only downside is that you have to send it to the US so if like mine it wasn't that expensive a PSU then its just not worth it.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dazza!

I've bought a 650W superflower to see if this works and go from there.

Sending it to the US is probably a bit more hassle then it's worth and will throw it back into my old build which will be a media server when I get the gaming/everyday rig sorted out.
 
I am not saying you have the same problem I had however I have a 280x gigabyte windforce that I bought from ****** last month for my second PC as it was a exdisplay item and I started getting repeated crashes in BF4 with driver failed error messages.

I was going to send it back but thought I would try dropping the clocks by 50hz and this totally fixed the issue. I have since read online that the gigabyte cards factory overclock of 1100mhz do have issues.

I have now modified the bios so that its overclock is set at 1050mhz and have not had a single issue since.

If this happens to fix your issue I suggest sending the card back as its not operating correctly, however for me as I got the card at a good price and its for my second PC I was not so bothered.
 
welshrat said:
I am not saying you have the same problem I had however I have a 280x gigabyte windforce that I bought from ****** last month for my second PC as it was a exdisplay item and I started getting repeated crashes in BF4 with driver failed error messages.

I was going to send it back but thought I would try dropping the clocks by 50hz and this totally fixed the issue. I have since read online that the gigabyte cards factory overclock of 1100mhz do have issues.

I have now modified the bios so that its overclock is set at 1050mhz and have not had a single issue since.

If this happens to fix your issue I suggest sending the card back as its not operating correctly, however for me as I got the card at a good price and its for my second PC I was not so bothered.
Click to expand...

Thanks Welshrat! It may not be the issue but it gives me more things to try. If it does work at a slightly lower clock I would be tempted to keep it but you are right it's not working as intended then. I'm taking deivery of the PSU in an hour and testing it Friday so will keep the thread updated.
 
Dazzo said:
Thanks Welshrat! It may not be the issue but it gives me more things to try. If it does work at a slightly lower clock I would be tempted to keep it but you are right it's not working as intended then. I'm taking deivery of the PSU in an hour and testing it Friday so will keep the thread updated.
Click to expand...

Cool, well its worth a shot. I used afterburner to drop the clocks to 1050 and once I was sure this was the issue I used some freely available tools to alter the bios, I tried to modify the voltage as well but I think the gigabyte cards are hard locked and to be honest the performance at these clocks is still great so just left it at that.
 
PSU changed to superflower.

Had no issues playing bf4 last night for a few hours, played d3 tonight and it locked up, didn;t crash to desktop though. Going to try the other suggestions of checking to see if the clocks are stable (not oc'd by me) and go from there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom