Display driver crashes when GPU hits 70c

[DoomSlayer]

I don't know if its a hardware issue, or a driver issue, as my GPU driver will crash when my GTX 970 hits 70 or 75c.

I just got a 4k screen, it has no issues running any game at high settings 30 - 40fps. Now my GPU drivers crash after playing for 5 mins or so. As soon as my GPU hits 70-75c, the driver will crash. I have my card overclocked to 1580mhz STABLE.

It'll crash running at 1580mhz when the card hits 70c. But, if I lower it to 1560, or 1550, it'll still crash once it hits 70c (takes the same time to crash too). So it isn't a overclock problem. Its either my hardware, PSU or driver issue.

???????

How can I fix this problem? I just got a 4k screen, and when my 970 ACTUALLY works, it will run most games at 30 - 40fps medium - high settings. But I can't play at those settings as my driver will crash which is getting really, really annoying.

Is there any way I can fix this?

My specs

MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G
I7 - 2600 BCLK oc'd 4.1ghz
ASRock z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3 (2 broken RAM slots)
2x4 8GB Mushkin Blackline ddr3 1600mhz (single channel)
Corsair VS Series VS600 600watt PSU
Nvidia driver 431.36

Edit -
Downgrading drivers to see if it changes anything.

[hawkeye]

It's probably the psu. gtx970's require a 12V power feed with low ripple. Old psus tend to be poor at ripple control. You can google ripple control for more info.

Using the 4k monitor raises the load on the 970, which then draws more power. As the power usage rises the 12V ripple gets too big and the gtx970 crashes.

I have an i7-2600 and had a 970 and it happened to me with a 750W Thermaltake psu. Here is the psu tier list. The corsair vs is tier D, which is a don't use.

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/1045610-new-psu-tier-list/

If you want to test this theory, underclock the 970. To do this download MSI Afterburner and reduce the voltage that the 970 can get to say 80%, plus the 2 other sliders by about 100 each and see what happens.

[DoomSlayer]

Originally posted by hawkeye:

It's probably the psu. gtx970's require a 12V power feed with low ripple. Old psus tend to be poor at ripple control. You can google ripple control for more info.

Using the 4k monitor raises the load on the 970, which then draws more power. As the power usage rises the 12V ripple gets too big and the gtx970 crashes.

I have an i7-2600 and had a 970 and it happened to me with a 750W Thermaltake psu. Here is the psu tier list. The corsair vs is tier D, which is a don't use.

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/1045610-new-psu-tier-list/

If you want to test this theory, underclock the 970. To do this download MSI Afterburner and reduce the voltage that the 970 can get to say 80%, plus the 2 other sliders by about 100 each and see what happens.

Yeah, under load the PSU drops to 11.7v, sometimes 11.6 but usually it'll hover around 11.7 when gaming, at least thats what HWINFO tells me.

I think its the PSU then, how good is my PSU? Should I get a new one? I never knew 970s needed straight 12vs, I have no clue how good my PSU actually is... All I know its 600watts, and that's all I need for right now, I think.

I downgraded drivers, and my power usage went up by 10%. It still hovers around 60%TDP in game. I have no clue why my 970 isn't using more power, it has 280watts avaliable to it via bios, it's only using 210-220.

Heres a Metro exodus video, I have it running at 4k medium settings. Its getting 25-30fps, at 60% TDP. That could easily be 35 to 40fps if the GPU was using all of its power.... ?????

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxF7BOkRn7Y

[hawkeye]

The voltage isn't important. It's the squareness of the dc wave being supplied. The power rating of the psu means nothing. It isn't an indicator of the signal rectification capability.

Framerate and TDP aren't directly related. The gpu frequency is the limiting factor. The bios mod probably removes the limitation.

[UTFapolloMarine]

when OC it still reflects on the rest of your hardware, you said two dead ram slots? seems like a mobo problem id just get a whole new board before it takes out all the rest of your system man good luck

[DoomSlayer]

Here's a screenshot of my GPU Power usage... it was using 90% of its max TDP in the main menu of doom. But whenever I get into the game and actually start playing it, the GPU power usage will hover around 50-60%?????? how can I fix this?

Edit

This is getting very frustrating... Why is my GPU not using all of its power? It'll use all of its power in the bloody main menu of a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game, but not when I'm playing it???? WTF!... pissoff...
Next GPU I ain't going nvidia, getting AMD instead... I'm tired of this ♥♥♥♥.
https://imgur.com/a/Maqko7u

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

I doubt it`s a driver issue, sounds more like a PSU issue especially since you have really rubbish quality PSU or issue with the card itself.
Anyway GTX 970 is way too weak card for 4K resolution as well, I would not go anywhere near 4K with less then RTX 2070, preferably better.

[DoomSlayer]

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

I doubt it`s a driver issue, sounds more like a PSU issue especially since you have really rubbish quality PSU or issue with the card itself.
Anyway GTX 970 is way too weak card for 4K resolution as well, I would not go anywhere near 4K with less then RTX 2070, preferably better.

Yeah, the thing is how bad is my PSU? I'm going to upgrade my CPU/MOBO in the coming week, and I don't know if I should get a new PSU or not.

Doom is getting 45-50fps at 4k high settings, it isn't too bad for 4k.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Originally posted by Flukey:

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

I doubt it`s a driver issue, sounds more like a PSU issue especially since you have really rubbish quality PSU or issue with the card itself.
Anyway GTX 970 is way too weak card for 4K resolution as well, I would not go anywhere near 4K with less then RTX 2070, preferably better.

Yeah, the thing is how bad is my PSU? I'm going to upgrade my CPU/MOBO in the coming week, and I don't know if I should get a new PSU or not.

Doom is getting 45-50fps at 4k high settings, it isn't too bad for 4k.

Corsair VS line is really bottom of the barrel and their worst one, their decent lines being TX and RMx. I would swap it out for something better like gold certified 650W Seasonic Focus, Focus Plus, Corsair TX, RMx, EVGA G2 or G3.

[DoomSlayer]

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

Originally posted by Flukey:

Yeah, the thing is how bad is my PSU? I'm going to upgrade my CPU/MOBO in the coming week, and I don't know if I should get a new PSU or not.

Doom is getting 45-50fps at 4k high settings, it isn't too bad for 4k.

Corsair VS line is really bottom of the barrel and their worst one, their decent lines being TX and RMx. I would swap it out for something better like gold certified 650W Seasonic Focus, Focus Plus, Corsair TX, RMx, EVGA G2 or G3.

Ah I see. That makes sense now. Would the Gigabyte GP-G750H be a good choice?

Maybe its because the GPU is entering some kind of protection mode, and locking its self to half of its power TDP because the PSU isn't supplying enough power? It just did that in Doom, locked itself to 50% TDP and the fps just plummeted to 20. Before it was going strong around 50fps @4k.

Here's a video I did a half hour ago, when the system was actually working fine. I rqan the game at pretty much max, and it ran damn well for just a GTX 970.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PsQtK0-8UE

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Originally posted by Flukey:

Ah I see. That makes sense now. Would the Gigabyte GP-G750H be a good choice?

Decent enough, certainly better then what you have now.

[tigerxs1]

with zotac we can use firestorm to oc etc,it has a fan control.we can use advanced setting and set the fan speed in steps,there must be a simular programme for nvidia or whateva make you card is,unsure if firestorm works on other brands or only zotac? if u can find a simular programe just crank the fan speed above normal to keep temps down,my 980ti will run 4k but system runs hot ie it doesnt like it for too long

[DoomSlayer]

Originally posted by tigerxs1:

with zotac we can use firestorm to oc etc,it has a fan control.we can use advanced setting and set the fan speed in steps,there must be a simular programme for nvidia or whateva make you card is,unsure if firestorm works on other brands or only zotac? if u can find a simular programe just crank the fan speed above normal to keep temps down,my 980ti will run 4k but system runs hot ie it doesnt like it for too long

I'm using MSI afterburner, I already have the fans locked to 100%, even before the card hits 45c just to keep the temp down for as long as I can. I modified the bios on my GPU, so its using double the power its rated for, and its running at 1.3v. Even with all this extra power, it only hits 75c max. I haven't had 1 thermal issue with this card, MSI for me has been great.