My Experience With Upgrading

[Mathew Steel 151]

So these last 3 days have been a huge learning curve for me. I installed a new GPU (EVGA SuperClocked GTX 970) along with a new PSU (EVGA 650W) on Christmas evening. It all ran fine without any problems, I ran it for about an hour and a half. Then, boxing day, I began downloading Fallout 4, during the download the PC randomly turned itself off. Instantly I thought it was just a power surge, so I turned it back on, it got to the Windows loading screen and switched back off.?

 

I pulled the PC out of it's place and opened it up. Feeling the PSU and GPU, I noticed both were pretty hot considering they weren't under a huge amount of workload. I also noticed "eco mode" on the PSU was enabled, thinking that the mode wasn't working as it should, I turned it off. I connected the PC back up and continued to download the game. It finished downloading and I started it up and played it for about 2 and a half hours, before closing it and having a break from the PC. I got back later and restarted the PC, as I was watching YouTube it randomly switched off again, it was at this time I thought the PC was still overheating. If any of you saw the photo of my setup on another post, you'll see that my PC was in a compartment in the desk, where it was sort of boxed in. Thinking the new GPU was too hot to keep in that area, I've moved the PC onto my desk.

 

This worked fine for the rest of boxing day. Today, I started the PC and started watching YouTube again, during which, it switched off again. I was starting to think this was a power issue. I swapped plug sockets and tried again, to my surprise, it turned off again after a random amount of time. I was now thinking the new PSU was faulty. Trying a few different things and an old PSU, I noticed the problem still occurred. I was back to the idea of overheating, since when the PC turned off, it wouldn't instantly restart and I'd have to wait a few minutes before turning it back on. I downloaded a program to monitor my components temperatures, all of which were normal operating temperatures. I have ordered better and quieter fans now, since the PC is next to me and hence far more audible when using.?

 

Although, I wasn't convinced overheating was the problem. Which left me with the GPU. Perhaps it was the overclock, maybe EVGA pushed the overclock slightly too far for my PC to handle. I downloaded MSI Afterburner with the initial plan of lowering the core speeds. Until I stopped and thought, perhaps this wasn't the issue. I ran a Heaven Benchmark and kept MSI Afterburner open, I noticed the power consumption was right at 100%. So I paused the benchmark and went back into Afterburner. I increased the power allowance to the GPU and restarted the benchmark. Now power consumption was only at 107% max, with the allowance of 110%. The PC has been fine for the last hour, so I'm hoping it will be okay the rest of the day!

 

Hopefully I won't need to return to this post for more assistance, but hopefully this post has helped you in some way, perhaps if you run into similar issues in the future!

 

Happy holidays,

Tom :)

[Mathew Steel 151]

Well that didn't last much longer. I have a feeling my CPU is under too much strain as the case feels warm where the CPU is. Will lowering the overclock fix this somewhat?

 

But that doesn't make sense since it shouldn't be hot while watching YouTube.

Edited December 27, 2015 by Mathew Steel

[Lord_Chris 248]

It's definitely overheating, from what I see there. What you need to do is track down what's open, whether it will overheat if you do the same things multiple times (e.g. opening a specific steam game) .etc.

 

I'd personally try to narrow down the problem - what things do you have open in the background? I'd open things such as Task Manager and see what the resource usage says.

 

Regarding overclocking - I personally wouldn't do it and see if it helps at all. But unless you have a really good reason to overclock, personally I would never do it. 95% of the time at least, I would say you would not normally need to overclock.

[Mathew Steel 151]

The problem is that the GPU came overclocked by EVGA. I have no idea how to revert it, does MSI Afterburner say the stock settings as in "the core speed when I first connected the GPU" or "the default core speed as supplied by NVidia?"

 

Do you think it's GPU or CPU overheating? The CPU never overheated before.

 

Also, I'm monitoring my CPU and GPU temps right now, neither are above 45C, hopefully it should stay on while idle, otherwise it's going to open more possible issues.

Edited December 27, 2015 by Mathew Steel

[Mathew Steel 151]

Spoke too soon. It switched off again and the temps were normal :/

[Lord_Chris 248]

does MSI Afterburner say the stock settings as in "the core speed when I first connected the GPU" or "the default core speed as supplied by NVidia?"

 

Screenshot maybe?

 

I'm honestly not sure about what is to blame here. It's beyond my hardware knowledge.

[Mathew Steel 151]

I figured out how it works, the last issue here is that I can't save my MSI settings. I've lowered the overclock and it won't save.

 

EDIT: Completely reinstalled drivers to see how that goes. CPU and GPU temps aren't high while idle so if it crashes I'm sure I can completely wipe out the idea of overheating.

Edited December 27, 2015 by Mathew Steel

[Mathew Steel 151]

I've lowered the overclock on the GPU at last, and now everything seems to be good! Thanks for the help Chris :)

[Lord_Chris 248]

Good to hear the issue is resolved. :)

[Mathew Steel 151]

I thought it was worth coming back here with an update in case anyone runs into this problem. So all along after troubleshooting lots and lots, it turns out my PSU was faulty. It was being worn down more and more through use. I tested it one last time using the testing device that came with it and the fan instantly cut out. I've sent it back for a replacement and am awaiting it soon! :)

[Lord_Chris 248]

Thanks for the update, and good to hear you got to the bottom of what was causing you so much grief! I'm sure many people will be thankful for this :)