PC Drivers & Software

[charliedog]

Hello I have a windows 10 system with 8 gbs of ram an AMD FX-6300 6 core cpu a 500w PCU and a AMD Radeon R7 370 Series GPU. Im on driver version 18.6.1 and my temperatures are all normal, I havent had any spikes or anything, but as soon as I put graphic load on the system, mostly happens with games, whether its a brand new beautiful game or a game from 2006 my PC crashes, i get a million lines accross my screen and it just restarts, sometimes it takes a few hours of gaming til it crashes, and sometimes just loading up the title screen will crash it. This has been happening more and more frequently as time goes on, originally it would only crash every few days, now its several times a day. It will not crash in safe mode, ive tried stressing it and putting it under load for hours and it wont crash in safe mode, so my guess is it has something to do with the drivers that are loaded in regular boot up. I appreciate all the information and help you can give me .

Message was edited by: Matt B

Title Edit

[charliedog]

well GPU underclocked to the max and it crashed immediately,so i guess the

PSU is busted, i am getting 9v from it so now im wondering if i can set up

a profile or something that will force my pc to stay under 9v of power

usage, i mostly play mmos, which can be played on a laptop from walmart, so

i would think i can reduce my speeds quite a bit and still be able to play

them just fine while remaining under 9v of power

[elstaci]

Most of your computer Hardware like GPUs, Fans, PCIe Cards plus electronic components on the Motherboard requires a healthy 12 VDC supply. If it is getting 9 VDC it won't operate correctly or worse damage the hardware or electronic components that requires a good 12 VDC source.

I would RMA the PSU and get another one.

Here are the official PSU Voltage tolerances:

1. Power supplies follow guidelines of INTELS power supply design guides. The tolerance of output voltage on each output rail is shown below.

Output Rail	+ 3.3V	+5V	-5V (*)	+12V	-12V	+5Vsb
Max.	+3.47V	+ 5.25V	-5.5V	+ 12.6V	-13.2V	+ 5.25V
Min.	+3.14V	+ 4.75V	-4.5V	+ 11.4V	-10.8V	+ 4.75V
Range	±5%	±5%	±10%	±5%	±10%	±5%

EDIT: Was seeing again the GPU TEST images from OCCT from the previous Post. I NOW noticed that the 12 VDC was less than 10 VDC, around 9.xx volts. So you definitely have a bad PSU.

OCCT DATA IMAGE from previous Post for the 12 VDC :

It showing 9.76 VDC with spikes to 9.87 VDC. The 12 VDC shouldn't have gone below 11.4 VDC under load.

[elstaci]

You didn't mention Cooler Master PSU Make & Model.

But went to Cooler Master and found this PSU - Cooler Master Elite V3 which is a very poor efficiency wise PSU (75%). Yet this PSU has a three year Warranty on it.

So, most likely your Cooler Master PSU is still under Warranty if you bought it 2 years ago.

[colesdav]

Hi,

Something on your GPU could be failing / getting worse / shorting the more you test it.

I think the only way you should proceed now is to remove your GPU and/or Power Supply.

Stop testing with that GPU in your system. If you keep going it could short completely and that might damage your PSU, if it is not damaged already.

If you remove the GPU, I am guessing you have no way to get video out from your PC or does the motherboard have some basic video output onboard?
If you can get video output via the motherboard then run some OCCT tests with the GPU removed from your system and check what the power rails are doing with OCCT.
If you then use a voltmeter to check what the Power Supply Rails are providing with the GPU disconnected by measuring the voltage on the pins of the PCIe Connector Lead.

If you remove the power supply you should then be able to set up and test the Power Supply under specified load and see if it produces 12v output.
You need need detail of the exact model (link to website info) and you need to contact the PSU Support.
They should be able to give you their recommended way to do that.
It will likely involve adding a jumper lead between some output pins of one of the leads that normally connects to your motherboard.
Remember before you RMA your Power Supply you will have to follow all the checks they ask you to perform.
You may have to pay for postage costs.

If they receive the PSU and they find there is nothing wrong with it, you will also likely have to  pay return postage and if they sent you a replacement in the meantime, you will likely have to pay for it.

Bye.

[elstaci]

To purchase a very high quality PSU that is GOLD or PLATINUM standard will cost over 150 to 200 dollars easily depending on the Wattage.

The PSU is one of the most important components in a computer. If you a install a very HIGH QUALITY PSU, your computer will have no problems with future upgrades in hardware or the amount of hardware installed on your computer. If you purchase a CHEAP PSU, May work fine for a while then you will start having all types of weird power problems on your computer.

[pokester]

This would be a pretty decent power supply for under $100. I have used lots of these with zero issues and they put out the power they claim to. It is $80 after $10 rebate. If you need full modular your going to go up to around $129.00.

EVGA SuperNOVA G3 750 Watt 80 Plus Gold ATX Power Supply 220-G3-0750-X1 - Micro Center

[elstaci]

I am surprised at the price for this PSU. It looks like a very good PSU. Even has a 10 year Warranty which is outstanding. EVGA makes good PSU like Corsair.

[charliedog]

Thanks everyone for all your help

[pokester]

I personally have 3 of them. I have installed probably around 30 of them and never an issue. I like the EVGA products as long as they are the mid tear and up. They stand behind warranty from what I have read from others too, I have yet to ever need to do that. I did need to talk to tech support on one I used and needed an adapter and the guy shipped it to me for free too. Good support!

[colesdav]

Hi,

The cost / grade of the PSU is not a 100% guarantee of reliability.

I bought two very expensive Corsair AX1200i PSU and had to return two of them for RMA because they started tripping out at boot or normal operation after two years of use on different machines . In both cases I was running only one or two GPUs from each power supply (this was before my R9 FuryX / Nano MultiGPU work started). The PC's run from filter and battery backup mains supply. The power supply to the building and the sockets driving the PC have been checked and certified. There are no problems with the motherboard or CPU's. When the first one failed it took out a hard drive. When  second one failed it also took out my Corsair H100i Watercooler. Corsair were really good in about the RMA's and they paid for some of the postage costs in cases where I had to send failed Watercooler long distance... but it was a very time consuming process, and to be honest I did not want the second AX1200i RMA unit, I wanted to pay for the difference and try an AX1500i or AX1600i  because I am sick of the AX1200i's failing on me, however that was not an option. Corsair told me I was simply unlucky. There are a number of other people reporting the same failure on forums. The AX1200i is a 'digital' PSU with connection to Corsair Link software, so it is perhaps an unusual situation.

If the PSU does need to be replaced it might be a good idea to search user forums and see what people say on there about performance / quality/ reliability of a particular PSU model.
That may mean purchasing  a PSU that is about to be EOL'ed rather than a new one just on the market but at least you gave some real world reliability feedback before purchase.

Bye.

[elstaci]

You are very correct that Price does not correlate to a good product.

But if you buy an expensive PSU, most likely it will have better or much superior electronic components installed and better Warranty plus more features to it. Also better voltage filtering and regulation than a cheaper PSU.

This is the Corsair PSU I purchased on 09/24/2010 from Amazon:

Corsair Professional Series  AX 850 Watt ATX/EPS Modular 80 PLUS Gold (AX850)

This particular Model has been working fantastically with a Computer whose motherboard is totally filled with Hard drives (5), Optic Drives ((4), and PCIe cards (5 or 6) including a High end GPU Card . It has a Seven year Warranty on it. Amazon doesn't have the price I paid, But I remember it cost around 250.00 at that time.

They are not selling this model no more but this was one of Corsair High End PSU at the time.

[colesdav]

Hi,

Not arguing with you on that. Just saying go on user recommendations / feedback and I think going for older "tested in the field" PSU is a better idea than shooting for a brand new high end with lots of additional features one like I did. 

The Corsair AX1200i 1200Watt, 80 Plus  Platinum Certified Digital ATX Power Supply has a 10 year Warranty & top end  components as well.
They cost ~ 450 at time of purchase.
I would not recommend them to anyone based on my particular experience. Same issue of tripping out on boot or during operation reported elsewhere.
Corsair is a great brand and I have Corsair for most cases peripherals, headsets  etc. They did say I was 'unlucky'. Perhaps there were issues early on with some batches of AX1200i.

So charliedog has a couple of recommendations of good power supplies on this post and one to avoid if he does need a new PSU.

Bye.

[elstaci]

Before I purchase any type of Computer peripherals or components like PSU, I usually try to find Official Reviews on the products and then go to websites that has Users Input on the product like Amazon.com, or Newegg,com, or even Walmart.com, etc.

Usually I check for the One or Two Star reviews to find out if there is any common defect or issues on the product I want to purchase. I generally avoid the four and five star reviews because it doesn't help in evaluating the quality of the product.

[colesdav]

Yes, good idea.

I couldn't do that at the time because when I purchased the first AX1200i it was shortly after they just got to market where I am.
I purchased the second one a year later, before the first one failed ... the failure only started to become frequent and a problem  at around 2 year for both supplies.

Cheers.

[colesdav]

Hi

Thanks for helping out.

Regarding the 12 volt power supply showing 9 V,  no it does not seem normal at all.
It indicates that either the PSU has failed or the PSU is having to supply too much current to something connected to it, and therefore it suffers Output Voltage drop beyond spec.

Cheers.

[colesdav]

Hi,

I suggest you see if you can purchase one of these or similar to quickly test your PSU:
Thermaltake - global - Dr.Power II

You should be able to get one for ~ $30 or less.

Using one will save you lots of time and will tell you if the PSU is operating outside of PSU specs within ~ 5 minutes of testing.

There are cheaper products around that cost }~ $15.

Bye.

[colesdav]

Hi,

There is a program called memtestCL that I have not used for a few years that you can use to test GPU Vram on AMD cards.
You can find it on Github or download a copy from SimTK.

It had some limitations on the amount of memory that could be tested and I was not that happy with it.
It does not look to have been developed further or updated  a while, but you may want to investigate further.

Bye.