PC Graphics

[alfata]

At this stage I'm open to any ideas no matter how crazy to try to figure this out.

Setup:
Ryzen 5 7600X (water cooled)
ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2
be quiet! System power 10 - 850W
MSI RX 7900XT 20GB
2x ADATA 32GB DDR5 5600
2TB SSD
2TB HDD

1x1440p 144hz
1x1080p 60hz

Context:
I bought the system August 2023
By end of November i had started to get the Black/green screen crashes that are everywhere in this forum
after month and a half of troubleshooting every possible solution under the sun offered on any forum I ended up sending it to be RMA'd
after 1 month battle with the retailer and 2 month battle with the distributor/factory they ended up replacing it.

So i was running with a brand new card as of mid March.
and now its started to show almost identical behavior.

Behavior:
Teams screen sharing - crash after ~15 min - inconsistent
Sniper Elite - crash on specific locations - within 30 sec- 100% consistent
                      - crash on varied locations ~30 min - inconsistent
Jedi Survivor - Crash within 1 min of game start - consistent
Frostpunk 2  - Crash within 10 min of game start - inconsistent

Only difference in behavior is that it used to crash with a driver timeout.
Now the crashes are either game engine crashes or mix of game engine crash and driver timeout

Changing rendering API from DX12 to Vulcan seems to make the crashes less often but on more consistent locations (sniper elite at lest).

As I see it I am either looking at consistently defective MSI cards (perfectly possible considering its MSI)
or something in the system is causing the cards to degrade.
System never goes above 75-80 C

my only possible thought regarding it is this:
Card is 310W
the card has 3x8pin cables
PSU has only  2x2 cables
This means realistically the card can pull only 300 from the cables.

This should not be a problem because 300+75 from the PCI-E should be more than enough
But if the card is spiking and attempting to pull =>75 from the PCI maybe

I'm not really familiar with this scenario and from what i've read it really should not be an issue but if someone know or has any ideas please.

[Koyote7667]

my only possible thought regarding it is this:
Card is 310W
the card has 3x8pin cables
PSU has only  2x2 cables

edit- holy sh1t.......and or wow

[FunkZ]

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@alfata wrote:

be quiet! System power 10 - 850W
MSI RX 7900XT 20GB
the card has 3x8pin cables
PSU has only  2x2 cables

---

Are you stating that the card has three 8-pin connectors, but you only have two plugged in?

Or are you pointing out that the power supply only has two PCIe cables with dual 6+2-pin connectors on each cable?

https://www.bequiet.com/en/powersupply/3926

As long as you have all three connectors on the card populated it's fine, it doesn't matter that two feed from the same cable.

[alfata]

All 3 are plugged in. But the cables are rated for 150W.
so 1 cable has 2 connectors connected but it can still only pull 150.

Edit: and again - I don't belive this to be an issue, but I am stumped as to alternative causes so i am grasping at straws

[FunkZ]

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@alfata wrote:

All 3 are plugged in. But the cables are rated for 150W.
so 1 cable has 2 connectors connected but it can still only pull 150.

Edit: and again - I don't belive this to be an issue, but I am stumped as to alternative causes so i am grasping at straws

---

Technically it's the connector that is rated for 150W. The wires should be rated to carry more, otherwise the power supply manufacturer wouldn't put two connectors on one cable. Wire size is written on the insulation. (if you can see the end where it's not covered by mesh)

16 AWG wire is good for 10A x 12V = 120W per wire x 3 wires = up to 360W total on one PCIe cable. This cable would support dual 8-pin connectors.

18 AWG wire is good for 5A x 12V = 60W per wire x 3 wires = up to 180W total on one PCIe cable. This cable would only support a single 8-pin connector.

But anyway I agree with you, I don't believe the PCIe cables are to blame.

[Koyote7667]

And i would put 3 separate cables in. 

[alfata · Accepted solution]

Well, i RMA'd it again. The retailer said they've seen a lot of this issue with the 7900XT. To the point where they didn't even need to test it to know the issue. Apparently the card disconnects and it is a known manufacturing error.

[FunkZ]

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@alfata wrote:

The retailer said they've seen a lot of this issue with the 7900XT.

---

With the MSI card or all 7900XT in general?

[Koyote7667]

Dont worry. Its not the card. 

[Koyote7667]

Good luck. Its not the card. I bet.

@16:30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y36LMS5y34A

Get a psu from a buddy, with 3 outputs, dont use any "jumper" (because, thats basically what your doing) and enjoy happy issue free gaming. Or, just keep rma'ing a card, over and over. Gotta watch those transient spikes. That black screens ya. But hey do you. (endless loop)

Cheers. 

[alfata]

I've been following the topic for over a year, but its not relevant in my scenario. The cables are not damaged from over current and the PSU is not triggering any protections or over-current.  My only concern with it is that the card can't pull enough power (although logic would be that it will try and damage the cables/connectors)