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ASUS Strix GTX 970 Hardware Problems

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Sun Tsu

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Apr 14, 2015
I'm just wondering if anybody has heard of reported hardware problems when it comes to this card. The first one I purchased was faulty right from the start as I was getting random black screens and screen tears. I got it RMA'd and was shipped a replacement refurbished card which worked great for about 2 weeks. Now I'm getting the exact same issues but even worse.

I rebuilt my system this spring and putting an older EVGA GTX275 card in it doesn't cause this problem so I don't suspect it's any other hardware component. I will be opening another support case with ASUS to have this one returned but it's starting to get expensive shipping these things back on my dime.
 
I got mine from Amazon and had to return the 1st one exactly for the same reason, i couldn't do anything 3D, even chrome crashed if i used it for longer then 4m-5m. It was definitely crapped out, return it ASAP, my replacement seems to be working fine so far, only issue i have with it is VRM hitting over 100 Celsius every now and then (yes i like to play with setting on ultra).
 
SO, what I have been able to determine with this is that this video card does not like the fact that my CPU is overclocked. I have never experienced this before when overclocking a CPU. I get screen tearing when browsing web pages or even on the desktop, but if I game it's fine almost 100% of the time. If I remove the CPU overclock then the card seems to perform fine. Any ideas as to what might be causing this? I have tried both manually overclocking and tried the ASUS Bios one touch overclock feature with the same results.
 
I have never heard of that before...not sure how that would be related honestly.

Have you tried different drivers? Or disabling hardware acceleration of the browser?
 
I've done both, the drivers are the latest greatest from Nvidia and when talking with ASUS about it previously they had me disable the hardware acceleration as well as several other 3D GPU settings with no effect. I find it funny that an ASUS Graphics card wouldn't work properly with an ASUS mobo. Unfortunately I don't have another GTX970 from a different vendor to test with right now to see if its this specific card/manufacturer or if it's something else with this system. The fact that it did it with my older Sandybridge system leads me to believe it's this specific card.
 
I dont think its a problem with compatibility between their mobo and the card... otherwise whoever else is running such a setup would have this problem. ;)

Also, since it did it on SB, makes sense that it has nothing to do with the board either.
 
My thoughts are the same. I suspect that this rebuilt card is faulty as well. It was fine for about 2 weeks after I got it and then started acting up. Talking with ASUS has not resolved anything and they are no longer willing to help with this issue.
 
Can you drop that card in another PC and see if it happens there? Have you tried using a driver cleaner like DDU to completely wipe the drivers and start over? How about a complete OS reinstall?
 
Well, the entire system has been rebuilt with the OS re-installed. this first started happening on the SB system so I rebuilt it this spring with the i5 processor and new Mobo with the same results. That being said last night I upgraded to Windows 10 in hopes that it would help and the problem seems worse. I will use DDU to completely wipe the drivers. If that doesn't work then I will take the card and run it in my fathers machine for a week and see if he has the same issues. Either that or I go out and purchase a different brand and see if the same problem happens. Thanks for the ideas.
 
Well, it turns out that it's not the overclock either. I have disabled it and set it back to the factory defaults, used the driver cleaner DDU to uninstall the Nvidia drivers. Rebooted and re-installed the latest driver and its still happening. Guess I will take the card out and put it in another PC to test for a while. The only components I didn't replace this spring where the RAM and the power supply. The fact that I can take this card out and put an older one in and the problem seems to go away makes me think that neither of those components are bad either. I'm starting to lean towards having to get a different card.
 
I'm watching this thread with interest. I was very close to pulling the trigger on a refurb ASUS Strix 970 for $290 on newegg. Now I am going to hold off for a bit or go with another brand (MSI, Zotac).
 
Super Nade said:
I'm watching this thread with interest. I was very close to pulling the trigger on a refurb ASUS Strix 970 for $290 on newegg. Now I am going to hold off for a bit or go with another brand (MSI, Zotac).
Click to expand...

Grab one of the EVGA models with the ACX 2.0 cooler
 
I have read lots of good reviews on this card so I don't know what to say. The first one was sent back for RMA and they confirmed that there was a problem with it in their testing. The repaired replacement card worked flawlessly for me for about 2 weeks and then started to do the same thing. I just think I ended up getting 2 lemons unfortunately.
 
Sun Tsu said:
The only components I didn't replace this spring where the RAM and the power supply. The fact that I can take this card out and put an older one in and the problem seems to go away makes me think that neither of those components are bad either.
Click to expand...

What power supply?
You never mentioned and it's not in your sig.
 
Corsair HX850w. It's been a great power supply and I have had way more running off of it in the past.
 
Sun Tsu said:
I'm just wondering if anybody has heard of reported hardware problems when it comes to this card. The first one I purchased was faulty right from the start as I was getting random black screens and screen tears. I got it RMA'd and was shipped a replacement refurbished card which worked great for about 2 weeks. Now I'm getting the exact same issues but even worse.

I rebuilt my system this spring and putting an older EVGA GTX275 card in it doesn't cause this problem so I don't suspect it's any other hardware component. I will be opening another support case with ASUS to have this one returned but it's starting to get expensive shipping these things back on my dime.
Click to expand...


Try this if you have a GTX970 or GTX980 and are getting black/blank screens...
Borrow another monitor to install...(not in place of your existing monitor)...but additional to the current one.
See if it boots on that other screen.
My own Gigabyte GTX970 was doing something very similar.
It turns out it was directing the video output signal to a phantom monitor #1 and my actual monitor was being seen as monitor #2...(so no picture).
It also would default to a 64Hz video signal while my monitor is 60Hz so I got an over-scan signal.
Once I was able to get a boot up, I went into Nvidia's control panel and set monitor#2 as the default.
I still have to wait longer than usual during boot up (for the monitor to pick-up signal)... and still have no BIOS diagnostic screen between power on and the Windows splash screen...but the card is stable once up and running.
Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
Well, after more testing (power supply included using a tester) all the other components check out fine. The end result was I picked up an EVGA GTX 970 Superclocked ACX2.0 today. Popped it in and not a single screen tear so far doing anything. I will give it a few weeks but I'm pretty confident saying that the replacement ASUS Strix card went bad as well. I will open yet another support case with ASUS and update them of that information and see if they will either replace it or refund me some money. I know the second won't be an option so I will be making them pay for the shipping costs completely on this one. If not I have a really expensive (albeit useless) door stop.
 
Sun Tsu said:
Well, after more testing (power supply included using a tester) all the other components check out fine. The end result was I picked up an EVGA GTX 970 Superclocked ACX2.0 today. Popped it in and not a single screen tear so far doing anything. I will give it a few weeks but I'm pretty confident saying that the replacement ASUS Strix card went bad as well. I will open yet another support case with ASUS and update them of that information and see if they will either replace it or refund me some money. I know the second won't be an option so I will be making them pay for the shipping costs completely on this one. If not I have a really expensive (albeit useless) door stop.
Click to expand...

Glad the new card is working, hopefully ASUS will work with you some to get a working card, then you can sell it to recoup some cash.
 
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