Overclocked gtx 970 causing reboots

First off here are my specs: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vK3Nbv
I bought a MSI gtx 970 gaming 4g after suspecting my previous card ( MSI gtx560ti OC) was causing reboots in games. While waiting for the 4g to arrive i reassambled the PC and it seemed to have solved the rebooting problem. I tried playing star wars battlefront today and the reboots are back. I turned off "restart after BSOD" option, and still I get a reboot with no errors or BSOD, but it only happens if I run the card overclocked with 110% power limit, +140 core clock and +500 memory clock in afterburner with no additional voltage. This overclock was stable for half an hour under Heaven benchmark . No crash, artifacts or throttling that I noticed, but there was a popping sound with no errors periodically which I assumed was part of the benchmark. Also tried +87 mV additional voltage for this OC but it didn't help. I have the latest drivers and GPU BIOS.

It seems I only get these reboots not while the actual game play but after I open the game menu or waiting for match/respawn. Corsair accepted my RMA request for the PSU, but sending it will still take some time so I want to avoid it if possible. What do you think may cause the PC to reboot at game menus particularly? Also, is it normal for these cards at stock settings to have higher voltage at the game menus/loading screens than while in game? (1.225V versus 1.200V)

Have you DL the latest drivers for that game? Some just came out a day or so ago...

Makes sense because of vdroop. When there is a load on the card, the voltage tends to sag a little. That said, try raising the voltage by .05 or so and see if that stabilizes things.

EarthDog said:

Have you DL the latest drivers for that game? Some just came out a day or so ago...

Makes sense because of vdroop. When there is a load on the card, the voltage tends to sag a little. That said, try raising the voltage by .05 or so and see if that stabilizes things.

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I was trying with the previous drivers first, then downloaded the latest drivers. Both result in reboots.

Wouldn't the Heaven Benchmark put load on the card the same way a game would? Wierdly though, the benchmark seems to keep the GPU at 1.225V while during gameplay I have 1.200V. Is it possible that the load on the CPU causes the power supply to fail? 750W should be more than enough but is there a way to ascertain PSU is the culprit?

I already tried with the highest possible voltage in afterburner (+87mV), which results in 1.243V for some reason under game load and the PC still randomly rebooted. Also, shouldn't instability cause crashes, artifacts, freezes, etc. instead of reboots?

Wouldn't the Heaven Benchmark put load on the card the same way a game would?

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In similar ways, not the same.

Is it possible that the load on the CPU causes the power supply to fail?

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If the PSU is working properly, no. If the PSU is failing in some way, sure.

750W should be more than enough but is there a way to ascertain PSU is the culprit?

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Not without swapping them. You can try running a CPU stress test and Heaven looping at the same time and see if it shuts down.

I already tried with the highest possible voltage in afterburner (+87mV), which results in 1.243V for some reason under game load and the PC still randomly rebooted. Also, shouldn't instability cause crashes, artifacts, freezes, etc. instead of reboots?

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Are you hitting the power limit when you are overclocking? Does the system do this with the GPU at stock speeds? Perhaps you are hitting the power limit - though it should be throttling and not rebooting the PC. Instability can be any of those things.

What is in the PC, full specs would be helpful. When you say it's re booting, is it shutting down and you have to hit the power button to turn back on or is it just closing windows and then starting back up? If it is totally shutting off I would point my finger at the Psu.

Full specs was at first line of my post http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vK3Nbv
It is shutting the PC down and turning it on again without me doing anything. Also turned off the restart after BSOD option in windows. Previously reassembling the PC seemed to fix the issue, so could it be the 6/8 pin connectors or specific rails on the PSU that is faulty? I don't want to RMA the PSU without more confirmation.

With my previous graphics card (MSI gtx560ti OC) I could run Prime 95 and Furmark together with no problem but in games PC would reboot continously and OCCT PSU test would instantly cause a reboot. After reassembling the PC, the OCCT PSU test stopped causing instant reboots so I assumed somehow it was fixed, until today I tried playing star wards battlefront with my new graphics card. I will try running GPU and CPU stress test together anyway just to be sure.

I only get reboots during games and never in benchamrking/stress testing/idle/browsing etc.

I'd say it's the card or drivers then.

I've got money on the drivers, especially since you're seeing the most issues with a BETA of a brand new game.

Go download the newest GPU driver and DDU. Run DDU and completely remove all traces of your current driver.
Reboot.
Install the newest GPU driver for your equipment.

I did clean install the newest driver but without running DDU. I will try it next. Also sw battlefront has 16gb ram recommended (8gb minimum) when I have 8gb, but the memory usage was never above 60% so I don't think it is the issue.
Also, the 8 pin connector didn't perfectly plug and I didn't push it further not to cause damage to the graphics card, but the card seems fine during benchmarking load so I guess it isn't the issue either. I will try changing the connectors and rails as last resort anyway if nothing works.

EarthDog said:

I'd say it's the card or drivers then.

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Agreed and sorry I missed the specs on the PC.

Eadan said:

I did clean install the newest driver but without running DDU.

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Those 2 statements dont go together

LOL! They do, technically anyway! With the NVIDIA drivers you have the option to perform a 'clean install'. Typically that works, if not, like we may be seeing now, DDU.

I only run DDU if I have to, which is not often.

I am running DDU right now, but I noticed many kernel power /kernel processor power etc. entries in the event viewer. Could they be useful somehow?

Damn , was almost sure running DDU and reinstalling nvidia driver solved the issue but then I get a reboot after 20 minutes.

And it only happens on this game? If it doesn't happen in anything else, it would be the game.

Mine froze a couple of times, but my setup is different (AMD GPU).

Did you try putting the graphics card in a different PCI slot?

I didn't try gaming much after I got the card. I barely started Witcher 3 and Soma to check what my FPS is. I wiill play some games first chance to see if it's only battlefront related, but having the same reboot issue prior to changing the graphics card makes me think it's most likely a hardware issue. I can run benchmarks, stress tests, and other stuff just fine.

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The other expansion slot on my mobo is PCI-E 2.0 8x ( at most ) which would decrease the performance I think. But changing the PCI connectors and PSU rails most likely was what solved the issue with my previous graphics card.

I don't think the performance hit will be that bad.

Performance Hit < PC Crash

JrClocker said:

I don't think the performance hit will be that bad.

Performance Hit < PC Crash

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I agree. Anyway I wasn't able to game much for the last 6 months and the games I am interested in aren't usually the most demanding. I will be losing 10 to 20% FPS in games which I probably won't play much anyway.

But having the same reboots with my previous graphics card even at stock speeds, I fear I might soon start getting reboots with no additional overclock using this graphics card too. Also, RMA ing the PSU would help me eliminate it as a possibility in potential future problems, but I would have to waste time and money and wait for their return. I guess I will experiment with the settings a little more and decide based on that.

As I feared it started happening at stock settings too. Once a reboot happens, it also starts happening more quickly after I open a game. (20 seconds instead of 20 minutes)
I will try reassebmling everything one more time and then just RMA the PSU.

Edit: Weirdly I am now suspecting my CPU may be causing the reboots. I was reverting every change I made since the PC seemed to work last, and one of them was reducing CPU cooler (Themaltake FRIO) fans from 100% to %70ish. I thought this was okay as CPU core and GPU temps were always below 65 in games with the new 70% setting. But after recent reboots there were some kernel power events with "thermalzone" in their description in the event viewer. Anyway I increase the CPU fans to 100% again, and haven't got any reboots within an hour. Of cource if I try OC ing the GPU again, I get reboots within minutes. ( CPU overclock is fine though)

Could it be that increasing GPU power usage cause fluctuations in the CPU voltage and increase the CPU package temperature which is casuing reboots? I forgot to put the washers between the cooler and the motherboard while installing the CPU cooler. It was without the washers since I had the PC, and the temperatures seemed fine, so I thought they were not really necessary. Next reboot I get, I am reinstalling the cooler and putting the washers.