Could I have a bad PSU?

[moresnowdays]

I actually posted this in the GPU nvidia forum, but thought this might be the better place for it since it may be a PSU issue?

My specs are in my sig, but I'm getting acquainted with the 560 ti S/C. When I play a DVD in the optical drive, all looks and plays good for awhile (few minutes usually). Then it's like the video suddenly went into slow motion.

Sometimes it will be brief, sometimes it will stay in a slow motion state or even freeze. I have also had the screen go black for a moment (both during a video, and while doing other things on the computer without a video playing).

I called EVGA technical support. They had me reboot in the bios, and look at the voltage of the 12v rail. It's at 11.904, and every so often (15-30sec) it will flicker up to 12.000. Technical support said they suspect an issue with the PSU.

Does this sound reasonable?

I'm running the latest Beta driver, holding GPU temps from 30-40c (Usually closer to the 30c range). I'm also have the CPU OC'd to 4.5. Had no issues after 3hrs of Prime95. I've now unclocked with bios back to default to see if it makes a difference, but I still see the same voltage and flux in the 12v rail.

 

[EarthDog]

The only way to tell if that voltage reading is accurate is to measure it with a DMM. That board doesnt have any easy read points either.

That said, I doubt its the PSU as it is a quality unit (though there are always bad apples on the tree). Also, if those software numbers are accurate, that is WELL within the specs for the 12v rail(s) (5%). Last thing that makes that suggestion seem false is that there is barely a load on the GPU even when playing a DVD that is hardware accelerated through your GPU.

Have you tried other drivers? What about the latest WHQL driver?
Updated your DVD player? Tried another one?
Does this happen in games or with a heavy load?

 

[moresnowdays]

It happened before and after I installed the latest beta driver from nvidia's website. I don't have any games, not sure that I really have anything that would really put a heavy load on the GPU.

Not sure what the WHQL driver is? I'll have to google it in a bit.

 

[EarthDog]

The WHQL driver is a release driver. Download that. Do not look for the beta and see if that helps out.

 

[moresnowdays]

After unclocking everything is good as far as I can tell. Seems odd that I can run prime95 for several hours when I had it OC'd at 4.5Ghz, but playing a DVD causes issue?

One thing I noticed watching GPU-Z is the GPU usage during play of a DVD is really low, but spikes to near 99% every few moments. That might be normal, but I'm new enough to find it odd.