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Which is defective my Radeon HD6870 or my PSU?

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iamsuchan00b

New Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2011
Specs:
AMD Phenom II X4 945 Processor 3.00 GHz
8 gb of ram
64 bit OS, win 7
Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer INC. M3A78-CM Rev X.0x

PSU: PSU CORSAIR|500W CMPSU-500CXV2 R
HIS 6870 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E

I did the following:

updated driver
uninstalled and reinstalled driver
updated my motherboard's BIOS
checked that everything is connected well

Symptoms:

I sometimes get black screens, squares, lines, and general colored clutter. With the occasional BSODs. I also have a BSOD log if you want me to post. :facepalm:

I can play 8 min or so of any game before it crashes. I tried this with civ v, wow, and Skyrim.

What's wrong? Is there something incompatible? Is there something wrong with my PSU or GFX card or both?

Please help. Thanks. :)
 
Those are called artifacts and are related to your graphics card. You get them if you OC more than your card can handle, and/or if your GPU core voltage is too low. It could be too low due to your gcard being broken or the the PSU being too weak (or broken)

BSOD on the other hand is most of the time a result of a driver issue OR its related to your memory (broken, overclocked or not supplied enough power). They can also be the result of CPU overclocking but ive never got a BSOD from an OCd GPU (they usually just crash/freeze the PC).

With this in mind, I would guess its your PSU thatd broken or too weak for your setup.

Confirm this by downloading and running Furmark. Unlike a game, Furmark stresses your GPU ****loads while leaving the CPU alone. If Furmarking doesnt result in a BSOD, but gaming does, then its most probable that your PSU is too weak. Thats because that when you play games, you stress the entire system and not just one part of it, like the graphics card. Your components dont get enough power (correct voltages) and the memory, being the most sensible to instability, gives you a BSOD.
 
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any recent changes to your pc? is the video card a new addition? is anything oc'ed?
 
These are both new. I was thinking of using Furmark, but the thing is I'm scared I might void my warranty. I am also not overclocking. Could it be that my motherboard is incompatible? I mean i'm using the vid card right now, but it's not doing games at all. I bought my computer that was new like a year a go. Also, my video card requirement is like 500w, and i have a 500w psu.

Should I just return both pieces and hope that they both come in unbroken?
 
GPU most likely has issues and needs to be RMA'd.

First though, check the PCIe slot to make sure there isn't any junk in it.
 
Running Furmark would not void your warranty. To make sure it's not the PSU, run Furmark and Prime95 at the same time.
 
I ran Furmark and I had artificats followed by a black scree, followed by a BSOD. This happened within seconds of me loading Furmark. I couldn't even get to prime95. I'm pretty ignorant here, so what does this say?
 
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