Problems with new PC suspected Graphics Card

[Andddyyyy]

Hey guys, first post on the forums, brought here from TTL's YouTube

Okay, so down to the problem, just before Christmas i decided to buy parts for a new PC, I've got it all set up but i keep getting problems. The problems are that the screen freezes and a high pitched sound comes from the headphones and the computer goes unresponsive. Then once i restart the PC 8/10 times it freezes on the screen that tells you about the motherboard and i have to restart again. It happens randomly as well, sometimes it happen when i'm using it and sometimes i come back to it and its frozen on the motherboard screen and seem to be stuck in some sort of loop. I think its the graphics card because when i play games it seems to skip frames and doesn't feel very smooth. The PC specs are bellow:

Intel i7 2600k
As Rock Z77 extreme 4-m
16Gb of Ballistic Elite Ram
Intel 180Gb SSD
1.5Tb hard drive
EVGA Geforce gtx 660 SuperClocked to 3Gb
Corsair h100i
Corsair Gaming series 700w
NZXT Phantom

Anyone that could help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Guys!!!

 

[Feronix]

Woopsie, nvm

 

[Josh Weston]

Try using MSI Afterburner to lower the clocks of the GPU. The reference GTX660s are clocked at 980MHz, so try that.
If it fixes your problems, that was at fault.

May also be worth using something like Driver Sweeper to remove all remnants of your graphics card drivers. Install the latest version from the nVidia website and see if it has any effect.

If it's just for gaming; drop the i7 and get an i5 3570k. It performs just as well, you only really need an i7 when you're doing video editing, 3d rendering and such.

With the money you save on that, you can buy a GTX 660 Ti

Read the OP, dude. He's got the parts and is trying to diagnose/fix a problem he's having. He's not looking for new build advice.

 

[Andddyyyy]

If it's just for gaming; drop the i7 and get an i5 3570k. It performs just as well, you only really need an i7 when you're doing video editing, 3d rendering and such.

With the money you save on that, you can buy a GTX 660 Ti

I've already bought it :/ do you think i should return the graphics card of just swap it for my old one and seem if i have any problems with that?

 

[Feronix]

Yeah, I just noticed...

Sorry mate, I'm still half asleep. Was reading 2 topics at once

 

[Josh Weston]

No, I think you should go through the steps I described above. If everything's suddenly fixed by under-clocking your card, then yeah, you should RMA it.

 

[Andddyyyy]

Try using MSI Afterburner to lower the clocks of the GPU. The reference GTX660s are clocked at 980MHz, so try that.
If it fixes your problems, that was at fault.

May also be worth using something like Driver Sweeper to remove all remnants of your graphics card drivers. Install the latest version from the nVidia website and see if it has any effect.



Read the OP, dude. He's got the parts and is trying to diagnose/fix a problem he's having. He's not looking for new build advice.

I though it might have been the PCI slot i had it in so i swapped it out for another other and still the same problem. i've got some extra money do you think it would be worth my while trying to send the Graphics Card back to Scan and see if they'll give me a credit not or money back?

 

[Josh Weston]

Have you done what I advised? If not, then do so.

 

[Pr3d4t0r]

well the choices are quite limited here, like Josh said:

turn down/stock all clocks cpu, gpu and ram.

are the heatsinks attached properly? too much or too little paste? i.e. any overheating?

if its none of the above then its a soft issue, what game does it crash on? one specific or any game.

make sure that stuff like drivers and dx are all up to date etc. etc.

 

[litchu]

i once had that same problem and it got fixed by updating my bios. it was AMD though so dont know or it will work now aswell

 

[dragoonk]

Try using a different graphics card to test your computer, borrow one from a friend for a day or few hours, if you can. If that fixes the problem, then it is your graphics card, or you can reduce the clock a bit and see if that changes anything. Also you may wanna look at the ram, see if in the bios it works at its rated voltage. I think you should do what we suggested and see how that goes first.

 

[Andddyyyy]

well the choices are quite limited here, like Josh said:

turn down/stock all clocks cpu, gpu and ram.

are the heatsinks attached properly? too much or too little paste? i.e. any overheating?

if its none of the above then its a soft issue, what game does it crash on? one specific or any game.

make sure that stuff like drivers and dx are all up to date etc. etc.

I've turned both of them down to no avail :/ with the h100 the thermal past came already applied on the pump block so that shouldn't be the problem, with the corsair link software have the leds on the pump hooked up the the cpu temp and not sen anything worse than a light green. I was just on Call Of Duty games, i dosn't crash when i'm playing games but it feels very juddery and seems to skip frames. Could it be a bios update like i said bellow?

 

[GiftedReflex]

anytime I use any closed circuit watercooling system like the corsair hydro series stuff, I always apply my own thermal compound. simply because the compound that comes on the H100i isn't the same quality of the compound that you can get from companies like Noctua, Arctic Silver and the like. I would still check that, becuase once your CPU overheats, it has this problem as you describe.

 

[dragoonk]

Actually, the thermal paste the one that comes with the corsair watercooling kits is a very good paste. Back to the main topic, try to use a different graphics card... like I said earlier, try borrowing one for a few hours if you can. See how it goes. I fthe problem persists you can rule out your GPU... and seek other alternatives, like bios update even...

 

[iBeInspire]

You didn't list a sound card, I'm wondering weather you have some kind of Asus xonar card?
I had something similar to what you describe, and going to a custom set of drivers fixed it for me...

 

[Andddyyyy]

You didn't list a sound card, I'm wondering weather you have some kind of Asus xonar card?
I had something similar to what you describe, and going to a custom set of drivers fixed it for me...

no, not a sound card just the audio build into the motherboard

Actually, the thermal paste the one that comes with the corsair watercooling kits is a very good paste. Back to the main topic, try to use a different graphics card... like I said earlier, try borrowing one for a few hours if you can. See how it goes. I fthe problem persists you can rule out your GPU... and seek other alternatives, like bios update even...

just checked and the bios isn't up to date, would the bios being out of date throw up this type of problem? Have an old graphics card kicking about the place will try it out tomorrow and see what happens

 

[GiftedReflex]

The bios not being updated will not necessarily make your system crap out, but if the current bios you are using has a bug in it, updating your bios could very well fix this problem. I would say install the update before you dismantle your system in order to replace the graphics card.

Actually, the thermal paste the one that comes with the corsair watercooling kits is a very good paste. Back to the main topic, try to use a different graphics card... like I said earlier, try borrowing one for a few hours if you can. See how it goes. I fthe problem persists you can rule out your GPU... and seek other alternatives, like bios update even...

I never said it wasn't good compound, but i simply said that I use my own and that some other companies like Noctua have a better compound.

 

[Andddyyyy]

The bios not being updated will not necessarily make your system crap out, but if the current bios you are using has a bug in it, updating your bios could very well fix this problem. I would say install the update before you dismantle your system in order to replace the graphics card.

I'll swap the graphics cards out tomorrow and if i keep getting the problem at least i an rule the graphics card out cheers for the help though