GPU locking up PC?

Nirnias

Hey a few weeks ago i purchased 2 graphics cards off Komplett as well as new RAM and a new motherboard, the graphics cards were ENGTX 560's (i have them SLI'd) i only really play 1 game called Eve Online and i usually run 2 instances of it. My current build is more than powerful enough to run 2 clients of Eve Online, it should be able to run like 5 or so smoothly. Yet when i launch a second client my FPS shoots down from 200 to about 15-20 and pc just starts locking up and stopping and starting.

I have my machine set up with 2 monitors, 1 monitor for each Eve Online client. And they both lag and jerk out and my CPU spikes to 100% then bounces back and forth.

My current build is:
CPU: AMD Phenom II x 4 3.4Ghz
RAM: 16GB
GPU: GTX 560 (x2 SLI'd)

Before i upgraded a few weeks ago i was running this build:
CPU: AMD Phenom II x 4 3.4Ghz
RAM: 4GB
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 4870 & Radeon HD 4650

I only used the 4650 to watch movies on my TV streamed from my PC. And the radeon 4870 on its own had no problems running 3 instances of Eve online as well as Team Fortress 2 running.

So i cannot for the life of me think why my new build which is waaayyyy more powerful GPU wise locks up when i launch only 2 instances of the game.

Tea_Bag

try running furmark on Max stability testing to see if there's a problem with the gpus. put furmark on ultra everything, except leave AA off as it'll just cripple your PC with no real information gained.

if it doesn't lock up, try 'Intel burn test' to test the CPU. again, Max settings for around 15 runs.

while these are running, have HWmonitor in the background reading temps, and report all that back to us.

Nirnias

I used Furmark when i first built this PC to stress test the GPU's left it stress testing for about a half an hour, think when it finished GPU's were at a temp of about 90.

It did not lock up during the stress test but i wasnt really using the pc when the stress test was happening.

Ill try that Intel Burn test thing then and report back.

Tea_Bag

tbh, I doubt Intel burn test is going to tell you anything. you're CPU is at stock clocks so its not like a bad OC or anything. run furmark and IBT at the same time, and see what happens. I'd take the side panel off as its going to get rather hot in there.

problem could lie with the RAM (use memtest86 to find faults, but it could be hours before anything shows up) or the motherboard.

do you have the SLI molex connector on the motherboard plugged into the psu?

Nirnias

SLi connected from the mobo? You mean the connection from the PSU that connects to the graphics cards?

Only connection going from the PSU to the mobo are the ATX 20-24 pin connector and the 4 pin connector also.

The RAM seems to be the only thing working as intended, have 16GB and never seen it go above 8GB of usage. The graphics cards came with software to monitor their temperature and tell me if anything is wrong with them but it says they are fine and temps hang around the 40-60 mark under load.

The CPU is the same one i used in the previous build so dunno how that would be the issue either, the only new components are the mobo, the GPU's and the RAM, mobo works fine and ram works fine, but with this game it becomes all messy. So unless its not the cards and its something the makers of the game messed up in their latest patch.

Also how long does it take for the intel burn test to complete for 15 runs usually would you know?

Tea_Bag

sorry I didn't explain it well.

look at this picture

imageshack.us/photo/my-images/70/17663124kz4.jpg/

its used if your gpus try to pull too much power from the board. might help.

what psu do you have?

I would try to borrow a friends PC and see if your motherboard is faulty.

Nirnias

I have a Akasa 1000W PSU... Only bought the mobo a few weeks ago.

This is the mobo i have: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/SABERTOOTH_990FX/

I have 2 spare motherboards also i cud test with but i dont have time to take this PC apart and build it anew with a new motherboard unfortunately.

The GPU's i have have 6 pin molax connectors connected from the PSU to the GPU, so thats where they get their power from.

I mean everything else seems to work fine, it just seems to be with this game. Havnt really played any graphics intensive games in while. But current build should be more than capable of playing anything currently out on max settings. I tested each component individually when i was putting this build together and all passed fine. Even did the furmark stress test.

I am thinking of upgrading the CPU to a new Hex core CPU for this mobo to see if that changes anything.

Tea_Bag

they'll get power from the psu and the motherboard. that molex is usually only required for high end cards, but its worth a shot.

rebuilding is a nightmare I know, but its the only way to find if a fault lies on the motherboard.

you don't have to resemble the spare board into your case though. you could do it quickly on the motherboard box.

Nirnias

I might try it next weekend when i have more time, i have custom parts in my PC, i.e i have a V8 cooling tower on top of my CPU and its an absolute nightmare to take it off, clean the thermal paste away, and reseat the CPU in a new mobo then reapply the thermal paste then put the V8 cooling tower back onto another mobo.

Awesome cooler but pain in the ass when upgrading. I appreciate all the help though, Im familiar with building PC's have done it quite a lot of the years and always build it outside of the case first and test it component by component, thats why im pretty confident that the mobo is not faulty. I set the BIO's up myself to warn me if something is wrong also before booting and have never gotten any messages...

Im begining to think it might be the game itself and the makers messing something up in the patch or something.