How to determine if my graphics card is the issue

Hey all,

I've been struggling with this problem for months now, where some games will cause my computer to crash to black, repeating the audio behind it, before rebooting itself after some time. There is no BSOD, so I'm trying to determine exactly what the error may be. The crash does not happen in all games (Metal Gear Solid V and Grand Theft Auto V seem to work fine), but when it does happen in a game, it happens every time it's played (Team Fortress 2, Minecraft, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout: New Vegas). The problem is not a software issue, as I began a fresh installation of Windows 10 Pro (64-bit) on my new SSD and still run into the same problems as before.

I've run Memtest86+ and found no memory errors, and various threads on forums across the web have lead me to determine that my issue may be heat or power related. However, when stress-testing my graphics card and processor, both stay at relatively normal temperatures, and I don't encounter the crash. My power supply is an Antec 620w power supply, which (I believe) ample power for my system from a trusted brand.

Ultimately, I believe the problem is my graphics card, but I'm not entirely sure how to verify this to be sure. My EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 is starting to show its age in terms of framerate, but to replace it with an equivalent is a $300 cost. Before dropping that amount of money on a new card, I want to make sure that this problem is indeed due to my graphics card, and why.

I ran GPU-Z while playing Fallout: New Vegas, and had it log everything to a file. Here is what it gave me when my system crashed:

Code:

        Date        , GPU Core Clock [MHz] , GPU Memory Clock [MHz] , GPU Shader Clock [MHz] , GPU Temperature [°C] , Fan Speed (%) [%] , Fan Speed (RPM) [RPM] , Memory Used [MB] , GPU Load [%] , Memory Controller Load [%] , Video Engine Load [%] , Bus Interface Load [%] , PerfCap Reason [] , VDDC [V] , 
2015-11-26 22:27:21 ,              732.1   ,                950.0   ,               1464.0   ,               70.0   ,              46   ,                2130   ,            540   ,         69   ,                       51   ,                   0   ,                    4   ,               0   , 1.0130   ,
2015-11-26 22:27:22 ,              732.1   ,                950.0   ,               1464.0   ,               71.0   ,              46   ,                2130   ,            540   ,         70   ,                       51   ,                   0   ,                    4   ,               0   , 1.0130   ,
2015-11-26 22:27:23 ,              732.1   ,                950.0   ,               1464.0   ,               71.0   ,              46   ,                2160   ,            539   ,         70   ,                       52   ,                   0   ,                    4   ,               0   , 1.0130   ,
2015-11-26 22:27:24 ,              732.1   ,                950.0   ,               1464.0   ,               70.0   ,              46   ,                2130   ,            539   ,         70   ,                       52   ,                   0   ,                    4   ,               0   , 1.0130   ,
2015-11-26 22:27:26 ,                0.0   ,                  0.0   ,                  0.0   ,                0.0   ,               0   ,                   0   ,            628   ,          -   ,                        -   ,                   -   ,                    -   ,               0   , 0.0000   ,
2015-11-26 22:27:26 ,                0.0   ,                  0.0   ,                  0.0   ,                0.0   ,               0   ,                   0   ,            628   ,          -   ,                        -   ,                   -   ,                    -   ,               0   , 0.0000   ,
2015-11-26 22:27:27 ,                0.0   ,                  0.0   ,                  0.0   ,                0.0   ,               0   ,                   0   ,            628   ,          -   ,                        -   ,                   -   ,                    -   ,               0   , 0.0000   ,
2015-11-26 22:27:29 ,                0.0   ,                  0.0   ,                  0.0   ,                0.0   ,               0   ,                   0   ,              -   ,          -   ,                        -   ,                   -   ,                    -   ,               0   , 0.0000   ,

Everything cut to 0 once the system crashed, but I'm not sure what that tells me. Am I on the right track? How do I go about testing and solving this problem?

Thanks so much for the help! This problem has plagued me for so long, and I'll devote whatever time I have to to just fix this issue! I would love any​ input!

Atomic77 said:

I don't know anything about this but it could be that some games are more demanding then the others.

I totally thought about this, but titles like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Minecraft have to be much less demanding than Grand Theft Auto V or Metal Gear Solid V. But that is a good point; I'll try running the games with lowered settings and see what happens.

In looking at your specs I'd say your gpu is your limiting factor. You need to look at the games having problems. My guess is they want more vram than your 570 has. Your card is about in the middle of a series that 4 generations back. A newer card would probably solve your problem but you'll have to take into consideration that your MB probably only has pci 2 slots. That will limit any new card choice somewhat. Lowering the settings will probably make the games playable if you can live with the reduced picture quality and frame rate.

KACI said:

In looking at your specs I'd say your gpu is your limiting factor. You need to look at the games having problems. My guess is they want more vram than your 570 has. Your card is about in the middle of a series that 4 generations back. A newer card would probably solve your problem but you'll have to take into consideration that your MB probably only has pci 2 slots. That will limit any new card choice somewhat. Lowering the settings will probably make the games playable if you can live with the reduced picture quality and frame rate.

I agree to an extent, but I'm not sure why a GTX 570 would make my computer crash when playing a ten-year-old game like Oblivion. Would the age of a card make a system more likely to crash, or just run slower?

Everything wears with time. Have you made sure you have the lates drivers? Have you tried turning those games down some? I admit those aren't the games I'd expect you to have troubled with. I don't play those games so I'm not failure with their requirements. Have been able to play the in the past? If so, did you change anything?

KACI said:

Everything wears with time. Have you made sure you have the lates drivers? Have you tried turning those games down some? I admit those aren't the games I'd expect you to have troubled with. I don't play those games so I'm not failure with their requirements. Have been able to play the in the past? If so, did you change anything?

I plan on trying to turn down the settings to see if that fixes anything. I haven't had problems playing these games in the past, with the same hardware. To my knowledge, I didn't change anything in particular; I wouldn't be surprised if the card was simply breaking down due to wear and tear, but I'd like to verify that this is the case before I replace it.

I can understand that. I was looking and I don't see that card listed for oblivion. I don't know a sure fire way to test it that you haven't already done. Have you tried those games in compatibility mode? Oblivion is an xp or 7 game, maybe trying those modes would help.

old PSU? had exact same issues and started as weird as your problems - some games are coded "badly" and they pull out more wattage than they should on some point and your PSU wont feed the gfx card enough.

just something to give a shot at

batlhilz said:

old PSU? had exact same issues and started as weird as your problems - some games are coded "badly" and they pull out more wattage than they should on some point and your PSU wont feed the gfx card enough.

just something to give a shot at

This could also be possible; My machine is only three or four years old, but I don't want to toss out any ideas- My question is, how do I test if it's my power supply? Is there some sort of stress-test or something I can do on my unit to verify that it's the problem?

Thanks again for your help!