PC Crashes, requiring Hard Reset. Suspect it's the GPU.

[LDUK]

Heya guys. I'm having some serious issues with my PC, and it keeps freezing, requiring a hard reset.

It started while playing Borderlands 2.

At first, any time I started up a game, it would crash. So I removed the GPU and cleaned it out, although it was in pretty clean condition anyway.
It seemed to have done the trick, and I played a few days of BL2 and completed Dishonoured too.
But then it happened again. I updated the Drivers, updated Windows, changed the PCI slot, did a driver sweep.
I pretty much did everything the internet provided, but I'm still having issues.

Sometimes I actually take the GPU out and swap it to anther PCI slot, it actually works for a while, and seems to be fine. I'm actually writing this message with my PC now.

I suspect it's the GPU, because when I change things with it, it temporarily fixes the problem, as opposed to just resetting the PC, which sometimes doesn't even work.

Any ideas? I think I've done everything. Maybe a Faulty card?

My card is a GTX 480. PSU is a Corsair HX1000w but don't suspect the PSU to be the problem.

 

[vanthus]

Could be a faulty card,have you checked the temps?

 

[LDUK]

It's not a temperature problem. I know this because it even happened when the card was cool.

 

[vanthus]

Only thing I can suggest is, try another graphics card to determine if it is a faulty card or not,I know this isn't something the average user has at hand.Failing that could be worth giving tech support a call.

 

[tom_gr7]

i'd give pcs a call mate,

 

[LDUK]

I might just have my old 8800 somewhere. When the PC crashes again, I'll use that to test it. If it turns out it is the 480's problem, I'll have to give PCS a call.
I feel bad, because there always seems to be something wrong with my PC. Twice my Coolit A.L.C CPU cooler burst and had to do a full RMA. Needed a
PSU replacment the first time and a MOBO and GPU replacement the last time :/

 

[LDUK]

So as I said, I tested my 8800 after the GTX 480 crashed again, and so far, no problems at all. It can only be a faulty GTX 480 then

 

[tom_gr7]

So as I said, I tested my 8800 after the GTX 480 crashed again, and so far, no problems at all. It can only be a faulty GTX 480 then

i'd certainly give pcs another call if at least to confirm it is the 480 causing the issue, may be something else, then you can decide what to do then.

I guess you could either replace the 480 via PCS or with another 480 from elsewhere, or even possibly upgrading to a newer card, 500 series if you dont want to spend very much.

 

[LDUK]

i'd certainly give pcs another call if at least to confirm it is the 480 causing the issue, may be something else, then you can decide what to do then.

I guess you could either replace the 480 via PCS or with another 480 from elsewhere, or even possibly upgrading to a newer card, 500 series if you dont want to spend very much.

The 480 should still be under the year manufacture warranty, since it's only about 9 months old.
I did attempt a full re-installation of Windows, but had the same problems.
I would like to upgrade to be fair, but if I'm honest, I haven't found a game I can't run on full settings with the 480, so it's not really necessary lol.
I did give them an e-mail, and they advised a re-installation of Windows, which I did. And since my old GPU is working just fine, I can't think of where else the problem is coming from.

 

[vanthus]

You have established pretty conclusively the 480 GPU is faulty,I didn't realise you were still in warranty,best give PCS a call and if they agree that's the problem they will replace it.