Just recently sidegraded to a GTX 970 from a dying/dead 290X. It's funny the issues you have on one side disappear but others develop - though this could be a side effect of underlying hardware problems elsewhere.
Essentially every now and again I'll get a 1-2 second system hang which seems like I'm right about to bluescreen but don't. Everything freezes and I get that god awful audio hitch where the same part of a sound repeats a bajillion times until the hang sorts itself out.
Now I figure this is one of a few things:
Unstable GPU (unlikely because it's stock clocked and often idling on desktop)
Shitty drivers (plausible since apparently GeForce driver quality has tanked in recent months, W10 could further antagonise driver instabilities)
A dying PSU (suspected this as a potential for a while after 290X issues though not giving any video output after 10-60 seconds is definitely more than a PSU problem - it's a Novatech 80+ 750W unit with multi rails (using different rails to the 290X), so not even a bronze unit)
What is your opinion Tek community? I'm sure you'll have a better clue than me.
Did you properly remove the old drivers for the old GPU before installing the new one>? Maybe there is residual and the conflicting drivers are giving you issues?
If I had suspicions about my PSU and already had one dead high end card I would be replacing the PSU pronto and not risking other components.
I also don't know if some of these recently reported GPU problems are connected to Windows 10, we're bound to be running into some teething issues with such a new Windows release.
for some magical reason the nvidia drivers are just unstable past 347 no clue why, but they got all fucked up just before gtav came out
it got so bad that even opening up google chrome would blue screen my ass. on a NEW install of windows myself and 2 roomates (all with ditfferent hardware) had this issue.
every now and again ill update to the newest driver for a day to see if its stable yet, and if not ill roll back to ole faithful 347.88 (im on 347.88 now btw)
rolling the driver back wont effect your computer in any meaningful way, its safe to just try it for a day and see if it helps your issues
A sound idea for sure - might help me see if it's the PSU too. Something tells me it could be something to do with clock changes since the AMD cards I had would get a weird screen flicker on clock changes at times.
drivers - DDU + reinstall (just install the essentials, omit Geforce experience etc)
that psu - is it this one or similar, if so then there is a good chance it is to blame for the premature death of your 290x. Whilst the 970's are a lot less demanding, having a good psu in your rig is better for your components and piece of mind.
was this 1-2 second hanging occuring before windows 10?
@deejeta No it's the black edition PSU they don't sell anymore - it was £50-70 new so it wasn't exactly terrible. It's from a rig that I didn't build myself and it just never caused me any real issues.
I can't confirm if it was or not because it was during my Windows 10 installation that my 290X full on flopped out on me and corrupted my original Windows 8.1 install. I went on holiday and slapped the 970 into a fresh Windows 10 install afterwards. I don't believe I was having the problem with my crappy old 560Ti under W10.
EDIT:
Using the suggested driver from above and have DDU'd the system now, though the only GPUs detected were Nvidia (560Ti) or Intel (4600). Will see how it goes.
I'm looking into new power supplies and want to cry at the expense after already having to replace my GPU but I understand the need if it does indeed turn out to be the issue. Not really sure what capacity to buy. I want to go at least 80+ Gold and at least 750W, but not really sure I need more because I really doubt I'm going to SLI in any point in the future (I want this PSU to last me years). I imagine a 750W gold/plat would handle pretty much any single card solution fine.
Still having the same issue unfortunately so it's not the specific driver I was using by the looks of it. Got to wait a while for a PSU swap - any other ideas in the mean time?