Hi guys. New to the PC market and I bought a pre-built gaming rig about 4 months ago and it showed early signs of problems for me right away. I was playing games like The Witcher 2 and Skyrim on max settings with 50-60fps somtimes dropping to 45 which is fine. But it soon showed another problem, artifacts, glitches in the world textures and polygons that shouldn't be there. At first, I thought "okay.. I'm playing the game on max, maybe the system I bought just can't handle it. It happens right?" But as I started installing and toying around with different and new games it was happening in all of them! Beautiful performance fps wise but the artifacts are killing me!!! I have it under warranty but the repair shop ran tests for over a week and found nothing wrong with the machine. I need some advice please :( Here are my specs:
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7 - 4790K Processor
OS
Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit including downgrade rights to Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit.
Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit installed.
System Board
MSI Z97 Gaming 5 System Board
System Memory
16GB composed of 2- 8192MB DDR3/1600 DIMMS
Hard Drive
2TB 7200 RPM
Hard Drive
128GB SATA Solid State Drive
Video
Dual AMD Radeon™ R9-280X Gaming in Crossfire
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Media Card Reader - 4 in 1
Power Supply
600 Watts EVGA 600B
Also here is a screenshot of probably one of the worst it has been lately. http://puu.sh/hueI6/dacd2b6fd1.jpg
That is usually a GPU problem. Take the lower R9 280X out and test.
It also might be worth it to test your RAM, but with a dedicated GPU it's not very likely that RAM is the problem.
Also, are you sure your power supply is 600w? That's awfully small for a system like this.
I have heard it could be GPU or power supply. I had the shop I bought it from run tests and they SAID they isolated both cards and still found nothing after "intensive benchmarking". As far as my power supply that is what is given on my specs that it came with.. I'm not sure how to check what I actually have. Sorry I'm a noob
It's probably just a crossfire issue, any kind of dual GPU set up is going to run into issues, just run a single GPU.
Or it could be that your PSU can't handle it.
And of course, naturally, totally shoulda built the computer yourself.
i would say you need a more powerful psu i would go with atleast a 800W one
@salsberry101
Um shouldn't even just one 280x be getting more then 50-60 fps in skyrim? i think the power supply isn't enough.
one of those cards takes about 200watts and this is on the safe side (they can draw as much as 300), when gaming so two that's 400, plus the cpu plus cd drive plus hard drives/ssd plus power to run the motherboard. it all adds up even if its minuet
if it is enough it is just barely there, and may be providing unstable power?
Take out one of the video cards and see if the artifacting goes away and let us know, if it does go way swap it out for the other card. if both pass this way then 90% sure the power supply cant handle it.
@Urworstnit3m3r
I'm looking at videos on how to take out and reinstall video cards right now thanks. I will try it. As for the fps in Skyrim I normally play using RealVision ENB. Vanilla my fps is much higher but still causes occasional artifacts. I appreciate the feedback.
Yeah sounds like the PSU might not be up to the job.
I have the exact same CPU and graphics card as you do. Although, I'm only running one HD 7970. My power draw peaks at 380 watts with both CPU and GPU pegged at 100% load. If you throw another card into the picture, you're looking at 550 to 580 watts. Seeing as how your PSU isn't that great, it's probably being stressed way too much.
Replace that thing ASAP!
EDIT: And my CPU runs off of only 1.088v @ 4.4ghz, so I bet your CPU is using a bit more power than mine.
1 Like
Another question. Where did you buy it from?
Definitely march back there and b**ch them out for putting that PSU in your build. You paid good money for that thing, and they better make things right.
PSU isn't bad; its about on par with a CX600.
Its just not enough for two R9 280Xs
And the CX series from Corsair are not spectacular either. Forgive me for my opinion.
What I'm trying to say is that there are MUCH WORSE power supplies on the market. The EVGA 600B is not a bad budget PSU.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story6&reid=351
I built my mother's computer with a CX430. I'm fine with that idea, because her PC draws less than half of what that power supply's able to handle. I wouldn't dream of loading that thing above that in a real gaming PC.
We both agree that the PSU's not sufficient in this case. Let's just leave it at that.
I'll tell you right now it's your PSU. You need a 750w PSU. I hate pre-built computer sites they offer underpowered PSU's like it's a cool thing to do.
650w 80+ bronze for 1 GPU
750w 80+ bronze for 2 GPU
Take out 1 GPU try that. Also I'd call customer service and explain what's going on and that they need to fix it. That thing should be under warranty.
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Make sure they change the psu to a good 750w unit.
Also if they ran tests they did it wrong, not enough load on the system to test it correctly.
Those specs and they place THAT psu in it. That store should be ashamed of themselves.
3 Likes
I agree, who are these nubs?
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But i do agree, crossfire issue, or weak psu gotta be one of the 2
Thanks guys.That store has some 'splainin' to do :) Should I go 750w or 800w? And will just about any PSU be compatible with my motherboard?
Doesn't really matter. Both would be fine.
Technically any PSU would work, but keep in mind that there are A LOT of crap power supplies out there.
Here is a bunch of power supply lineups I can always recommend.
EVGA SuperNova B2/G2/P2/T2 lineups. No G1 or NEX.
Anything from Seasonic
Anything from XFX
Antec HCG or HCP
Corsair AX, RM(750w or greater), HX, CSM
Cooler Master VS/VSM
That should be a decent list.
