Constant crashing with gtx 970 only

[Duncaaaaaan]

Constant crashing with gtx 970 only

Ok so if I am using my new EVGA gtx 970, the game crashes constantly every 5 minutes. No overheating. No stuttering. The game just crashes to desktop, or gives my computer blue screen of death.

I put my old gtx 580 in, and not a crash for over an hour.

So, these are my specs:
AMD FX8350 8 core
nvidia gtx 970
asus motherboard (forgot which exact model but not important)
corsair 600W PSU
8GB ram

What is wrong with the above? Runs the game perfectly 60fps with everything maxed/on except hair.

What's interesting is that the 580 is getting really hot... sometimes above 90C, but the 970 only gets to 70 max.

On the other hand, with the 580, my CPU keeps really low in temp, between 50-60C. Put in the 970, and it gets to up to 70C, sometimes 80C. This is really, really strange.

With the 580, can run the same settings but at 30fps... it's bareable I guess but I bought the 970 just for this game and its making me pretty goddamn tired and upset that I wasted £280.

Is my PSU not good enough or something? I googled a lot beforehand if I would need to upgrade the PSU as well but it seemed I did not need to.

My computer runs every other game very smoothly without problems.

Does TW3 have serious problems with the 970? The 970 is factory overclocked, could that have anything to do with it?

I have spent more time troubleshooting than actually playing which is extremely frustrating. Especially after 1.04, the game became completely unplayable with the 970.

---------- Updated at 08:14 PM ----------

bump... this could thread might help a lot of people with a 970

---------- Updated at 08:34 PM ----------

bump... this could thread might help a lot of people with a 970

 

[CrocPoulet]

I experiment lot of issues with my GTX 970 too, I'm pretty sure that several things that should run on the GPU runs actually on the CPU.

You don't need to change your PSU cause a GTX 580 is more demanding than a 970. But you can try a PSU burn test with OCCT to control if yours is stable.

I hope it will help.

 

[Duncaaaaaan]

I experiment lot of issues with my GTX 970 too, I'm pretty sure that several things that should run on the GPU runs actually on the CPU.

You don't need to change your PSU cause a GTX 580 is more demanding than a 970. But you can try a PSU burn test with OCCT to control if yours is stable.

I hope it will help.

I found out exactly what's happening.. the 970 is causing my CPU to overheat.

Doesn't overheat or even come close with the 580. Does this mean I should downclock it quite a bit?

 

[Burnyx]

Same problem here. Worked flawlessly on 1.03, now my game keeps crashing all the time.

i5 2500k @ 4.2GHz
MSI GTX 970 @ Stock
8GB RAM

 

[Signis]

i5-3570k @ 4.0GHz
EVGA GTX 970 FTW @ Factory Clocks
16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum
Corsair TX750 psu

No problems here with witcher 3 specifically. I'll get nvidia driver crashes which I've tried to fix for over a year, every now and then, but they can happen once or twice a day. Thorough reinstallations of drivers has done nothing to help this problem of mine, which happens in only some games.

 

[CrocPoulet]

I found out exactly what's happening.. the 970 is causing my CPU to overheat.

Doesn't overheat or even come close with the 580. Does this mean I should downclock it quite a bit?

With the 580, your system is bottlenecked by the GPU, so your CPU runs slowly than with the 970. If you still have the stock ventirad for your CPU, you should change it for a good tower one.

Your crashes are maybe due to too high CPU temp, if it's that and you continue this way you'll kill it.

 

[Wompoo]

No crashes since 1.02, GTX 970 temperature is fine.

edit: wrong, I had 1 crash in the inventory screen in 1.03.

 

[CrocPoulet]

No crashes since 1.02, GTX 970 temperature is fine.

edit: wrong, I had 1 crash in the inventory screen in 1.03.

For me it's the exact opposite, there're very weird results with this game

 

[KiriSilvermane]

I run a 970 and play for hours quite happily;
to OP I would suggest you benchmark your rig with Furmark http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/
and see if you can replicate your crashes in there.

also be sure to do a full uninstall and reinstall of your video card drivers: use DDU http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html
and then redownload and do a "clean install" of the witcher specific NVidia drivers.

 

[CrocPoulet]

I worked around some test with Afterburner, the game is highly demanding with the power of the GPU.
black screen crashes every time the power reached 106% with th sock OC.
By increasing the power limit, no more crashes even at 107% for the more demanding areas I found.

I'll try again Furmark too but in my remembrence it was'nt so much power demanding.

The VRAM is very low used, anyone know is the situation were better by increasing this?


edit : thanks for the links

---------- Post merged on 27-05-2015 at 12:31 AM ----------

Go back after burning my GPU with Furmark : stock OC totaly stable on Furmark even with all max settings.

The max power has pic at 106% without any problem, so I don't know what thinking. Is the game much more demanding or there's an issue somewhere?

 

[ricky1981]

Another 970 owner here, 1.04 reintroduced the crashes that 1.03 had fixed but I tried rolling back to the previous nVidia drivers and (touch wood) I haven't had a crash since. Also, SLI works with the previous drivers whereas it caused a huge FPS drop with the latest ones.

Things I have done that seem to have helped:
Set FPS limit to unlimited
Set window mode to Fullscreen
Set nVidia Power Management to Maximum performance
Rolled back to previous drivers

Hopefully CDPR and nVidia will find a resolution but try the above in the meantime

 

[t0yz]

AMD FX8350 8 core
nvidia gtx 970
asus motherboard (forgot which exact model but not important)
corsair 600W PSU
8GB ram

I have almost the exact specs as yours, and I can play the game flawlessly in 1.04 (I did so in previous patches as well). There were quite a few freezes though before.

First, your CPU overheats because the 970 needs to be fed way more data than a 580. And Witcher 3 is an example of great coding, unlike many other games that run like crap on the FX 8350, Witcher 3 is able to use ALL 8 cores at max potential. You can see this by going to a populated city, your CPU will go to 90%+ utilization - but framerate will remain good

Amazing job here CD Projekt!

As a recommendation until you get better cooling than stock, which is horrible, you should go to the Power Options area of your WIndows, Processor Power Management, Maximum Processor State and set it to 85%. This will cap the FX frequency at 3400 MHz and keep it cool&quiet. 3400 MHz is still enough for Witcher 3, I have tested. You can create a new power plan for Witcher. When you install a new cooler, just use the High Performance plan again.

As for stability, this is what I did to solve my freezes. Keep in mind my PC is clean and optimized, the latest drivers installed, and nVidia latest crap driver installed after a clean-up with DDU.

- stop services for nVidia GeForce Experience and Streamer Service
- set the services on Manual so they won't load on start
- before playing the game, exit GFE from the systray

Other people overvolted the 970 a bit and got good results, and some can play with GFE still on. Keep in mind this is for the game freezing, dunno if it works for CTDs and so on.

Good luck.

 

[K-SHAPS]

I'm also experiencing lots of crashing. The game is unplayable for me. I'm on the newest nVidia drivers and have patch 1.04 installed.


I can only play for around 5 minutes until the screen goes black and I need to hard reboot. I've tried fullscreen and borderless windowed with frames at unlimited, frames capped to 30, 60. Nothing is working. Tried lowering all the settings and nothing. I was only able to play this game on release date without crashes.


MBO - ASRock Z77 Extreme4
CPU - i5 3570K 3.4 GHz - OC'ed to 4.2GHz on water (Corsair H60)
GPU - EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600
PWR - Corsair CX 750




Please fix this CDPROJEKTRED! I bought this card only because it came with this game. :realmad:

 

[Phalzyr]

Since 1.03 had only two crashes during cutscenes myself, one was prob my fault multi-tasking too much... My temps are fine never over 70c. OP if CPU is overheating you definately need a better heat sink, stock one is crap. And possibly better/more case fans. I am only using 3 case fans myself...

 

[drachehexe]

EVGA 970 owner here as well. Since 1.04 I have had quite a few crashes which shut my system right off, though often after long periods. If I choose continue when restarting the game it will immediately crash, I have to go back to a save before the last one and the game runs fine. I am noticing that my computer runs much hotter in with patch 1.04 (tested a 1.03 install with not heat issues) which must be related to the crashing.

I'll try some of the suggestions above but if none of them work I'll have to stop playing until RED patches it. I'm worried this game might fry my system.

 

[Duncaaaaaan]

I'll try sugestions tomorrow..

the crashes have gotten better, not every 5 mins now. But, they seem to be caused immediately I start a conversation, or hit a monster. so, it's a stability issue with the game. I set my fans to high, downclocked the CPU, so nothing is overheating. Sometimes the game will just close itself back to desktop, other times I am forced to reboot the pc, but I haven't got any blue screen the past 2 days. This is so weird.

Sometimes I can play for 2 hours with no crash, sometimes it is a crashing mess. Seems to happen when I'm pursuing a quest though, if I'm just wandering around exploring the crashes don't seem to happen. It is definitely a stability issue, I hope 1.05 fixes it.

 

[RedBehrend]

If your a 970 owner and crash make sure you try out my magic config.
http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/41602-Graphic-Help-Information-Settings-Mega-Thread

 

[K-SHAPS]

I found a fix! I guess my GPU really wasn't reacting correctly with just stock settings. I created a custom fan curve and now I'm set. Played for 5 hours without a problem!
I used Precision X16 with the following settings.

10% @ 30C
40% @ 45C
40% @ 55C
50% @ 65C
60% @ 80C
80% @ 90C
100% @ 100C