Problem for gtx 970 users?

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Do you have a gtx 970?

Then you have experienced the following:

Crashing + hard reboot when entering a cave
Crashing when casting igni/aard on a group of enemies
Crashing when knocking down walls with aard
Crashing when Quen explodes
Crashing during dialogue
Crashing every 5 minutes when doing a main quest at specific points like walking through this doorway, initiating dialogue with someone
Crashing when entering fog
Crashing in loading screens
Crashing when swinging sword in combat
Crashing when changing settings in graphics

Has nothing to do with overheating because I've checked with MSI afterburner and CPU monitor, and even tried downclocking both CPU and GPU and running game with everything on low.

Popped my old gtx 580 back in, played all day without a single crash with measly 20-25fps, but I guess I'm getting same experience as a console player this way.

I would like CDPR to address this problem and fix it in a patch, or at least admit that they are aware they made a colossal fuck up for gtx 970 users

No regards,
Pissed off gamer.

As a IT tech, I'll suggest what you should be doing \ looking in to to narrow this problem down.

1. Set any OC you may have on CPU\RAM back to stock, also update the system BIOS to the latest available
2. Run as many HCI memtest instances as necessary to fully fill up your system RAM, leave to run for at least 2 hours.
3. Uninstall nvidia drivers with display driver uninstaller (DDU) when reinstalling drivers only install the package components for the hardware, including PhysX, none of the useless additional fluff.
4. Run a few programs for general system maintenance, you can download tuneup utilities and run its 1 click maintenance, i would run it a few times to make sure it catches all possible issues. Also separately run the tuneup utilities registry defrag tool.
5. Set FPS cap to unlimited and set to full screen, exit game and set user.settings to read only.

If that doesn't work theres still numerous things that could be causing problems, insufficient power delivery when the system is under load (PSU) the mainboard chipset and\or mosfets may be overheating when the system is under load where the thermal pads\TIM needs replacing, poor airflow will contribute to unstable operation under load as well, etc.
 
I have not had all the problems you have. I've only had an occasional "video driver stopped working and was restarted". Sounds like you should ask EVGA to replace your faulty card, not demand the game devs to fix the game.

Well, there is someone with exactly the same card from what I can see and they're not experiencing the same problem.
That's got to point to something else which could be as the poster says.
A faulty card.
On the one hand, I'm sorry if it does turn out your graphic card is faulty, but on the other hand it might actually be a relief to know where the problem is and that the solution is covered by a warranty, instead of having something nebulously wrong but still hiding somewhere on your system.

Hey guys,

I have a MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G and my game was crashing every 30 - 60 minutes. Error was: MEMORY_ACCESS_VIOLATION or something like that. I figured that my RAM timings might be too tight so i eased them a bit in BIOS. Not a single crash since then (50+ hours of gameplay). So i hope i fixed it for good.

Alternatively, this might be the solution given the description of the problem is very similar to what you described and the card is of the same model, albeit with a different manufacturer.

Hopefully, you're closer to finding a solution.
 
Sorry OP, but as a GTX970 G1 Gaming from Gigabyte, the only handful of crashes I experienced were 100% due to MSI Afterburner :lol: No moderator cares about that incorrect thread title?
 
No moderator cares about that incorrect thread title?

I guess I should change it...
Oh, and yes, Zotac GTX 970 user. Currently on my fourth playthrough. No OC. It crashes maybe a couple of times a day, usually resets by itself but not always. No special pattern to when or where. Just the usual driver stuff, that gets reported for all cards, not just the 970, and that seems to happen with all new games until they come out with stable drivers.
 
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As a IT tech, I'll suggest what you should be doing \ looking in to to narrow this problem down.

1. Set any OC you may have on CPU\RAM back to stock, also update the system BIOS to the latest available
2. Run as many HCI memtest instances as necessary to fully fill up your system RAM, leave to run for at least 2 hours.
3. Uninstall nvidia drivers with display driver uninstaller (DDU) when reinstalling drivers only install the package components for the hardware, including PhysX, none of the useless additional fluff.
4. Run a few programs for general system maintenance, you can download tuneup utilities and run its 1 click maintenance, i would run it a few times to make sure it catches all possible issues. Also separately run the tuneup utilities registry defrag tool.
5. Set FPS cap to unlimited and set to full screen, exit game and set user.settings to read only.

If that doesn't work theres still numerous things that could be causing problems, insufficient power delivery when the system is under load (PSU) the mainboard chipset and\or mosfets may be overheating when the system is under load where the thermal pads\TIM needs replacing, poor airflow will contribute to unstable operation under load as well, etc.

Thanks for the useful suggestions!

Now, my problem is, that while gaming (doesn't matter which in-game situation) it suddenly stops playing the background music, (every other sound keeps on playing) but nearly all textures on the map and inventory go black. And as soon as I try to interact with someone, the game freezes for a few seconds, with noises (of branches and stuff) still going on, until it starts running again like nothing ever happened.

Do you please have some sort of idea what the problem could be?

I'm running on:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
i5 3570 stock
ASUS GTX 970 OC Strix (with the stock "oc" it's being delivered)
16GB RAM
the PSU and everything works just fine, because I've only encountered this particular problem while playing Witcher. And the temperatures of all my PC parts are more than fine...
I have updated the BIOS, graphics, sound (onboard) and Microsoft Visual whatever driver.

You're response would be VERY appreciated!
 
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHA look at this

Scared CDPR forum moderator tries to censor my damning report. That's good. Means you know this is a real problem.

Pretty sure it's the game's fault and not the GPU because every other game I have runs fine. Not shitty moba games, I'm talking crysis 3 (maxed ofcourse) GTA5, lords of the fallen, arkham knight. Games that need some good power.

Just did the main quest 'Nameless', crashed 16 times during the dialogue with Skjall's corpse and the Ciri bit. Put all the graphics down to lowest, did the quest again and no crashes. This CLEARLY means there is a problem with the game. If my GPU was the problem, the game should still be crashing even on lowest.

I refuse to believe I am literally the only person out of the millions that played this game that experiences these unbelievable crashes. Not just crash to desktop but actual full on system reboots and a crazy buzzing noise coming from the speakers, like an error ping playing constantly.
 
Pretty sure it's the game's fault and not the GPU because every other game I have runs fine. Not shitty moba games, I'm talking crysis 3 (maxed ofcourse) GTA5, lords of the fallen, arkham knight. Games that need some good power.

Just did the main quest 'Nameless', crashed 16 times during the dialogue with Skjall's corpse and the Ciri bit. Put all the graphics down to lowest, did the quest again and no crashes. This CLEARLY means there is a problem with the game. If my GPU was the problem, the game should still be crashing even on lowest.

I refuse to believe I am literally the only person out of the millions that played this game that experiences these unbelievable crashes. Not just crash to desktop but actual full on system reboots and a crazy buzzing noise coming from the speakers, like an error ping playing constantly.

No, you're not the only person having problems. You're just the only person making the claim that this is linked somehow to you having a 970.
- Plenty of people with 970's do NOT have this problem.
- Plenty of people with other GPUs have the problem.

So drop the attitude. This is a tech support forum, not a conspiracy website.

---------- Updated at 10:18 AM ----------

Thanks for the useful suggestions!

Now, my problem is, that while gaming (doesn't matter which in-game situation) it suddenly stops playing the background music, (every other sound keeps on playing) but nearly all textures on the map and inventory go black. And as soon as I try to interact with someone, the game freezes for a few seconds, with noises (of branches and stuff) still going on, until it starts running again like nothing ever happened.

Do you please have some sort of idea what the problem could be?

I'm running on:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
i5 3570 stock
ASUS GTX 970 OC Strix (with the stock "oc" it's being delivered)
16GB RAM
the PSU and everything works just fine, because I've only encountered this particular problem while playing Witcher. And the temperatures of all my PC parts are more than fine...
I have updated the BIOS, graphics, sound (onboard) and Microsoft Visual whatever driver.

You're response would be VERY appreciated!

The symptoms you describe are standard for the Graphics Driver having stopped and then restarted (yes, it affects audio too), so the suggestions given in the thread may help, or at least reduce the number of times it happens. Failing that, you'll probably need to live with it until there is a fix. Save often. :(

I'd EXPECT the fix to be new graphics drivers, unless Nvidia/CDPR do find that there's something in the game causing it. But this type of problem in games is usually resolved at driver level.

Regarding drivers, the ones released for the TW3 launch were 353.06. Since then, they released 353.30, but it was another "Game Ready" release (for AK), rather than a general "fixing stuff" release. Some people have reported it being worse than 353.06 for TW3, others have reported it helped, so it's worth trying both and YMMV. (I haven't tried it, still running on 353.06).

Also, if it's happening a LOT (which I'd probably define in my own mind as more than around once every few hours), it may also be worth trying a clean install of the drivers. But be warned - if you use custom profiles for your games, a clean install will wipe them.
 
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I have gainward gtx 970. I have a few crashes to desktop here and there, but nothing extreme.
 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA look at this

Scared CDPR forum moderator tries to censor my damning report. That's good. Means you know this is a real problem.

It's not a censor buddy, it's a logical correction. GTX 970 GPU's encountering the crash bugs you're encountering seem to be limited to yours.

If you state that Witcher 3 has issues when running on an Nvidia GTX 970 GPU, yet numerous people have stated that their 970's, be it Gainward, MSI, ASUS or Gigabyte do not present the issues your EVGA GPU Does.

ALL 970's are alike by reference state. Aftermarket Vendors like the above mentioned alter stock cards and sell them to the public as improved versions.


  • Size
  • Length
  • Power Requirements
  • Cooling Solutions, like fans and heat pipe configurations
  • Chip and Memory Clocks (Unique to each Vendor)

Those all factor into the changes made by each Vendor. Saying that ALL 970's have the problem your EVGA 970 has, is being a bit erratic. I suggest you contact EVGA and stop blowing your fuse here because it is obviously not a generic GTX 970 issue.

Pretty sure it's the game's fault and not the GPU because every other game I have runs fine. Not shitty moba games, I'm talking crysis 3 (maxed ofcourse) GTA5, lords of the fallen, arkham knight. Games that need some good power.

Okay. Every game you've mentioned there is made by different developers. Mostly using completely different and unique to process engines. The simple variables in play considering not only render methods and memory usage is vast. Once again, all other GTX 970's have no problems with any of those games, nor Witcher 3 - except for your EVGA GTX 970. All suffer with Batman Arkham Knight though... You obviously do not own it because in comparison to W3, it runs like ass.

Just did the main quest 'Nameless', crashed 16 times during the dialogue with Skjall's corpse and the Ciri bit. Put all the graphics down to lowest, did the quest again and no crashes. This CLEARLY means there is a problem with the game. If my GPU was the problem, the game should still be crashing even on lowest.

Have you even taken the advice from the community, which is partially the reason this forum exists? @ketxxx has supplied you with quite a few steps to test the stability of your card and maybe even reset it's installed state with new drivers. Give them a shot.

I refuse to believe I am literally the only person out of the millions that played this game that experiences these unbelievable crashes. Not just crash to desktop but actual full on system reboots and a crazy buzzing noise coming from the speakers, like an error ping playing constantly.

I refuse to believe I'm not Batman, that doesn't make me him.

Do you experience TDU's? This might not even be a GPU issue.
 
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I also havent got much crashes, got a MSI GTX970, and have it oc'ed and in 120 hours of playtime only a hand full of crashes. (game goes on but minmizes to tray) or crash to desktop..
 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA look at this

Scared CDPR forum moderator tries to censor my damning report. That's good. Means you know this is a real problem.

Perhaps if you didn't OVERCLOCK YOUR GPU so much, you wouldn't run into these problems with new games in which the driver companies as well as the developers are obviously still working on stability improvements.

Seriously, for the last 5 years games have been extremely sensitive to gpu oc's. Everybody knows this.

CDPR isn't censoring your "report", a mod changed your idiotic title because most everyone else already knows what you don't, and don't feel the need to jump to ridiculous conclusions like a child.
 
970 Gigabyte G1 here, never had any crashes except a couple freezes back when the game was first released (v1.02) and then only while browsing the inventory. I'm playing at 1440p with everything maxed except for SSAO instead of HBAO
 
Perhaps if you didn't OVERCLOCK YOUR GPU so much, you wouldn't run into these problems with new games in which the driver companies as well as the developers are obviously still working on stability improvements.

Seriously, for the last 5 years games have been extremely sensitive to gpu oc's. Everybody knows this.

CDPR isn't censoring your "report", a mod changed your idiotic title because most everyone else already knows what you don't, and don't feel the need to jump to ridiculous conclusions like a child.

Not overclocking anything, but nice assumption mate.
 
Used a filthy gtx 970, crashed everytime I play Witcher 3

poped-in old gtx 560 ti, crash-free, some occasional lag but tolerable

in conclusion gtx 970 is a lie, get it?
 
EVGA GTX970SC ACX1.0 (yeah, I know... didn't find a ACX2.0 at the time...)

The crash problem with this card is related to what driver you are using. The problem isn't limited to Witcher 3 only. You will get driver's crash and TDR errors (Time Detection and Recover) on any game you try to play. I was getting it on google chrome too.

The last known good driver nvidia published was 347.88. It isn't any [put some gerenic game here] drivers ready and works actually better with Witcher 3 than the "drivers ready". Pretty ironic :p

So, do a driver purge on your system (there is some tools that do that) to ensure that the system will not leave any trace of broken drivers and install 347.88. Problem solved
 
I just want to repport that I have no issues with Witcher 3 since the latest patches. I played approx. 100 hours now. No crashes anymore with my MSI GTX 970. Everything is updated. Drivers and OS. I have an i5.
 
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