Hey, I just recently got my GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0 for an upgrade from gtx 560. Firstly, I didn't think of uninstalling my old drivers before installing it. Although I first uninstalled the drivers with DDU and installed the latest drivers. Afterwards, I played TF2 and I get a screen freeze with a black screen, but I can alt tabbed and exit the game. I thought it was one game, so I tried Dota 2 and surprised the screen frozen too. I got a bit panicked and immediately reset the reset button. This never happened while using bench mark programs like furmark 3D, Valley, and Heaven on maxed settings (GPU was at 60c with using precision under fan curve so it's not the heat) nor WoW. Later on, I played a bit more on TF2 and around 15 mins of play through, I got a black screen and was not able to alt tabbed which I did a hard reset. At first I thought I have some old driver leftovers so I did a clean install using driver sweeper. Although I'm afraid to run any games because of the black screen.

Although while using precision, I find something odd. The clock goes slightly over the boost clock around 1366 MHz, so maybe that's the reason why the blank screen crash persist in the first place? Anyway, I need your help on this and here are my PC specs:

Cpu: i7 960 @ 3.20ghz
Gpu:evga gtx 970 ACX 2.0 sc
Ram: Corsair Dominator 12GB
MB: Gigabyte g1. Guerilla x58
Harddrive: Seagate 1TB 7200rpm Hard Drive
Optical Drive: LG Blu-Ray / DVD Burner Combo
Monitor: Sceptre 27inch 60mhz (1920 x 1080)
Mouse: Logitech g700s
Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance k70 Black (Red LED) Keyboard with Cherry MX Red Switches)
PSU: Corsair TX750

Help would be really appreciated. :)

How can I downclock it from precision x 16?
Edit: Not just any game. Dota 2 and WoW didn't start any black screens but only TF2. WoW and benchmark programs weren't affected last time I played. Somehow I get the notion that I was using precision x during that time.

Just to give you more information on my first post. Around the time that I did a clean install by going to control panel and uninstall the drivers and clean the left overs using driver sweeper. Today, I had the courage to play TF2 for about an hour and for some reason no black screen...although I'm not out of the woods yet. I didn't even underclocked it yet. This is around the time I didn't use precision x.

Something's still not right...

Maybe. Wish I can reproduce the black screen without precision x, I feared that the card maybe faulty but I dunno..I'll edit this post when I experience some black screen without precision x.

hey all.
 
i have the same gtx970 acx 2.0 sc.
 
I have the same issue and the only way i get my computer to recognize the card is to actually open up the case and press the reset button on the motherboard.  wt* but whatever I am pushing ridiculous overclocks so I expect issues.  i can get to 1540/8000 fyi.
 
the thing that most readily fixed the issue for me was doing a custom clean instll of the drivers.  I did not remove the drivers first just straight wrote over them.
 
as for precision,  i used to love it but now it is just a mess that is still in development so uninstall it.  go back to afterburner.  If you keep the statics tuner open I bet you will see a massive spike in the gpu power usage.  I run right at 102% then all of sudden it will read 3500% right at the point of crash.  so crank that power usage to 110% and try and run it there.
 
many times the drivers will crash while at a loading screen in between leels or after i die.  this happens in almost all games and is directly tied to the overclock in my experience.  

Hey, I'm back. Although, I find something even a bit more strange. Although I didn't get a black screen when I play at least 1 hour of dota 2 and 3 hours on TF2 without precision x. Still not out of the woods yet. Although, I'm playing World of Warcraft and I find a glitch which when I click a Wor'gol Villager, her skirt went spinning all over the place like a propeller, when I cancel the target of Wor'gol Villager, her skirt returns to normal...I'm using windowed borderless unless I switch to program folder, her skirt went back to normal as well. I'm not really sure if its really an artifact or a glitch. While I was playing WoW I didn't encounter any artifacts. Wish I would show you the image, but I'm not allowed to unless I have one more day to post it on here.  Otherwise, I can't be sure if this card is really faulty or not unless if there's more test other than furmark, valley, and heaven. Just curious. ^^;

Here's the image of that glitch down below:

for some reason heaven benchmark overstates what your core clock is.
 
I would try this
1.  uninstall precision x and any other otherclocking software.
2.  restart
3.  do a clean install of drivers (select custom install and check the clean install button)
4.  restart and test
 
this may work for you

fkrIII
for some reason heaven benchmark overstates what your core clock is.
 
I would try this
1.  uninstall precision x and any other otherclocking software.
2.  restart
3.  do a clean install of drivers (select custom install and check the clean install button)
4.  restart and test
 
this may work for you

Thank you very much for the suggestions. I went through the steps and got the same problem. I also tried with a different PSU and got the same problem.
 
Only when I installed Precision, downclocked by 100 MHz and set the power limit to 110, the computer did get the black screen but was able to continue running normally afterwards.
 
Also tried drivers 344.11, 344.60 and 344.65, all have the same results.

fkrIII
any chance you know what your temps are while running heaven or something.  I have been setting a temp of 62C.  while using my overclock I am just curious if there might be a typical point where you black screen.
 
also do you ever get to see what your power usage was while using precision and the black screen occurs.  because mine spikes into the 1000% usage every time it black screens.  multi monitor are so useful while troubleshooting and testing (other monitors run off of the motherboard not the gtx970)

Previous crashes were @ 72 - 73 C but the card was stable at that temps for 1 - 2 mins and then was crashing.
 
The last crash was @ 62 c, where the moniter went black and returned back. ( still running heaven ) The power was around 90% when the screen went black, when it returned it was showing a sudden drop down to 20%s and going back to 90%s within seconds. So either a spike didn't happen or I didn't see it.
 
Either there is a problem with these GTX970s and LGA 1155 or the particular GTX970 that I have has an issue. I just want to be totally sure before RMAing the card...

Sajin

RyougaLolakie
Hey, I'm back. Although, I find something even a bit more strange. Although I didn't get a black screen when I play at least 1 hour of dota 2 and 3 hours on TF2 without precision x. Still not out of the woods yet. Although, I'm playing World of Warcraft and I find a glitch which when I click a Wor'gol Villager, her skirt went spinning all over the place like a propeller, when I cancel the target of Wor'gol Villager, her skirt returns to normal...I'm using windowed borderless unless I switch to program folder, her skirt went back to normal as well. I'm not really sure if its really an artifact or a glitch. While I was playing WoW I didn't encounter any artifacts. Wish I would show you the image, but I'm not allowed to unless I have one more day to post it on here.  Otherwise, I can't be sure if this card is really faulty or not unless if there's more test other than furmark, valley, and heaven. Just curious. ^^;

Here's the image of that glitch down below:

Looks like a game glitch.

Seems like it. Anyways, I'm playing more of TF2 and World of Warcraft and I'm starting to see some minor artifacts that come and go but rarely. Sadly, I wasn't able to reproduce it. Now I get the feeling where this has been going down the road..sigh..I knew I shouldn't bought the OC version but who knows. Will it get worse over time?

Sajin

RyougaLolakie

Sajin

RyougaLolakie
Hey, I'm back. Although, I find something even a bit more strange. Although I didn't get a black screen when I play at least 1 hour of dota 2 and 3 hours on TF2 without precision x. Still not out of the woods yet. Although, I'm playing World of Warcraft and I find a glitch which when I click a Wor'gol Villager, her skirt went spinning all over the place like a propeller, when I cancel the target of Wor'gol Villager, her skirt returns to normal...I'm using windowed borderless unless I switch to program folder, her skirt went back to normal as well. I'm not really sure if its really an artifact or a glitch. While I was playing WoW I didn't encounter any artifacts. Wish I would show you the image, but I'm not allowed to unless I have one more day to post it on here.  Otherwise, I can't be sure if this card is really faulty or not unless if there's more test other than furmark, valley, and heaven. Just curious. ^^;

Here's the image of that glitch down below:

Looks like a game glitch.

Seems like it. Anyways, I'm playing more of TF2 and World of Warcraft and I'm starting to see some minor artifacts that come and go but rarely. Sadly, I wasn't able to reproduce it. Now I get the feeling where this has been going down the road..sigh..I knew I shouldn't bought the OC version but who knows. Will it get worse over time?

Yes, it will get worse over time if the card is producing the artifacts.

Oh darn. :/ That really stinks...if that's the case I'll consider to do an rma once the artifacts started to get out of control. It sucks because I've own this card for a week and this card is dying prematurely..And speaking of rma, I have another problem..I accidently took off the warranty sticker >< but..I kept that sticker on the evga card box which really sucks...me and my stupidity..it's my fault. :/

Same issue here.
 
I had a Radeon HD6870 Vapor-X Sapphire, played a long time to Archeage (CryEngine 3 game), just all running fine.
 
Then i upgraded to a GeForce GTX970 model 2972, ACX 2.0, firstly i unistalled all the ati driver with DDU, then after the shutdown i installed the lastest nvidia Driver, 344.65, played to archeage at max resolution without any other software installed  then i got the black screen, screen turning black then i had to force restart my pac, sometime i still hear the sound of other application like TeamSpeak, with the blackscreen on.
 
Then i tried to install Precision X and founded that when i play with Aggressive Fan Mode (50/60 degree) i didnt got anyblack screen, if i forgot to run it, and the VGA won't run the fan fast, i got the blackscreen.
 
At this moment i think that the problem is of some faulty VGA Graphic, i tried to change Power Alimentation from an XFX 550w to an Enermax Gold 625w, didn't got any improvements, seem that the temp over 70 let the VGA going to the blackscreen. Didn't founded any other reason at that. 
Anyway, like ryouga i saw that the video card at full speed, going after the redmark on precision X 16
I think that are some bad component going to fault over 70 degree, not a driver video problem.
 

 

Hello,
 
just for your info, a bios update, a clean install of windows, newest drivers have solved my issue. I Do not know which, i did all at once but everything seems fine for now.

If you truly think the card is artifacting at stock settings downclocking the card should help remove the artifacts. Retest your game after downclocking, go back to the same spot to check for artifacts. 

Sajin
If you truly think the card is artifacting at stock settings downclocking the card should help remove the artifacts. Retest your game after downclocking, go back to the same spot to check for artifacts. 

Oh ok, I'll try out downclocking. How low will I downclock it?

@fkrill I'll retest the benchmarks again, last time I used it I didn't see any artifacts.

Sajin

RyougaLolakie
How low will I downclock it?

-105 on both the core and memory should be sufficient.

@Sajin Should I start underclocking slowly first or just put -105 on both memory and core all the way?

@fkrll, I did a Heaven and Valley Benchmark Test 3 times and I didn't even see any artifacts and the gpu was at 58c with automatic fan-speed on MSI Burner. I honestly don't understand why Both of those aren't happening....