deuce985

Jshiver90

deuce985

Jshiver90

deuce985
I have an ASUS Z97 Sabertooth Mark 2 mobo with his exact problem only I have a GTX 980 ACX 2.0 SC and not FTW. I did tests on my end and same as him, underclocking was the only thing to fix my problems. Waiting on my RMA to get here so we can see if it fixes my problem.

I'm not saying bcavnaugh is wrong, but if it's true, would down clocking solve the "compatibility" problem? I don't remember seeing that Maxwell GPUs and the Hero VII weren't compatible.

I highly doubt it but you never know with mobo problems. If it was a mobo problem like that though a BIOS update would surely fix it and it would be hurting EVERYONE on a similar build with that BIOS. No way would ASUS let it extend itself out especially since it's a gaming enthusiast board.

Updating BIOS was the first thing I did.

Read my edit. Could possibly be a setting that all ASUS family mobos use. I could see that definitely being a problem. I'm not sure what setting like that would cause TDR errors tbh. It's sounding more and more like you just have a bad GPU as the same thing is going on for me. The only time you get crashes is when you use a GTX 980 while a separate GPU your system is rock solid or you underclock the 980. These TDR problems are making me rip my hair out. In all my years of playing around on PCs...I've never experienced anything this bad.
 
The way I understand it TDR errors are cause by:
 
Driver conflicts or corrupted drivers
Bad writing in the drivers
PSU problems
Unstable overclock on CPU/GPU
GPU just dying
Bad RAM
BIOS
 
I'm sure other things can cause it too. I think I read awhile back Realtek HD drivers could cause TDR errors but I'm not sure on that. I'd imagine any driver that can conflict with Windows is a possibility on TDR so best to make sure everything on your PC is updated. Your problem points to unstable OC which is why it responds to underclocking for stability(same as me).

Sorry but i have to pitch in again. The issue You are talking about here "TDR" is not the issue OP is having.
 
TDR by definition is the driver failing/hanging up and recovering. The issue the OP, me and a bunch of other have is, getting a black screen (monitor losing signal), PC being unresponsive even though (at least in my case) sound just keeps playing but we are ultimately being forced to hard reset the system to get the signal back on the monitor.
 
I hope i described it sufficiently.
 
Edit: Also You didn't want to say it but i am gonna. Bcavnaugh is wrong. In the other thread he said it probably because of 5-6 year old hardware or user fault and now its suddenly because of the Asus Mainboard. He has no idea what he is talking about so be sure to ignore his comments entirely.
 
http://forums.evga.com/RM...Crashing-m2344866.aspx

bcavnaugh
 
I think most of the failure rate is the end user not so much as the Card.
A lot of users install the new Maxwell on motherboards that are more than 5 and 6 years old is also a problem.

wickedwayne

deuce985

Jshiver90

deuce985

Jshiver90

deuce985
I have an ASUS Z97 Sabertooth Mark 2 mobo with his exact problem only I have a GTX 980 ACX 2.0 SC and not FTW. I did tests on my end and same as him, underclocking was the only thing to fix my problems. Waiting on my RMA to get here so we can see if it fixes my problem.

I'm not saying bcavnaugh is wrong, but if it's true, would down clocking solve the "compatibility" problem? I don't remember seeing that Maxwell GPUs and the Hero VII weren't compatible.

I highly doubt it but you never know with mobo problems. If it was a mobo problem like that though a BIOS update would surely fix it and it would be hurting EVERYONE on a similar build with that BIOS. No way would ASUS let it extend itself out especially since it's a gaming enthusiast board.

Updating BIOS was the first thing I did.

 
Read my edit. Could possibly be a setting that all ASUS family mobos use. I could see that definitely being a problem. I'm not sure what setting like that would cause TDR errors tbh. It's sounding more and more like you just have a bad GPU as the same thing is going on for me. The only time you get crashes is when you use a GTX 980 while a separate GPU your system is rock solid or you underclock the 980. These TDR problems are making me rip my hair out. In all my years of playing around on PCs...I've never experienced anything this bad.
 
The way I understand it TDR errors are cause by:
 
Driver conflicts or corrupted drivers
Bad writing in the drivers
PSU problems
Unstable overclock on CPU/GPU
GPU just dying
Bad RAM
BIOS
 
I'm sure other things can cause it too. I think I read awhile back Realtek HD drivers could cause TDR errors but I'm not sure on that. I'd imagine any driver that can conflict with Windows is a possibility on TDR so best to make sure everything on your PC is updated. Your problem points to unstable OC which is why it responds to underclocking for stability(same as me).

Sorry but i have to pitch in again. The issue You are talking about here "TDR" is not the issue OP is having.
 
TDR by definition is the driver failing/hanging up and recovering. The issue the OP, me and a bunch of other have is, getting a black screen (monitor losing signal), PC being unresponsive even though (at least in my case) sound just keeps playing but we are ultimately being forced to hard reset the system to get the signal back on the monitor.
 
I hope i described it sufficiently.
 
Edit: Also You didn't want to say it but i am gonna. Bcavnaugh is wrong. In the other thread he said it probably because of 5-6 year old hardware or user fault and now its suddenly because of the Asus Mainboard. He has no idea what he is talking about so be sure to ignore his comments entirely.
 
http://forums.evga.com/RM...Crashing-m2344866.aspx

bcavnaugh
 
I think most of the failure rate is the end user not so much as the Card.
A lot of users install the new Maxwell on motherboards that are more than 5 and 6 years old is also a problem.

I actually got a mix of both with my problems. I would sometimes get a driver crash and then it would recover or sometimes I would get the black screen where I'd have to reset my PC. Most of the time I could get back to Windows where I could see the taskbar at the bottom but I couldn't get the black image off my screen so I'd press my power button to reset it. Sometimes I could close it and other times it would just stay black like you said and I'd have to reboot it pressing power key.
 
My entire rig is fairly new was built in late October. Funny thing is it worked great for a few months until these problems first started cropping up in SWTOR where I'd get grey screen crashes until I underclocked. It was only until I played TW3 when I got them real bad and even underclocking no longer worked. I remember one time I got a crash, closed TW3, loaded the game back up and got like 10fps then I rebooted and it was fine until I got a black screen crash where I needed to reboot to recover. I got sick of it and after doing tests on my end the only thing I could come to a conclusion was a bad GPU.
 
I'd also like to note I could run benchmarks as described above flawlessly too up until TW3 came out which I think broke my GPU for good. The only game that exhibited problems for months on me was SWTOR and a simple underclock eliminated those errors for me. I actually thought SWTOR was the problem since no other game crashed. I think my GPU degraded over time because when I initially got it in early November I played Dragon Age Inquisition hardcore and that's a taxing game. Never experienced a problem until like late February when I tried MMO SWTOR out and then finally TW3.

deuce985

wickedwayne

deuce985

Jshiver90

deuce985

Jshiver90

deuce985
I have an ASUS Z97 Sabertooth Mark 2 mobo with his exact problem only I have a GTX 980 ACX 2.0 SC and not FTW. I did tests on my end and same as him, underclocking was the only thing to fix my problems. Waiting on my RMA to get here so we can see if it fixes my problem.

I'm not saying bcavnaugh is wrong, but if it's true, would down clocking solve the "compatibility" problem? I don't remember seeing that Maxwell GPUs and the Hero VII weren't compatible.

I highly doubt it but you never know with mobo problems. If it was a mobo problem like that though a BIOS update would surely fix it and it would be hurting EVERYONE on a similar build with that BIOS. No way would ASUS let it extend itself out especially since it's a gaming enthusiast board.

Updating BIOS was the first thing I did.

 
Read my edit. Could possibly be a setting that all ASUS family mobos use. I could see that definitely being a problem. I'm not sure what setting like that would cause TDR errors tbh. It's sounding more and more like you just have a bad GPU as the same thing is going on for me. The only time you get crashes is when you use a GTX 980 while a separate GPU your system is rock solid or you underclock the 980. These TDR problems are making me rip my hair out. In all my years of playing around on PCs...I've never experienced anything this bad.
 
The way I understand it TDR errors are cause by:
 
Driver conflicts or corrupted drivers
Bad writing in the drivers
PSU problems
Unstable overclock on CPU/GPU
GPU just dying
Bad RAM
BIOS
 
I'm sure other things can cause it too. I think I read awhile back Realtek HD drivers could cause TDR errors but I'm not sure on that. I'd imagine any driver that can conflict with Windows is a possibility on TDR so best to make sure everything on your PC is updated. Your problem points to unstable OC which is why it responds to underclocking for stability(same as me).

Sorry but i have to pitch in again. The issue You are talking about here "TDR" is not the issue OP is having.
 
TDR by definition is the driver failing/hanging up and recovering. The issue the OP, me and a bunch of other have is, getting a black screen (monitor losing signal), PC being unresponsive even though (at least in my case) sound just keeps playing but we are ultimately being forced to hard reset the system to get the signal back on the monitor.
 
I hope i described it sufficiently.
 
Edit: Also You didn't want to say it but i am gonna. Bcavnaugh is wrong. In the other thread he said it probably because of 5-6 year old hardware or user fault and now its suddenly because of the Asus Mainboard. He has no idea what he is talking about so be sure to ignore his comments entirely.
 
http://forums.evga.com/RM...Crashing-m2344866.aspx

bcavnaugh
 
I think most of the failure rate is the end user not so much as the Card.
A lot of users install the new Maxwell on motherboards that are more than 5 and 6 years old is also a problem.

I actually got a mix of both with my problems. I would sometimes get a driver crash and then it would recover or sometimes I would get the black screen where I'd have to reset my PC. Most of the time I could get back to Windows where I could see the taskbar at the bottom but I couldn't get the black image off my screen so I'd press my power button to reset it. Sometimes I could close it and other times it would just stay black like you said and I'd have to reboot it pressing power key.
 
My entire rig is fairly new was built in late October. Funny thing is it worked great for a few months until these problems first started cropping up in SWTOR where I'd get grey screen crashes until I underclocked. It was only until I played TW3 when I got them real bad and even underclocking no longer worked. I remember one time I got a crash, closed TW3, loaded the game back up and got like 10fps then I rebooted and it was fine until I got a black screen crash where I needed to reboot to recover. I got sick of it and after doing tests on my end the only thing I could come to a conclusion was a bad GPU.
 
I'd also like to note I could run benchmarks as described above flawlessly too up until TW3 came out which I think broke my GPU for good. The only game that exhibited problems for months on me was SWTOR and a simple overclock eliminated those errors for me. I think my GPU degraded over time because when I initially got it in early November I played Dragon Age Inquisition hardcore and that's a taxing game. Never experienced a problem until like late February when I tried MMO SWTOR out.

Well, at least You had Your card running for some time. I got a new one and it was straight out of the box failing. Only underclocking fixed it. At least i have the option to step up but most of those having the same issue ain't got that option anymore.
 
This was also my first EVGA product and will, by all likelyhood, be the last.

Jshiver90
Well ... After chatting with EVGA support on the phone (email support sucks) their advanced tech-support assistant told me to either RMA the card or to step-up to the 980ti since they couldn't replace it with a lesser card or different product.
 
Guess we will see in a few weeks if this fixes the issue.

So You are effectively in the same position as i am. Congrats. No seriously, let's hope for the best. 
 
Edit: Also, if the 980ti works without issues out of the box, we know what the exactly the problem was, right?

Jshiver90

wickedwayne

Jshiver90
Well ... After chatting with EVGA support on the phone (email support sucks) their advanced tech-support assistant told me to either RMA the card or to step-up to the 980ti since they couldn't replace it with a lesser card or different product.
 
Guess we will see in a few weeks if this fixes the issue.

So You are effectively in the same position as i am. Congrats. No seriously, let's hope for the best. 
 
Edit: Also, if the 980ti works without issues out of the box, we know what the exactly the problem was, right?

Well, if a GTX 660 OC works fine out of the box ...

You are right.
 
Edit: Nevermind.
 

stalinx20
I think there are problems with the FTW series, possibly due to the locked voltage on the cards themselves. EVGA has a high belief in using less TDP while still OC'ing. Seems like the cards "want" to get more juice (volts), and when they try to get more  juice, the firmware on the card (for lack of better words) prevents it from getting any more, causing driver crashes, resulting in going back to desktop (and/or needing to reset PC.), which then causes the GPU's utilization to drop back to "0". Does the GPU become functional again once it goes to zero?

No. I have to completely remove power from the GPU in order for it to become functional again.

stalinx20

Jshiver90

stalinx20
I think there are problems with the FTW series, possibly due to the locked voltage on the cards themselves. EVGA has a high belief in using less TDP while still OC'ing. Seems like the cards "want" to get more juice (volts), and when they try to get more  juice, the firmware on the card (for lack of better words) prevents it from getting any more, causing driver crashes, resulting in going back to desktop (and/or needing to reset PC.), which then causes the GPU's utilization to drop back to "0". Does the GPU become functional again once it goes to zero?

No. I have to completely remove power from the GPU in order for it to become functional again.

Well, since they won't give you a GPU other than the FTW as a replacement, the chances are you getting the same issue are pretty high as everybody else had the exact same problem when they got their replacement. Consider the 980ti stepup. I know that's not what you want to hear... Try doing an RMA, or just use MSI Afterburner and downclock your card by 200mhz (see if that works)

I've already downclocked the card, and it fixes the issue 100%.
 
I've also already began the step-up to the 980ti, since this seems to be a recurring problem with the FTW cards.

stalinx20

Jshiver90

stalinx20

Jshiver90

stalinx20
I think there are problems with the FTW series, possibly due to the locked voltage on the cards themselves. EVGA has a high belief in using less TDP while still OC'ing. Seems like the cards "want" to get more juice (volts), and when they try to get more  juice, the firmware on the card (for lack of better words) prevents it from getting any more, causing driver crashes, resulting in going back to desktop (and/or needing to reset PC.), which then causes the GPU's utilization to drop back to "0". Does the GPU become functional again once it goes to zero?

No. I have to completely remove power from the GPU in order for it to become functional again.

Well, since they won't give you a GPU other than the FTW as a replacement, the chances are you getting the same issue are pretty high as everybody else had the exact same problem when they got their replacement. Consider the 980ti stepup. I know that's not what you want to hear... Try doing an RMA, or just use MSI Afterburner and downclock your card by 200mhz (see if that works)

I've already downclocked the card, and it fixes the issue 100%.
 
I've also already began the step-up to the 980ti, since this seems to be a recurring problem with the FTW cards.

Sorry that the card didn't work out for you. I would consider just getting reference models from here on and just OC the reference models. it's pretty much what EVGA does and then they slap FTW on it.

Yeah, I'm not particularly savvy when it comes to overclocking, and that's why I typically invest a little more money into a card that comes OC'd from the factory. However, that's given me problems with the last four cards I've received from EVGA, so I definitely won't be making that mistake again.

Let's welcome another friend. http://forums.evga.com/gtx-980-ftw-driver-update-problem-m2345376.aspx
 

Mr_slippy
The only crashes I have been getting are goofy black screen crashes while playing games. Only my 980 does this. Swapping my 670 in leads to no issues. In Witcher 3 especially, even walking over certain textures leads to a black screen crash with 'no device detected' popping on my monitor. Rig stays running, led on the GPU stays lit. One thing to note is that I am on a Sabertooth with the fancy diagnostic LEDs. Every time one of these goofy crashes happens, the motherboard runs through a diagnostic and always lands on the GPU light and stays there

 

sectek
I am another user with this confirmed issue.  It only presented when gliding in the MMO, Archeage but did so consistently.   I don't have any other high end games installed currently as it's a new build.  FYI, Archeage does have probably the best graphics of any MMO on the market and you use the glider a lot in the game.
 
This is a brand pc:
4790K
Maximus Hero VII
16GB G.skill 8GBXL
Samsung 1TB 850 Pro
EVGA GTX 980 FTW
EVGA 1000W Platinum PS
 
I called EVGA support and they had me run a benchmark but mainly looked at everything but the video card. 
 
So in isolating the issue I replaced the power supply and all cables and removed 1 memory module at a time.  Issue still presented.  I RMA'd the 980 to Newegg and in the week or so while I waited on the new card I used an ATI 5770 with zero crashes.  When the new card arrived it started crashing again.
 
As soon as I underclocked the card -200mhz gpu and -50 memory offset the issue went away.
 
I will be contacting EVGA support for a different but comparable model card.  I expect them to acknowledge this issue and address it appropriately.  I do know EVGA has a good reputation but there is an issue with this card.  I paid for that extra 200mhz and I expect to get it and I don't expect to waste anymore of my time on this issue at this point.
 
*edit to add that I did install latest drivers: 353.06.  Also monitored temps throughout issue (cpu and gpu below 70c).  Voltage is rock solid. 
 
I have submitted a ticket with this information and waiting on a response from support.

 
Funny you mention this because Archage was the most noticeable problem game I've had with my 980 FTW. I had problems with other games but this one would hard BSOD my computer. After downclocking the GPU by -250MHz -250MHz memory everything is running flawless. No TDRs, BSOD, or screen lockups. I'm sure I could fine tune the clock and slowly add more MHz. But I'm already in the queue for step-up so I'm just going to live with it until I get my Ti.
 
GTX 980 FTW have some serious stability issues with there clocks.

Jshiver90
Unfortunately, EVGA won't acknowledge that it's a problem with the card's settings and/or it's BIOS, even after I replaced multiple parts in my PC and even RMA'd non-defective parts from other vendors. They've refused to replace the FTW card with another version, and insist the only option I have it to use their step-up program to the 980ti, pay an extra $100 for shipping+cost difference, and wait several weeks in the interim. In the meantime, I'm relegated to using my old GTX 660 OC.  They have offered to RMA the FTW and replace it with another FTW, but I don't see how that would remedy the issue after two cards have already failed.
 
While I'm sure there are FTW cards without issues, there are a few too many people with the same problem to be a coincidence, especially since down clocking has fixed my issue 100% with both cards.
 
I've had BSOD issues in multiple games: FFXIV, TW3, PoE, and Warframe.

Well, I'm going to give them the opportunity to do the right thing.  But between Newegg and my cc, I have contingency plans.  I've always bought ATI but wanted the best on this build and since nvidia is leading by 10-15% I went with them.  Either I get another model nvidia card or I will get my money back and go back to ATI. 

Jshiver90
Unfortunately, EVGA won't acknowledge that it's a problem with the card's settings and/or it's BIOS, even after I replaced multiple parts in my PC and even RMA'd non-defective parts from other vendors. They've refused to replace the FTW card with another version, and insist the only option I have it to use their step-up program to the 980ti, pay an extra $100 for shipping+cost difference, and wait several weeks without a working GPU in the interim. In the meantime, I'm relegated to using my old GTX 660 OC.  They have offered to RMA the FTW and replace it with another FTW, but I don't see how that would remedy the issue after two cards have already failed.
 
While I'm sure there are FTW cards without issues, there are a few too many people with the same problem to be a coincidence, especially since down clocking has fixed my issue 100% with both cards.
 
I've had BSOD issues in multiple games: FFXIV, TW3, PoE, and Warframe.

It's real unfortunate that they literally make you go through the hassle of going through a step-up (that's really the "warranty", huh EVGA.........?) What's the cost of you doing that? They should have the option of offering the customers of going to a lower card, such as SC or reference.  So if the warranty doesn't work, in which it doesn't for the FTW, because we already know the outcome when they 'replace' you the one you have, then you are pretty much made (forced) to buy a step-up because the card you purchased doesn't work. All because the manager won't approve of you receiving the SC or reference? I'm not surprised that a single Tech has not said "boo" to any thread related to the 980 FTW.

Stephenk291

Jshiver90
Well ... After chatting with EVGA support on the phone (email support sucks) their advanced tech-support assistant told me to either RMA the card or to step-up to the 980ti since they couldn't replace it with a lesser card or different product.
 
Guess we will see in a few weeks if this fixes the issue.

I'd press the issue. They offered that option for me. Granted I was 4 RMA's deep and $70 in the hole from shipping out my 1440p monitor which they thought could have been defective (it was not).  Telling you to spend another $120 to upgrade to a better card is not a solution its a cop out.  If you don't want to spend the money, tell them they need to give you a 980 SC and either make up the difference by providing you a backplate or giving you a refund of the difference. If the tier 1 support reps cannot help you, reach out to Jayson or the supervisor.

I saw a couple posts earlier that the supervisor was declining (yes declining) the authorization to give SC or reference replacements.

 

Stephenk291
 I bet I could google 980 FTW voltage lock + crashing + blackscreen and get a few pages worth.

Nope just did it and only got posts here but try it yourself
 
 
David 

Stephenk291

djmorgan
 

Stephenk291
 I bet I could google 980 FTW voltage lock + crashing + blackscreen and get a few pages worth.

Nope just did it and only got posts here but try it yourself
 
 
David 

Thanks buzz killington.

lmao.