I take it you’ve tried a fresh Windows installation (e.g. format hard drive, re-install windows) to rule out left over driver issues?
If it’s still blowing up on a clean install then I think you’ve ruled out everything except motherboard or PSU. My bet is on the PSU.
Is the motherboard grounding? Take it out of the case and run it on the box/on desk naked.
Do you have another PCI-e slot to try? Even if the slot is not 16x or whatever.
Do you smell anything “electronic” when it stops working?
Do/did you have enough “amps on the rail?” you were drawing from? Might need to cross check power supply specs, and make sure you’re not drawing too many amps on one leg of the power supply circuit. It’s not volts but amps that kills.
I would absolutely get a new modern psu as a troubleshooting step.
Yeah, video card failing to do its job in one system but working in another means
a) not getting the power it wants
b) conflict between the GPU and some other component in the system (maybe onboard graphics?)
(i suppose) c) not being seated correctly in one of the systems
Since (b) is so rare, try to fix (a) first. ( c) is VERY unlikely
Go with something fancy like 80 plus titanium. Get a nice psu as they can last 8 years or more.
Holy shit I think it works.
Apparently it was the power supply. I went to Best Buy and got a Corsair TX850m. More wattage than I need I’m sure and more expensive than I probably should have spent but everything said it was very solid quality and at this point I just wanted to make sure I gave it the best shot of proving or disproving the PSU. Just ran through a flawless round of the heaven benchmark and Furmark seems to run flawlessly as well.
I don’t really understand it, since everything I see says I should only require 500W power supply with this build. I guess the original was just a bad brand that couldn’t put out enough juice as the GPU ramped up (though I don’t understand why 3dmark could pull juice just fine and not shut down).
Thanks for all the replies, it’s been a rough two weeks of trying to get this build working. Now to actually put the PSU into the box and redo all my wiring.
Power supplies are funny, at least in computers (why do the power supplies for nearly every other appliance almost never fail? Such as in a stereo amplifier?). I’ve had good brand names fail, good brand names last for years, off-brand names fail, and off-brands last for years*. My personal advice: Grab a good brand with excellent reviews, both user reviews and pro reviews. I’ve also got a Corsair TX, and I love it, so you may have got a good one now.
- When those off-brands fail however, in my case they fail spectacularly, and in one case took out my motherboard when it went. This is a moot point in this case, since yours was not an off-brand. At least I don’t think so. I’ve never owned a Raidmax, but I think it’s a brand that’s been around a long time.