Discussing the constraints of parts and their impacts
Discussing the constraints of parts and their impacts
Recently I upgraded my computer with a Sapphire Nitro+ 7900xtx and also swapped the case, so if there’s a chance to fix things during reassembly here, here it is. The system runs a ROG X570e Strix gaming Wi-Fi V1 board, has a Ryzen 9 5950x previously, Noctua NH-D15, EVGA 1000W G7, Corsair Vengeance 3600MHz, Crucial P2 1TB, and Seagate Barracuda 2TB. (Skip this section if you want to focus on the symptoms.)
Since switching to the 5950x I’ve stopped functioning properly with major voltage adjustments. On Windows, it cuts power after about 10 seconds and gets stuck in a power cycle when I try to change settings in BIOS instead of Ryzen Master. I enabled PBO and left it, as that’s the only stable option.
After installing the 7900xtx, booting into BIOS is problematic—DRAM light appears, but stays lit. I checked the RAM placement and confirmed it was correct. I tried removing and reinserting the RAM in the same slot I moved it to, which worked. Once that was fixed, I got into BIOS for the first time and didn’t see any changes needed.
When trying to boot Windows, it powers off for 5 seconds, cuts power for 3 seconds, then auto restarts. I reset everything, fixed GPU drivers, and eventually got into BIOS again.
Symptoms: Whenever I attempt special settings in BIOS (like PBO, DOCP/XMP), I get stuck in the same power cycle. I tested components with OCCT, but everything checked out—except for GPU VRAM, which showed issues under load. After OCCT, VRAM worked perfectly.
Testing the PSU, I found it handled load well (never exceeded 40%), so overdraw wasn’t the issue. I ran benchmark tests and found no faults with the PSU, CPU, or RAM.
After all this, I decided to run 3DMark to stress-test the GPU. Sapphire and EVGA advised caution, but I got a solid score. The card seems fine unless there’s physical damage.
Questions: What’s happening now? My build is improving fast, but the motherboard seems to be the bottleneck. Does a good PSU matter more than the components? Before this build, with a Red Devil 6700xt, the same issues appeared. Why can’t I run other OC tools? Is the GPU separate enough from the rest of the system? If I upgrade to Ryzen 9000, will it work better? My family and friends’ systems have weaker PSUs.
I’m really confused. This is my first PC build that’s improving so quickly, but the motherboard seems to be the main problem.
For people facing issues similar to this, PSU is recommended if you switch RAM slots. Try reverting to the previous configuration or testing with new RAM slots. The fix for my problem was simply swapping the RAM slots, as I had a faulty slot.
I didn’t go through your long document, but bad RAM slots are uncommon. It’s often a CPU problem. Try resetting the CPU; you might find your faulty RAM slot wasn’t as bad after all.
I attempted the CPU reset and checked every RAM slot. Testing via OCCT showed all channels worked fine, except one slot which refused to cooperate with DOCP. Other channels ran smoothly, but that slot would trigger a power cycle. The notes were also unclear due to my stress and frustration during the troubleshooting session at 2 a.m. If you want to avoid wiring headaches, skip RGB fractal torrent.