F5F Stay Refreshed Power Users Overclocking [GOT IT! Overheated GPU getting black screen on a GTX 1070 with water cooling.]

[GOT IT! Overheated GPU getting black screen on a GTX 1070 with water cooling.]

[GOT IT! Overheated GPU getting black screen on a GTX 1070 with water cooling.]

T
TheSimple
Member
229
09-14-2026, 03:51 AM
#1
Hey guys, I'm really stuck right now. About a month ago, I got my GTX 1070 running with water cooling using NZXT's kit, but then I tried pushing the settings higher with MSI Afterburner and went too far. When I started stressing it in Unigen Heaven just a few seconds later, my screen turned black and nothing worked for weeks now. It's September, so I gave up on fixing it and bought a used GTX 480 instead because I didn't have another graphics card to play with. Basically, I haven't had access to my real PC until last week anyway.

I tried everything else to fix the problem: I reset the BIOS, took out the CMOS battery, cleaned RAM, moved the slots around, and reseated the 1070 in the second slot. Even when I plugged a monitor cable into different places like HDMI or DisplayPort, it didn't help. When I had my spare card on at the same time as the 1070, everything worked fine until now. In Device Manager, it says there are driver issues with every new or old Nvidia driver I try to install, and the screen resolution gets all messed up when I restart. The Nvidia Control Panel doesn't even see the 1070; MSI Afterburner only shows "0 MHz" for clock and memory, which means no data is being sent at all.

I tried flashing the VBIOs on the card to fix that zero frequency problem, but it still won't work with drivers or see a picture on screen. I hope someone can help me get this fixed so I can use my PC again and give it to my dad. My big plan was to build a new rig later using Ryzen CPUs and RTX 3000s, but right now, I just need to fix up the 1070 so I can still play games on my old setup. Thanks for any advice you can give me! Sean
T
TheSimple
09-14-2026, 03:51 AM #1

Hey guys, I'm really stuck right now. About a month ago, I got my GTX 1070 running with water cooling using NZXT's kit, but then I tried pushing the settings higher with MSI Afterburner and went too far. When I started stressing it in Unigen Heaven just a few seconds later, my screen turned black and nothing worked for weeks now. It's September, so I gave up on fixing it and bought a used GTX 480 instead because I didn't have another graphics card to play with. Basically, I haven't had access to my real PC until last week anyway.

I tried everything else to fix the problem: I reset the BIOS, took out the CMOS battery, cleaned RAM, moved the slots around, and reseated the 1070 in the second slot. Even when I plugged a monitor cable into different places like HDMI or DisplayPort, it didn't help. When I had my spare card on at the same time as the 1070, everything worked fine until now. In Device Manager, it says there are driver issues with every new or old Nvidia driver I try to install, and the screen resolution gets all messed up when I restart. The Nvidia Control Panel doesn't even see the 1070; MSI Afterburner only shows "0 MHz" for clock and memory, which means no data is being sent at all.

I tried flashing the VBIOs on the card to fix that zero frequency problem, but it still won't work with drivers or see a picture on screen. I hope someone can help me get this fixed so I can use my PC again and give it to my dad. My big plan was to build a new rig later using Ryzen CPUs and RTX 3000s, but right now, I just need to fix up the 1070 so I can still play games on my old setup. Thanks for any advice you can give me! Sean

S
Sqorck
Junior Member
47
09-14-2026, 01:07 PM
#2
I hit the highest limit ms afterburner gives me with voltage overclocks. For all the rest, what are "the other ones"? A gtx 480 uses old drivers compared to a gtx 1070. I think you have messed up your gtx 1070. Just use the gtx 480 and let nvidia find the card and give you the right drivers.
S
Sqorck
09-14-2026, 01:07 PM #2

I hit the highest limit ms afterburner gives me with voltage overclocks. For all the rest, what are "the other ones"? A gtx 480 uses old drivers compared to a gtx 1070. I think you have messed up your gtx 1070. Just use the gtx 480 and let nvidia find the card and give you the right drivers.

W
wizerexd543
Junior Member
2
09-29-2026, 11:29 AM
#3
I reached the highest voltage limit that MSI allows with overclocks for my card. The rest of them? What are they? A GTX 480 needs older drivers, like a GTX 1070 does. I think you messed up your GTX 1070. Just use the GTX 480 and let NVDIA find it and give you the right drivers.
W
wizerexd543
09-29-2026, 11:29 AM #3

I reached the highest voltage limit that MSI allows with overclocks for my card. The rest of them? What are they? A GTX 480 needs older drivers, like a GTX 1070 does. I think you messed up your GTX 1070. Just use the GTX 480 and let NVDIA find it and give you the right drivers.