Strange problems occurring with NVIDIA GPUs
Strange problems occurring with NVIDIA GPUs
I've faced difficulties with my RTX 4070 for quite some time now. What's unusual is that these problems have gradually changed and appeared unpredictably, even after two major updates. I'll try to outline the issues and their timing, though I might have missed a few details since it's been a while. Starting from that point, my system used:
- Graphics: ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4070 OC
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus Elite B450 rev. 1
- RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8GB DDR4 3200 MT/s CL 16-18-18-36
- Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 12M 1000W
- Operating System: Windows 11
Initially, around a year ago, I noticed strange events in Kerbal Space Program—sometimes the error code "nvlddmkm" appeared in the event manager. It started more often, causing my PC to freeze, with all monitors going black and only the game freezing while everything else worked. At that time, I reached out to NVIDIA support, went through driver reinstalls, BIOS updates, but nothing resolved the issue. They eventually directed me to return the card, which they claimed was fine for them.
After that, the problems persisted, even under more demanding conditions. The errors became more frequent and severe. I tried running memory tests in OCCT and memtest86, and both passed. However, I encountered occasional crashes, especially during GPU tests in OCCT, where I saw numerous random errors. One notable incident was a GPU test that triggered "nvlddmkm" repeatedly, leading to a hard lock on the system without the screens going black. After a reset, the error reappeared in the Event Viewer.
I also upgraded my components recently—new motherboard, CPU, and RAM. Despite these changes, similar issues resurfaced. Recently, I experienced random monitor blackouts even under light load, with the PC restarting itself. In the event viewer, I saw the same error code again. I cleaned up graphics drivers using DDU and reinstalled an older version of NVIDIA drivers, but the problem continued.
Another strange occurrence was a sudden freeze during a Minecraft session, accompanied by stuttering and low FPS. I also noticed OpenGL errors in the logs, though I couldn't pinpoint exact messages.
This ongoing struggle has been frustrating, and I'm unsure if it's related to the new hardware or just bad luck. I'm reaching out for advice and any insights someone might have.