New Nvidia Geforce GTX 460 1gb Freezing or BSODing on boot

#1- Reinstall old card with new PSU and test.
2a-It works flawlessly
2b-The error still happens

2a-Now we know it is either the new card itself, a lack of power for the new card, bios settings, or drivers
2b-Now we know it is either the GPU, PSU, RAM, a bios corruption, CPU, or a failing MB.
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Your PSU does not have a listed 12volt rail amperage on newegg...that could be bad. Newegg.com - OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandybridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom

Here are some unofficial numbers for it, stating ~2x25amp 12volt rails
Support Question OCZ700MXSP 12v rails -- GTX 460 SLI?

The video card wants between 31 and 38 amps, prolly more towards the 38 due to stock OC on GPU
ASUS GeForce ENGTX560 Ti DirectCU II Video Card Review - The ASUS GeForce GTX560 DirectCU II - Legit Reviews
Power requirements for graphics cards | MSI HQ User-to-User FAQ

It looks like your PSU is the culprit, stop fingering your RAM, it feels molested.

Lessons to be learned.
1-Don't buy stock overclocked stuff, period.
2-Don't buy modular power supplies, they cheated you on the 12volt rails. Just get some zip ties and keep house.
3-READ more before making purchases. Newegg and tiger direct reviews, when combined with detailed research into available products can help nip problems in the bud.
4-NEVER use the driver CD that came with your card, just go download the newest one and have a clean install of the most up-to-date work from the code monkeys.

Return the PSU (or keep it as a spare for a different computer) and purchase this,
Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

I used it with a GTX470 flawlessly, it has 2x38amp 12volt rails, and I've never had an Antec PSU fail on me or my clients.

After seeing your PSU and GPU,low amps looks like your issue. Good Luck.

*note, spend a lil more and get what you pay for. This is running my GTX470 now,
Newegg.com - Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-900 900W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

I would also suggest using a high joule rating surge supressor AND an UPS to help protect your components. You already picked out a PSU with PFC, which is becoming standard now so less of a headache to have to look for.

I'd bet money its your PSU being under amped.

Thanks man I'll try that. However. The new psu was just an upgrade from the warranty because my old one broke. I may be able to get them to send me a different model.

Get them on the phone man, they advertised that thing as being SLI ready because it had 2pcie connectors. 2x25amps (where it is really one shared 25amp rail) is in many ways screwing people over that actualy need it for SLI. According to specs I've found, this PSU would just barely let you use a GeForce GTS 450, and I seriously doubt it would let you SLI two of them.

You should ask OCZ if they will let you have a credit towards purchasing a better one. That isn't asking them more than what they should do. If you have to go OCZ, here are 2 I spec'd out for good output amps.
OCZ-ZT550W (+3.3V@24A, +5V@24A, +12V@45A, -12V@0.5A, +5VSB@3A )
OCZ-ZT650W (+3.3V@30A, +5V@24A, +12V@54A, -12V@0.5A, +5VSB@3A)
---The 550 wants 8amps in, the 650 wants 10amps in.

When I spec'd out my new PSU, I decided that 4 12volt rails would assure 1 for CPU, 1 for MB header, and 2 for power on a vid card. It said 40amps on each rail so it won my money. From what I read single rail vs multi rails doesn't mean that much as long as the amps are there for all your 12volt stuff, CPU, MB, Vid card.

OCZ is a good company for RAM and SSDs, I've never gotten one of their PSUs because I like going with what companies originally started manufacturing. However, I do have 5 SSDs from OCZ, all of them tip top products imo. ASUS did motherboards, evga did vid cards, antec did PSUs, and so on. Most companies have expanded into new markets, but they have the most time in research and development with the markets they started in. Gigabyte has been getting some cudos for their MBs in the past few years, so their vid cards are probably a good gamble.

If OCZ doesn't get you straight, just tell them Antec and Corsair are making stronger PSUs so you have somewhere to correct your problem and cut your losses with their company.

I'd really like to know 2 things if you could get back to us. First, did OCZ make an effort to help you correct your problem (a refund, you pay difference in upgrade, free upgrade). Second, did getting a PSU with more amps on the rails correct your problem?

Good luck on the phone!

Thanks mate. Yeah I had the older 700w version of that psu and it blew up on me ( starting to think ocz are shit ) and they gave me a free upgrade as a replacement.

Well all my SSD's are faster than the first one I bought (40GB Mushkin), and they are all OCZ. Its just that some companies do what they started doing best. SSDs aren't that far of a jump from RAM (they are vaguely related), and I'm pretty sure thats what OCZ started with. They are a good company, their rebates happen fast, they make some good products, and they obviously tried to take care of you. Lets see what they do next. Even if they do nothing, just do like I said and cut your losses and get that cheap antec 650 green I posted. That OCZ PSU can be your spare to fix a friends facebook computer.

Ok, new problem. Sorry for my delayed response. Haven't bought a new psu yet but I tried to boot my 2tb with my old card and im still getting the BSOD. Only change there is the power supply. Do I still go for a new power supply or is it possibly a different issue?

How are we doing in bios, can you sit in bios paging through the menus and options without a crash? Have you flashed the cmos or tried using ASUS crash free bios restore? Jumping the bios has fixed alot of weird problems for me in the past.
If you can use BIOS then there is probably nothing WRONG with the video card. It may just need the amps when you boot into windows and have the full display aspect ratio engaged.

What happens with a live cd when you boot? Try Linux mint live cd or some distro like that and see if it stops. Unplug all sata drives and boot from dvd/cd. Id really like to know how Linux acts.
Main Page - Linux Mint

When you unplug the 2TB and run windows off the SSD do you get the error?

Your motherboard has alot of bad feedback on newegg for DOA and faulty components. Maybe it finally gave up, reseating stuff and upgrading components can influence a MB to die. Someone usually just inherets my old PC and I don't bother trying to give an old horse new shoes.

If it is a SATA issue, maybe you can try other sata slots.

Are you getting clean power? Are you using an UPS to condition power before it gets to your PSU?

Since you have isolated the gtx460 as not the problem, it looks like PSU, MB, HDD is on the chopping block for troubleshooting.

How are we doing in bios, can you sit in bios paging through the menus and options without a crash? Have you flashed the cmos or tried using ASUS crash free bios restore? Jumping the bios has fixed alot of weird problems for me in the past.
If you can use BIOS then there is probably nothing WRONG with the video card. It may just need the amps when you boot into windows and have the full display aspect ratio engaged.

Yes bios is fine. I haven't flashed it as I don't really know how to and really don't feel comfortable messing around with it.

What happens with a live cd when you boot? Try Linux mint live cd or some distro like that and see if it stops. Unplug all sata drives and boot from dvd/cd. Id really like to know how Linux acts.
Main Page - Linux Mint

Haven't tried this. I think I will. I have ubuntu installed on my 2tb also. I'll try boot that.

When you unplug the 2TB and run windows off the SSD do you get the error?

No 2tb bsod's on booting windows. The ssd works flawlessly after about 5-10 minutes it comepletley freezes

Your motherboard has alot of bad feedback on newegg for DOA and faulty components. Maybe it finally gave up, reseating stuff and upgrading components can influence a MB to die. Someone usually just inherets my old PC and I don't bother trying to give an old horse new shoes.

if the problems persist I'll buy a new board and processor

If it is a SATA issue, maybe you can try other sata slots.

I've tried different slots issues still happen

Are you getting clean power? Are you using an UPS to condition power before it gets to your PSU?

I have no idea what this means.


I'll try the linux disk later and see how it gets on

ok it has to be the live cd or else you could just be loading old drivers off the hdd still. The ssd freezing is making me think dead MB.

flashing cmos means to reset the BIOS config by shorting out two pins that stick out of your MB, there is a littl plastic tab with metal inside that you slide off where it is and over to hit a different pin. you hit power then its flashed, you move jumper back it boots normally. look up the motherboard manual for your MB and try that.

an Uninterruptable power supply can correct problems where voltage is dipping down too low on your AC line or where the frequency is out of whack. Can lead to PC issues that are very difficult to diagnose to the power line.


try this
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
boot from it and run the test, see if it comes back clean and error free. If it does then maybe its the sata controller gone bad, you could maybe just buy add in card to get new good sata.

try linux live cd
jump bios
run memtest

Do you have an ide header that you could try booting pata?

You learn alot about computers when your MB slowly dies and you want it to work.