Any advice on diagnosing a problematic GPU?

[pegot]

Four days ago my system crashed while experimenting with Octane test build 3.06 2 and I was unable to boot into either my Hackintosh or Windows disks.

After a lot of mucking about in my ROM and with swapping out components it appears that one of my GTX 780’s may be part of the problem (another issue was a dying case fan and has since been replaced).

If that card was installed in any of my PCI slots, neither OS X nor Windows would boot (Windows booted once but almost immediatly shut down before I could even log in).

I tried the card in two separate PCI slots with the same results - no successful boots into OS X or Windows. Once the card is removed systems boot. I even tested the PCI slot where the problematic 780 was housed by putting in a really old GTX 570 - and that works fine. Currently, I have a 770, 780, and 570 all running together without issue. But I really want my other 780 back if possible.

So my question: other than simply seeing if the card is powering up visa a turning fan (which it does), how can I diagnose a GPU to see what the problem is and whether it is fixable? The card is out of warranty.

There is a Microcenter near me and they say they can run a diagnostic test for $40.00. Does anyone have experience with tech service from Microcenter and do you think that is worth it?

Any advice appreciated. Would love to get a new card (especially when the 1080ti comes out) but that’s not in the budget right now.

[Tutor]

I'd start saving for a Pascal, rather than paying $40 to have Micro Center tell me what I already know, because that 780 clearly has problems and is no longer warranted. In the meantime, I'd try updating the problematic 780's bios - https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/?ar ... 144&since= . That's what I'd do.

[pegot]

Thanks Tutor I hadn't thought of BIOS flashing (and will need to research how to do it). It's possible that card may already have the latest version since I got it back from EVGA as a replacement sometime in 2015 after problems developed with my original card. But if it is not working properly I guess I have nothing to lose by trying to flash the BIOS anyway.

Again, thanks for tips.

[Tutor]

Here's a guide - https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/thre ... pu.119955/ .

[Notiusweb]

I know I am late to this, but one way of troubleshooting this sort of thing is to boot with the problem GPU as a secondary GPU, with another one as the main one.
This way you can see all the issues it encounters, if any, while using it in Octane or any other GPU accessible application.
Also, it'll let you see what it looks like in the (1) system registry, (2) Windows control panel, and (3) NVidia control panel.