Windows 10 PC Glitching Suspected to be Caused by NVIDIA GTX 1080

[young sonnet]

Hello, I have been having this issue for awhile where my entire Windows PC tends to flicker and distort applications' UI which leads to freezing and crashing. Other distortions include blue and yellow squares appearing that also appear on my taskbar. I have tried many troubleshooting tactics such as changing and updating drivers and completely wiping and factory resetting my PC which did not work. It is suspected that the issue is my NVIDIA GTX 1080 as I am not sure if it is simply dying after 5 years. My monitors can only plug into my GPU.

Important notes are that the issue still occurred while my NVIDIA drivers were uninstalled, and the issue never occurs in safe mode.

I am wondering if my GPU is the issue as I am asking for any input for this issue.

Thank you.

[main narwhal]

Do the issues persist when you force maximum performance in the NVIDIA Control Panel? (Restart the PC)

[young sonnet]

Yes if doing this was correct

[main narwhal]

Card's time is probably fully spent if maxing the performance doesn't help even on the desktop. Time to go shopping.

To get a card faster than your 1080, you'd be looking at a 3060 or 4060

[young sonnet]

So, I guess it 100% is the GPU dying, not something else?

[main narwhal]

You don't have an iGPU to test with, but there's also another possibility, that it's the system RAM, but since the GPU works properly when no drivers exist... yeah, the hardware part is pretty likely

you should still be able to test the system RAM. might as well do it now

[young sonnet]

"the issue still occurred while my NVIDIA drivers were uninstalled, and the issue never occurs in safe mode."

So, GPU does not work when no drivers exist. (hypothetical since not proven for sure it's GPU dying)

[main narwhal]

Actually, Windows will usually quickly reinstall NVIDIA drivers on its own if you let it be

If it works in Safe Mode/BIOS...

[young sonnet]

It was immediately after they were uninstalled
Device manager said the Display Driver was the Basic Microsoft one

[young sonnet]

There are indeed no issues in safe mode

[young sonnet]

@main narwhal I got a 4060 Ti with the ability to return within 14 days to test and with it, and the exact issues still exist.

[main narwhal]

It's time to think it's something else

It's RAM checking time

What kind of RAM are you using?

[young sonnet]

Reminder that the issue does not occur in safe mode ever

[young sonnet]

16 GB, but I assume there is a specific name?

[main narwhal]

Not enough information.

How many sticks?

Check your packaging for the speed. Compare this with the speed listed in Task Manager > Performance > Memory. list both

[young sonnet]

The RAM was built into the PC from Best Buy. Their website for my PC says this.

[main narwhal]

Ah, so this is a semi custom prebuild

Hmm... it looks like the RAM isn't XMP at all, so just run some kind of memory testing software

Get MemTest86 on a USB and run 4 passes of it. (Not MemTest86**+, not MemTest64**)

It's fun when different software have very similar names!

If the RAM checks out for some reason, see if using just 1 of the RAM stick works. Try the other slot too

[young sonnet]

One other thing to note that there was a three week period that the issues just vanished, but then they came back.

[young sonnet]

@main narwhal Is there a way to simulate safe mode without actually going into safe mode since the issue does not occur in safe mode?

[main narwhal]

Temporarily?

See what happens when you disable the video card in Device Manager

[young sonnet]

Is that different from having the NVIDIA drivers uninstalled and using the basic display adapter? Because the issues still happen then

[main narwhal]

Hmm, wait. Then it's probably the same thing then. Remember that safe mode uses a slightly different driver than the basic one

But since a completely different video card exhibits the same issue...

That said

Can you try DDU and reinstall drivers with the 4060 Ti installed?

[young sonnet]

Well, I did DDU when my GTX 1080 was still inside. With the PC off, I then replaced the cards. Then I turned on my PC, the issues still occurred and continued to occur after installing the newest NVIDIA Game Ready driver and restarting.

[main narwhal]

OK. Now try doing DDU with the 4060 Ti inside

[young sonnet]

Alright, but how is that going to make a difference tho?

[main narwhal]

Although it's probably going to be the same thing anyway, gonna try everything before we start testing the RAM

This should rule out bad drivers for good though.

[young sonnet]

How much is RAM used differently in safe mode?

[young sonnet]

Same result

[main narwhal]

Time to test the RAM

[young sonnet]

What should I start by doing? Also, any input for this?

@main narwhal

[main narwhal]

https://www.memtest86.com/

[young sonnet]

Showcase of issue in 2 apps

[main narwhal]

Chromium bug

This may not be a hardware issue at all. If only Web browsers and Discord do this, turn off hardware acceleration in affected apps.

Windows needs a fix for this

I'd ONLY be very concerned if it affects something besides this

See if the glitches stop when you do that

[young sonnet]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/377226555501314050/1212272155455135754/IMG_6208.mov?ex=65f13b6c&is=65dec66c&hm=2d444c163f036976449ada9d31c4a1fecd8604820ae4cd7b866df3592addf32d&

Artifacts in random spot from OBS window

All apps are effected and taskbar gets weird colors glitching into it too, but could be radiating from the apps

[main narwhal]

Hmm

I have an idea

What's your display's resolution and refresh rate?

[main narwhal]

OBS also involves a browser window even if it's not obvious. Sorry!

Does the issue not happen when you have only non-browser windows open? Say, for example, just windows of file explorer

Or literally nothing open

[young sonnet]

File explorer never seems to glitch. Things like “Movies & TV” and “Media Player” do tho

Blender as well

I have not tested video games recently but they never seemed to be effected

Adobe software glitches I believe

[main narwhal]

Hmm

[young sonnet]

Something that does not happen in Safe Mode is causing it for sure

[main narwhal]

What did you use to factory reset the PC?

[young sonnet]

“Reset this PC” option

[main narwhal]

That doesn't really count.

Do you have the time to backup your files?

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

[young sonnet]

They are already

[main narwhal]

OK. Also download the motherboard and video card drivers for future use (you can skip the first part if you have the motherboard support DVD and a DVD drive)

[main narwhal]

Use this to do a proper clean install.

You want the second option to load the Media Creation Tool, and use it to make a Windows install USB. Press the + button in the Web page for instructions. You'll need a 8GB+ USB drive or a dual-layer DVD-R.

Once Windows has finished installing, only install the motherboard and video card drivers. Restart the PC, and then change the display mode to your display native resolution and max refresh rate. Then, open Microsoft Edge. Mess around with it; if the problem was with the underlying OS, there should be either no glitch, or affects only the browser (if you have the Chromium bug)

[young sonnet]

What did this not do right exactly?

[main narwhal]

It reuses OS files, so if the underlying installation was corrupt... it doesn't fix anything

[young sonnet]

So, you think it’s more software than hardware related?

[main narwhal]

Well, if two cards of different architectures exhibit the exact same bug...

[young sonnet]

Yeah unless it was some other hardware

But idk how other hardware failing supports how nothing bad happens in safe mode

I have 16 GB USB drive

[main narwhal]

If a new, likely fully working hardware, exhibits the same issue as the older card, it's likely neither card is at fault

[young sonnet]

I mean hardware other than the GPUs

[main narwhal]

The system RAM kind of affects pretty much everything so I'd probably look into that too. If it can't hold a bit...

[young sonnet]

If it was RAM, would the bugs still happen in safe mode?

[main narwhal]

It probably should affect it equally, so I'm thinking the cause isn't hardware related at all

[young sonnet]

Did not work :/

[main narwhal]

So we are definitely dealing with the hardware then. Does your motherboard have other PCIe slots?

[young sonnet]

I see this

Damn https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/377226555501314050/1212323251229958144/IMG_6211.mov?ex=65f16b02&is=65def602&hm=7c36ee006d365b06ca7e733dcc6e53b1c670d0467054aa2100cf6133c63bd8c7&

I don’t think it’s chromium since it appears on windows tabs too

Not as badly tho

Proof of glitch on windows tab

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/377226555501314050/1212326096704380948/IMG_6212.mov?ex=65f16da9&is=65def8a9&hm=f296bfd42773eb8dbf4144f24bdbd684dc7dcfb72ef543dc4dd775175701559c&

[main narwhal]

What's below the graphics card? If there's other x16 slots (same length as the longest one) try it

[young sonnet]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/377226555501314050/1212337913786933288/IMG_6216.jpg?ex=65f178aa&is=65df03aa&hm=f7c02e85399349596b44c96b01a4963b3511839ca0c15d901744d35328bb2126&

I changed the two RAMs to different slots, did nothing

[main narwhal]

Use the second slot visible here

[main narwhal]

then likely not the ram

but have you tried just 1 ram?

[young sonnet]

I am planning to next

[young sonnet]

Suggesting that GPU slot may be broken somehow?

[main narwhal]

if it works on that slot, then next to test in order is to for the same slot, but downgrade the link from 4.0 to 3.0

[young sonnet]

Issue still occurs, tried both separately

[young sonnet]

Wdym

[main narwhal]

Wait, nevermind, it happens with the 1080, which can't support 4.0

[main narwhal]

btw have you ran this?

[young sonnet]

Not yet

[main narwhal]

might as well. do it with both sticks installed in a2 and b2

[young sonnet]

a2 and b2 are slots?

[main narwhal]

yeah

if your motherboard is a 4-slot design, these slots would be the second and fourth slots from the left side

[main narwhal]

In this picture, your RAM is located at A1 and B1

you might want to rearrange it

[young sonnet]

Doing now

One other thing to mention is when my PC is turned on after being off for not a very short amount of time, the regular non-GPU fan is kind of loud and noisy but then after a min or two, it is perfectly quite and calm. It never really did that in the past.

I do not see how that could be the source of the issue, but I am putting this info out there just in case.

[young sonnet]

@main narwhal Zero RAM errors were picked up

[main narwhal]

intel or amd cpu?

also have you tried the other x16 slot?

[young sonnet]

Intel

[young sonnet]

I have not changed GPU slot yet

[main narwhal]

Does your system have integrated graphics?

also do this https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/15951/intel-processor-diagnostic-tool.html

first let it run a default pass, then run an extended pass (may take 2hrs+)

[young sonnet]

Not sure, this is my CPU

[main narwhal]

you do

Wanna check if it faults with no videocard?

[young sonnet]

I have never seen where to plug my monitors in with no GPU

[main narwhal]

take a photo of the back of your PC

[main narwhal]

See the white port? You'll need an adapter. DVI-D to HDMI

Your computer motherboard appears to be very barebones and doesn't provide native HDMI or DP

it might support DP via the tiny USB-C port, but I'll need to know the motherboard model

[main narwhal]

I can't see the branding here

[young sonnet]

This have it?

[main narwhal]

not here either. looks like we're out of luck

[young sonnet]

System Settings appears to even crash now

[main narwhal]

Starting to think the problem is with the CPU or motherboard

[young sonnet]

@main narwhal MASSIVE DISCOVERY - When I open a video game, the issues cease to exist. Once I close the video game, they come back.

[main narwhal]

With this turned on, right

[young sonnet]

I don't have control panel even installed since I reset the PC again

[young sonnet]

So no?

I've only tried Sonic and All-Star Racing Transformed and Tabletop Simulator
Only Sonic has kept the glitches away when it is open

[main narwhal]

This really should be installed when you install the graphics drivers, even when it's Windows Update doing it

[young sonnet]

Ok, but more importantly, how does the Sonic game being open cease and stop all glitching in every app? Once I close the game, the glitches and freezing comes back.

[main narwhal]

With most games, the game will cause the video card to no longer run at minimum clocks

Many games that use fullscreen exclusive can also take control of the display output from DWM

I want you to check if Prefer maximum performance and restarting the PC fixes the issues

[young sonnet]

I did that here I believe

@main narwhal

[main narwhal]

The settings won't stick past a clean install of either Windows or drivers

So if possible. Recheck

[young sonnet]

What if changing the setting has same result?

[main narwhal]

Then we just ruled out the video card being unstable at idle/low clocks

Or the PCIe link

(You did try the other slot, right?)

Do you have another desktop PC?

[young sonnet]

Not yet

[young sonnet]

No

Odd it happens on two completely different GPUs tho

[main narwhal]

OK, try these steps one at a time:

• in NVIDIA Control Panel, set the Power management mode to Prefer maximum performance, and restart the PC after applying. See if the errors stay.
• if that doesn't help, try the other slot.

[young sonnet]

NVIDIA Control Panel change and restart leads to same as before. Glitches unless Sonic game is open

[main narwhal]

Time to check the slot change

[young sonnet]

Is there not something else that could be troubleshooted before that since we know the PC is fixed when the Fullscreen game is open?

[main narwhal]

Just about the only thing left to check is the CPU and motherboard

Can you afford to build a cheap PC right now? (12th gen+ i3, any B or Z board using DDR4, no need to buy anything else - reuse your existing hardware)

(Your power supply, do you know its model?)

If possible take a photo of its label

If the problem was with the underlying system, the video cards should produce no errors at all on the "new" rig

But honestly, before doing that, check if any of your friends or coworkers have a desktop PC. Try using your video card on it

[young sonnet]

I mean, the new GPU is brand new out of the box

[young sonnet]

And old GPU did same thing, so we know the video cards are not the issue right? @main narwhal

[main narwhal]

Yeah, it's extremely unlikely

Since we've ruled out drivers, software, the RAM, the video card themselves

The remaining thing to check is the PCIe slot and the CPU+Motherboard

The only way to be sure with the latter is with a different or new rig

[young sonnet]

If it was either of those, how does having the Sonic game being open rid the issues?

[main narwhal]

That's what I'm curious about

[young sonnet]

It is Fullscreen

[main narwhal]

But generally speaking, if the CPU has anything defective (and the CPU is also tied to the PCIe lanes and IMC), all bets are off

Same if the motherboard is a bit wonky in the traces

So I am thinking of, trying the other slot

It probably is both narrower and routed differently

[young sonnet]

This is the other slot

[main narwhal]

Time to get working

Shut down the PC and use that slot

Your GPU will be limited to x4, but if it doesn't fault there, the x16 slot is probably busted

[young sonnet]

The other slot allows less power?

[main narwhal]

Same power, just less speed

[young sonnet]

Is the "fullscreen exclusive can also take control of the display output from DWM" solving the issue?

[main narwhal]

Come to think about it... do you have any other displays, or the option to use HDMI (or DP, if you are using HDMI already)

[young sonnet]

HDMI and other monitors all do same thing as DP

[main narwhal]

Welp

Let me know on the results of using the other slot

[main narwhal]

Also, check this for me: for Microsoft Edge, make sure it does not preloaded on Windows start up

(Open the browser and check the settings page. Go to System and Performance. Turn off Startup boost.

[main narwhal]

Now restart your PC

Does it still glitch?

[young sonnet]

Oh I took GPU out already, also, how do you know the second slot is x4 and not x16?

[main narwhal]

Physically x16, electrically x4. Look at the metal pins inside

[young sonnet]

GPU is in

[main narwhal]

The moment of truth...

[young sonnet]

So, is it better if it works or does not work in the grand scheme of everything?

[main narwhal]

If the thing indeed doesn't glitch at all on the x4 slot, your motherboard's x16 slot, or the CPU's PCIe lanes going to it, is broken

[young sonnet]

So, no glitches were appearing at first, then I went into the Sonic game and then came out of it, then the glitches started happening. The glitches sometimes take their time to show up.

[main narwhal]

So it delays them but not completely

[young sonnet]

Not sure, it never really is consistent when they start

Like I restarted just now and they came back just as fast usually

Sonic game still haults glitches

[main narwhal]

Do you know any friends or coworkers with gaming rigs?

But tbh I think at this point the problem is with the CPU or motherboard

The thing is that, well, the entire system is out of warranty, and the CPU and motherboard are on a dead platform

[young sonnet]

Did the Sonic game thing help at all with trying to figure out a possible culprit?

Cause it's crazy to find something that directly snaps the glitches on and off

[main narwhal]

You know GPU-Z?

Open it and run the PCIe link speed test window. See if things stop glitching

[young sonnet]

Should I change slots first or even put both my GPUs inside?

[main narwhal]

Put the 1080 or 4060 Ti alone on the x16 slot

[young sonnet]

Put 4060 Ti back

[young sonnet]

Where?

[main narwhal]

The question mark here

Once the window is open and the test is running, observe if it ever glitches

[young sonnet]

Running the test is just like the Sonic game. No glitch when running and then immediately goes back when test is closed.

[main narwhal]

When the test is closed, is the PCIe bus interface listed as x8 1.0?

[young sonnet]

I stays the same it seems

[main narwhal]

When you have the time, test the video card on a PC you can temporarily use

Or if that's not an option at all, see if a completely new CPU+motherboard exhibits the same issue

(A cheap 12th gen+ i3 or i5 and a suitable DDR4 motherboard should keep expenses to a minimum)

[young sonnet]

@main narwhal Why does the Render Test stop issues?

[main narwhal]

It induces a 3D workload

[young sonnet]

Everything seems fine, but OBS still does not work during the Render Test, but it did when Sonic ran

[main narwhal]

I'd advise to test the video card in someone else's rig first just to be sure

Though the "cheap new Intel rig" option works too

If nothing else, cpu upgrade

[young sonnet]

I mean yeah, but two cards, same result with one that is brand new tho

[main narwhal]

Know any local computer shops?

[young sonnet]

Yeah, my dad wanted to go there soon if I could not find out a fix

[main narwhal]

Sounds like a plan. Bring the PC and the involved video cards to figure out if it's the system or you got two duds

[young sonnet]

GPU thing is so unlikely that my GPU died after 5 years and then a new unopened card is busted right after

@main narwhal So, CPU/Motherboard could cause glitching unless GPU has a little load?

[main narwhal]

We've ruled out nearly everything else

[young sonnet]

So, how would the GPU having a little load fend off the CPU/Motherboard from causing issues?

Also, rn no glitches are happening despite no render test running.

@main narwhal Glitching has been magically gone for 5 minutes

However, it went away for 3 weeks once and then came back

So, doesn't mean much

[young sonnet]

And big suprise it was back after I restarted

[main narwhal]

Yep, PC shop time to confirm

[young sonnet]

@main narwhal Also, Sonic game not really using GPU when minimized, so does it fix everything since it is a minimized full screen app?

[main narwhal]

Depends on the game. Some games keep rendering while minimised, some drop frames when doing that, and some completely stop

[young sonnet]

Motherboard info @main narwhal

[young sonnet]

I’m working with others as well as we made these changes to the Bios but nothing changed

[young sonnet]

@main narwhal Bro, setting PC to Ultimate or High Performance from Balanced fixes the issue, and it returns when you switch back to Balanced and goes away once back on Ultimate or High

[main narwhal]

CPU is fucked

There it is

You probably should check with the store and consider your options on your new CPU and motherboard. Platform is old enough that any upgrades aren't very effective.

Do pong once you have arrived at a decision.

(In the meantime, you can raise the voltage supplied as a stopgap, assuming that it isn't already above 1.370V at full load)

[young sonnet]

PC working perfect at “High Performance” is not a solution? It works.

[main narwhal]

CPU isn't stable at idle voltages

By definition, any fault in normal use is defect

[young sonnet]

@main narwhal Also, since I have two GPUs rn and I am into 3D rendering and want max render speeds, is it a good or bad idea to have the 4060 Ti in the main slot and 1080 in the second one to help with that?

[main narwhal]

4060 Ti alone, 1080 is just a waste of power

[young sonnet]

Ok, so it brings down the RTX 4060 Ti speeds, not join with it to create really fast speeds?

[main narwhal]

More like if the app even can use the other card in the first place

It's kind of like the deal with SLI.

[young sonnet]

Blender can I believe.

Which is what I use

I can simply test a speed comparison, but does this even plug into another GPU?

[main narwhal]

If you have only one whole cable, do not do this, your PSU isn't good enough

Also you should be using the middle plug

[young sonnet]

I assume that counts as just one cable in the image

[main narwhal]

yes

[young sonnet]

Ah, not sure if I plan on ever testing both GPUs together, but if I wanted to, what additional thing would I need?