# PrefCap Reason: VRel



## Torsk (Mar 5, 2015)

A little bit of background info.....

I've been playing Mechwarrior Online and have started noticing my fps has been dropping from 160ish to below 30 at times. So i downloaded GPU-Z and have been watching the GPU Load window max out to 100% as my frame rates drop. I also notice that the PrefCap Reason changes from Util to VRel.

My question is that when the PrefCap reason changes to VRel, is it due to my power supply not providing the required voltage and would anyone know how i can test it while it's (power supply) is under load?

I also get blue screens occasionally. 

Thanks
Torsk


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## P4-630 (Mar 5, 2015)

System specs?


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## Torsk (Mar 5, 2015)

Windows 7

Asus Maximus Hero Mboard
i7 4790k with corsair liquid cooler (H110 if i remember correctly)
Gigabyte 670gtx 2gb
Corsair AX1200 PSU
16gb Gskill Trident RAM (ddr3)
3x 256gb ozc agility3 SSD with the games on the 2nd drive


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## W1zzard (Mar 5, 2015)

Torsk said:


> My question is that when the PrefCap reason changes to VRel, is it due to my power supply not providing the required voltage


Definitely not.

The way I understand Vrel is that a higher boost clock would require a higher GPU operating voltage in the current situation, which is capped by the configuration of the card (completely normal, to avoid damaging the GPU)


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## Naki (Mar 6, 2015)

If you get BSODs, something is quire wrong with your Windows OS and/or hardware.
What error code and/or error text does the BSOD show?

How long have you been getting them? Did it work with no BSODs for a while, or do you have them from the start (when you purchased the PC)? Did you change any hardware recently? That might explain the BSODs.

If you did not change your components recently, maybe your video card is failing?
Or, RAM or mobo could be the issue too. Another possible reason is your PSU. But I see you have a powerful one, so maybe not that.
Do your SSDs have latest firmware? You are not using them in any RAID, are you?

To locate the BSODs reason, try this:
1) Test your RAM for errors with this:
http://www.memtest86.com/

2) If RAM is fine, try stability testing:
* http://www.ocbase.com/
* Prime95, some kind of SuperPI test.

3) If all is fine up to now, also test your video card with these and see if you get the BSOD:
* 3D Mark Vantage, 3DMark 11,  3DMark.
* Unigine Heaven & Valley tests:
https://unigine.com/products/heaven/
https://unigine.com/products/valley/
* FurMark - be careful with this one, it could overheat your card! So monitor temps and stop the test if they get too high.  You can test for 10-20 minutes with this one, no need for longer testing.

4) If all fine again, test your HDD for errors using HD Tune Pro -- Error Scan, then once it finishes (will take a while - may take over 1-2+ hours) - check your Speed map too.
You need to NOT have any web browsers or video/music playing programs while testing, and no file sharing or other HDD using apps.
EDIT: OOps, sorry, this one is not necessary, as you use SSDs. If not using any HDDs at all, no need for HD Tune Pro Error scan testing - it is meant for HDDs only. You can test your SSDs using the tool OCZ provides - I think they do have one.

Please let us know if you are able to find the BSODs reason. 
You could send us your Windows crash dumps for us to check/read, but I think this forum section is not meant for that, so maybe you can ask about the BSODs and provide the dumps in another forum/another section of this forum.


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