Most of the time this type of problems are caused by hardware itself but you can try any of the following solution which will fix the software/driver problems.
Just for FYI, This applies to Windows OS
Solution 1
Go to Control Panel > System and Security > Power Options > Change plan settings (next to whichever active plan you're using) > Change advanced power settings
Under PCI Express > Link State Power Management > Setting > Select "Off"
Apply it and press OK
Solution 2
This is a bit risky because it has to do with regedit but it is considered to be a solution if you're on Windows 7 or 8.
- Got to Run and enter "regedit" without quotes and enter.
- It will open registry editor in your system. Go to following path
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > GraphicsDrivers.
Create new DWORD 32 bit value with name "TdrDelay" without quotes and set it's value to 8.
- Restart your computer.
Solution 3
Uninstall any overclocking software from your motherboard vendor. For example, If you've installed Easy Tune from gigabyte if you're using gigabyte's motherboard. It turns out most of them don't go along with some brands of graphics cards and other components.
Solution 4
Sometimes Nvidia audio conflicts with your motherboard's audio system. For example sound blaster cards. So disable Nvidia's audio system. Possibly uninstall the audio driver from your system.
- Open Nvidia control panel > Set up digital audio
- Turn off audio on all ports
- Restart your computer
Solution 5
- Open Nvidia control panel > Go to Set PhysX Configuration
- Select your graphics card instead of Auto-Select
- Restart your computer
Solution 6
- Go to the Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Advanced Tab > Performance Settings > Advanced Tab > Change Virtual Memory
- Select Custom size and set Initial size to 1024 and Maximum to half of your RAM. For example I've got 16GB Ram so mine will be initial = 1024 and Max = 8192
And that's it. Hope this helps. In most of the cases in all the systems I've built so far, Solution 2 and 3 always works.