System unexpectedly powering off on a PC.
System unexpectedly powering off on a PC.
Hello everyone, I’ve noticed some unexpected shutdowns after roughly 20 minutes of gaming. I ran a test and will share the findings here. My setup includes a Ryzen 9 7950X, an Nvidia TX 3080 Ti, Dominator Platnium RAM (32GB, 5200MHz), a X670E-E Gaming Motherboard, six Corsair fans (three front, two top and one rear exhaust), and a cooler for the Ryzen 7 CPU. When I’m not playing games, the system runs smoothly, but during gameplay I experienced overheating issues. It seems the stock cooler from my previous Ryzen 7 3700 isn’t providing enough airflow.
What power supply unit do you own? Are you having all the games or only a few?
It seems likely the GPU spike is caused by a temporary GPU issue. Using MSI Afterburner or similar GPU tuning software, try setting your GPU power limit to around 70% and observe if the problem persists. This can help determine whether the problem lies with the PSU being overloaded or another component such as the CPU cooler. I wouldn't recommend using an outdated cooler for 7000 series CPUs, as they typically need a powerful tower cooling solution—realistically, you’d need a much larger system to handle the heat effectively.
I’m expecting the Corsair iCUE H100i liquid CPU cooler to fix my problem. I’ve also had the 3080ti for a while, roughly a year, and haven’t faced this issue until recently when I changed my CPU and motherboard. My GPU temps have stayed around 60-70°C during games.
I adjusted the GPU usage to 70% and managed to play a full Madden game without issues this time. Previously, it crashed after just the first half, but now it runs through the entire game. However, it still shuts down at the end, and I tried restarting it, but it won’t launch properly. My guess is overheating caused the CPU to need cooling. What do you think?
If the CPU gets too hot, it may shut down to protect itself. However, it seems it’s already throttling within two minutes after turning on, thanks to the CPU cooler. These chips are built to handle 95°C under load. You might want to try running at 65% or 60% and see if you can finish the game. This should help determine whether the issue is with the GPU power or CPU heat. If your CPU cooler hasn’t arrived yet, setting the CPU to Eco mode in BIOS will stop overheating completely. This will let you tell for sure if it’s the GPU or CPU causing the problem. If it’s the GPU, consider upgrading to a better PSU with better overclock protection. If you already have an AIO cooler, that’s great.