The PC powers down immediately when I begin playing Diablo IV.
The PC powers down immediately when I begin playing Diablo IV.
Hey there, I'm dealing with the most bizarre problem I've ever faced on my computer. It's been running D4 smoothly since launch, but a couple nights ago while playing a dungeon, the PC shut down and restarted itself. When I checked the BIOS, temperatures were hovering around 60°C. After logging back in, it would power off hard and then restart itself repeatedly. I tried fixing things by booting into Windows troubleshooting, but it kept rebooting. I spent the night trying fixes and eventually had to use a full recovery via Windows troubleshooting tools. I reconfigured the essential apps, left it on overnight, and then tried launching Diablo again. This time it crashed immediately after the blizzard logo appeared. The next day, whenever I tried to start Diablo, the PC would shut down and turn back on. After a recovery attempt, the crash loop got worse—system would briefly power on before shutting down. I tested everything, checked the CPU via debug LED, swapped the motherboard, reset CMOS, updated BIOS, and even ran Prime95. Still, the issue persisted. I ended up giving Intel a call for an RMA and tried resetting CMOS last before removing the CPU. It worked! After that, I updated BIOS and set everything up again. I ran Furmark without a GPU and it worked fine. Then I added the GPU and tested Prime95—no issues. Diablo 4 loaded normally, but when I tried to open the character screen it would turn off and back on again. Eventually, I opened Event Viewer and saw a Kernel-Power event (ID 41) indicating the system rebooted without a clean shutdown. This suggests something went wrong with power management or thermal handling. I noticed other users reporting similar random shutdowns and their Event logs showed high temperatures and thermal throttling. I couldn't find a clear explanation or solution online, and there seems to be no minidump file available. Right now I'm unsure what's happening, and I'm torn between proceeding with the RMA or trying further troubleshooting.
The specifications to consider are the PSU capacity and your system's power consumption. It appears Diablo 4 is closely mimicking the PSU, which may lead to OCP issues or thermal throttling. The actual wattage drawn ranges from 500 to 700W, with Diablo 4 sometimes reaching around 650W during high settings like 4K ultra with DLSS for 240-300 FPS. A simple test is to reduce your GPU's TDP to 50-85% and check if the game runs smoothly. If it still crashes at 50%, try running the game without the integrated GPU (GPU uninstalled), as you mentioned testing that but not specifically in Diablo 4.
The system requirements include an Intel i5 13600k processor, a Noctua NH-D15 cooler, MSI PRO Z790-P WIFI DDR4 motherboard, 32 GB of DDR4 RAM at 3200Mhz, Corsair Vengeance LPX, and a Gigabyte RTX 3080 with 10GB VRAM. The PSU must be included. If you're not heavily gaming, you can test performance by reducing the graphics card's TDP to 50-85% and see if the game runs. This would suggest the PSU is the limiting factor rather than the CPU.
It could be fine, but the 3080 has a recognized problem where it increases its power output significantly beyond its TDP. Running the game on an RM650x might work, though it depends on whether your model is the x-series or not—there could be less overhead and better voltage regulation from the Gigabyte.
It seems this situation has never occurred before, especially since Diablo IV was released and players have been using it for a full week.
You're right, I should have paid closer attention. Considering these symptoms would likely point to the PSU.
I set the GPU to cap at 80% power using the gigabyte tool and managed for Diablo 4 to start without issues. I kept it running briefly, and there were no crashes. Monitoring showed the GPU drawing only 295.12W and the CPU 128.17W, well under the total limit. Assuming 295 is roughly 80% of what it would have used otherwise, that’s about 370W, plus the CPU’s 128W, totaling just under 500W. I’m not sure there’s another 250W spike in the system or that the GPU would draw so much.
>Even assuming 295 is 80% of what the GPU would've otherwise used up, that'd be ~370W And this would already be 50W above the official TPD listed by nvidia. I see gigabyte has three revisions of my GPU listed ( https://www.aorus.com/graphics-cards/GV-...cification, https://www.aorus.com/graphics-cards/GV-...cification, https://www.aorus.com/graphics-cards/GV-...cification) I'm pretty sure mine is rev. 1, which lists a recommended PSU at 750W (and that must be why I settled on the one I have). I see however that both the other revisions list a recommended 850W, so I'm wondering if this is a known issue and I need to bump the PSU Wrong links, here are the revisions for my GPU: https://www.aorus.com/graphics-cards/GV-...cification https://www.aorus.com/graphics-cards/GV-...cification https://www.aorus.com/graphics-cards/GV-...cification They all list 750W as the recommended PSU
If you're not experiencing crashes at 80% power, it's likely your PSU is struggling when the GPU reaches full capacity. If the GPU had a hardware problem, you'd see dump files or event logs showing video hardware failure. It might mean the PSU has worn out (like a bad capacitor) and can't handle the load anymore.
Software trackers miss the tiny draw spikes that RTX 3080 and similar AD102 GPUs are famous for. In reality, an AIB unit like yours is rated for 750W, yet many PSUs fall short, making TDP reduction a practical fix. It’s unlikely the issue is with your PSU—it’s probably just mismatched for the power demands of your RTX 3080. I’d recommend upgrading to a 1000W unit, which is a common choice in 2023 and usually affordable.