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Question

What's causing my PC to black screen crash?

Apr 23, 2020 6:37AM PDT

Hey, people. I've had my PC for around 6 years and it's been a wonderful purchase. However, I'm thinking that some of the hardware may be a little too old and overworked, because I'm starting to experience this major issue that's currently inhibiting me from playing my favorite games with my friends. It only happens when running my high-end games. It's crashed during Valorant, but it doesn't crash during League of Legends. It crashes on Final Fantasy XIV but not World of Warcraft. I've run Speccy and created a snapshot of my system here: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/glaWMK56xO4MEzfgmPfRdf0

If anyone can tell me what seems to be the culprit, I'd gladly appreciate it! Also, any recommendations for a new GPU?

EDIT: I just installed a new PSU yesterday expecting the issue to resolve, and it still crashes.

Post was last edited on April 23, 2020 7:02 AM PDT

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Re: crash
Apr 23, 2020 6:57AM PDT

Most likely causes are heat (clean internally, check fans) or a PSU that's slowly detoriating.

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Forgot to mention...
Apr 23, 2020 6:59AM PDT

I just installed a new PSU! I figured that was the issue so I went ahead and installed a new one, but I'm still experiencing the crashes. I just cleaned and dusted my PC before the installation as well.

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Answer
What a small world it is.
Apr 23, 2020 10:33AM PDT

My son's very similar desktop was doing the same. I loaned him my GTX 1060 and the crashing stopped. Also I see a lot of failing 9x0 cards so it's high on the suspect list.

Test it out with another card next. Remember that this failure does not have a test other than a swap. Can upset those that think there are other tests than swapping cards.

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Thanks for the advice!
Apr 23, 2020 11:21AM PDT

I ordered a 2080 Super this morning, was in need of an upgrade anyway. I've already made the vow to continually march through every single component of my PC until I fix this problem

Post was last edited on April 23, 2020 11:44 AM PDT

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With great power.
Apr 23, 2020 12:03PM PDT

The 970 max draw was about 150 Watts.
The RTX 2080 is just over 200 so be sure your PSU is about double what your PC requires. Master PC builders pick the PSU to be at around 50% load of max to get long life. Yes you find a lot at 75% but that leaves little room for upgrades and age issues.

If the old PSU is say in the 600W range and is not a SINGLE +12V RAIL design you may experience random reboots or hangs.