Power Failure When Starting Games

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M

MosNes

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Feb 21, 2017
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Last night I was playing Diablo 3 for hours. Today I cannot load any game without my PC spontaneously cutting off, as if the power cable was unplugged. No shutdown, no gradual overheating, just a click and a black screen whenever a game finishes booting up.

My system specs:
Motherboard: Biostar TZ68A+
CPU: Intel i5 2400 @ 3.1Ghz
GPU: Geforce GTX-560 Ti
PSU: Thermaltake TR2 600W
RAM: 8Gb
Drives: 1x 250Gb SSD, 1x 250Gb HDD, 1x 1TB HDD

I don't think its an overheating issue, since the shutdown is instantaneous and not after a few minutes of gameplay. My CPU is idling at 37C and my GPU is idling at 60C (I have two monitors, so its always in 3D mode and running hot). I've cleaned out my case and vacuumed the dust off of my fans, the problem still persists.

I thought it may be a power issue, but the +5v and +12v rails are within tolerance. The only errors in my event log are the unexpected shutdown warnings. I can run Photoshop CS6 and SketchUp just fine for hours, but as soon as I try to boot a video game, the system turns off.

I'd like to fix this, but I don't know which component to replace, or if it's even a hardware issue.

I've attached images of both my BIOS and HWMonitor statuses. They both give different values for everything, so I'm not sure which one is correct.

Ooweb1V.jpg

UUjNIUZ.jpg

3jFRvyb.jpg

 
Solution
Eximo
12V is a little low in the BIOS, but within spec as you say. Not a great sign though. The TR2 isn't exactly well regarded.

If not power I suspect the video card then, it seems to be idling a little high. It is possible it has developed a voltage leak to ground internally and is pulling the 12V rail down, and then when you run a game it goes below the ATX spec threshold.

You can either remove it and try out the iGPU, but preferably, you should install another GPU to test the power supply as well.
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M

MosNes

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Feb 21, 2017
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How would I go about checking the PSU to see if it was the problem? And why is the CPU temp high in BIOS, but not in HWMonitor?
 
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Eximo

Eximo

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May 27, 2010
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12V is a little low in the BIOS, but within spec as you say. Not a great sign though. The TR2 isn't exactly well regarded.

If not power I suspect the video card then, it seems to be idling a little high. It is possible it has developed a voltage leak to ground internally and is pulling the 12V rail down, and then when you run a game it goes below the ATX spec threshold.

You can either remove it and try out the iGPU, but preferably, you should install another GPU to test the power supply as well.
 
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Solution
W

weberdarren97

Glorious
Aug 10, 2015
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0rPFT2Q3es

I'm not sure why, but sometimes the CPU fan is kept at idle when in BIOS even when it should be spinning a little faster. The BIOS will respond by ramping it up just before the CPU overheats but I don't personally like this behavior. I don't know of any solutions to this either.



The voltages in BIOS will lie just like the voltages in HWMonitor or AIDA64.
 
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M

MosNes

Prominent
Feb 21, 2017
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510
Looks like the GPU was the culprit. After swapping to my wife's 750 Ti, I was able to run games normally again. The BIOS voltage for the 12v rail didn't change when I installed the new card. However, the temperatures were clearly different. This GPU idled at 27C, jumping to 45C under load. The CPU Idled at 35C and jumped to a max of 50C under load.

Before running Diablo 3 (IDLE):
OiDFikG.jpg


While running Diablo 3:
v3M3kG6.jpg


Seems like I need a new GPU. Thanks for your help, everyone!
 
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