Computer completely shuts down while playing games?

[rpeopler]

A couple of nights ago, I decided to play Skyrim with an ENB. My rig could easily handle something like this, but 15 minutes into playing my PC completely shut down and restarted.

I thought that this was only a stability issue with my mods, but then I realized that it shouldn't have caused the entire PC to turn off. The same thing happened today when I tried playing Dark Souls 3 in a minimally demanding area.

I haven't used HWMonitor to confirm my theory, but when I run Prime95 the CPU breaks 80 C within a couple of minutes. I'm using a CoolerMaster Nepton 140XL AiO water cooler that I won in a contest around a year ago. I've always noticed that my temperatures were higher than they should have been, but it never resulted in any crashes.

My specs include:
Intel Core-i7 3770k @ 4.0 GHz
Gigabyte Nvidia GTX 970 G1
8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz RAM
Corsair HX750 80 Plus Gold Certified PSU

Could overheating be the issue? If not, what else? Thanks!

 

[Dunlop0078]

My first guess would be overheating, I have a heavily modded skyrim with an ENB as well I have experienced many a crash but nothing that caused my entire computer to shut down im not even sure its possible for the game to cause something like that. I would check your gpu and cpu temps while playing skyrim and see what they reach.

 

[Greywolf772]

Max temp for your CPU is 67.4°C

Source: http://ark.intel.com/products/65523/Intel-Core-i7-3770K-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-3_90-GHz

I'd check temps while a game is running and if its getting high than there is something wrong with your cpu cooler or the way its installed.

 

[rpeopler]

Bump - Can confirm that it is NOT an issue of the CPU overheating. Prime65 only put it at 62 C after an hour. I even returned my water cooler and got a Noctua NH-D15 and the same issue is occurring. Could it be malware? A driver issue, perhaps?

 

[Dunlop0078]

Bump - Can confirm that it is NOT an issue of the CPU overheating. Prime65 only put it at 62 C after an hour. I even returned my water cooler and got a Noctua NH-D15 and the same issue is occurring. Could it be malware? A driver issue, perhaps?

If you had malware you would likely see other issues than just this and again im doubtful malware would be able to shutdown the pc. Same deal with drivers maybe blue screen but not shutdowns. Maybe something is borked in your OS but when I see shutdowns the culprits are usually heat or power. If your sure its not heat I would be looking at the motherboard or power supply. Usually those HX units are pretty solid, how old is it?

 

[rpeopler]

Bump - Can confirm that it is NOT an issue of the CPU overheating. Prime65 only put it at 62 C after an hour. I even returned my water cooler and got a Noctua NH-D15 and the same issue is occurring. Could it be malware? A driver issue, perhaps?

If you had malware you would likely see other issues than just this and again im doubtful malware would be able to shutdown the pc. Same deal with drivers maybe blue screen but not shutdowns. Maybe something is borked in your OS but when I see shutdowns the culprits are usually heat or power. If your sure its not heat I would be looking at the motherboard or power supply. Usually those HX units are pretty solid, how old is it?

I have (presumably) resolved the issue. I did a couple of things:

I used a tool to completely uninstall every Nvidia driver and I installed them again (I believe this eliminated the problem)
Changed my CPU voltage from auto to fixed (no worries, I know what I'm doing) though that shouldn't have made a difference.

Thanks anyhow, I'll select your answer as the solution nonetheless.