Question Crash - no connection - how to tell if it is a GPU or a PSU problem?

[Brgje]

Hello, I hope I'm in the right place here but I have been experiencing a crash where the connection to my monitor goes out. How can I find out if the reason is my GPU or if it is something else?

I bought this assembled PC in 2023 and everything went fine until two months ago when the trouble started.
The specs:
CPU: Intel i7 10700F (standard, 2.9GHz-4.8GHz)
Motherboard: AsRock H410M-HDV (standard, MAX 64GB RAM, 1x PCI-e x16, 1x PCI-e x1, mATX)
RAM: 32GB 3200 MHz RAM (standard, 2x 16GB)
GPU: inno3d Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060
PSU: SPIRE 600W 80+ Bronze
Case and cooling Be Quiet..
I did not build the PC and I'm in no way an expert in it, but during the process of troubleshooting I did learn some things:
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Issue: Crashes started while playing a game. GPU stops working, monitor shows no signal, but PC runs and GPU fans spin when I boot it up, yet the connection stays lost until I reseat the GPU.

Troubleshooting:

• Tried multiple cables; monitor works fine with another PC. Tried different monitor (TV-screen, no connection either)
• Reseated RAM (not confident it’s related).
• Reseated GPU; this works temporarily until it crashes again, after 10 min or so.
• Initially thought crashes occurred under heavy load, but they also happened 5 min after another reboot when I was just browsing files.
• I can hear the GPU stop due to an interference buzz in the active speakers I use, which stops when the crash occurs. -fixing the buzz is an issue for another time, it gets louder when the GPU works harder-
• Took out the CMOS battery for 30 seconds
  
  
• Test with different GPU
  • Used a cheap MSI GT 710 to check if it is the GPU, but this one does not need external power from the PSU, so not sure if I can rule the PSU out here
  • Ran a benchmark in Red Dead Redemption 2 for 15 minutes; no crash, but unsure if longer testing is needed.
• Possible causes:
  • Unsure if the issue is with the RTX 3060 or PSU (ChatGPT is very suspicious of the SPIRE PSU, and keeps suggesting an unstable PSU).
• Next steps:
  • I think the next step would be to buy a different PSU to see if the problem persists, but replacing the PSU seems a lot more daunting than replacing the GPU.. yet it would be the cheapest option compared to replacing the GPU.

What would be your take on this? Help is very much appreciated!

 

[Ralston18]

As I understand your post and the described problems the PSU is a likely suspect.

Take a look in Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer for error codes, warnings, and even informational events being logged just before or at the time of the crashes.

Any entries can be clicked for more details. The details may or may not be helpful.

Increasing numbers of varying errors are a sign of a faltering/failing PSU.

 

[Brgje]

Thanks for that tip! I did some more detective work and everything seems to point to a faltering PSU.. (maybe partly because I really do not want it to be a failing rtx 3060). I will go forward with getting a new PSU, so fingers crossed..