Question GPU temps spike and PC crashes when opening games

Aug 7, 2025
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Hello.

I have a problem with my PC when opening games. Whenever I open a game my GPU fans instantly reach 100% and temps spike to ~80°C with hot spots of around ~100°C. After that the screen goes black and I have to restart the PC. On idle everything works fine. My best guess is that the GPU thermals are messed up, maybe the heatsink?

I've done:
-BIOS update
-Full driver reinstall with DDU
-Tried using older driver versions

Specs:
cpu: Ryzen 5 5600
gpu: Nvidia RTX 3060Ti
mobo: B550M Steel Legend
ram: 16gb DDR4
psu: Coolermaster 700W Gold
 
Look in Realiability History/Monitor and Event Viewer for any error codes, warnings, or even informational events being captured and logged just before or at the time of the BSODs.

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What games? Source?

Reinstall drivers but do so directly. No third party tools or installers.

Manually download directly from the manufacturer's website, reinstall, and reconfigure. Be sure that the driver's source is truly the manufacturer's website.

Just because the product name, model, or manufacturer's name appears in the link/pathname is no guarantee that the website is indeed the manufacturers real website

= = = =

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all connectors, cards, RAM, jumpers, and case connections are fully and firmly in place.

Use a bright flashlight to inspect for signs of damage.
 
The give an example of a few games: GTA V, Ready Or Not, BF6 beta

Did a clean install via Nvidia and not DDU and cleaned the PC as best as I could.

Didn't notice any damage on the gpu, radiators looked fine and no discoloration or anything like that. A few screws were looser than I would have thought so I tightened them a bit.

Only error codes that I found when I got black screened was just that "Windows didn't shut down correctly", but that was because of my manual off switching.

PSU cables seemed to be fine, I swapped the 8pin and 6pin connections around on the gpu.

Currently the games run, but temps are still at 70-80°C and the fans are going crazy.
 
dism found some corrupted files and I fixed them using the tutorial.

sfc/scannow doesn't show anymore corrupt files so that part is fixed, but the fans are still going crazy and temp. is at 70-80°.

Thinking it might just be the heatsink.
 
Hello.

I have a problem with my PC when opening games. Whenever I open a game my GPU fans instantly reach 100% and temps spike to ~80°C with hot spots of around ~100°C. After that the screen goes black and I have to restart the PC. On idle everything works fine. My best guess is that the GPU thermals are messed up, maybe the heatsink?

I've done:
-BIOS update
-Full driver reinstall with DDU
-Tried using older driver versions

Specs:
cpu: Ryzen 5 5600
gpu: Nvidia RTX 3060Ti
mobo: B550M Steel Legend
ram: 16gb DDR4
psu: Coolermaster 700W Gold
Is this a new issue that has arisen and the card was previously cooling fine beforehand? Or is this a second hand card that has had the problem from the beginning?
 
If hot spot is at least 100C(the die generally needs a repaste), any and all fan curves will be ignored, until either:
-hot spot gets below 100C.
-hardware shuts off, due to failing to achieve the former.
Repasting for a gpu is to be done by a pro?
I'm guessing it's not as simple as it would be with the cpu.