Instant black screen hard lock during 3D applications

[Renthrak]

This started happening around a month and a half ago, and has progressively gotten worse. The system operated for about a year without problems.

During a 3D game, the system would occasionally hard-lock. The screen would go black, the monitor would say 'No Signal', any sound would loop, and the computer would not respond to any input, requiring a restart.

The frequency of the crashes has grown over time, and now will hard-lock instantly when running 3D games or benchmark utility.

I was convinced that it was the video card, so I replaced the thermal paste and pads on the heat sink. This seemed to help briefly, but deterioration resumed after a week. The video card has now been replaced, but the problem persists. The previous video card was water cooled, the new one is not.

System specs:
Intel i7-3770K (water cooled)
ASUS Maximus Gene V ROG
16gb RAM
(Previous) Video card: ATI R9 290X
(Current) Video card: EVGA GTX 1060 6gb
Creative SB X-Fi
Seasonic 850 watt PSU

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

 

[Renthrak]

Never mind, I found the problem myself.

I replaced the PSU. While I was unplugging the cables from the old PSU (both are modular), the cable for the video card seemed stuck. When I finally got it out of the old power supply with a pair of pliers, I saw that it was partially melted.

So either the PSU was completely fried, or the video card power connection overheated. Either way, the new one seems to be fine. Problem solved.