Question Monitors go black when playing games ?

[silenceikeelu]

Hello, this is my first post, so apologies if I post under the wrong thing.

My PC has been acting weird lately. When playing a game, my computer will stop outputting signal to my monitors and I am forced to hard restart my computer. I recently started using three monitors instead of two, so I thought maybe I was pushing too many pixels. I went back to two to see if this would solve it and even tried going down to one monitor but this still happens.

I had little to no room left on my boot drive, so I am currently moving games over to another drive to see if it is a storage issue (doubt it). If that doesn't work, I plan on uninstalling and reinstalling drivers (something I've never done and it sounds like a pain). If anyone has any suggestions, they would be much appreciated. My GPU is only a year old so I hope it is not dying.

Update: It has gotten worse. It happened again, and now I no longer have any signal to my monitor. I have lights on my monitor that turn on when it gets a signal or is plugged in. Those lights are turning on, but no signal.

Specs:
CPU: Ryzen 9 5900x
GPU: RTX 3080 10GB
RAM: 32gb

 

[bdcrlsn]

Do you know your GPU temps? As for reinstalling drivers, it won't hurt anything to do that. Make sure you download and use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) as that is the best way to make sure all traces of your old drivers are removed.

 

[drivinfast247]

What PSU?

 

[silenceikeelu]

Do you know your GPU temps? As for reinstalling drivers, it won't hurt anything to do that. Make sure you download and use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) as that is the best way to make sure all traces of your old drivers are removed.

I would love to tell you. However, things have gotten worse. It happened once again (I wasn't even playing a game) and now I can't get any signal. My CPU doesn't have integrated graphics, so I can't even boot it up and uninstall drivers.

 

[silenceikeelu]

What PSU?

It is a non-name brand 850W power supply. I was also concerned this might be the issue, but it wasn't blue screening or shutting completely down when it would happen. I could still hear and talk to people on discord for ~1 minute after this would happen.

As I stated in another comment, it has gotten worse and I can't get any signal now. I think a have a corsair 650W and (maybe) a 750W PSU somewhere. Not sure if that is enough for my system though. CPU, GPU, and RAM can be found above. The rest of my specs are below.

MOBO: MSI B550 MAG Tomahawk Max
SSD: 1x WD Blue SN550 m.2, 1x Samsung Evo 970 m.2
HHD: 4TB BarraCuda HDD
Not sure if peripherals matter, but I have a mouse, keyboard, headset, and a USB mic plugged in. I occasionally also use a HOTAS and plug in my Oculus to do Oculus Link for VR.

 

[COLGeek]

This is a (very likely) power issue caused by the PSU. The RTX 3080 can be very demanding in terms of power requirements. You need a high quality, at least, 700w PSU for reliable use.

What is the make/model of your 750w PSU? Details matter.

 

[silenceikeelu]

This is a (very likely) power issue caused by the PSU. The RTX 3080 can be very demanding in terms of power requirements. You need a high quality, at least, 700w PSU for reliable use.

What is the make/model of your 750w PSU? Details matter.

The one currently in my computer is an 850W and I literally couldn't tell you the name brand off the top of my head. It is a cheap Chinese brand that came with one of my CyberPower PC prebuilt some time ago. As for the 750W power supply, I don't even know if I actually do have it or not. I could have sworn I bought one, but I cannot see it in my orders on Best Buy or Amazon. As for the 650W PSU I for sure have, it is a Corsair CX650M.

 

[COLGeek]

Time for a properly specced PSU.

The make/model info can be found on a label on the PSU itself. Just have to look.

What is your budget for a quality PSU?

 

[silenceikeelu]

Time for a properly specced PSU.

The make/model info can be found on a label on the PSU itself. Just have to look.

What is your budget for a quality PSU?

Are you certain this is a PSU issue (even if it isn't I should get a new one)? I put in an old graphics card (and RX 580) and while it requires much less power than a 3080, my computer is now working.

 

[COLGeek]

The RX 580 requires much less power than the RTX 3080, so I am not surprised.

 

[silenceikeelu]

The RX 580 requires much less power than the RTX 3080, so I am not surprised.

In that case, I don't want to cheap out and get another off-brand, but I don't want to spend a boatload of money on a PSU. Best Buy has a Corsair RM850x for $150. I'd say that is probably my upper bound on what I would like to spend.

 

[drivinfast247]

Are you certain this is a PSU issue (even if it isn't I should get a new one)? I put in an old graphics card (and RX 580) and while it requires much less power than a 3080, my computer is now working.

Hopefully that cheap PSU didn't damage the 3080. That's a nice PC, no need to go cheap on the most important component.

 

[drivinfast247]

In that case, I don't want to cheap out and get another off-brand, but I don't want to spend a boatload of money on a PSU. Best Buy has a Corsair RM850x for $150. I'd say that is probably my upper bound on what I would like to spend.

That's a great PSU.

 

[COLGeek]

In that case, I don't want to cheap out and get another off-brand, but I don't want to spend a boatload of money on a PSU. Best Buy has a Corsair RM850x for $150. I'd say that is probably my upper bound on what I would like to spend.

That would be a solid choice.

 

[silenceikeelu]

That would be a solid choice.

I guess this is what I will go with then. Is there a way to test to see if my 3080 was damaged (I guess getting this new PSU will do that)? The rest of my PC seems to be perfectly fine.

 

[COLGeek]

I guess this is what I will go with then. Is there a way to test to see if my 3080 was damaged (I guess getting this new PSU will do that)? The rest of my PC seems to be perfectly fine.

You'll know once the new PSU is in place. Run a benchmark like Unigine Superposition and put under a heavy load to verify performance.

 

[silenceikeelu]

You'll know once the new PSU is in place. Run a benchmark like Unigine Superposition and put under a heavy load to verify performance.

Well then I will be back in a few hours with (hopefully) good news.

 

[COLGeek]

Well then I will be back in a few hours with (hopefully) good news.

Good luck. We'll be here.

Be sure to remove all previous PSU cables and only use those with the new PSU. PSU cables are not universal across makes/models.

 

[silenceikeelu]

Good luck. We'll be here.

Be sure to remove all previous PSU cables and only use those with the new PSU. PSU cables are not universal across makes/models.

It works! Or at least I now have signal, gonna run some benchmarks to see if the black screen while under load happens and/or if performance was hit from the last PSU. I even went with a 1000W supply that was from the same line of PSUs from Corsair in case I would like to upgrade my GPU in the future.

FYI, if you are interested, the PSU that was in my system was an Apevia ATX-PR800W. After reading around the internet for a little bit I'm shocked it didn't completely fry my system or cause issues sooner.

 

[silenceikeelu]

I ran TimeSpy in 3DMark and everything seems to be ok. When I play some games, we'll see if my monitors go black. I'm betting on them not.

Thank you, everyone, for your help! I would probably still be sitting in my chair swearing at my computer if it wasn't for your suggestions.

 

[COLGeek]

It works! Or at least I now have signal, gonna run some benchmarks to see if the black screen while under load happens and/or if performance was hit from the last PSU. I even went with a 1000W supply that was from the same line of PSUs from Corsair in case I would like to upgrade my GPU in the future.

FYI, if you are interested, the PSU that was in my system was an Apevia ATX-PR800W. After reading around the internet for a little bit I'm shocked it didn't completely fry my system or cause issues sooner.

Yes, you were very lucky indeed. Pure junk PSU-shaped object. Glad you got it sorted out.