PC instantly shuts down after 5-10 minutes of being in-game.

[grizz2]

This Monday, my PC started to crash after gaming for less than half an hour. Throughout the year the crashes have happened very sparsely, so I ignored them, but now it's been 100% reproducible whenever I play a game.

My PC runs fine on browsers, light games like NEO Scavenger which is very graphically light, and streaming Youtube and Twitch videos, but a few minutes in a game like Overwatch and Witcher 3 cause the PC to shut down as if the power was switched right off. Everything goes dark, except my power button light.

I cleaned the vents and fans for my MSI 1080 GPU, i7 6700k CPU, and case. I've run malwarebytes numerous times with 0 problems. I've monitored temperatures and power distribution via HWMonitor, with the following photo during Overwatch gameplay in the practice range:

https://imgur.com/pWCy3Ib

I had to swap the game from fullscreen to borderless to get the shot of the game side by side with HWMonitor, so it usually runs 144+ frames for my monitor, not as intensive as normal. I cropped the info to keep the image small.

You can also see that I have a Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 6 mobo that doesn't appear to be malfunctioning as far as I can see.

I've looked up various possible solutions and came to the conclusion that it might be my PSU going out. It is roughly 5 years old and has been part of my previous, lower tier build. I just wanted a second opinion on whether or not this sounds like the case for my predicament before buying a piece of hardware that wasn't necessarily the cause, regardless if I'm due for a replacement.

EDIT: My GPU's driver is up to date as well, in case anyone would suggest updating.

 

[2sidedpolygon]

Yes, I'd imagine it's the PSU. Whether it be its age or it be insufficient power delivery, that's almost certainly your issue.

 

[grizz2]

Yes, I'd imagine it's the PSU. Whether it be its age or it be insufficient power delivery, that's almost certainly your issue.

Thanks, I'll see if I can't swap it out and check how my PC behaves afterwards. It's served me well for years.
Any recommendations on a good brand? Obviously more wattage is better, but I want the best bang for my buck without overspending.

 

[2sidedpolygon]

Yes, I'd imagine it's the PSU. Whether it be its age or it be insufficient power delivery, that's almost certainly your issue.

Thanks, I'll see if I can't swap it out and check how my PC behaves afterwards. It's served me well for years.
Any recommendations on a good brand? Obviously more wattage is better, but I want the best bang for my buck without overspending.

EVGA and Corsair are good, Corsair having a lot of mail-in rebates that can save you money.

 

[grizz2]

Yes, I'd imagine it's the PSU. Whether it be its age or it be insufficient power delivery, that's almost certainly your issue.

Thanks, I'll see if I can't swap it out and check how my PC behaves afterwards. It's served me well for years.
Any recommendations on a good brand? Obviously more wattage is better, but I want the best bang for my buck without overspending.

EVGA and Corsair are good, Corsair having a lot of mail-in rebates that can save you money.

Awesome, good to know. I'll be back to update this thread on whether or not PSU replacement works. Thanks man. o7

 

[grizz2]

Yes, I'd imagine it's the PSU. Whether it be its age or it be insufficient power delivery, that's almost certainly your issue.

Thanks, I'll see if I can't swap it out and check how my PC behaves afterwards. It's served me well for years.
Any recommendations on a good brand? Obviously more wattage is better, but I want the best bang for my buck without overspending.

EVGA and Corsair are good, Corsair having a lot of mail-in rebates that can save you money.

So apparently I forgot about my fans in the front hidden by a detachable panel. Removed the panel, and the filter in front of my fans grew a coat of dusty fur. Cleaned the filter off, ran Overwatch, no crash. Turns out something was overheating because of my lack of knowledge of my own case.

 

[grizz2]

Yes, I'd imagine it's the PSU. Whether it be its age or it be insufficient power delivery, that's almost certainly your issue.

Thanks, I'll see if I can't swap it out and check how my PC behaves afterwards. It's served me well for years.
Any recommendations on a good brand? Obviously more wattage is better, but I want the best bang for my buck without overspending.

EVGA and Corsair are good, Corsair having a lot of mail-in rebates that can save you money.

Turns out that, even though I've tested the game for longer than when it usually crashes, it still didn't get fixed, contrary to my above post. I'm guessing it's just my PSU, which I realized when checking my case, isn't old. I've forgotten most of my build and realized it's a newer 750 watt unit. Guess I'll return after getting myself a new PSU.

 

[grizz2]

Yes, I'd imagine it's the PSU. Whether it be its age or it be insufficient power delivery, that's almost certainly your issue.

Okay, so after a bit of redecorating, I've ended up exposing the fans in the front of my computer and putting a tower fan in front of it, blasting air into the PC along with the fans. So far, no crash, and I've been playing a few games in Overwatch, as opposed to the 10 minutes before crashing beforehand. Either I got to get new fans or rearrange my case to get better airflow. I'm guessing somehow this was a ventilation issue. Thanks for the help, polygon.