PC shuts down and reboots under load

sneakerfreaker

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Feb 16, 2014
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4,510
Hello everyone,

after two months of having my pc work flawlessly, it suddenly shut down as if someone pulled the power plug and then rebooted.
I did not install any new drivers, since they all are up to date.
I was playing a game for several hours and then the shutdown and reboot happened.

I already replaced my XFX HD7970 double dissipation with a Radeon HD 6870 and could play the game without ending up with a reboot after a few minutes.
Of course I am aware that the HD 6870 does not draw as much power from the PSU as the 7970 does.
The GPU temperatures are at around 70°C before my pc reboots.
Also, I've used Intel Burn Test to stress the CPU to see if that causes the problems, but the CPU passed the tests.
Now I'm here trying to find out what could cause the sudden shutdowns but I can't seem to find the cause.
It would be great if any of you could give me a hint because I am not such a big computer pro.

These are my PC specs:
Mainboard: MSI Z77A-G45
CPU: Intel Core i7 2600k
GPU: XFX Radeon HD 7970 Double Dissipation
PSU: be quiet! Pure Power CM L8 630W

My system is not overclocked


Thanks for your help
 
Solution
The GPU most likely overheats. It's difficult to know why it didn't fail before, but a change of a couple degrees could be enough to trigger the problem. You may eventually have to RMA it if it fails whith a more aggressive fan profile.

sneakerfreaker

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Feb 16, 2014
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4,510
The ambient temperature in my room is 22°C. Unfortunately I dont know any person I could borrow a PSU from.

EDIT:
So I've tried MSI Afterburner to set up a fan profile.
This time I could run 3D Mark for a bit longer than 5 Minutes while my PC would have already crashed after not longer than a minute without that fan profile. Also I could play my game without any shutdown.
So this is a sign of an overheating GPU, right?
But I still dont know why I'm getting this all of a sudden.
When I first set up my PC and ran 3D Mark, my GPU did not cause any problems.
 

sneakerfreaker

Reputable
Feb 16, 2014
5
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4,510
Yeah, 2 120mm fans in the front as intake, 1 in the back as exhaust. Using Corsair h100i to cool the CPU. Got 2 fans there blowing air out the case through its radiator.
The XFX HD7970 seems to be a very hot card. When I'm playing games with almost all settings at max, its temperature reaches ~73°C while my MSI GTX 770 Lightning reaches ~58°C on highest graphic settings.