Question System shuts down under load

[prokyon87]

I just upgraded my PC by replacing older AMD graphics card with Sapphire Nitro+ RX 6950 XT 16G beast. I realized my older 660W PSU can have problem with feeding this card, so I bought Corsair HX1000i which should be sufficient.

I did some benchmarking with 3dMark using its ultimate stress testing and results were fine an system looked stable.

But when I started one game (Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order on Epic resolution) after couple of minutes the system shut down. I thought the GPU was overheating so I started to monitor temps on CPU and GPU.

CPU looks ok (water cooled AMD Ryzen 5 3600), but GPU temps were a bit higher (75c on card, 91c hot spot). I read that these cars support up to 110c junction temp so I did not take it as problem.

I played with tuning fan speed in AMD Adrenaline and I was able to keep it on 60c temp on card and 77c hot spot temp under load, but it shut down as well.

My setup:

1. CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (water cooled)
2. GPU: Sapphire Nitro+ RX 6950 XT 16G
3. PSU: Corsair HX1000i
4. RAM: Corsair 32 GB DDR4 3200 MHz
5. MB: MSI MPG B550 GAMING PLUS

I changed only PSU and GPU recently, everything was stable before. So I suspect those two being a problem.

Thank you for any ideas.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

What GPU were you working with prior to the upgrade? Also, what BIOS version are you on? Did you use DDU to remove your prior GPU drivers before you dropped in the RX6950XT?

 

[prokyon87]

Thank you for the welcome.

It seems there was an issue with new PSU. I noticed that it delivered only 303W under full load to the GPU. So I tried to switch to my older PSU (Fractal Design 660W) and it was delivering 325W constantly under load. Since then I have no problems. I measured power output under full load and it is max at 540 W, so I will stay with the older PSU for now.

Can the insufficient power cause the system shut down?

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Thank you for the welcome.

It seems there was an issue with new PSU. I noticed that it delivered only 303W under full load to the GPU. So I tried to switch to my older PSU (Fractal Design 660W) and it was delivering 325W constantly under load. Since then I have no problems. I measured power output under full load and it is max at 540 W, so I will stay with the older PSU for now.

Can the insufficient power cause the system shut down?

Hey there,

Yes, it could. However, the HX1000i is a really goo PSU, so RMA that back and get a replacement. It's great that your Fractal PSU works sufficiently. But it may not hold out well for long, given it's slightly underpowered for the GPU. Recommended though is an 850w, to balance out transient power spikes. You could ask as a RMX850 as a replacement for your HX1000i, if you wanted to go that way. The RMX are very solid at dealing with high power spikes (like for RTX3080+ and R6900/6950XT). Often it's down to components in PSU's as to why they trip OCP and restart.

Edit: whilst your system may not draw much more than 540w (on average) recommended PSU's (currently factor in transient power spikes - at least some do) which is why for this card they say 850w. These power spikes will eventually trip your 660w PSU over current protections.