Hey everyone! I recently built my first PC and it's been mostly smooth sailing until now. I've installed Windows 11 Pro and a few apps like Discord and Steam, but I've run into a strange issue where my PC randomly shuts off after about an hour of use. The first shutdown happened while I was downloading Discord, and after trying to power it back on, it refused to start until I waited a few minutes. Eventually, it powered back up like normal. The second incident occurred while I was playing Rocket League, and again, it shut down unexpectedly. I monitored the temperatures, and everything seems fine—my GPU hit a max of 80C during gameplay, but that feels normal to me. I've already checked my SSD health with CrystalDiskInfo, ensured all my power cables and components are secure, updated all drivers, and even flashed the BIOS to the latest version. Here are my specs for reference:
- Motherboard: Asus TUF Z790-PLUS WIFI
- Power Supply: Corsair RM1000X (Fully Modular 1000W)
- CPU: Intel Core i9 14900K
- GPU: Gigabyte Nvidia RTX 3060
- RAM: Corsair Vengeance 64GB DDR5 64000MHz
- Storage: Samsung SSD 980 Pro 2 TB
- Case: NZXT H9 Flow
- CPU Cooler: Corsair NAUTILUS RS 360mm AIO
Has anyone experienced something similar? Any ideas on what might be causing these random shutdowns? Thanks in advance for your help!
4 Answers
This could be due to a faulty PSU or RAM. It might be easy to test the RAM by removing one stick and seeing if the problem persists. If it crashes again, try the other stick in a different slot. If that doesn't help, it’s likely the PSU causing issues.
What about your CPU temp? If it’s alright when idle but spikes when under load, that might be a cause for the crash. Just something to keep an eye on.
I haven’t checked right before it shuts down, but at idle, it’s around 35°C and about 55°C under stress, so it’s within normal limits.
You might want to check the Event Viewer for any error reports during the time of the shutdowns. That could provide clues about what’s going wrong.
Sounds like a potential PSU issue. Have you tried flipping the on/off switch on your power supply? If that’s necessary to restart your PC, it could be indicating that your PSU is malfunctioning or struggling to meet the power demands.
I do need to flip the switch to restart it, so that could be the issue. There's also a knob at the back of the PSU that I haven’t touched yet. Thanks for pointing that out!
Great idea, I’ll look into testing the RAM with a different stick. I appreciate the suggestion!