I bought an open-box gaming PC from Amazon last week for about 2,300 CAD. It has an RTX 5070, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. At first it worked perfectly, including during gaming, but now it randomly powers off or starts acting strangely shortly after I turn it on and launch a game—even relatively lightweight games. The issue only seems to happen when starting a game soon after booting. I also added an external 2TB SATA drive and initially suspected it, but removing it did not solve the problem. What should I check, and should I return the system?
3 Answers
You can isolate the hardware by stress-testing individual components with a tool such as AIDA64 while monitoring temperatures and voltages. Test the CPU, GPU, and memory separately rather than everything at once. However, because the computer is new and was sold open-box, document the symptoms and prioritize a return or warranty claim if it continues.
Find the exact model and full specifications first, especially the power supply wattage and model. A system with an RTX 5070 needs an appropriate, reliable PSU, and a failing or undersized PSU can cause an immediate shutdown when a game starts. You can run msinfo32 in Windows to identify the computer model, then check the PSU label if it is accessible.
Since this is a recently purchased open-box system, contact the seller or manufacturer and arrange a repair or return rather than trying to troubleshoot or replace major parts yourself. A sudden complete shutdown under gaming load could indicate a faulty power supply, overheating, or another hardware problem, and the seller should provide a working product.
The purchase price was 2,300 Canadian dollars.