Since the Path Tracing update and version 1.2.1 hotfix, 007 First Light has been causing my entire PC to power off instantly. This is not a normal crash or crash-to-desktop: there is no BSOD, freeze, or warning, and Windows only records Kernel-Power Event ID 41 with BugcheckCode 0 after reboot.
My system uses an RTX 5080, Ryzen 9 7950X3D, MSI X870E Carbon Wi-Fi motherboard, 32 GB DDR5-6000, MSI MPG A1000G PCIe 5 1000W PSU, Windows 11, NVIDIA driver 616.92, and a 3440x1440 display. The Steam game is running version 1.2.1.
The shutdowns occur with Path Tracing on both High and Medium. At High, the system usually lasts 20–40 minutes, while Medium lasted about an hour before shutting down. HWiNFO logs showed roughly 99% GPU load, 313 W GPU power, 12.139 V on the 12VHPWR connection, 75 C GPU temperature, 89 C hotspot, 76 C VRAM, and about 88 C CPU temperature. There were no thermal limiters, PROCHOT events, WHEA errors, or PCIe errors.
I also tried reducing the GPU power limit to 80%, reinstalling the NVIDIA driver with DDU, and limiting the game to 60 FPS through the NVIDIA App. The frame cap worked, but the system still powered off after about 24 minutes, even with GPU power reduced to approximately 240 W and temperatures around 73 C. My next test is Path Tracing Medium with the 60 FPS cap.
Other demanding games, including Cyberpunk 2077 with heavy Path Tracing settings, remain stable for several hours. The shutdowns seem more likely in scenes with reflective surfaces, glass, marble, multiple light sources, and complex indirect lighting. The issue also seems more frequent after version 1.2.1. The developer has received my HWiNFO logs, Event Viewer data, DxDiag information, and NVIDIA crash dumps.
Has anyone with an RTX 5080 or 5090 experienced a complete power-off specifically in this game with Path Tracing enabled? I would especially like to hear from people whose systems are stable in other demanding games, who noticed the problem after version 1.2.1, or who found a workaround besides disabling Path Tracing.
4 Answers
A clean driver reinstall with DDU is worth trying, preferably from Safe Mode, followed by installing the newest graphics driver. However, because this is a total power loss rather than a normal driver crash, a driver fix alone may not resolve it.
The reported CPU temperature is somewhat high, so checking the cooler, mounting, fan or pump operation, and CPU usage would be sensible. That said, the GPU temperatures are not alarming, and the lack of thermal-limit or hardware-error entries makes overheating less obvious than a power-delivery or game-specific driver issue.
The symptoms point toward a power-delivery problem, even though the average wattage and voltage look normal. GPUs can produce very short transient spikes that monitoring software may miss, and a PSU or its cabling can shut the system down without leaving a useful error. Testing with a known-good replacement PSU and a properly seated, direct 12VHPWR cable would help isolate that possibility.
A PSU can become less capable of handling transient loads as its capacitors age, causing abrupt shutdowns or restarts during particular workloads. Since other games are stable, it could still be an interaction between this game's Path Tracing workload and the power supply rather than a simple overall wattage problem.
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