My PC randomly powers off when I play more demanding games such as Path of Exile 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and ARC Raiders. The system has a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, Radeon RX 9070 XT, 32GB of DDR5 memory, and an 850W power supply. Temperatures look normal, and Event Viewer does not show a useful error. Lowering the GPU power limit to 85% in AMD Software stops the shutdowns. I also experienced the same problem with my previous AM4 system, and I tested two different RX 9070 XT cards while using that build. Could GPU power spikes, the power supply, or something else be causing this?
2 Answers
Check Windows Reliability Monitor as well as Event Viewer. It can sometimes show which application or hardware failure happened before the shutdown, although a sudden loss of power may only appear as Windows not shutting down correctly.
This sounds like a power-delivery problem, possibly caused by short GPU power spikes that trigger the power supply’s protection circuitry. That would explain why the system turns off completely under heavy, random workloads and why reducing the GPU power limit prevents it. The 850W rating may be sufficient on paper, but the PSU’s quality, age, cabling, and transient-response behavior still matter. Try separate PCIe power cables for each GPU connector and, if possible, test with a high-quality newer PSU.
I checked it, but it only reports that Windows was not shut down properly and does not provide a more specific cause.