PC blacks out when Gaming

Ravenclaw

Active member
So I have a PC that I ordered from PC Specialist many years ago now, and am now unable to game on the PC due to this issue.

Basically I can browse the PC all day with no issues, but as soon as I start a game, it will maybe last 5 minutes max and then the PC just blacks out. To note also, I can tell when the PC is about to black out, as just before, the frames will drop and I will experience some lag.

Also a point to note, when I start my PC, flickering rises up the screen and sometimes distorts the entire screen so it looks like just strange lines. In this case, I have to unplug my hdmi monitor cable and plug back in until the lines begin to disappear.

I was wondering if anyone on here had any thoughts on what could be the issue here, as I must admit I am no expert on this, so am pretty unsure on how to troubleshoot.
 

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
If you post your spec, as below, I’m sure some helpful elf will respond.

 

Ravenclaw

Active member
Was a while ago haha, but found it

Case InWIN 703 MID TOWER GAMING CASE (BLACK/RED)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-6500 (3.2GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® H110M-D D3: Micro-ATX, LG1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM) 8GB Kingston DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 2 x DVI, HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk 250GB Samsung 850 2.5" EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling Super Quiet Titan DragonFly Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD) Wireless/Wired Networking 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED) USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead) Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence Operating System Language United Kingdom - English Language DVD Recovery Media Windows 10 (64-bit) Home DVD with paper sleeve Office Software FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 Anti-Virus BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode Monitor ASUS VE247H 24" LED DISPLAY Keyboard & Mouse PCS S300 USB MEDIA KEYBOARD
 

B4zookaw

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Ok your GPU is running too hot, it’s shutting down once it hits that 94C I bet. What fan curve do you have the GPU running at? And are the fans and case clean and clear of dust?

The GPU might need repasting, but would be good to understand the current cooling setup
 

Ravenclaw

Active member
Sorry, don't know what is meant by fan curve, and the cooling setup would just be what is in my spec posted above. Not very clued up on this.

The setup is fairly old - 2016 is when I got this. It's not been cleaned for dust or anything really.

Also, all of the fans on the GPU, I'm just looking right now, they don't seem to be moving, are they supposed to at all times?
 

B4zookaw

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
They definitely need to be moving when under load (e.g. when gaming). But when idle, it's normal for GPU fans not to spin. Check they spin when you game. If they don't, your card is faulty and needs repair/replacement
 

Ravenclaw

Active member
Okay, il check, but im pretty sure I dont see them move then.

So would a fix be for me to remove my gpu & buy another 970 or even something better now and install that?
 

B4zookaw

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
hopefully your budget would stretch to something better than a 970, but yeh, don’t think it’s viable to pay for a repair.
 

Ravenclaw

Active member
Okay thanks,

Would you have any recommendations for a decent GPU I could buy in the meantime before I upgrade to a new PC?
Also is this a straightforward thing to do to swap graphics cards, never done this before
 

B4zookaw

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Dunno, depends on what budget you have, and what resolution you play games at. Worth considering do you get something cheap to keep you going, or something more expensive that you might carry forward into the next build.

You may be somewhat limited by your current PSU though, many cards would be 650W+
 
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