Troubleshooting a Dead GPU: My Gaming PC’s Sudden Demise

Last night, while immersed in a thrilling raid on World of Warcraft Classic, my gaming rig suddenly went dark. One moment I was rooted in the heat of battle, and the next, my screen went black, and my PC failed to respond when I attempted to power it back on. Initially, I suspected a failure in the power supply unit (PSU), but as I delved deeper, it became evident that the issue might lie with the graphics card.

My Setup

For context, here are my specifications:

• CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X (recently upgraded, previously owned)
• GPU: RTX 2070 (Inno3D TwinX2, approximately 1.5 years old)
• Motherboard: MSI B450 Pro Max (2 years old)
• RAM: 32GB DDR4
• Old PSU: 600W
• New PSU: 750W

I was playing World of Warcraft Classic— a game that isn’t extremely taxing on hardware— but during a 40-man raid, the sheer number of animations and activities might have strained my GPU.

The Incident

After my monitor went black, my first action was to verify the power outlet. Other devices plugged into the same socket were functioning properly. Next, I tried a different PSU cable, but to no avail. Since my original PSU was over six years old, I assumed it might have failed. Today, I purchased a new 750W PSU to rule it out. Upon connecting just the CPU and motherboard, the fans began to spin, giving me a glimmer of hope. However, when I connected everything back together and attempted to start the PC, it again failed to respond.

I disconnected the GPU and rebooted, leading to the fans working again. Upon reconnecting the PSU after completely unplugging it, the fans spun once more. I then decided to test the only other GPU I had at hand, an outdated GT 9800, and surprisingly, my PC powered up without any issues. This all seemed to indicate that the RTX 2070 may be the culprit.

The Diagnosis

What baffles me is how the GPU could go from functioning perfectly to seemingly blocking power to the entire system when connected. As a result, I’m holding on to a faint hope that it might be an issue with