Diagnosing PC Issues: When Your Gaming Rig Suddenly Goes Dark

It’s every gamer’s nightmare: you find yourself fully immersed in a gripping raid, adrenaline pumping, when suddenly—everything goes black. This recently happened to me while I was engaged in a 40-man boss fight in World of Warcraft Classic. My PC, which had been working flawlessly, just shut down without warning. After some troubleshooting, I’ve come to suspect that my graphics card (GPU) might be to blame, but I’m seeking a few more insights from the community.

My Setup

Here’s a brief rundown of my current system specs:
– CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (recently upgraded)
– GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2070 (Inno3D TwinX2, 1.5 years old)
– Motherboard: MSI B450 Pro Max (2 years old)
– RAM: 32GB DDR4
– Power Supply Unit (PSU): Recently upgraded from 600W to 750W

While the game itself isn’t particularly demanding in terms of hardware, the raid I was participating in was quite intense. After the crash, my initial instinct was to check the PSU. I verified the power socket by plugging in other devices, all of which were functioning normally. I even changed the PSU cable, but to no avail. Given that my old PSU was over six years old, I decided to replace it. When I installed the new unit, the fans started spinning, which gave me some hope.

However, when I attempted to boot the PC completely, there was no response—no lights, sounds, or indications of life. I disconnected the GPU to test the system with just the CPU and motherboard connected, and, after unplugging and re-plugging the PSU, the fans surged back to life. This led me to wonder if the GPU was indeed the problem.

To confirm, I plugged in an old GT 9800 that I had lying around. Surprisingly, my PC booted up without issues, reinforcing my suspicion that the RTX 2070 may be faulty. It seemed rather odd, though, for a previously functioning GPU to suddenly fail to the point of shutting down the entire system.

Testing the Waters

I am still holding onto a sliver of hope that the motherboard might be at fault, yet tests to verify this could prove challenging. Has anyone experienced something similar? What additional tests would you