PC will randomly shut down. Is it a PSU issue? Motherboard issue?

Maybe overheating? Can you reset the heatsinks?

Maybe the power supply, not undersized but possibly faulty. Or maybe the specific power feed you are using from you PSU may be power limited? Not sure how they are set up in PCs anymore I recall some from waaay back having multiple power outputs with some of them having lower outputs than others. I still see that a lot in industrial, external power supplies.

I also saw RAM causing similar lock up issues years ago. But that was cheap off brand RAM typically and usually caused a lockup before fully starting or freezing after things heated up forcing you to cycle power to restart.

Hope you find it and please report back so we get some insight.

I had this issue. I did a YouTube search and there’s a way to tell your computer to ignore it and not shut down. It hasn’t been a problem since and it’s been about a year. May not be the best idea but it didn’t backfire yet lol

Usually random shut downs are over heating issues.

First thought: overheating.

If your rig is running cool when it shuts down, check the RAM. Try reseating both the RAM and the new GPU.

If that fails and you still have the old RAM and GPU, try changing the RAM back to the old stick(s). If the problem persists, put the new RAM back in and swap the GPU for the old one.

If it's still an issue after that you may want to check to see if there's a known issue with your GPU's latest drivers and the mobo.

After that... maybe a mobo issue? PSU coincidentally going bad? Try updating BIOS?

Did you resolve your issues?

Like I gamed all night last night. I go in to look this morning and it's shut off. Event viewer shows another Kernal-Power unexpected shutdown about 30 min after my gaming session was done.

I don't understand why it will hard shut down even if sleep/idle.

I still need to run the memtest.

Obviously, you should check thermals and dust, but I'm doubting it's a thermal issue because it doesn't fit the pattern, given you can game all night with no problem but then as you said in the OP it will crash when no one is using it, or when it's sleep/idle.

I also doubt it's a PSU load problem because it happens at sleep/idle.

This also began when you swapped parts, you'd probably notice if the dust was built up to that degree (though if it's been 9 years since you've built the machine, it wouldn't hurt to re-apply fresh thermal compound to the CPU).

It happened when you swapped GPUs and added RAM, so I'd be looking at the new RAM, GPU, PSU, and motherboard.

RAM -- run memtest, if it fails the test you know you likely have a RAM or RAM slot problem, if it crashes during the test you at least know it isn't a Windows/OS/driver problem. If it passes after running several iterations overnight, move to the next option
GPU -- swap your old GPU back in if you still have it, if it still happens, you know your new GPU hardware is probably good, if it doesn't still happen, it could be a bad new GPU or still be a bad PSU or mobo

let us know how it goes and report back

GPU is a Nvidia GTX 980.

There really is no telling what is wrong. I built my computer in 2013. The only upgrades were the GPU and RAM which were done a few months back. After that, the random shut downs began.

Like, I gamed late last night. No problem. Came in this morning to find computer off. I checked event viewer and it was a random shut down at 7am - while the computer was asleep.

I am still looking into it. My entire rig is ancient though.

Try this, and see if it dumps.

LINK /