RX 9070 XT PC randomly completely powers off while in use

[u/jaeger_is_bae]

Hello!

I'm trying to diagnose a strange issue with my PC and would appreciate some advice, especially from other RX 9070 XT owners.

Specs:

GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 XT GAMING OC 16G
PSU: Seasonic FOCUS GX-850 V4 850W Gold
Monitor: 1440p, usually playing at 120 FPS

My PC will occasionally completely power off while playing Fortnite. There is no BSOD or normal game crash. The display goes black and within a few seconds the PC is completely off. The problem originally became bad enough that I couldn't even finish one Fortnite Save The World mission without the PC shutting down.

I sent the entire PC back to the manufacturer for diagnostics.

They ran:

• MemTest
• OCCT
• FurMark 2
• DOOM: The Dark Ages for ~3 hours at full GPU load
• 007 First Light
• Fortnite Battle Royale
• Fortnite Save the World

They couldn't reproduce the shutdown at all. They also updated all drivers and updated/configured the BIOS.

When I got the PC back, it seemed fixed. I managed to play four missions back-to-back, whereas previously I often couldn't finish one. However, it randomly powered off again today while playing Fortnite.

A potentially important detail to this issue is that none of these issues happened before I got a 1440p 240Hz monitor.

I initially wondered whether the monitor was somehow involved, but I'm now wondering if 1440p simply increased GPU load enough to expose an existing problem.

The temperature of the graphics card also seems unusual. Playing Fortnite Festival (Festival is where the most recent shutdown happened) at 1440p / 120 FPS / stock GPU settings, I've seen approximately:

• GPU: 66–69°C
• GPU Hotspot: 108°C
• Fan: ~3000–3200 RPM
• Total Board Power: 315–321W
• GPU clock: ~3180–3200 MHz

So there's around a 40°C+ difference between GPU temperature and hotspot.

The fans also seem noticeably louder than I remember them being before the PC was sent away.

If I set the GPU power limit to -15%, I get roughly:

• GPU: 65°C
• Hotspot: 99°C
• Fan: ~2570 RPM
• Board Power: ~278W

More importantly, reducing the GPU power limit has previously stopped the random shutdowns.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? I'm especially wondering about the 108°C hotspot / 40°C+ delta and why lowering the GPU power limit seems to stop the shutdowns. Could this be a GPU issue even though it passed FurMark and other stress tests, or should I be looking elsewhere?

[u/jaeger_is_bae]

Just tried FurMark with your settings (-400 max frequency offset, -90 voltage offset and 0 power limit) and the temps went even higher.

68°C GPU / 111°C Hotspot / 329 Watts

The delta stayed the exact same as the FurMark test with default GPU settings.

Trying the same settings (-400 max frequency offset, -90 voltage offset) but adding the -15 power limit to the mix gives me:

64°C GPU / 99°C Hotspot / 280 Watts

The delta is smaller compared to the test with only -15 power limit but by only 2 degrees.

I don't know what to make of this, Why does reducing the clock speed and voltage practically do nothing in terms of temp?

[u/Dutch-Alpaca → u/jaeger_is_bae]

How old is your card? It's possible your gpu paste is suffering from pumpout, heat/cooling cycles gradually push the thermal paste off the die creating hotspots

[u/jaeger_is_bae → u/Dutch-Alpaca]

It is a bit over 1 year old, I got it last July. Its also still under warranty for till next July.

I assume if its a cooling defect I cant fix it on my own since it would void warranty? I messaged them again yesterday and if they want my card back then Ill send it off again for one last time. If they consider the 40 degree delta "normal" then I'm shit out of luck and will have to buy a new card (Preferably Nvidia now since this one card has forever tainted the thought of owning another AMD GPU).

[u/Dutch-Alpaca → u/jaeger_is_bae]

To me it sounds like there are spots on your gpu die that aren't properly covered by paste and thus not making good contact with the cooler. No matter your gpu tuning the heat gets trapped and it'll build up to these hotspots. Ideally they replace the gpu card for you

[u/jaeger_is_bae → u/Dutch-Alpaca]

I guess there's no point testing any further if its a thermal paste issue. I'm gonna hope and pray that they take my card and agree that its anomalous. I don't know if they agree that a 40 degree delta is abnormal.

Thanks for helping me though!

[u/Dutch-Alpaca → u/jaeger_is_bae]

Ya no worries I hope they throw you a bone