Need help. System powers down continuously during high-GPU load.

[amolven]

Hi,

 

I own a Dell Precision T3600 tower prebuilt (specs listed below). Although it is over 8 years old, it still works like a charm and has been my daily driver for the past 2 years. But recently, I am starting to see a few problems with it's graphics card (NVIDIA Quadro 2000 1GB).

Low-power games like Minecraft, Among Us and Factorio run fine with the default settings, but high-power games like BeamNG.Drive, Asetto Corsa and Cities Skylines are only playable with the lowest settings, and even that pins the GPU usage at 100%.

Recently, the computer shuts off under high loads like high-power games, video editing, CAD or machine learning. I believe this is because of the GPU overheating because the monitors blank out first, and then the lights on the keyboard turn off after a second or two.

 

Is this really because of the GPU? Is there anything I can do with the GPU to fix this temporarily (I just need it to work for school and programming. I can put off on gaming for now)?

I also want to buy a new GPU (after the prices go down). I want an RTX 3060, but which one would be the best for the specs I have without causing bottlenecks (My budget is $400 Canadian [after the prices go down]).

 

Computer Specs:

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-1620 8 cores, 3.6 GHz

RAM: 16GB DDR3  (4 x 4GB)

GPU: NVIDIA Quadro 2000 1GB

Motherboard: Dell OEM Motherboard

PSU: Dell 635 Watt PSU

Storage: 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD

 

Thanks in advance,

Amol

[Doug_Dangger]

Powering down during high gpu loads... I'm sure it's your power supply that's insufficient or is about to give up the ghost.

[Doug_Dangger]

Dell power supplies are trash.

[emosun]

is there a reason you arent checking the gpu temp

[amolven]

2 minutes ago, emosun said:

is there a reason you arent checking the gpu temp

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that in the post. It is pretty high. ~ 70 on idle and ~90 on load.

Attached picture shows idle temp

[amolven]

6 minutes ago, Doug_Dangger said:

Powering down during high gpu loads... I'm sure it's your power supply that's insufficient or is about to give up the ghost.

I did some calculations. The system doesn't really use more than 350 - 400 Watts under max load. Wouldn't the 625 Watt PSU be sufficient?

[emosun]

Just now, amolven said:

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that in the post. It is pretty high. ~ 70 on idle and ~90 on load.

ok. Are you going to clean or replace the thermal paste or increase airflow to the gpu?

[amolven]

1 minute ago, emosun said:

ok. Are you going to clean or replace the thermal paste or increase airflow to the gpu?

Do you know any good brand of thermal paste?

[emosun]

2 minutes ago, amolven said:

Do you know any good brand of thermal paste?

Almost any known brand of paste will be an improvement over 74c at idle. I wouldnt expect any machine gpu to work correctly if that's the idle temp.

[SpookyCitrus]

6 minutes ago, amolven said:

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that in the post. It is pretty high. ~ 70 on idle and ~90 on load.

Those are some very high temperatures, 70c idle is terrible, it is very possible the card is the problem and it is 100% overheating. I would repaste the GPU and clean it's heatsink and fan/fans out. If it stops overheating but is still powering off under load than it is most likely your PSU as usually a computer turning off under high load is caused by a faulty PSU. But you definitely no matter what need to repaste that GPU.

[amolven]

Thank you for the help. I will re-paste my GPU. What are all the tools I need? Do I also have to replace the thermal pads on the VRM's (not even sure if my GPU has that, just remember it from an LTT video)?

[amolven]

Should I also re-paste my CPU? Temperatures are ~50 on idle, but all the fans work perfectly.

[Doug_Dangger]

1 hour ago, amolven said:

I did some calculations. The system doesn't really use more than 350 - 400 Watts under max load. Wouldn't the 625 Watt PSU be sufficient?

Depends on your power supply.  Some power supplies will claim 800 watts of power but are pure trash inside and even trip at 1/2 of that load.  There are some power supplies that only say 500 watts but if it's a quality unit could even temporarily exceed those claims.

 

Maybe you should run a synthetic load test like Unigine.

Or rip out your side panel cover, put a big fan blowing air in your unit and do a stress test.  If your computer still shuts down despite tremendous airflow then it's likely your power supply.