How to stop video games from constantly crashing your PC

The fact that your computer crashes while playing a video game can be worrying. The reasons may be varied. Food may be involved.

Seeing your computer crash at any point during a video game session is worrisome. If you’ve ruled out other possible causes – graphics card or motherboard drivers, loose components, etc. – your PC’s power supply is most likely to blame. Either it’s too weak for your components, or it’s badly coupled to your most demanding components. Fortunately, there are solutions to avoid such incidents.

Change your diet

There are several possible reasons why a video card requires too much from the power supply, but the most likely reason is that the power supply is not powerful enough. For example, a 750W PSU is technically sufficient for most GPUs, including high-end GPUs such as the RTX 3080 and 3090, some games may experience spikes that exceed this limit and cause the PC to crash.

As evidenced by the responses in this Reddit thread, many users confirm that switching from a 750W PSU to a 1000W PSU (or more) solved the problem. For some, it was enough to upgrade to a better 750W power supply, but the increase in power has a better chance of success.

However, as with any component, upgrading to a 1000W PSU can be costly. You should also make sure that this power supply is compatible with your case and other components before purchasing and installing it. Sometimes you can’t even replace the PSU if you’ve bought a pre-built rig that requires a proprietary PSU, like some Alienware machines with external PSUs.

It is also possible that a more powerful power supply is not needed. Upgrading to a more powerful model is almost guaranteed to fix the problem, but the Reddit discussion reveals other solutions to try before spending money.

Make sure all components are properly connected to the power source.

Another possible reason is that the video card cables are not properly connected to the power supply. Your GPU needs dedicated wires for each plug. Unplug your computer, open the case and make sure everything is connected properly.

What is undervoltage?

You can also try lowering your GPU’s power limit, a technique called “undervolting”. This is only possible with the latest cards from Nvidia and AMD, but it’s a relatively simple process that reduces the card’s power consumption and heat dissipation and has minimal impact on performance. This is especially useful for GPUs that come with overclocking. Undervoltage is achieved through GPU manufacturer software such as MSI Afterburner or AMD Adrenaline Radeon. The exact process depends on your components.

Lower graphics settings in games

Finally, if none of this works – and you can’t upgrade to a more powerful PSU – try lowering the graphics quality of your games. The easiest way is to choose a lower option by changing “High”to “Medium”or “Low”and see if that solves the problem. Limit the frame rate or set the FPS cap lower than it already is. Do not play without a set limit. You can also tweak other game options if you want to keep the graphics as good as possible. Check it out and see if your computer can handle it.