Question Prebuilt PC died after 3 months. How to prevent re-occurance?

[BULLET WASTER]

So I bought a prebuilt MSI gaming PC and it died after 3 months. I am trying to figure out what happened and how I can prevent it from happening again.

Specs: CPU: Intel Core™ i7-13700KF Motherboard: MSI Z690 CPU Cooling: Liquid 240 Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4080 16GB GDDR6 Memory: 32GB DDR5 (16GB x 2) PSU: 750W 80 Gold Plus (Replaced with 1000W 80 Gold Plus)

So I was gaming no problem, but my PC would shut off trying to launch any Ubisoft game. I assumed this was a PSU issue and replaced it. It worked! I was happily gaming on it then experienced repeated crashes playing Starfield. It got so bad that the PC started BSODing before windows could load.

I took it into a shop and confirmed it was hardware failure. It was then narrowed down to either CPU or Motherboard.

I suspect that the repeated shutdowns from the original PSU affected the hardware. Is it also possible that transients from the power grid affected the PC?

I would like some advice on steps I can take in the future to prevent a reoccurance. It is also possible I just got a lemon. What do you guys think?

Thanks

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

PSU: 750W 80 Gold Plus (Replaced with 1000W 80 Gold Plus)
You might want to pass on the make and models of the units that you've used to power your build. Advertised wattage and advertised 80+ efficiency ratings aren't the only things you look for when purchasing a PSU to power a build.

I bought a prebuilt MSI gaming PC
Prebuilt by the shop or a MSI rebuilt system? There's a difference between the two.

 

[BULLET WASTER]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

PSU: 750W 80 Gold Plus (Replaced with 1000W 80 Gold Plus)
You might want to pass on the make and models of the units that you've used to power your build. Advertised wattage and advertised 80+ efficiency ratings aren't the only things you look for when purchasing a PSU to power a build.

I bought a prebuilt MSI gaming PC
Prebuilt by the shop or a MSI rebuilt system? There's a difference between the two.

The 1000W PSU is an MSI MPG A1000G PCIE 5.

Not sure about the 750W. It came with the MSI prebuild and I already RMA'd it.

It's an MSI branded pre-build. I bought it from a retail store. Here's the exact model: MSI Aegis RS RTX4080 13th Gen Gaming Desktop 13NUG-425US

 

[Lutfij]

If I were you, I'd have returned the entire unit, then picked something that had a higher wattage PSU out of the box instead of now(seemingly walking down a path of RMA'ing other parts in your build).

In retrospect, if the prior PSU was also an MSI unit, then 750W would've been fine all along.

It got so bad that the PC started BSODing before windows could load.
That can and will indicate that the OS is corrupt, if you're seeing a BSOD before booting into the OS. Can you confirm if this is the motherboard in your prebuilt;

PRO Z690-A

PRO series motherboards, tuned for better performance by Core Boost, Memory Boost, Extended Heatsink Design, M.2 Shield Frozr, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, Lightning Gen5, Front Type-C, 2.5G LAN

www.msi.com

?

 

[Brian Boru]

Welcome to the forum

I assume there's decent free space on your drive(s)?

 

[Colif]

I suspect that the repeated shutdowns from the original PSU affected the hardware.

They wouldn't have helped windows either. BSOD before start up doesn't really tell us anything as its... not specific enough. There are 255 or more BSOD codes, so knowing which ones you had would narrow down the cause.

So I bought a prebuilt MSI gaming PC and it died after 3 months. I am trying to figure out what happened and how I can prevent it from happening again.

if it had a bad part, there really isn't any way to avoid a repeat. Any part can be bad, no brand is perfect. It can just be bad luck... If its only 3 months old you should have got it repaired/replaced under warranty... new PC should not have problems. Especially OEM.

I would avoid buying PC off OEM like MSI and Dell and a few others as they only use their own parts... better to get a PC built using different brand parts as very few make the best of everything. You don't really know how long its been sitting in one place.

 

[BULLET WASTER]

If I were you, I'd have returned the entire unit, then picked something that had a higher wattage PSU out of the box instead of now(seemingly walking down a path of RMA'ing other parts in your build).

In retrospect, if the prior PSU was also an MSI unit, then 750W would've been fine all along.

It got so bad that the PC started BSODing before windows could load.
That can and will indicate that the OS is corrupt, if you're seeing a BSOD before booting into the OS. Can you confirm if this is the motherboard in your prebuilt;

PRO Z690-A

PRO series motherboards, tuned for better performance by Core Boost, Memory Boost, Extended Heatsink Design, M.2 Shield Frozr, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, Lightning Gen5, Front Type-C, 2.5G LAN

www.msi.com

?

Yes that is the motherboard in my unit. Maybe I wasn't clear when I said I RMA'd it. The entire PC is still under warranty so I sent the entire PC back.

The only thing I would say to the 750W MSI PSU being sufficient is that all Ubisoft games made my PC turn off when launching. This would happen 100% of the time. This was fixed by replacing the PSU.

 

[Rolfil]

Looking around it seems that most sites recommend a 850W PSU if you have a RTX4080 which might have been one of the reason's for your instability.

If your going for a prebuilt PC I would normally go with a customer builder site. In the UK this would be something like Overclockers or Scan. I've used Scan for years both for Prebuilt PC's and also hardware upgrades. A custom builder like these will usually test the PC properly, sometimes referred to as a burn-in test, good warranties and very good customer service.

 

[BULLET WASTER]

Looking around it seems that most sites recommend a 850W PSU if you have a RTX4080 which might have been one of the reason's for your instability.

If your going for a prebuilt PC I would normally go with a customer builder site. In the UK this would be something like Overclockers or Scan. I've used Scan for years both for Prebuilt PC's and also hardware upgrades. A custom builder like these will usually test the PC properly, sometimes referred to as a burn-in test, good warranties and very good customer service.

I did find that most people recommended an 850W or higher PSU while doing research. I was just shocked that a pre-build made by MSI would have an inadequate PSU.

I'm assuming the frequent shutdowns ended up damaging the hardware. Not sure if that is more likely, or I just had a bum part.

 

[Lutfij]

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Specs

NVIDIA AD103, 2505 MHz, 9728 Cores, 304 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 16384 MB GDDR6X, 1400 MHz, 256 bit

www.techpowerup.com

having more from your PSU isn't a bad thing mind you, though there are instances where a game can and will tax the GPU to make it go beyond a certain scenario/spec, due to a glitch in the game/app.

 

[ZedClampet]

You're probably right on the original problem, but I would have tried reinstalling Windows before packing it up and sending it back. In any event, I had a problem with an MSI laptop once, and they were very easy to work with. I received it back in just a few days.

 

[BULLET WASTER]

You're probably right on the original problem, but I would have tried reinstalling Windows before packing it up and sending it back. In any event, I had a problem with an MSI laptop once, and they were very easy to work with. I received it back in just a few days.

Yeah I did try that lol. I formatted everything and tried to clean install Windows 11. The computer just crashed everytime the windows logo appeared.

I took it into a shop and confirmed it was hardware before sending it back

 

[D10S]

For cleaner power, a UPS with built in AVR

What did the bsod say ? Bsod unsupported processor is common on msi boards and was recently fixed in new bios.

MSI fixes Windows 11 BSOD “unsupported processor” errors with new BIOS updates

The issue affects the latest Intel components.

www.theverge.com

 

[BULLET WASTER]

For cleaner power, a UPS with built in AVR

What did the bsod say ? Bsod unsupported processor is common on msi boards and was recently fixed in new bios.

MSI fixes Windows 11 BSOD “unsupported processor” errors with new BIOS updates

The issue affects the latest Intel components.

www.theverge.com

I was getting a mix of "kernel security check failure" and "iqrl not or less equal". When I took it into the shop, it wasn't bsoding anymore but just rebooting everytime the windows logo appeared after the shop tried installing it.

 

[Colif]

if its crashing during install, they need to check the ram. Until the installer has restarted PC 2 times, its mostly running off the USB and ram. Storage only involved once the installer has written files onto it, and after 2nd restart.

 

[BULLET WASTER]

if its crashing during install, they need to check the ram. Until the installer has restarted PC 2 times, its mostly running off the USB and ram. Storage only involved once the installer has written files onto it, and after 2nd restart.

Yeah, when I had it in the shop we tried swapping the RAM and it still crashed.

 

[Magatach]

I was getting a mix of "kernel security check failure" and "iqrl not or less equal". When I took it into the shop, it wasn't bsoding anymore but just rebooting everytime the windows logo appeared after the shop tried installing it.

It sounds like you were experiencing a mix of "kernel security check failure" and "IRQL not less or equal" errors. After taking it to the shop, the issue changed from blue screens to continuous reboots when the Windows logo appeared during installation.

 

[Magatach]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

PSU: 750W 80 Gold Plus (Replaced with 1000W 80 Gold Plus)
You might want to pass on the make and models of the units that you've used to power your build. Advertised wattage and advertised 80+ efficiency ratings aren't the only things you look for when purchasing a PSU to power a build.

I bought a prebuilt MSI gaming PC
Prebuilt by the shop or a MSI rebuilt system? There's a difference between the two.

I upgraded the PSU from 750W 80 Gold Plus to 1000W 80 Gold Plus. The PC is prebuilt by the shop, not a MSI rebuilt system.

 

[Brian Boru]

I upgraded the PSU

Please start your own thread if you have an issue to discuss.

 

[BULLET WASTER]

Hello everyone, thanks for the comments. I just got my PC back from MSI and the work ticket says they replaced my CPU. I'm assuming that the CPU was faulty to begin with as it's a liquid cooled system, so I wouldn't expect it to overheat.

 

[Colif]

Hope that was only problem

 

[BULLET WASTER]

Hope that was only problem

Haha me too! I'm planning to play Alan Wake 2 tonight so fingers crossed