Monitor goes black, PC still running and sound is working

[Knugg]

A friend of mine has a PC problem where the monitor suddenly goes black when playing games but the computer is still running and sound is working, we could talk to him through Curse Voice for over 10min just fine.

SPECS:
i5-4690K
8GB 1600Mhz DDR-3 HyperX Memory
Cooler Master B700W Power supply
Asus Strix GTX 970

We've tried updating all the drivers and reinstalled Windows 10 with no luck.
We've tried replugging everything and checked that all the cables are attached properly.
After doing all this we disabled the power saving options and hibernate option.

The temps when idle is 35-45 degrees celcius for the CPU and 40-50 degrees celcius for the GPU.
Under load the CPU temperature is sitting around 60-65 degrees celcius and the GPU sits on about 60-70 degrees celcius (depends on the game)

We tried a different monitor and the same thing happened. We plan on changing the parts with some of my own, one part of the time to see if that works because after all this testing we suspect it to be a hardware fault of some kind (RAM or GPU).

All tips are very much appreciated!

 

[Knugg]

The computer is also scanned clean for malware, and is scanned regularly.

 

[Cycloid Torus]

Lots and lots of folks with similar problems.

Consider using ddu to scrub old driver https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

When clean and clear do custom 'driver only' install.

Hope it works for you, else camp on Asus support doorstep.

 

[Knugg]

Looks like underclocking the GPU by 40Mhz fixed the problem, any explanation to why this worked?

 

[Cycloid Torus]

Driver / Firmware needs work.

 

[MasterBrown]

Hi,
I just finished bashing my head against this same problem and promised to post where I could if I found the answer. My graphics card was 4-5 years old and I was having the exact same issue.
Turns out it was dried out thermal paste on the GPU!
When running games and or graphically intensive things the screen would go black, this issue became more common and would happen with less demand on the GPU. If I underclocked the GPU then it would last longer; however, the temperature sensors on the GPU all seemed to indicate no issue. When my system was unusable I tried the final thing. I stripped my laptop apart, removed the graphics card and (very carefully) peeled off the heat sink. Then I cleaned the GPU, put fresh thermal paste on, put it back together and the system has now run better than it has for years and not had any issues whatsoever for the last couple of months.

I tried all the usual issues like drivers, OS and clocking but only replacing thermal paste saved my computer.

Hope this helps someone.
MB