u/Background-Field-218

My Specs:

• CPU: Intel Core i7-8700 (Currently using its UHD 630 iGPU to write this)
• Mobo: Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X (BIOS date: April 12, 2018)
• GPU: GTX 1050 Ti Asus
• OS: Windows 11

The Problem: My PC boots into Windows fine, but completely randomly (usually very fast), both of my monitors will just go black (No Signal). I hear the standard "Windows device disconnect" sound. The GPU fans are still spinning normally, but I have to hard reset.

The Troubleshooting I've done (and the weird results):

1. Checked C:\Windows\LiveKernelReport and found multiple WATCHDOG .dmp files (TDR failure, Windows killing the driver because the GPU stopped responding).
2. Used DDU to wipe and reinstall drivers. Reseated the RAM, tightened the GPU, swapped DP and HDMI cables. Nothing changed.
3. Plugged in 2 different monitors at the same time with 2 different cables (DP and HDMI). When the crash happened, both monitors went black at the exact same time.

The Ultimate Plot Twist: Thinking my GPU's VRAM was dead, I took the whole PC to a repair shop. The guy plugged it in, ran FurMark for 20 minutes straight... and it didn't crash once. Ran perfectly fine under heavy load. Brought it back home, plugged it in -> Black screen again.

My Questions for you hardware wizards:

1. Is the GPU actually dying? How can it survive a 20-minute FurMark stress test but crash while idling or opening a browser? Do artifacts in Safe Mode 100% confirm a hardware death?
2. Could this be a PSU issue? Could a failing PSU drop voltage during idle/spikes, but handle a constant max load (FurMark) perfectly fine at the shop?
3. The BIOS & TPM 2.0 Factor: My Z390 BIOS is from 2018. The crashes started happening more frequently after I messed with PTT (TPM 2.0) and Secure Boot to play Valorant/Vanguard. Could an ancient BIOS + UEFI/Secure Boot cause PCIe communication issues with an older GTX card?
4. Right now, I've disabled the dGPU in Device Manager and am running perfectly stable on the i7's iGPU. Before I throw money at a new GPU or PSU, should I risk updating the BIOS?

Any insights would be hugely appreciated!