A black screen during Heaven Benchmark is a reason to investigate, but it does not prove your GTX 970 is failing. Heaven puts a heavy load on the graphics card; the cause could instead be a display connection, unstable overclock, cooling or power issue, driver problem, or another PC component. Start by working out whether only the display signal vanished or the whole computer froze, restarted, or shut down.
Why can Heaven make the screen go black?
UNIGINE describes Heaven as a GPU-intensive benchmark designed to push graphics cards hard. Its official product page lists Heaven Benchmark 4.0, released in 2013, with DirectX 9, DirectX 11, and OpenGL 4.0 support, plus GPU temperature and clock monitoring. The listed minimum GPU generation is NVIDIA GeForce 8xxx or higher, so the GTX 970 meets that compatibility requirement; it does not establish that a particular card or PC is healthy. UNIGINE Heaven Benchmark
The Heaven manual distinguishes the Basic preset, which applies a standard GPU load, from Extreme, which applies an extremely heavy load for system testing. A failure under Extreme is therefore not equivalent to a failure during ordinary desktop use. UNIGINE Heaven User Manual
A display going black can mean the monitor lost its signal while Windows continued running, or it can accompany a full-system hang, reboot, or shutdown. NVIDIA cautions that faults in the CPU, memory, motherboard, storage, or other system parts can appear during intensive applications and resemble a graphics-card problem. One crash cannot identify which component failed. NVIDIA graphics-card basic troubleshooting
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First determine what happened to the PC
Before changing parts or repeating the test, note exactly what you observed. These clues guide troubleshooting, but none alone proves a particular component is defective.
- Display signal only: Did the monitor show “no signal,” while sound continued or the computer otherwise seemed active?
- Temporary blackout: Did the picture return on its own after a few seconds?
- Possible driver recovery: Did Windows log a display-driver recovery or did the benchmark remain open and responsive?
- Whole-system failure: Did the PC freeze, reboot automatically, or power off? Did you have to hold the power button to recover?
Also record whether it happens only in Heaven or in other games and GPU-heavy workloads, and whether it occurs at stock settings or only with an overclock. That pattern helps narrow the path without serving as a diagnosis by itself.
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What to check before running Heaven again
1. Check the monitor and connections
- Confirm the monitor is set to the input used by the PC.
- Check the display cable at both the monitor and graphics-card ends. If practical, test a known-working cable or display connection without buying parts based on this symptom alone.
- To reseat the graphics card or its PCIe power lead, shut the PC down and unplug it first. Check that the card is fully seated and that its required PCIe power connector is connected.
ASUS troubleshooting guidance also recommends checking the display input and connection, card seating, required 6-pin or 8-pin power connection, and PSU suitability. GTX 970 board models differ, so do not choose a power adapter or replacement cable without confirming the exact card and PSU connectors. ASUS troubleshooting for no display or monitor abnormalities
2. Remove overclocks and inspect cooling
Temporarily return GPU, CPU, and memory settings to stock. Check for dust, blocked airflow, and fans that are not spinning normally. If the display remains usable, watch the GPU temperature and clock behavior during a cautious test. NVIDIA associates dust and inadequate ventilation with overheating, freezes, reboots, or crashes; ASUS also recommends checking temperature, fans, and dust. Neither source establishes one temperature cutoff that applies to every GTX 970 board variant. NVIDIA troubleshooting guidance · ASUS monitor and display troubleshooting
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3. Review drivers and recent changes
If the problem began after a driver update or other software change, note that timing and investigate it. Reinstall an appropriate driver from NVIDIA or the card maker if needed; do not assume an older release is the right fix. NVIDIA’s GTX 970 listing for driver 497.09 covers Windows 10/11 and is dated December 1, 2021, so it confirms support for that release at that time—not that it is the latest driver today. NVIDIA’s troubleshooting guidance also recommends chipset drivers on custom systems and reducing unnecessary background applications. NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready Driver 497.09 · NVIDIA graphics-card basic troubleshooting
4. Consider whether the power supply is suitable
Check that the card’s required power leads are connected and that the PSU is suitable for the exact card and rest of the system. A blackout or shutdown under load is not enough to establish a PSU fault, and the information available here does not identify your card’s board variant, PSU, or wiring. Do not buy a PSU or use an adapter based on the benchmark symptom alone.
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Can you safely run the benchmark again?
If the PC is otherwise stable and you have checked connections, returned settings to stock, and confirmed normal fan behavior, a brief retest at a lower preset is a more cautious next step than repeating an Extreme run. Use temperature monitoring if the display stays up, and stop immediately if the black screen recurs, visual artifacts appear, cooling behavior looks abnormal, or the PC freezes, reboots, or shuts down. The manual’s distinction between standard and extremely heavy presets is a reason not to force the same failure repeatedly. UNIGINE Heaven User Manual
If the problem repeats, stop stress testing and use system logs and controlled diagnosis—or seek qualified repair—instead of treating another crash as useful proof. A repair technician can test components systematically; a repeatable failure still needs diagnosis before replacing the graphics card or PSU.
What information would help identify the cause?
If you need help from a technician or support forum, provide the details below. Without them, it is not possible to responsibly assign the fault to the GTX 970, PSU, driver, cable, cooling, or another component.
Quick Recap
- Exact GTX 970 manufacturer and model, plus operating system and driver version
- PSU make, model, age, and the PCIe power leads connected to the card
- Heaven graphics API, preset, resolution, and full-screen or windowed mode
- GPU temperature and fan speed shortly before the failure, if available
- Whether audio continued, the display returned, Windows recovered the driver, or the PC froze, rebooted, or shut down
- Whether similar failures occur in other games or GPU-heavy tests, and whether the card was overclocked
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