Possible Weak Power Supply Issue

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DragonD

The Division of None
Joined
Jan 12, 2009
Messages
3,240
I built my rig almost exactly three years ago. Although older now (three years ago, it was rocking), it's still runs all the games. I have been thinking about upgrading it, but don't really HAVE to...

Now my question is this...I play CoD4. A lot. If I crank the settings WAY up, and if I play a map that has a LOT of stuff happening "on screen", my rig will crash.

Not lock up, or blue screen, full crash. It just shuts off, like somebody thru a breaker.

All my drivers (windows XP Pro, vid, etc) are up to date.

I think when the settings are "high" and there is to much activity to display, it may be pulling to much power and shutting down. What do you guys think? Any other possible reason?

Key Items

CPU - AMD 64 X2 4800
Heat Sink - Zalmon 9500
MB - Asus A8N-32 Sli Delux
Primary Drive - WD 300G Raptor
Storage Drive - WD 250G
Memory - OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) Dual Channel Platinum
Vid Cards - Two BFG 7900GTX

All this is powered by a Thermaltake 550W PS
 
The PSU is more than capable of handling that setup, but that problem still seems to point at the fact that it's broken. Or then something else is, but most likely it is the power supply. I'll dig up some test-programs that can be used to peek at what the issue is, I can't remember any right now. >.>
 
I disagree with dante, 800w will be better suited for a dual vid card setup. do an upgrade, but keep the reciept. swap out and try to replicate the results. if it happend again, then there is another issue you need to address, as in bad hardware.
 
550w is almost a little to low for that rig. I'd say since your on an X2 4800 though it should be sufficient.
The problem is probably just that its not an efficient power supply to begin with (if you're running that low of a wattage the power supply would need to have like 80-90% efficiency, at least, to run dual video cards)
Or its faulty/dying (electrical components don't last an eternity, especially when you're pulling so much out of it with 2 video cards and its not really designed for that load anyways)

Get a very good PSU from a trusted brand that has rave reviews on Newegg or something. I'd say 600-700 watts would be more than sufficient if you're not running a ton of optical drives and you're not planning on going quad core in the near future.

The only other reason I can think of is that the vid card may be overheating and have a shutdown feature :/
 
Thanks.

I think I'll pick up a 1kw power supply this next week and put it in.

If the problem STILL persist, it will be time to upgrade my vid cards. I'm thinking about getting a GTX 285 (which would require a new power supply anyways).
 
I used to have similar issue and it turned out it was graphic card fan that was dead so it would die when overloaded
 
you might want to try memtest86 on your ram, lockups can also point to faulty ram. It can happen, already happened to me.
 
No. Seriously. The AMD dual cores require next to none of power, and a single 7900GTX takes up about 84W when stressed. So unless the SLI quadruples the power consumption a PSU of that wattage has no problem handling it. If a 500W should be able to handle a 4870X2 and E8500, why not that?
Either the PSU is broken or like said above, gfx card overheats / RAM is busted.
 
wouldnt hurt to get a bigger psu. perhaps to a 650 but 550 should be plenty for your setup. Ive run quad core, memory, 2 hard drives, sound card, and 8800gts on a 350 watt psu so 550 should be enough for you.

Really the largest watt-consuming hardware you have will be the two video cards.

Dante is right, and its no surprise that nearly everyone suggests buying huge power supplies.

I did some calculations and with only the specs that you listed in your post, your total watt usage comes to roughly 300 watts +-1,2 watts.http://www.antec.outervision.com/PSUEngine

550 is more than enough to run everything you have. I would check to make sure that the fan inside your psu is functioning properly.

no need to waste money buying a huge power supply. If you do get a new one, with your rig, I wouldnt get one more than 650 watts, maybe even 600.

-Blue
 
I'll run the memtest tonight. that will be the first step (and it's a free step)
 
DragonD said:
Thanks.

I think I'll pick up a 1kw power supply this next week and put it in.

If the problem STILL persist, it will be time to upgrade my vid cards. I'm thinking about getting a GTX 285 (which would require a new power supply anyways).
Click to expand...

please dont buy a 1k watt psu for your specific rig. thats wayyyyy overhaul. you could run your system with a 350 watt psu if you had to.

-Blue
 
Blue Stealth said:
please dont buy a 1k watt psu for your specific rig. thats wayyyyy overhaul. you could run your system with a 350 watt psu if you had to.

-Blue
Click to expand...

If I buy a new PS, it will be with the "future" in mind (rebuild).

How much more is a good 1kw PS verse a 700w PS? 50 buck? 75 bucks? Might as well as do it right, yes?
 
If the computer is old, the capacitors could have lost efficiency which can greatly increase the amount of power your system requires. You'd be surprised by how much the aging of the capacitors changes the power draw.
 
DragonD said:
If I buy a new PS, it will be with the "future" in mind (rebuild).

How much more is a good 1kw PS verse a 700w PS? 50 buck? 75 bucks? Might as well as do it right, yes?
Click to expand...

You might but seeing as you don't need a 1kw PSU save the 50-75 bucks and buy something more useful, like candy.
 
check the amps on the 12V rails of your PSU if you can. they may not be delivering enough juice to run both of your cards under very high load. I wouldn't recommend spending too much on a new PSU if you do get one, just make sure the 12Vs have good amperage for your cards.
 
DragonD said:
If I buy a new PS, it will be with the "future" in mind (rebuild).

How much more is a good 1kw PS verse a 700w PS? 50 buck? 75 bucks? Might as well as do it right, yes?
Click to expand...

the jump from 750 to 1000 is roughly 100-120 dollarsdepending on psu efficiency.

here is one i would suggest if you HAVE to get a new one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139007

but when the time comes around that youll actually need something this large, it will be much cheaper to buy it then.

-Blue
 
I would run Speedfan or some other diagnostic tools, ones with logging capability. You'll want to track voltages AND temperature if possible.

Set up a log, to update as frequently as reasonably possible, and go to town trying to crash your box.

Once you crash, and reboot, go read that log, and see what happened just before you went down.

I'm leaning towards heat as the most likely issue, with voltage second.
 
I ran memtest for over an hour last night, and while it did not finish, it didn't find any issues.

I started it up again when I left for work this morning, so it will have all the time it needs to do it's thing.

Now, I'm more inclined to heat related. I made it crash this morning, then checked the vid cards, and man, you could feel the heat on them. I could have toasted some pop tarts there!
 
DragonD said:
I ran memtest for over an hour last night, and while it did not finish, it didn't find any issues.

I started it up again when I left for work this morning, so it will have all the time it needs to do it's thing.

Now, I'm more inclined to heat related. I made it crash this morning, then checked the vid cards, and man, you could feel the heat on them. I could have toasted some pop tarts there!
Click to expand...

Remember, memtest can take a long time to find errors, I generally let my run 5+ passes to make sure.

On the PSU side, a huge PSU won't serve you well in most cases because as others have said you won't use it. And if you are going to spend a lot, use the money and buy a "weaker" PSU that will pump out an almost flat line voltage.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703019

PC Power & Cooling make some of the best power supplies out there, and while it is still slightly overkill, that power supply will save you about $100 and be sufficient in pretty much any build you can make.
 
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