Unsolvable problem?

E

Endiment

Baron O'Beefdip
Joined
Feb 1, 2008
Messages
3,596
I've been having this problem for a while now. it started up seemingly at random; one day I was playing CoD5 and suddenly my screen went black, all my fans went to their absolute highest setting, and my speakers started to buzz. at first I thought it was random, but it kept happening. I assumed it was an overheat so I got a new case (CoolerMaster CM690) and a Noctua CPU cooler. same issue. I am inclined to believe it is an overheat in part because of the buzzing speakers (meaning my sound card is also turned off, so the grounding prong on the 1/4" jack is not grounded properly causing the speaker to buzz) and the distinct smell of hot electronics. all my fans are turned up high, and even in the grips of a suspected overheat all my parts are cool enough to touch except the PSU which is probably hot enough to boil water.

my build is

CoolerMaster CM690
750W PSU (don't know brand)
AMD Phenom 9950 @2.66GHz
Noctua UH-9B Cooler
2GB OCZ Reaper DDR2 RAM
500GB Western Digital HDD
Diamond Radeon 4870 1GB
Asus M3A32-MVP motherboard

any ideas as to the source of the problem?
 
Video card?

You mentioned that you smelled the distinct smell of hot electronics.

Can you perhaps try to use that to narrow down which component is unhappy?

CPU or video card is where I would start, but it sounds like you already have the CPU cooling under control.

I run an 800W PSU without any problems thus far. If that PSU came with your new case it's probably junk.

Just go with whatever your best guess is. A 750W PSU should be fine to power what you have but if you think it's too hot to touch and you smell overheating then maybe you should start there.

Unfortunately you're kinda stuck with process of elimination until you get some more evidence.
 
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well he said everything is cool enough to touch other than the PSU, i dunno maybe it is just your PSU acting up a bit
if everything is going weird (fans boosting, screen goes black, sound is buzzin) then i'd narrow it down to PSU/mobo
 
PSU which is probably hot enough to boil water.
Click to expand...

It may be your PSU is malfunctioning & putting out incorrect voltage which is generating heat & messing with your other components. If you have a multimeter you may want to test your lines to see what volt/amperage is being put through them & make sure its inline with the PSU specs. If you don't have a multimeter you can try hitting best buy/comp usa or wherever & picking up a PSU off the shelf & sticking it in see if that solves the problem. Just remember if you get one from a store make sure they give cash on refunds & not store credit :) GL
 
Stinky Wizzleteats said:
It may be your PSU is malfunctioning & putting out incorrect voltage which is generating heat & messing with your other components. If you have a multimeter you may want to test your lines to see what volt/amperage is being put through them & make sure its inline with the PSU specs.
Click to expand...

That sounds like the most plausible advice thus far. Like I said, if it came with your new case, trash can it.
 
i have had this same problem and it was my psu dieing on me because my video card pulled so much current during intense game play

the only thing i learned with psu's is that it dose not matter how many watts it says it can put out never cheep out on a psu it could damage your pc if the voltages are not constant
 
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update: I updated my video drivers (since they were very old) and aside from giving me much better FPS, they didn't do much. when it overheated it did so much more slowly: the video went out 5 or 10 seconds before the computer actually turned off, and my ventrilo was still fully running during that time. so the video goes first. we know that much.
 
well I haven't had time to test it yet since I'm at work, but in the event that the PSU is indeed the issue, can anyone recommend a new one that would go well with my build? the 4870 has two 12V inputs but I don't know the required current for them, I can't seem to find that info anywhere (including ATI's website).
 
I checked out your link Bravo and it turns out I can get away with a 550W to 600W PSU pretty easily, system only needs like 375W continuous. so here's what I'm looking at:

cheapest: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182031

a bit more: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817116008

starting to get some brand recognition: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007 (READ: one customer reported having the same issue with this PSU that I am having currently)

expensive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004
 
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I'd go with the NZXT or this one


[ame]http://www.amazon.com/PC-Power-Cooling-PPCS500-Certified/dp/B0017XLCZG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1234759752&sr=8-3[/ame] this is a really good powersupply.
 
the rating on my current PSU says 28A on both 12V rails. I couldn't accurately test the voltage coming out of the 12V rail under any kind of load so should I just assume this rating is moot?

also: my 4870 takes two 6 pin inputs. some of these power supplies only have 1 12V rail but have more than one 6 pin. is that alright?
 
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alright I will probably order the NZXT one however does anybody else have recommendations as far as PSU's? I'm sure that's the problem now, I got SpeedFan to monitor the voltage coming off my 12V rail and even at idle it's only 11.9, gets down to 11.65 when I can start to smell the PSU overheating.
 
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