New PSU

[Bahumat]

I think I need a new PSU

I bought a new GFX card (Nvidia 560 ti Frozr 2) when BF3 came out. Originally I had to increase the voltage to the card as the pc was restarting all the time. The odd thing was, it would sometimes happily play games, then do it when I was opening a few tabs on IE.

After increasing the voltage the problem kinda went away (not happened for a couple of months) but now it's returned.

Event viewer does not show anything other than Unexpected shutdown Kernel 41 or 42...something along those lines.

My PSU is a Be Quiet 750w, but it's 3 years old and I heard they lose their power over time?

I checked Overclockers and Ebuyer but cannot see Be Quiet on there. When I bought mine they were supposed to be awesome.

Who are the better PSU manufactures now days please?

 

[Keitanz]

when I was opening a few tabs on IE.

Problem found!

 

[BloodOmen]

Antec and OCZ are pretty good, only 2 manufacturers I've ever used tbh.

 

[Bahumat]

I think the halogen (or whatever these energy efficient lights are) is about to die in my room as it flickered once or twice yesterday and today. Oddly the one outside my room did the same (they were swapped around the same time).
Could they be causing a problem if they are flickering?

Gonna test the pc with no lights on to see if they are causing a pulse.

 

[Poag]

Oddly enough I have a "Thermaltake Toughpower 700W Modular Black PSU - SLI Ready" since 2008 on a 560Ti aswell. No such issues here.

What other hardware do you have in the pc drawing power?

 

[Bahumat]

1 ssd
1 sata 2 drive
1 DVD/cd drive
1 560 ti

5 fans

 

[Bahumat]

Would a surge protector help? We have a few appliances nearby including an extractor fan but they are used often and it seems random other than the stupid light bulb flickering when it occurs

 

[Poag]

Let's see. I have
1 HDD
2 SSD
5 Fans

I have a surge protected extension, one of those belkin ones.

Is your home wiring new or old? Could be em making the power supply wobble and your mobo cuts out to protect the components.

Try a surge protector. Check your voltages are auto/set right. Lose any overclocking.

Surge won't help if your getting a power drop tho, it only works for spikes. When tube lights flicker they draw Alot of juice iirc. Might be at the limit of your wiring if on the same circuit. ...?

 

[Bahumat]

Ah these are just the small bulbs, not the big tube ones.

Just happened again, neither light was on, nothing in the house was switched on or off. Was literally alt tabbed looking at cinema times, when to view a batman trailer and it restarts. Now it won't get past the windows user profile.

 

[Bahumat]

Wiring is kinda old no overclock on the pc either. Just makes no sense

 

[Poag]

Hrrm. How old is your PSU?

You shoudln't have to tweak voltages ever really, most modern PC components tell the mobo what they need and they work.

Check all your cabling inside the PC, particularly the two extra power leads for the GFX card. Make sure they are securly in adn the contacts are clean.

If that doesn't work, get a new PSU from somewhere you can return it if it doesn't work. tekheadz and overclockers uk have fairly good returns policys afaik.

If that doesn't work, try mobo then GFX card.

If that doesn't work...ummm....

 

[Bahumat]

Psu is 3 years old. Brand is Be Quiet 750w.

The problems first started after upgrading my ati 4890 hd card to the 560ti frozr 2.

I thought maybe the gfx card was at fault but after increasing the voltage from 950mvolts to 1v it seemed to be ok.

 

[Embattle]

My Be Quiet lasted a long while, replaced it with an OCZ that was on offer at the time.

 

[Bahumat]

New psu fixed everything

 

[Sar]

I think my PSU is a 600w and I have a 560Ti in my PC, and it's fine.

 

[Bahumat]

Yeah I don't think it was the higher wattage which fixed it, more that something must have been wrong with the old one. I know nothing about capacitors etc, but something definitely was not right with it.

 

[Poag]

Probably your old PSU was having trouble stabilizing the voltage, with flickering lights and probably some strange induction stuff going on it probably got wrecked after years of use

 

[Hawkwind]

Antec and OCZ are pretty good, only 2 manufacturers I've ever used tbh.

Coolermaster pro Gold Series and Thermaltake Toughpower range are also very good.

Just fitted a 1200W Coolermaster Pro Gold in one of my rigs with the intention of putting in 4 HDD and 2 SSD drives, twin 560Ti's with three Sumsung 24" monitors. Allso picked up a Corsair Hydro H100 to test out. My little project for the summer when the family is back in the UK.

 

[Poag]

I have a 650W driving 1x560Ti 2xSSDs 1xHDD 1xExternal HDD 2x24" Monitors

Plus the usual misc gear, phone charger, wireless mouse base/charger, keyboard. Its a Thermaltake Toughpower, lasted me ages and the modular cables really are good