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possible power supply issue

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rastaIT34

rastaIT34

Technical User
Sep 9, 2009
103
US
Hi all,


I have a PC I built through a online company...

The problem I'm having is, randomly my machine will just reboot without notice. I've done my research and know there are a variety of reasons for this. Just to add my place is kinda warm.

I suspect it might be my power supply. This is the power supply the computer was built with.


The first few weeks of owning the computer my monitors kept shutting off. I'm running dual monitors. So after some research I replaced the power supply with a Dynex 400 Watt. I don't know why I picked a lower wattage...

My current Dynex power supply:

My computer case is pretty close to this:
I currently have two NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT cards. I'm planning on putting in a AMD Radeon HD 6950 video card.


MY QUESTION:

Would you agree the issue has to do with my power supply? Can you recommend a better power supply?


PC specs:

Component Details Subscore Base score
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz 7.6 4.6
Determined by lowest subscore

Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB 7.6
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT 4.7
Gaming graphics 4095 MB Total available graphics memory 4.6
Primary hard disk 388GB Free (466GB Total) 5.8
Windows 7 Ultimate

System
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Manufacturer MSI
Model MS-7681
Total amount of system memory 8.00 GB RAM
System type 64-bit operating system
Number of processor cores 4

Storage
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total size of hard disk(s) 932 GB
Disk partition (C:) 388 GB Free (466 GB Total)
Disk partition (D:) 248 GB Free (466 GB Total)
Media drive (E:) CD/DVD

Graphics
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Display adapter type NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
Total available graphics memory 4095 MB
Dedicated graphics memory 512 MB
Dedicated system memory 0 MB
Shared system memory 3583 MB
Display adapter driver version 9.18.13.2018
Secondary monitor resolution 2048x1152
Primary monitor resolution 1680x1050
DirectX version DirectX 10

Network
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Network Adapter Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Network Adapter VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter for VMnet1
Network Adapter VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter for VMnet8








Artist/Designer
 
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You are right at the limit, with that power supply, not knowing what the 12v rail supply in amps is for the Dynex. So it doesn't surprise me that you think you might have power issues, and when you say a little warm? what does that mean, when I was in Phoenix, 90 F was a little warm, but in Michigan, 85 with 90% humidity is a killer, what are the temps of the cpu cores under load? But with the newer video card, you should be at 500W PS, but I like to go a little higher, and give myself room to grow. I like Corsair like this. I've built several machines with their supplies, and never had an issue. In fact I have an older 650W in my Antec 900 right now, I am posting this on. Been running solid for almost 4 years now.
 
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Thanks for the info.

i have been monitoring the temp with the app. real temp

Here is a snapshot of my PC temp. At the time of this jpeg screen grab my pc was running: firefox, Photoshop CS6, and VMWare.

The temp of my work room is about 80+. The CPU is also on the floor.

That Corsair you recommended looks good. But I was thinking getting something like this. Can you have too much wattage?

Artist/Designer
 
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Can you have too much wattage?
Click to expand...
No, but you can have less money in your pocket. Plus, better to have a quality brand with less wattage than a "lightning strikes" brand. Meaning the only time the power supply makes the claimed output is when lightning strikes it.
 
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It does seem to run on the warm side. I see the max you have hit is pretty close to max. at least on the picture shown. Now it is possible that under a more demanding load, you are over heating and shutting down also. Are you using the intel cooler? If so, I would recommend something a little better, okay, a lot better This works, and fits in the Antec 900, I use it. Now to the power supply question, yes, you can have too "large" of a power supply. The too small a current draw on the power supply effects its efficiency, and possibly the life of the components. The unit you linked would still be all right, as it is slightly less than double what the power needed to run your system today. which is about 340 watts, with the newer video card, it will jump to almost 400W.
 
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Thank you guys soo much for your time and input. All very helpful...

Artist/Designer
 
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OK just to wrap up...because I have to do something fast...

My machine just rebooted without warning at least 2 times within the last 4 hours tonight....

should I get :

> COOLER MASTER Hyper 212

and is this power supply ok? I want enough head room.. ---> CORSAIR CX Series CX750 750W power supply

or is the 600watt enough for the less price? --> CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 600W power supply


thanks again for your responses!!

Artist/Designer
 
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The 600 watt will be enough head room, it gives you 50% growth area. And the savings pays for the cooler. kinda tricky putting on the mount for the cooler.
 
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thanks rclarke! I'll order them now....


tricky how?

Artist/Designer
 
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You have to take out the motherboard, unless you have access to the back and front of the cpu area. It has a backplate, and this weird mounting bracket, that has detents for the different sockets, so you have to set the arms on the bracket right, and then mount it all together. Not hard, it comes with good instructions, and there are videos if you want to watch them also. Just not as easy as the push pin or screw down types, you may be used to, so take your time, and read the instructions before starting.
 
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I know its kinda late to ask this question... but how do I know this power supply (CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 600W power supply ) will work with my motherboard/computer?

i ordered both these : CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 600W power supply and COOLER MASTER Hyper 212.

I should be getting them tomorrow.

Artist/Designer
 
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Almost all power supplies are standard size to fit in an ATX case and they included either a 20 or 24 pin power output main connector that will work with common motherboard standards.
 
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Well, if you do have the Antec 900 case, those should both fit, I have the same case, and cooler. I use an older Corsair PS, but the dimensions are the same.
 
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ok everyone... as of this morning, i installed several things:

> CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 600W ATX12V

> G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)
--- did this first....was simple but cause some issues at first..machine kept shutting down..

then installed:

> COOLER MASTER Hyper 212
--- this was an interesting task... never did anything this involved before...except back in college where i had to build an old Pentium machine. everything seemed to be working now...

QUESTION:
i applied the gray goop to the bottom of the heat sink... but i added a good amount, then i saw a you tube vid saying to not add that much...will hurt anything by adding too much?

I've been monitoring the computer temp with "Real Temp" - and the fan speed with Fan speed 4.49..

I have a couple of questions.

this is a recent screen grab that shows my computer info from fanspeed and a YouTube tutorial showing a better read out...


now my computer has a Antec 900 case and it has 4 physical fans... which can be seen here:


QUESTION:
i already saw a you tube on how to read real temp... but i was wondering if my machine is doing better since i installed the cool master heat-sink?




Artist/Designer
 
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Oops forgot other question...


how come SpeedFan says "Pwm1, Pwm2, Pwm3"? what does that mean?

All I see are Fan1-3... Is the GPU Fan the fan on my video card?

how do i control the fans?

Artist/Designer
 
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Too much goop can actually interfere with heat transfer, but most likely it will squeeze out of the sides when the processor is tightened down. I wouldn't REDO it just yet.

To measure temp, I usually just use the BIOS if it has a temp indicator. It's the lowest level vs. software running within windows. I've seen the two differ quite a bit, so you have to put your faith in one.

PWM -
 
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ok..thanks a bunch Goombawaho

.i just checked the BIOS system status and it was reading 47 degrees celsius.

windows is loving the 16 gigs of ram i have installed....boots up much much quicker... thinking of replacing the boot drive to a SSD...

i'll open up the machine this weekend and see if any goop squeezed out the sides of the heat sink

Artist/Designer
 
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thinking of replacing the boot drive to a SSD
Click to expand...
This would make your head spin from the speed increase vs. "just" a RAM increase. The down side is that once you have an SSD, if you work on other computers for people, it will be really unpleasantly slo
 
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