possible power supply issue

[rastaIT34]

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.

http://www.zumaxpower.com/products/zu500w.htm

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:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dynex&#...pply/8311052.p?id=1174091945952&skuId=8311052

My computer case is pretty close to this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=516786&Q=&is=REG&A=details

I currently have two NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT cards. I'm planning on putting in a AMD Radeon HD 6950 video card.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...6950/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6950-overview.aspx#3

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

 

[rastaIT34]

currently my system drive is using about 103 GB....

well first of all i have 2 drives...i keep my data/work files on a separate drive.

i don't know how much I'll grow in the next years or so as far as apps. i was looking at a 240gb SSD. do you think that's enough head room? or maybe that's up to me....

both my current drives are 500 GB...and i haven't even come close to half.

i was looking at this one --> SSD on Amazon for 219.99---- WOW when I looked at it this morning it was 224.49, i just refreshed my browser and now its 4.50 cheaper... sweet...

Artist/Designer

 

[rclarke250]

Okay, a few things here, the temp looks a little high, not a lot high. Mine is an I5-2500K in an Antec 900, with the same CM 212 cooler, and unless I'm gaming, my temp is 36C all day long, which is about 86F. And you should have put a BB sized ball ( a little larger actually ) of compound in the center of the cpu heat spreader and put the cooler on. It will run warm, because now the paste is acting as an insulator not a conductor. As to PWM it means the voltage applied is Pulse Width Modulated, which is a square wave, it's used to reduce power for fans, you would change the duty cycle to increase or decrease the fan speed, and not change the voltage. It's normal on newer systems, so leave it. As to an SSD, I use these on two of my systems, a lot of people don't want refurbs, but with these I can tell you it's because they had a firmware issue when first released, and a lot were returned, they have a new rock solid firmware, and run great. Not as fast as the new ones out there, but you will never notice unless running a benchmarking utility. I would boot the SSD, and leave the other 2 500 Gb drives but set them as a raid 1, mirror, that way your data has some protection if you lose a drive, it has an exact duplicate of itself on the raid set.

 

[rastaIT34]

Thanks rclarke250

OK - i just checked the bios temp and it fluctuated between 49 and 50 degrees Celsius. My machine has been on all day, with my apartment being around 81 degrees Fahrenheit.

This the speed fan read out as of just now:

http://rossow-web.com/inbox/jul112013.jpg

As far as the compound issue...So should I open her up and clean off some of the compound? or is it fine?

That SSD looks great for a 100 bucks! One of the reviews talks about setting up the BIOS.. whats that about?

That's a great idea about making the the 2 500GB a raid.

thanks...

Artist/Designer

 

[rclarke250]

If it was me, I would clean some off, the easiest way is to take a business card, and lightly remove some, it should be a very thin layer of paste. You need to set the bios up as AHCI in the sata area, and not IDE compatible, or IDE enhanced. Seeing as your room is about 5-6 degrees warmer than mine, I would expect a few degrees warmer running for your CPU, and you have the I7 so I would think about 40-42 C. would be expected. To be fair, a temp. of about 110-115 degrees is not hot for an I7, It can handle temps up to 180 F. But as a caveat the cpu as it runs hotter, will turn down the frequency of the clock, to try to maintain stability and a working computer. Also, you could just have a hotter running cpu, it happens. Your fan is only running about 300 rpm higher than mine is, so it doesn't think it is overeating, the fan will increase in speed as it gets hotter trying to maintain a cooler cpu.

 

[goombawaho]

I would boot the SSD, and leave the other 2 500 Gb drives but set them as a raid 1, mirror, that way your data has some protection if you lose a drive, it has an exact duplicate of itself on the raid set.

This is my exact setup, but I only need a 120GB SSD for Windows/booting. Intel Cherryville 520 - great so far.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167093

As stated, you can clean off some paste, but I doubt it will make too much difference - less than 5 degrees. But, it's NOT overheating for sure and if you do clean it off, leave it alone after that. Too much fiddling about and something bad could happen by accident.

 

[rastaIT34]

Excellent...

I might open her up and look to see if any compound squeezed out the sides then just clean it off with a rubbing alcohol damped piece of toilet paper... correct?

That Intel looks good (goombawaho) but I need a little more space....Like I said I'm using about 103GB, which includes all my apps etc. I want just a little room in case I want to install more apps in the future.

That refurbished 240GB SSD for 109.99 looks really attractive.

thank you all for your responses! Very helpful.

Artist/Designer

 

[goombawaho]

Right, not pushing hard drive choice on you and bigger Intel SSD drives are more expensive for sure.

If you're going to clean off any paste, take off the heat sink and actually give the processor top a scrape off as suggested. Any excess squeezing out the side won't hurt anything and without removing the heat sink you can't really remove the real excess. Your call. Just don't "over fuss" with it.