Is this power supply causing system to lose power?

hillelslovak · Jan 13, 2014

Hello, this is my pc http://

I just upgraded my graphics card to a EVGA Geforce GTX 660 FTW 3gb card. It was listed with a need of a minimum 450 watt power supply.

I bought this power supply to accomodate the needs of the card: http://

I had not modifed my pc one bit until I got this card, and had not even opened up my pc.

The only changes I actually made to my pc after installing the card and psu were switch secureboot off and uefi to legacy in my bios (new card doesn't support uefi).

Now, I started noticing that at seemingly random points when I am gaming, the computer just switches off completely. No blue screen of death, no freezing, just completely off immediately. And its not like its overloading my wall outlets and causing them to trip. It's only the pc, nothing else on my surge protector loses power.
It has happened, so far, in: Fifa14 in the pre game training modes, State of Decay once, after a minute or so, Assassins Creed 4 only with new NVIDIA physx option on (has worked fine in the 4-5 hours since I disabled the feature, NBA 2k14 in the middle of a game, and in Saints Row 4 once. This problem has only happened in games, not when Idle on the desktop, not watching movies etc etc etc.

So, I'm wondering if this is the Power supply's fault. It's listed on the box at 600w max. But when I looked on the side of the box, under +12v its listed at 40 amps, and 480 watts.
I'm thinking maybe when the card gets going in games, it hits over the 480 threshold and powers off.

I'm really hoping this is a simple noob problem (I am a total pc noob) and I got a crappy psu that cant handle the load. So, is it likely the problem?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

bignastyid · Jan 13, 2014

I would bet it's the PSU. Coolmax makes low quality power supplies. I hope you can still return it. Here's a better option in that price range.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-100w10500kr

toyftw · Jan 13, 2014

hillelslovak :

Hi - as bigbasty said - bad news PSU. Frome the tier list here at Tom's:

"Tier 5 - Other than the units listed above for any of these brands, NOT RECOMMENDED. Replace ASAP if you have one."

A-TOP Technology
Apevia
APEX (SUPERCASE/ALLIED)
Aspire(Turbo Case)
ATADC
Athena Power
ATRIX
Broadway Com Corp
Coolmax
Deer
Diablotek
Dynapower USA
Dynex
EagleTech
FOXCONN
FSP Everest
HEC Orion
Hiper Type-R
Huntkey
I-Star Computer Co. Ltd
In Win
JPAC COMPUTER
Just PC
Kingwin Inc.
Linkworld Electronics
Logisys Computer
MGE
MSI
NMEDIAPC
Norwood Micro/ CompUSA
NorthQ
NZXT
Okia
Powmax
Q-Tec
Raidmax
Rocketfish
Rosewill
SFC
Shuttle
Skyhawk
Spire Coolers
Star Micro
STARTECH
Thermaltake Purepower NP
Thermaltake Purepower RU
Thermaltake TR2 (and TR2-RX)
TOPOWER TOP
Ultra X-Connect
Ultra X2 >greater than 700 watt
Ultra LSP
Wintech
XION
YoungYear
Zebronics

hillelslovak · Jan 13, 2014

toyftw :

hillelslovak :

Hi - as bigbasty said - bad news PSU. Frome the tier list here at Tom's:

"Tier 5 - Other than the units listed above for any of these brands, NOT RECOMMENDED. Replace ASAP if you have one."

A-TOP Technology
Apevia
APEX (SUPERCASE/ALLIED)
Aspire(Turbo Case)
ATADC
Athena Power
ATRIX
Broadway Com Corp
Coolmax
Deer
Diablotek
Dynapower USA
Dynex
EagleTech
FOXCONN
FSP Everest
HEC Orion
Hiper Type-R
Huntkey
I-Star Computer Co. Ltd
In Win
JPAC COMPUTER
Just PC
Kingwin Inc.
Linkworld Electronics
Logisys Computer
MGE
MSI
NMEDIAPC
Norwood Micro/ CompUSA
NorthQ
NZXT
Okia
Powmax
Q-Tec
Raidmax
Rocketfish
Rosewill
SFC
Shuttle
Skyhawk
Spire Coolers
Star Micro
STARTECH
Thermaltake Purepower NP
Thermaltake Purepower RU
Thermaltake TR2 (and TR2-RX)
TOPOWER TOP
Ultra X-Connect
Ultra X2 >greater than 700 watt
Ultra LSP
Wintech
XION
YoungYear
Zebronics

Is there any way to find out how many amps I need with my graphics card? I've heard amps are typically a closer estimation of capability then just the number of watts....

toyftw · Jan 13, 2014

hillelslovak :

toyftw :

Is there any way to find out how many amps I need with my graphics card? I've heard amps are typically a closer estimation of capability then just the number of watts....

Hi again - That is true, the +12v amps available to be specific. Your CPU, GPU, HDD, etc draw their current from the +12v rail(s):

A system with a gtx660 requires a minimum of 24 +12v amps. That particular gtx660 probably consumes more power than a reference 660.

Any good quality modern design PSU of 430w or greater will have more +12v amps than you need.

So, you can see that the Coolmax wasn't able to deliver it's rated specs, a common trait among lower tier PSU's.
Yes, many of them exaggerate and outright lie about the specs. That's how they end up as a tier 5.

Do you have a budget for a PSU?

If you're like I was, you won't get less wattage than the 460 you replaced, so you might want to look for a good quality
550w unit. Since there are 450's out there with way more +12v amps(up to 37) than you need, a 550 will obviously have even more, most in the 40 - 45 +12v amp range.

toyftw · Jan 13, 2014

A helpful tool. None of these tools are 100% accurate, and this one has some flaws,but it will give you a good idea:
http://forum-en.msi.com/faq/article/power-requirements-for-graphics-cards

hillelslovak · Jan 13, 2014

toyftw :

hillelslovak :

Hi again - That is true, the +12v amps available to be specific. Your CPU, GPU, HDD, etc draw their current from the +12v rail(s):

A system with a gtx660 requires a minimum of 24 +12v amps. That particular gtx660 probably consumes more power than a reference 660.

Any good quality modern design PSU of 430w or greater will have more +12v amps than you need.

So, you can see that the Coolmax wasn't able to deliver it's rated specs, a common trait among lower tier PSU's.
Yes, many of them exaggerate and outright lie about the specs. That's how they end up as a tier 5.

Do you have a budget for a PSU?

If you're like I was, you won't get less wattage than the 460 you replaced, so you might want to look for a good quality
550w unit. Since there are 450's out there with way more +12v amps(up to 37) than you need, a 550 will obviously have even more, most in the 40 - 45 +12v amp range.

toyftw :

Well, the one I have now is listed on the side of the box at 40amps on the +12v. So when I'm gaming, do you think the psu just frazzles out because the load is going above 40 amps on the +12v? So in theory, since my system only needs 26 amps on minimum, and the psu can handle 40 amps, why is it dying like this? Should the power demand really go beyond 40 when I'm playing?

And btw, this is the new psu I'm looking at http://

toyftw · Jan 13, 2014

hillelslovak :

toyftw :

Well, the one I have now is listed on the side of the box at 40amps on the +12v. So when I'm gaming, do you think the psu just frazzles out because the load is going above 40 amps on the +12v? So in theory, since my system only needs 26 amps on minimum, and the psu can handle 40 amps, why is it dying like this? Should the power demand really go beyond 40 when I'm playing?

And btw, this is the new psu I'm looking at http://

Iy's as bignasty and I said above, that Coolmax that says it deliver 40 +12v amps, can't deliver
it's rated power. That's why it's a tier 5 POS.

That system will run on anything greater than 24 +12v amps. The Coolmax isn't delivering it's 40 amps.
Can't explain it to you any other way.

hillelslovak · Jan 13, 2014

toyftw :

hillelslovak :

toyftw :

Well, the one I have now is listed on the side of the box at 40amps on the +12v. So when I'm gaming, do you think the psu just frazzles out because the load is going above 40 amps on the +12v? So in theory, since my system only needs 26 amps on minimum, and the psu can handle 40 amps, why is it dying like this? Should the power demand really go beyond 40 when I'm playing?

And btw, this is the new psu I'm looking at http://

Iy's as bignasty and I said above, that Coolmax that says it deliver 40 +12v amps, can't deliver
it's rated power. That's why it's a tier 5 POS.

That system will run on anything greater than 24 +12v amps. The Coolmax isn't delivering it's 40 amps.
Can't explain it to you any other way.

Damn, really? I assumed that it'd at least be accurate on the box, as it was promoted as 600 but only had 480. I guess it was too much to assume that the amps would be correctly referenced on the box with that 480 number.

So would you recommend I switch back to my old power supply and gfx card until I can get a new psu delivered, which will be at least 2 weeks? I'm quite new to the pc world, so I'm worried if it keeps shutting off like this, it'll fry some other internal component....

toyftw · Jan 14, 2014

hillelslovak :

toyftw :

hillelslovak :

toyftw :

Well, the one I have now is listed on the side of the box at 40amps on the +12v. So when I'm gaming, do you think the psu just frazzles out because the load is going above 40 amps on the +12v? So in theory, since my system only needs 26 amps on minimum, and the psu can handle 40 amps, why is it dying like this? Should the power demand really go beyond 40 when I'm playing?

And btw, this is the new psu I'm looking at http://

Iy's as bignasty and I said above, that Coolmax that says it deliver 40 +12v amps, can't deliver
it's rated power. That's why it's a tier 5 POS.

That system will run on anything greater than 24 +12v amps. The Coolmax isn't delivering it's 40 amps.
Can't explain it to you any other way.

Damn, really? I assumed that it'd at least be accurate on the box, as it was promoted as 600 but only had 480. I guess it was too much to assume that the amps would be correctly referenced on the box with that 480 number.

So would you recommend I switch back to my old power supply and gfx card until I can get a new psu delivered, which will be at least 2 weeks? I'm quite new to the pc world, so I'm worried if it keeps shutting off like this, it'll fry some other internal component....

Yes, your orig 460w is a better PSU than the Coolmax. And, you are right, a bad PSU can fry other components when it goes.

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Is this power supply causing system to lose power?

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