I think my CPU is breaking my PSU.

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Elliot Johnson

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Jun 10, 2014
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Hi there, I posted on here a while ago asking for some advice as to what might be causing an issue with my PC in which I get high CPU usage, no GPU usage, slow loading and glitchy audio that makes occasional buzzing noises.

Eventually it was figured out that it was my PSU dieing and not giving enough power out as a result. I tested with my brothers PSU just to make sure, and this was correct, so I bought a brand new 800watt 80+ effeciency PSU, and my problem was resolved.

Unfortunately it has now returned, and I believe that buying a new PSU might fix it again for a while, but I was just wondering if it is possible for other components to damage my PSU if they are faulty (I'm guessing this is likely very possible) and which componects are likely most likely to be the culprits?

I know everything in my PC is set up properly, so it's not because anything is unsafe or not hooked up to the PSU properly, otherwise I'd have found it already.

Any advice to help me resolve this issue in the cheapest way possible would be really helpful as I'm only a student working on Saturdays and so have very little money as it is. Thanks.
 
Solution
ksham
Just for your information: 80+ certification measures the efficiency at which the power supply converts AC to DC. So if it's a 80+ Bronze certified power supply and your system requires 500W @ 50% load, then it needs to pull 589W from the wall because 15% of it is lost during conversion. This only improves your electric bills.

Note that no where in the 80+ certification does it measure the performance of the power supply. Indeed, it does not. A crappy power supply can be 80+ certified (when it works). But the power supply can easily not handle load well, have poor ripple suppression, bad voltage regulation, etc. -- all of which affects the performance of your components.

Another thing worth noting is that you want a Haswell-certified...
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bmacsys

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Jul 4, 2013
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PSU's are incredibly hardy. They are made to withstand surges in voltage from the wall. Modern psu's also can sense if things are plugged in wrong. Your problem obviously lies elsewhere.
 
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Elliot Johnson

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Jun 10, 2014
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EZCOOL Ambience 80+

Processor is an i5 4670k 3.4ghz
8gb ram
GPU is amd radeon 6870
Motherboard MSI Z87-G41

Sorry I should have put my specs in the original post.
 
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Elliot Johnson

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Jun 10, 2014
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That's what I thought, but like I said it did fix the problem before when I replaced my previous PSU with this one, and now just a month later I am having the same problem again with an 80+ PSU... so it must be something else in my PC causing my PSU's to break. Either that or it's just complete coincidence and I'm extremely unlucky with PSU's haha.
 
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Elliot Johnson

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Jun 10, 2014
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I guess that may be my only option... Just kind of annoying, I'm trying to save for a new GPU and my PSU just keeps breaking down, I'm just extremely unlucky I guess. Thanks for the advice though :)
 
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ksham

ksham

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Mar 29, 2013
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Just for your information: 80+ certification measures the efficiency at which the power supply converts AC to DC. So if it's a 80+ Bronze certified power supply and your system requires 500W @ 50% load, then it needs to pull 589W from the wall because 15% of it is lost during conversion. This only improves your electric bills.

Note that no where in the 80+ certification does it measure the performance of the power supply. Indeed, it does not. A crappy power supply can be 80+ certified (when it works). But the power supply can easily not handle load well, have poor ripple suppression, bad voltage regulation, etc. -- all of which affects the performance of your components.

Another thing worth noting is that you want a Haswell-certified power supply. The only difference is that Haswell adds support for CL6/CL7 power states. So if your system is on low load, it will trigger these states for power saving purposes. Power supplies that do not support these states must be turned off in the BIOS or your power supply can possibly go to sleep and that will cause your computer to appear to crash.

In any event, buy a quality power supply with Haswell support and you should be fine.
 
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Solution
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Elliot Johnson

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Jun 10, 2014
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Thank you for the clarification, it helps a lot as PSU's are really the only component that I don't know much about. I will definitely be getting a better PSU online now, I was originally buying them from a local shop and the guy who owns it clearly doesn't know what he's talking about as I was told that this PSU was more than enough for my PC. I've also just found it on amazon and it's a lot cheaper than he sold it to me so I'm quite annoyed.

Thanks very much, I picked that as the solution to this :)
 
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Elliot Johnson

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Jun 10, 2014
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I won't be able to get one for over a week as I'm going on holiday on Sunday but I will be looking as soon as I get back so yeah any help would be great, thanks :)
 
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Elliot Johnson

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Jun 10, 2014
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In the UK. I'll probably end up getting one from ebuyer, scan or amazon. They've served me well with all my other components.
 
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