Possible faulty PSU, struggling to pinpoint cause of errors

Taresk

Commendable
May 12, 2016
10
0
1,510
Hi, I have the following setup,

Asus 990x board
AMD 8 core cpu
32gb 1600 ram (4x8)
R9 380 gpu
Cougar 700w psu

The ram and gpu were put in about a month ago, the rest is about 2yo, I am slowly upgrading.

My problem: (long story).
Was running win 10, about 1 week ago got a temporary profile issue that tech forums and google couldn't help me with.
Cause is still unknown
Restore did not fix it, I had no repair disk (online upgrade).

I gave up and did a clean install with my win 8.1 disk, however once all up and running again I started getting BSOD for a memory management error.

My ram passed every test I threw at it, ext win mem diag, memtest, swapping sims around, etc.

I tried upping the voltage by 0.5v as suggested on other posts, but was met with overclock failure messages on bootup (part of why I suspect psu).

I can still get into windows and use the browsers for a while, but large downloads or too much multitasking seem to bring on the BSOD.

So, is the psu the likely culprit, or am I missing something here? (just for the record, i'm no expert, so i'm hoping for simple fixes).

 
Solution
That PSU has pretty poor voltage regulation, at higher power levels. See: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/cougar-cmx-700-w-power-supply-review/10/

Adding the GPU with it's power requirements was likely enough to kick it into 'erratic' territory.

The network card shouldn't impact much.

I think it's time for a new (better) PSU.

Barty1884

Retired Moderator
As an FYI, you could've just clean installed Windows 10 (in fact, it's recommended - the upgrade is buggy).

Have you tried running your rig with only a single RAM module installed?
Was your RAM purchases as a 32GB 'kit'? (Ie all came together in a single package) Or did you buy them seperately?

Definitely a good chance it's the PSU considering the R9 380 requires a good deal of power, and Cougar PSU's aren't the best. Quicker to address the RAM first & rule it in or out. Then move to the PSU from there.
 

joesavy86

Distinguished
Feb 24, 2009
178
0
18,710


I had a PSU go bad about a year ago; same situation as your's.
There were boot issues, and I would get random blue screens in demanding games.
It was maddening!
I ran every benchmark and stress test I could throw at it, and all passed with flying colors.
Replacing the PSU fixed everything.
 

Taresk

Commendable
May 12, 2016
10
0
1,510
Just realised, i'd left out that there is also an Asus PCE-AC68 WLAN card installed, not sure if that changes anything, it's been in there about a year.
 

Barty1884

Retired Moderator
That PSU has pretty poor voltage regulation, at higher power levels. See: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/cougar-cmx-700-w-power-supply-review/10/

Adding the GPU with it's power requirements was likely enough to kick it into 'erratic' territory.

The network card shouldn't impact much.

I think it's time for a new (better) PSU.
 
Solution

Taresk

Commendable
May 12, 2016
10
0
1,510


That's interesting, I'd never read a review on the PSU (it came with the Cougar case I bought at the time), I was about to do a case upgrade anyway (things got a bit cramped with the big graphics card), so I'll get a quality PSU while i'm at it.

I think I can probably label this as solved, because it is quite erratic, since I posted this it has gone 3 days without issue, i'm sure if it was memory or a driver the error would be more consistent.


 

Taresk

Commendable
May 12, 2016
10
0
1,510


It's the FX-8350, it's not OC'd at the moment because it only has the small CoolerMaster fan & sink that came with the processor, water cooling is also on the upgrade list, so I'll grab a PSU that gives me plenty of breathing room for future upgrades.

Actually my local parts store has got some good prices on EVGA Supernova G2 PSU's, they seem to do well in tests and reviews, and they've got a good warranty, so I'm leaning toward one of those at the moment, I think an 850w should be plenty, the R9-380 is too big to do a crossfire setup on my board with the WLAN card in the way, so at most it'll be the current setup plus a water pump and a few extra fans.