Trying To Troubleshoot This PC For Over A Year - Driving Me Nuts

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cococabana

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Jul 24, 2012
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Hi there,

So i have the following build and its utterly driving me nuts. Lets start with the specs:

Asrock Z77 TB 4 Mobo
Samsung 850 Evo 500 GB
1 TB WD
Core i7 2600k
G.Skill Ripjaws 2x4 GB
Xigmatek Tauro 600W
Zotac GTX 580

These are the symptoms and what I have tried so far:

Initially the computer would sometimes fail to boot. I initially had a seagate HDD, i thought it might be the HDD so replaced it with another Seagate HDD. Same issue after a while. Maybe i am just unlucky? Got a WD HDD worked well for a few months - then same issue. Eventually I got an SSD and coupled it with the HDD and used it as primary boot device. Whatever is wrong with my PC the SSD is able to better withstand it.

The PC occasionally stutters, glitches randomly. Can sometime require a restart to boot. Can sometimes get stuck. If I am playing a game - like Starcraft II, the gameplay will be flawless but the menu animations or cinematics will sometimes get stuck and glitch.

Also my drivers would regularly fail - intel GPU graphcis etc would stop working randomly (i use it to run my home theater system over HDMI) and i will have to reinstall the drivers to fix the issue for a while.

The issue persists even if I remove the GTX 580. I once tried to boot the PC on iGPU - the drivers failed - and the windows installation got corrupted.

I thought it might be the motherboard next. So i RMA-ed it and got a new one. Same issue. RMA-ed it again. Still same issue.

I have ran Memtest on the RAM but it reported it to be fine?

If i am using firefox sometimes, if i switch tabs - it can take as long as 5 seconds to switch (it shows me the loading siogn in the mean while).

Note: The CPU and RAM was bought secondhand. I was under the impression these are very reliable parts and rarely faulty.

So the only likely culprits that remain - are the PSU and the CPU right (since memtest cleared ram)? What do you guys think, i can order a new PSU but i cant really order a new CPU..... what do you think? Should I risk it and order a Corsair AX 760/860 PSU?

I am so tired of this build. I really want to just sell everything off and build a new one - but I can't do that till I know what the faulty part is (so i can discard it).

Update: here is an AXTU screenshot for both 100% load and immediately after.
ofTHbjW.png
 
Solution
Tradesman1
I'd guess PSU, for your GPU and rig would want a GOOD 600 watt PSU with at least 40 AMPs on the 12 volt rail - yours is advertised 600 which is at peak, not continuous, but only has 432 on the 12 volt rail and about 36 AMPs
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Spetznaz

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Aug 23, 2016
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I don't think that would be a problem with the CPU, but just to make sure, does it run at 'normal' temps? and is it ever randomly under a lot of load for no reason?
The PSU could quite possibly be the culprit since it is not one of the trusted brands, and could be doing something weird like sending the wrong amount of power to the components (I'm not an expert on PSU's). I would suggest upgrading your PSU to one off of the top tiers from the PSU tier list (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html)
 
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cococabana

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Jul 24, 2012
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Added AXTU screehshot.
 
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Spetznaz

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Yeah it's running at a pretty good temperature, ever thing is fine with it at an educated guess, must be the PSU
 
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gondo

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Apr 20, 2004
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I always start with a good PSU and rarely had problems over 25 years of high end rigs. I've sold computers with high end power supplies and rarely had issues. But man o man have I repaired my share of systems with inferior power supplies.

I recommend getting a good PSU and start the troubleshooting form there, because it's very possible the power supply isn't the issue at all. But don't bother ripping your hair out testing everything when it could be something so simple.
 
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cococabana

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Jul 24, 2012
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It can only be the PSU or the CPU right? So I should go ahead with a new PSU?
 
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cococabana

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Jul 24, 2012
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Allrighty then. ill buy a PSU and get back. Hopefully it solves the problem.
 
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cococabana

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Jul 24, 2012
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So I got a Corsair RM 750x and it was dead on arrival - just my luck I guess. But the RMA quickly arrived and after about a month of use I can safely say that it appears to have lifted the curse (after a year and a half of banging my head against the wall and RMA-ing almost every component). My PC is now completely stable at a 4.4 Ghz Overclock (1.295v @64C). Thought you guys would want to know.

The following were the symptoms if someone has the misfortune to get stuck in this troubleshooting hell. If you have those, it is more than likely a PSU is to blame:

>Vendor specific HDD issues that do not go away even after getting a new drive.
>Drivers getting corrupt over time or crashing continuously.
>Memory BSODs but MemTest clears RAM.
>Game cinematics/menu stuttering but the game runs fine.
>Windows getting corrupt or failing to boot occasionally.
>Things slowing down and browser hanging completely randomly.
>Boot drive suddenly not being detected.
>Only a few sata ports work.
>Other completely random and sporadic errors popping up all over the place.
 
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gondo

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All of those symptoms look like it would just need a good format. Then again I only assemble computers with top of the line power supplies, so I don't put myself in a situation to have these problems.

The only major problem I had recently was with an SSD shutting down and windows/file explorer would freeze. The PC would hang up. It was a Crucial MX200 I think. Crucial had a firmware fix and it solved the problem. It had to do with an internal counter on the hard drive and after 2000 hours of use for example the drive would screw up. It works great now.

So to learn from this experience. Use a good quality power supply. And reputable companies provide good service. IN my case Crucial had a firmware update on a website that actually works, compared to some knockoff chinese vendor with no service or websites. And in your case quick RMA work by Corsair on the power supply. I'v learned over the years which manufacturers provide good service, RMA service, and stick with those brands.
 
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