Why did Half-Life 2 kill my power supply?

First things first, I recently built myself a nice music production/gaming computer. Important specs:

Intel Core i7 CPU
ASUS P6T Motherboard
OCZ 6GB DDR3 RAM
EVGA GeForce 9800 GT 512MB Graphics Card
Corsair TX 650W Power Supply
Windows Vista Home Premium x64
Antec P182 Case

Ok so a few weeks ago I started playing Half-Life 2. So far I had only played a few games, none nearly as demanding as HL2. Obviously, since I have a pretty kickass system, I was not expecting anything to go wrong. But 10 minutes into the game, I went into the graphics options to set the max settings when all of a sudden the computer just shut off. Wouldn't turn back on. Long story short I diagnosed the problem to the power supply using a multimeter and researching extensively online. So I returned it to Newegg and got a brand new one. Installed it tonight and my computer works now.

Anyone have any idea why Half-Life 2 killed my power supply? The only thing I can think of is maybe because before I had my computer plugged into a power strip and not an actual surge protector (I went out and bought a surge protector to fix that), but I'm not sure if that could somehow kill the PSU. Maybe the PSU needed more power when I maxed the game settings and the power strip couldn't handle it? I really don't know, that's why I'm asking you guys. I'm pretty sure I have enough wattage because I used like 3 different power supply calculators and all of them said 650W would be more than enough.

Any answers/suggestions would be much appreciated, I don't wanna start playing Half-Life 2 again and have my computer die on me again!

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Message edited by rcw110131 on 06-03-2009 at 08:20:10 AM

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That PSU should be sufficient to power your computer. Only thing I would suggest is maybe stress testing it with Prime95 to see if it happens again. Maybe you just got a bad PSU the first time? I don't think the power strip would matter unless there was a power surge or outage that occurred before this happened. But it is always a good idea to have it going through a surge protector.

Message edited by fpoama on 06-03-2009 at 08:22:43 AM

Reply to fpoama

Your PSU is more than enough for your pc so is nothing to worry about.

------------------------------ Intel i7 920, Gigabyte X58-DS4, 3x1 Corsair DDR3 1333, XFX 260 GTX
Samsung 750Gb F1,Samsung DVD-rw, Hiper Type-M 880W, Coolermaster HAF 932, Logitech Z-5500
Reply to hefox

Even the best company's some times make duds.
The Corsair tx650w PSU is more than powerful enough to run your system, sounds like your first unit was just a lemon.

------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
PSA
Reply to outlw6669

A game cant destroy your psu. lol

------------------------------ P965/Q6700@3.2 8MB HD4850 OC Edition
4GB Corsair XMS 800
Vista64/Win7
Fatality 550w/Antec 300
Reply to zipzoomflyhigh

Yes, you have made a logical failure in assuming that because the PSU died at the same time you were cranking the graphics settings that cranking the settings was the cause.

It wasnt, you just got a lemon.

------------------------------

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3073/2578392638_2827857d10_o.png

Reply to B-Unit

rcw110131 wrote :

First things first, I recently built myself a nice music production/gaming computer. Important specs:

Intel Core i7 CPU
ASUS P6T Motherboard
OCZ 6GB DDR3 RAM
EVGA GeForce 9800 GT 512MB Graphics Card
Corsair TX 650W Power Supply
Windows Vista Home Premium x64
Antec P182 Case

Ok so a few weeks ago I started playing Half-Life 2. So far I had only played a few games, none nearly as demanding as HL2. Obviously, since I have a pretty kickass system, I was not expecting anything to go wrong. But 10 minutes into the game, I went into the graphics options to set the max settings when all of a sudden the computer just shut off. Wouldn't turn back on. Long story short I diagnosed the problem to the power supply using a multimeter and researching extensively online. So I returned it to Newegg and got a brand new one. Installed it tonight and my computer works now.

Anyone have any idea why Half-Life 2 killed my power supply? The only thing I can think of is maybe because before I had my computer plugged into a power strip and not an actual surge protector (I went out and bought a surge protector to fix that), but I'm not sure if that could somehow kill the PSU. Maybe the PSU needed more power when I maxed the game settings and the power strip couldn't handle it? I really don't know, that's why I'm asking you guys. I'm pretty sure I have enough wattage because I used like 3 different power supply calculators and all of them said 650W would be more than enough.

Any answers/suggestions would be much appreciated, I don't wanna start playing Half-Life 2 again and have my computer die on me again!

No data bits are going to cause current to react in an unstable state, There may have been something running in the background ( Active modems would do this ) causing a temporary overload which would ussually save your input fuse and burn out your PS front end. It should be the other way around, but supply vendors saw extra dollars doing it this way.You might want to add up max current draw of your main components and check PS specs for various draws on various voltage lines. Who is near the edge of falling over. I'll bet you could almost run two games simultaneously.

------------------------------ Unknown
Reply to DaveF1953

No data bits are going to cause current to react in an unstable state, There may have been something running in the background ( Active modems would do this ) causing a temporary overload which would ussually save your input fuse and burn out your PS front end. It should be the other way around, but supply vendors saw extra dollars doing it this way.You might want to add up max current draw of your main components and check PS specs for various draws on various voltage lines. Who is near the edge of falling over. I'll bet you could almost run two games simultaneously.

------------------------------ Unknown
Reply to DaveF1953

^

WTH?

Reply to outlw6669

^+1 lol, yea just a dud thats all. if you had like a 250 yea maybe. but a ame still cant blow yur pc.

Reply to million3g

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