PSU advice

[chellebubblz]

What size power supply would I need to run my system. There is currently an Antec 650w in it, but due to the problems Ive been having I think it's failing so I'm just going to order one and see if it helps.

Intel i5-750 CPU.
DP55WG mobo.
Nvidia GTS 450 video card.
a Seagate 1TB hard drive, not sure exactly.
I have around 7 fans it looks like.

I know it has a 650w in there right now, but I was doing some research and it doesn't look like my video card needs alot of power and fans don't use a lot of power and I don't ever plan to overclock. So I was curious if I could maybe just go with a 450w and get a better quality one, or would it just be better to find a reasonable 650w?

 

[amuffin]

A quality 500W will run that system easily!

 

[abekl]

I think 450 or 500 watts ought to do you fine.

 

[chellebubblz]

Would this work?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371045

I currently have 4gb of RAM but I have 2 free slots and want to upgrade that eventually so I need it to be able to run that too.

Is it pretty basic to switch out? I'm hoping to be able to do it myself, though I never have before. I've done video cards, LAN cards and such, a HDD once, but never a PSU.

 

[amuffin]

Cheaper option that works too!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026&Tpk=cx430

 

[rolli59]

Would this work?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371045

I currently have 4gb of RAM but I have 2 free slots and want to upgrade that eventually so I need it to be able to run that too.

Is it pretty basic to switch out? I'm hoping to be able to do it myself, though I never have before. I've done video cards, LAN cards and such, a HDD once, but never a PSU.

That one will do so will the Corsair CX430 above

 

[chellebubblz]

thanks how about this one also?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182044

i know they are all 3 good brands, and i deft want something that will work!

 

[amuffin]

CX430V2 Is a MUCH better choice.

 

[rolli59]

Rosewill stallion is meh or so so

 

[chellebubblz]

Ok thanks, I'll go with the Corsair then. I was looking for promo codes for Newegg and came across the Rosewill. I was expecting to spend around 60$ so $40 makes my day lol

 

[deadlockedworld]

Seasonic, Corsair, better quality Antec models, some OCZ/PCPower models, some Silverstone models, and some XFX models are your best PSUs in IMO.

 

[Onus]

The Antec VP450 is the only non-80+ certified PSU I'd recommend; it got an excellent review at HardwareSecrets. It is efficient enough for 80+, but does not have Active PFC, which disqualifies it. The Rosewill, OTOH, is probably not a good unit. At best it is very inefficient. At worst it is overrated, may croak under load, and take other parts with it. I don't believe it's the worst junk out there (a larger model in that series actually passed Jonnyguru testing many years ago), but it IS an old, inefficient design.
I'm surprised your Antec is giving you trouble. Before you throw money at a problem, what are your symptoms?

 

[rolli59]

Good deal if you can deal with the MIR OCZ 550watt http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341047

 

[chellebubblz]

My PC is turning off and on repeatedly. Sometimes it will get to the BIOS screen, sometimes even my desktop. But then it will just restart. I actually had it up and working the other night, updated my BIOS and other things and then today it started doing it all over again. I'm not 100% sure it's the PSU so I'm taking a gamble because I can't afford to have it serviced and I have no other way of testing it. I took the video card out and tried, and it still did it. Though the way I got it to work the other night was after plugging and unplugging the video card a few times. So my gut is saying PSU or mobo. I've unhooked drives, took RAM out and all that other stuff to eliminate that. So I'm just going to order a PSU and cross my fingers it's that and not the mobo? Because I don't think I have a chance in the dark and replacing that on my own!

It doesn't make any beeps. But I am getting pretty familiar with the numbers on the POST LED but have no idea what they mean. ie- usually when I boot it, it displays 11, sometimes 17, sometimes 21. When it gets to the BIOS screen it says E6. When that happens, usually it just restarts while Windows is loading. The lights don't shut off and lose power in that case, just a reset.

 

[Onus]

After you updated your BIOS, did you reset it to defaults? Make sure you do that. Short circuits somewhere are another possibility. Make sure there's nothing like a loose screw or bit of wire on or under your mobo. Did you use a standoff under every mobo mounting hole, and only where there was a mounting hole? If your case has raised bumps there, that counts as a standoff; you don't need another one.
Look over your motherboard carefully for swollen or leaking capacitors. Google is
friendly, and will show you what they look like. If you see any, you will need to replace them. Assuming you are reasonably adept with a 25W soldering iron, companies like Jameco and www.mouser.com sell electrolytic capacitors.
If you don't see any, disconnect the power and reset switches from the mobo. Then turn it on by shorting the power pins with a screwdriver. See if the behavior repeats.
You might run a line of electrical tape along the back edge of the mobo where the expansion brackets are. I had one once that had a trace that went all the way to the edge, and a slot cover was shorting it. The tape cured it.

 

[chellebubblz]

That's what I've been wondering if it could be a short. Because sometimes it will turn on and shut off right away and other times not, seems like it is getting to a different spot every time it restarts today. But now it's not even getting to BIOS again. I don't think it's overheating, the temps are running 46-50. But honestly, I'm not a computer techie so I couldn't say if that's good or not but that was under a full load doing gaming. But anyways, I will check the motherboard. I know there aren't any loose screws or puffy capacitators because I did check for that. But I will try the tape thing also.

Would a CMOS battery cause this? It seems to try to behave better after I have taken the battery out and put it back in. So I was thinking about buying a new battery to try?

 

[Onus]

Hmmm, I suppose that is possible, although usually you'll get a low battery warning of some kind.

 

[chellebubblz]

I did notice in the BIOS event log a bunch of entries about the CMOS battery, but I'm not sure if that was because I have reseated it a few times. I think the batteries are only a couple bucks so it's no big deal to pick one up and see

 

[masterjaw]

How many sticks of RAM do you have?

Refer to your mobo's manual for the meaning of the values displayed in the POST LED. I always do that with my asrock mobo to determine what course of actions should i take.

 

[chellebubblz]

I have 2 2GB sticks in there and 2 free slots. I don't have the manual but I can probably find that on Intel's website maybe. I don't know *alot* about this kinda thing. I wanted to build my own, but right before I was going to buy the parts I got scared I wouldn't know how to put it all together and had a local shop build one for me. But I do wana learn, so whatever the problem is, I will TRY to fix myself. I would like to build my husband's for him next year, because as frustrating as I am right now when I don't know what's wrong, it's such a rush when I finally get it right lol. thanks for all the help.

 

[chellebubblz]

Ok I looked it up. And after I did, I powered it up and it's working again, I'm so confused! Could it be an overheating issue? My temps were 40-50 last night and that doesn't seem high to me?

Now that it's on the POST LED reads 00, which the manual says is "Entering S0 state, standard"
Readings I was getting when it wouldn't boot:
11-Set bootmode, GPIO init
17-Entry/Exit to SMBUS execute read/write
21-MRC entry point

I don't know what any of that means, or if it even means anything. Though it is still on and hasn't shut off yet, though I am sure I will be doing this same cycle all over again tomorrow..

 

[masterjaw]

00 is good. That should be the normal value.

I usually try to boot up using a single stick of RAM only to test if my memory was causing the instability. As suggested by jtt283, do reset the BIOS to its defaults to make sure that everything is set to default/stable values.

Sometimes I also encounter this problem (I have D0 or D5 as POST value) and when I do, I shutdown the PC, unplug it from the socket, and remove the RAM chips for some time then install them again, reset the BIOS to default (using a jumper or a reset CMOS button), and it boots up again.

 

[Onus]

Did you replace the CMOS battery, or were you just planning to? If you did, and it's working, maybe that's what was needed.

 

[chellebubblz]

No I haven't replaced it yet. My computer is still working fine as of right now. I'm expecting it to start a boot loop anytime since it's been running all day LOL. But I did a full system scan with Microsoft Essentials and it founds a number of trojans and malware that it removed. Would this cause the problems I've been having and end up being a malware issue rather than a hardware issue? Also when Microsoft Essentials removes these things, are they REALLY removed or is there more I need to do? I have since activated the Windows Firewall again and I'm going to re-scan to see if it's clean.