Recommend Me a New PSU

[Brendan_14]

Alright guys, so I've been running into a problem recently that after a few hours of gaming my computer will completely shutdown. Like, everything is turned off shutdown. I'm not sure if my current PSU (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121084) is bad or not, but in the event that it is, can you all recommend me a new PSU? I'm not super high budget (just a college kid here), but I want something that'll work reliably in the 550-600w range for around $50-75 (Don't forget about those rebates ).

Specs:
AMD Phenom II X4 975 BE
GTX 560 ti AMP! Edition (Zotac)
16GBs of DDR3-1333 (4x4 kingston HyperX Blu)
ASRock 970 Extreme3
Samsung 22X DVD±RW
TL-WN851ND Wireless N PCI Adapter
And about 6 case fans

I'm gonna do some tests later to see if it's SOMEHOW overheating (I cleaned all the dust out last week) but if that's not the case, them I'm gonna have to go with the PSU malfunctioning. Thanks for the help.

 

[daswilhelm]

i wouldn't reccomend a kingwin power supply to anyone... they are terrible.

get a decent brand, antec, corsair etc...

here's a decent one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371059

 

[aethersis]

I had exactly the same problem but with GTX 295. I found Tacens Radix V to have the best price/efficiency ratio. I bought 850W version and it works very well and quiet. The voltages are very stable. It has 85+ certificate. I even made a short circuit on my mobo (accidentally ) trying to measure voltages on 12V line - there was a spark, PC turned off but it's still working so the PSU is quite good I guess. No components were damaged. I can't think of anything better in this price range. 650W version should be just around $75.

 

[Brendan_14]

Haha, I was looking at that earlier oddly enough. And yeah, I should have gone with my gut and bought something other than a kingwin, but my dad kept harping on me saying I didn't need an expensive power supply, just something that worked.

 

[daswilhelm]

you dont need an expensive supply, but a decent one.

if you use a poor quality supply, and it decides to take a dump, it can take the whole system with it. always invest in a quality supply.

 

[Brendan_14]

Alright. Well, I was looking around an apparently Speccy will be able to tell me if my 12v/5v/3.3v are way below levels or not. I installed it, but when I look under motherboard for my voltages, it's missing those three specifically. I ran as administrator, and the same thing. Idk what's going on haha.

 

[bigshootr8]

I had one of these and they are built rock solid the components inside are from seasonic which are pretty damn highly recommended. Also, I had a 560ti before upgrading up to a 670 and it worked great.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

power supply i upgraded to
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139015&Tpk=ax850

Intel Core i5 2500k
Asrock Z68 EXTREME4 Gen 3
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB OC
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 8GB (2x4)
Samsung 830 256GB SATA III SSD
Seagate Barracuda 500 GB SATA II
LG 12x Super Multi Blue WH12LS38
CM Storm Sniper
Corsair AX850 PSU
Corsair Hydro H100

 

[bigshootr8]

About your issue it could be possible that under load your computer isn't capable of hitting the voltages. I don't see the power supply listed that you currently have which one do you have?

 

[Brendan_14]

About your issue it could be possible that under load your computer isn't capable of hitting the voltages. I don't see the power supply listed that you currently have which one do you have?

It was the link at the top of the post.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121084

 

[Guest]

aah . .SIX case fans?

are you massively overclocking anything and even at that, with a single gpu, its a bit excessive. also if you have a bunch of small fans under 120mm; they're sucking up a lot of juice and providing little CFM compared to a bigger fan(s).

aside from that, you are (off the top of my head) hitting 300 watt w/o the fans and close to 350 watts if overclocking the cpu or gpu and 400 for both. add 60 watts for the fans and you are close to 360/410/460 watts.

a less than quality PSU can fail @ 50% load . . so look for a seasonic, antec, corasir or xfx if you can. a 550 watt PSU will handle a 460 load for a "gaming" amount of time . .but maybe rethink that case cooling solution(?)

 

[Brendan_14]

Well, 4 came preinstalled, I have one on the side and one inside to help the front drag air through the filter. 5 are 120mm and one is 92. How many do you think I should drop? And no i'm not massively overclocked, but I like to keep things cool. I mean, i had the cpu and GPU overclocked, but GW2 isn't optimized for that, so I dropped it down to stock.

Cpu:
Idle - 34c
Max load - 52-54c

GPU:
Idle- 36-38
Max- 82-ish

If you think I should get rid of some fans, how many and from where?
2 top
1 front
1 Inside
1 Side panel
1 back

 

[Guest]

not to get too far off the PSU topic:

i'll admit i am a fan (pardon the pun) of having negative air pressure in the case; more exhaust than intake. that will remove the heat from the case better than a positive air flow; more intake than exhaust. some folks like a positive air flow because they claim it keeps the dust from getting into cracks in the case, but that can cause air turbulence in the case and trap heat inside it.

its nice to have a flow from the lower front bottom bringing cool air in and pulling towards the upper top back to remove the heat. i am not sure about an inside fan helping to move air around would help as much as having good cable management by tying back the wires that will obstruct air flow.

i don't get excited about side fans; having a consistent air flow from lower front to upper back unless there is a couple of GTX 480s in the case heating it up like an oven and could use some air on them to disperse the heat being generated.

i really would like to suggest trying with what fans came with the case and see how the temps hold. that cpu is a great temp, even for stock. the 560ti may get a little warm and i would try using afterburner or precisionX from evga to increase the fan speed while gaming.

if there seems to be a need for another fan, a good candidate for consideration would be a 120mm in the front (if it fits) so it could also help cool down the hard drive (those need love too! :lol: )

cheers

 

[Brendan_14]

Alright, I'll tinker around a bit and see what I can come up with. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Brendan_14]

Well, I played for a good 3-4 hours at max settings and the computer is still running. I also dusted out the machine a second time really well, just to make sure, so I'm not sure where to proceed from here. Should I upgrade my PSU anyway, or just live with this one still running?

 

[Guest]

have you by chance put you hand by the exhaust of the PSU to see if it was "warm"?

 

[Brendan_14]

I did just now. It was slightly warmer than the surrounding air. Should I check that after I game for an extended amount of time again?

 

[Guest]

yes. i am suspecting if you removed a fan or two and then it straightened up, then it is under a lot of stress. very warm air tells the PSU is getting hot and stressed. if its stressed, it would be wise to replace it.

 

[Brendan_14]

I'll keep that in mind next time I'm gaming then. And I took your advice and popped two of the fans out. i think i gained a degree or two for my CPU and GPU without them, but while i was gaming the gpu was around 60-68 and the cpu around 48.


also. I decided I was gonna see about when i throw a gtx 660ti in there, and using the asus calculator (http://support.asus.com/PowerSupply.aspx?SLanguage=en), it said i needed 650 watts minimum with all my stuff added up.
http://prntscr.com/heqet

any recommendations now?

 

[lilotimz]

What you have here is a highly inefficient and suspect power supply that cannot provide its rated amperage. Your system will not break out of 250-300w under normal gaming conditions and will only reach around 350w under extreme stress testing.

Also looniams comments about the fans are wrong. Each fan by itself will take no more than a few watts, not 10 watts each. The parts that consume the most power will be the gpu and the cpu. A GTX 560 will take around 150-170w under load while your processor will take 125w (or around there). Add in the peripherals and you' get around 250-300w under load.

Here's a decent quality unit for a great price.

Antec NeoEco 520C for $45 after you use the promo code CollegeSave10.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371030&Tpk=neo%20eco%20520c

It's based off the seasonic S12II units with slightly different capacitors. Acts mostly the same and offers comparable build quality. For $45, it's quite a deal as $45 is where you generally start finding power supplies that are for budgets builds (Antec EA380D/ CX430V2).

 

[Brendan_14]

What you have here is a highly inefficient and suspect power supply that cannot provide its rated amperage. Your system will not break out of 250-300w under normal gaming conditions and will only reach around 350w under extreme stress testing.

Also looniams comments about the fans are wrong. Each fan by itself will take no more than a few watts, not 10 watts each. The parts that consume the most power will be the gpu and the cpu. A GTX 560 will take around 150-170w under load while your processor will take 125w (or around there). Add in the peripherals and you' get around 250-300w under load.

Here's a decent quality unit for a great price.

Antec NeoEco 520C for $45 after you use the promo code CollegeSave10.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371030&Tpk=neo%20eco%20520c

It's based off the seasonic S12II units with slightly different capacitors. Acts mostly the same and offers comparable build quality. For $45, it's quite a deal as $45 is where you generally start finding power supplies that are for budgets builds (Antec EA380D/ CX430V2).

do you really think 520 is enough? I mean, I don't want to spend money on something that can't handle what I need.

 

[lilotimz]

This is indisputable facts. A quality power supply in the 500-550 range is all you need. The Antec NeoEco520c is based of the Seasonic S12II 520 which is a design that is proven over the years.

It can handle all single card configurations out there along with healthy overclocks with absolutely no problems.

Get it (or something similar in quality) and enjoy life ;}

 

[Guest]

Also looniams comments about the fans are wrong. Each fan by itself will take no more than a few watts, not 10 watts each.

ahem, i beg your pardon but it depends on what fan it is. they can vary from 1.7 to over 10 watts. you can check the specs at coolermaster if you care to.
http://www.coolermaster.com/category.php?category_id=36
though not to debate; without knowing best to error on the side of caution. no?

 

[lilotimz]

Not to sidetrack but even though CM does say it can go up to 10 watts, it doesn't necessarily mean that it does. It's better to go for what is most common (120mm case fans that consume a few watts) than high ball it and force OP to get something ridiculous to due to something being wrong.

I was mainly disagreeing with your power consumption estimates that includes the case fans (60w) as that may force the OP to get something ridiculously more expensive than what he actually needs.

But I agree that you must be cautious at times but you certainly also do not want to be overly cautious else you come across as ridiculous.

 

[Guest]

caution without being ridicules [:wr2]
sorry didn't mean to be defensive.

cheers

edit: i was setting up the OP to look at the XFX 550 . .but the neo 520 is a great price.

 

[Brendan_14]

so right now it's between the 520 and this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371059

Opinions?