System shutdown randomly and won't turn back on

[gp103des]

Hello All,
I have a computer that I put together in January, and has been running great. For various circumstances my brother is getting rid of his computer and let me have his more powerful GPU. I installed it, and downloaded drivers for it yesterday and it was running fine. This morning I get up and start playing a game on it, and after about 5 -10 minutes, my computer shuts off like there was a power outage and won't start back up or respond in any way to the on button. I took the new video card out and put my old one back in and it still won't start. The quick search I did on this makes me thing its a power supply issue, but I don't understand why it won't turn back on with its old set-up.

The hardware is all relatively new, so it's hard for me to imagine that they've gone bad yet.

my power supply is an ATX-CW420W

the old GPU is an AMD Radeon HD 5450

the new GPU is an AMD Radeon HD 6870

 

[smorizio]

looked online and the older card at max load was 171w. the new card at max load is 247w.
from new egg web page there two 12 volt rails each has max of 14 amps. if you do the math 12 volts times 14 amp you get 168w for each 12v leg. without opening the ps my best gusts would be one leg for the cpu and mb and one leg for the video card. as the older card was only a few watts over the max of one of the legs it was close that the ps could handle the load. on the other hand the other card may have been stressing the cheap power supply past it max voltage till the unit failed. hopfully it was a cap or the fuse failed..on cheap ps they can take out your system when they go sometimes. I would look into buying a good 500-600w ps and hope that the mb and cpu are fine.

 

[gp103des]

Thanks, I used the Newegg calculator and it said I needed more than I had. I've ordered a higher wattage PS.

 

[geekapproved]

That horrible power supply is only 300w. Make sure you get something at least 80+ certified. What cpu do you have?

Antec EA430 or Corsair cX430 would be more than sufficient.

 

[gp103des]

Best answer selected by gp103des.

 

[gp103des]

Got a higher wattage PS installed, and everything appears to be in working order, even under slight duress!