Symptoms of a dieing PSU

[xclusivex]

My computer is only about a month and a half old with all brand new componets. the PSU i chose for it was a Antec truepower 430. And because i believed all the hype i decided to go with a 9700 pro. when i did that i felt like i made the worst mistake of my life because i could not get my computer to play a game for more than 20 min without a system restart... i upped my AGP voltage to 1.7, new drivers, clean format etc etc.. yet.. to no avail. so recently i sold it on ebay and broke out pretty much even with a TI4600 8x.. ahh pure bliss as i can now keep my computer on for a once again all night session of my favorite video game.. happiness flowed through me ... and then last night happened BOOM! computer shuts off again..several times.. after about the 4th it decided to stay on and work again. i figure no biggie.. go to play a game today.. repeat of last night, So now the only thing im left to believe is that my recently purchased PSU just took a [-peep-].. anyone else have any ideas?

 

[MegaCharger]

I thought the Antec TruePower series are very good, not sure why that happened to you. It really sounded like something is wrong with the PSU but did you checked the other parts? BTW now you are freakin' me out because I'll soon get the Antec PLUS1080AMG which comes with the TruePower 430...

 

[redface]

Maybe you should unplug everything from your computer, replug them and make sure they are all well fitted to where they belong.

If you have many device try disconnect some of them. Only plug the neccessary component like hard disk, display card, motherboard (of course), one or two fans.

A fine day!

 

[redface]

Oh, and do you monitor your system temperature? Your CPU temperature?

A fine day!

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

The ANTEC truepower series are good PSUs, <b>BUT</b> I have read of their being issues specific to the ANTECs and some cards, mainly the Radeon 9500s and 9700s. I think there have even been a few posts in here about the known issues witht eh ANTECs; they perform well in everything except conflicting with some Graphics cards. Try search of Antec's and ATI's sites for their knowledge base about the conflict.

Just a heads up, don't sell/buy anything until you find out for sure.

- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! <font color=red>RED</font color=red> <font color=green>GREEN</font color=green> :tongue: GA to SK

 

[Ghostdog]

How can a PSU possibly be selective towards GC brands?

(no really, this is a serious question)

<font color=red>I´m starting to feel like a real computer consultant.</font color=red>

 

[knowan]

Simoply because the Radeon 9700 need extra juice. They plug directly into your PSU instead of drawing all their power from the AGP port.

Still, this is the first I heard of any difficulty with Antec PSU's and Radeons. I'll neither confirm nor deny.

It could be a case of an overheating CPU. Athlons will shut down before they overheat. If it's a P4 CPU they don't normally shut down, they scale back so that your computer goes slower and slower as it overheats.

How's your case ventilation? What are your idle temps and temps under full load?

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Knowan likes you. Knowan is your friend. Knowan thinks you're great.

 

[knowan]

Simply because the Radeon 9700 need extra juice. They plug directly into your PSU instead of drawing all their power from the AGP port.

Still, this is the first I heard of any difficulty with Antec PSU's and Radeons. I'll neither confirm nor deny.

It could be a case of an overheating CPU. Athlons will shut down before they overheat. If it's a P4 CPU they don't normally shut down, they scale back so that your computer goes slower and slower as it overheats.

How's your case ventilation? What are your idle temps and temps under full load? What HSF (heatsink and fan) are you using? What CPU and what motherboard?

--------------
Knowan likes you. Knowan is your friend. Knowan thinks you're great.

 

[stitch]

Hmm--just to throw in my two cents: it could bet that your PSU is getting cranky, but it could be other components on your machine; I had a north bridge fan that went out and I replaced it with one which drew too much power so that my system became very flaky with regard to power issues; in other words, it showed symptoms of a dying psu (a few minutes into 3d games and it would crash, my house furnace would come on and it would crash, etc) when in reality the problem was just that I had damaged the fan header in the MB by asking it to provide too much juice (the MB got VERY flaky about that fan header... plugging the fan in while the system was running would crash it... stopping the fan while the system was running would crash it... etc).

Hmm. That sentence was far longer than it needed to be.

Now of course I doubt you have been as cruel to your equipment as I have (grin) but keep in mind that system stability results from a combination of many factors.

-->Stitch

 

[mito]

format c: /s is an alternative.

/\/\ito

 

[Ghostdog]

Simply because the Radeon 9700 need extra juice. They plug directly into your PSU instead of drawing all their power from the AGP port.

I know this, but Ape mentioned problems with specificly Antec´s. This, I don´t get.

<font color=red>I´m starting to feel like a real computer consultant.</font color=red>