Dying PSU?

[Geralt]

Hey guys, so recently my rig started acting up. Whenever I play games, my screens immediately go black and the gpu fan rev up to 100% all while my game's audio still runs through my headset. I'm not sure about the case fans as I have silent ones but I can definitely hear the GPU fans rev up to 100%. Naturally, I assumed it was a driver crash and just rolled my settings back to stock and went on with my day, but the next day it happened again, this time while just watching a youtube video. I was starting to think that something's not right, I reseated the GPU, DDU-ed and reinstalled my GPU drivers, still no dice. I did some research on the internet and there's a bunch of theories from overclocking my GPU all the way to a dying PSU. So I just wanted to get a second opinion from you guys.

 

Through my research, I saw this video on youtube which shows the EXACT same thing that's happening to me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrt77Z1cn2Q

 

Another point to note is that I've just recently upgraded my PC except for the PSU. I kept my PSU since it was working fine for me before I did the upgrade, but all the other components are fairly new. The PSU's been running my PC for 4 years now so I'm not sure if it's old age showing too.

[PowerfulAssistance]

Some comments in the video said that the 4/8 pin PCI E connector that goes to the graphics card might not be plugged in properly. 

[Geralt]

7 minutes ago, PowerfulAssistance said:

Some comments in the video said that the 4/8 pin PCI E connector that goes to the graphics card might not be plugged in properly. 

Checked that, it's already in there tight.

[Bombastinator]

It sounds like a GPU issue to me but all the other stuff is possible.  
 

Pretending it is GPU, failing the connector issue previously mentioned, it Could be GPU memory which means replace gpu.  GPU memory is a true PITA to fix and requires special tools and stuff.  Reballing bga memory chips is evil. There’s a video on techYescity that talks about some cheesy tricks that sometimes get them going again without resorting to reballing. Kinda iffy.  Well under 50% it works.

As far as replacing memory chips goes, There are people that do it, but the way it works is you sell the GPU on eBay as broken, a pro buys it, fixes it, and resells it as refurbished. So it’s basically replace gpu. 

[Geralt]

5 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

It sounds like a GPU issue to me but all the other stuff is possible.  
 

Pretending it is GPU, failing the connector issue previously mentioned, it Could be GPU memory which means replace gpu.  GPU memory is a true PITA to fix and requires special tools and stuff.  Reballing bga memory chips is evil. There’s a video on techYescity that talks about some cheesy tricks that sometimes get them going again without resorting to reballing. Kinda iffy.  Well under 50% it works.

As far as replacing memory chips goes, There are people that do it, but the way it works is you sell the GPU on eBay as broken, a pro buys it, fixes it, and resells it as refurbished. So it’s basically replace gpu. 

I've done countless memory burn in runs with furmark and it runs without crashing for hours on end. Definitely not the GPU.

[Bombastinator]

8 minutes ago, Geralt said:

I've done countless memory burn in runs with furmark and it runs without crashing for hours on end. Definitely not the GPU.

No good ways to test a PSU without wild equipment.  I know one of the things needed is an oscilloscope. I don’t even know how it would be used though.  Failing being an electronics engineer who likes toys,  There’s just rmaing/buying a new PSU, slapping it in and seeing if it solves the problem. 

[Geralt]

9 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

No good ways to test a PSU without wild equipment.  I know one of the things needed is an oscilloscope. I don’t even know how it would be used though.  Failing being an electronics engineer who likes toys,  There’s just rmaing/buying a new PSU, slapping it in and seeing if it solves the problem. 

Darn, not sure if I should buy a new PSU tho. I'm hoping it's the PSU, it's the oldest component in my system currently. It's 4 years old and almost reaching 5 so I'm just hoping that it's my PSU showing it's age. But if it is the PSU, I think I'm going to change it asap lest it kills all my other components along with it when it decides to die one day

[Bombastinator]

2 hours ago, Geralt said:

Darn, not sure if I should buy a new PSU tho. I'm hoping it's the PSU, it's the oldest component in my system currently. It's 4 years old and almost reaching 5 so I'm just hoping that it's my PSU showing it's age. But if it is the PSU, I think I'm going to change it asap lest it kills all my other components along with it when it decides to die one day

A 5 year old PSU could be due for a change regardless of there being a problem.  If you got a decent one it may have an even longer warranty than 5years though so you may be able to get a warranty replacement so no money!

[Geralt]

12 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

A 5 year old PSU could be due for a change regardless of there being a problem.  If you got a decent one it may have an even longer warranty than 5years though so you may be able to get a warranty replacement so no money!

Yeah it just finished the 5 years warranty that it had. Guess I'll just run out and get myself a new PSU. Hopefully that solves it. Looking to get a Seasonic PSU this time.

[Bombastinator]

13 minutes ago, Geralt said:

Yeah it just finished the 5 years warranty that it had. Guess I'll just run out and get myself a new PSU. Hopefully that solves it. Looking to get a Seasonic PSU this time.

Well bright side is it’s money you would have had to spend anyway

[Geralt]

8 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Well bright side is it’s money you would have had to spend anyway

Would have loved it if I could have used the PSU for another 2 or 3 years. From what I heard PSUs last from 5 to 8 years for normal usage.

[akio123008]

It's no way the PSU if the audio is still playing. To me it sounds like there's something with that GPU going on. 

 

Edit: I've seen this behaviour overclocking my GPU, and my 9600GT also did it after overheating.

[Geralt]

2 minutes ago, akio123008 said:

It's no way the PSU if the audio is still playing. To me it sounds like there's something with that GPU going on. 

 

Edit: I've seen this behaviour overclocking my GPU, and my 9600GT also did it after overheating.

The temps were fine when it black screened though. It was 72C or 73C. I just replaced the crusty thermal paste

[akio123008]

13 minutes ago, Geralt said:

The temps were fine when it black screened though. It was 72C or 73C. I just replaced the crusty thermal paste

Then that's not causing it. I still don't think it's the PSU though, then the rest of the system probably wouldn't keep running. 

[Geralt]

4 minutes ago, akio123008 said:

Then that's not causing it. I still don't think it's the PSU though, then the rest of the system probably wouldn't keep running. 

@Bombastinator did bring up a good point tho, my PSU is due for a replacement either way so hopefully the issue goes away once I pick up the new PSU.

 

Also, my GPU was at stock settings and there was no overclock on it when it black screened

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, Geralt said:

Would have loved it if I could have used the PSU for another 2 or 3 years. From what I heard PSUs last from 5 to 8 years for normal usage.

Depends.  It’s gotten longer over time. Used to be if you had a 5 year old PSU that still worked you pulled it and thanked your lucky stars you got it out before it died and fried everything.  Which it appears you have done.  That seasonic you talked about may have a 12 year warranty. 

[Bombastinator]

56 minutes ago, akio123008 said:

Then that's not causing it. I still don't think it's the PSU though, then the rest of the system probably wouldn't keep running. 

Sadly it depends.  If it’s a three bar power supply he might have 2 good bars and one going. Also if the PSU is still throwing power on a rail but (to use an old man analogy) if it’s developed a bit of essential tremor in its hands it can still do a lot of things as long as one of them isn’t threading a needle.  (Had to do this recently took me ten freakin minutes :/)

[Geralt]

17 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Depends.  It’s gotten longer over time. Used to be if you had a 5 year old PSU that still worked you pulled it and thanked your lucky stars you got it out before it died and fried everything.  Which it appears you have done.  That seasonic you talked about may have a 12 year warranty. 

10 actually. I was looking at getting the Seasonic Focus GX 750.

[akio123008]

2 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

Sadly it depends.  If it’s a three bar power supply he might have 2 good bars and one going. Also if the PSU is still throwing power on a rail but (to use an old man analogy) if it’s developed a bit of essential tremor in its hands it can still do a lot of things as long as one of them isn’t threading a needle.  (Had to do this recently took me ten freakin minutes :/)

I agree. I also love the analogy btw.

 

I still wouldn't put my money on a bad PSU. There's no reason for it to just go bad like that if it was a decent power supply. Also, while in theory it could fail like this, it's very unusual for it to happen in this manner. 

 

There's no harm getting a new PSU, but I'd make sure the GPU isn't the problem first. Maybe you can borrow some computer to test it, or throw an old GPU with the same power consumption into your pc to see if the issue is still there.

[Bombastinator]

6 minutes ago, akio123008 said:

I agree. I also love the analogy btw.

 

I still wouldn't put my money on a bad PSU. There's no reason for it to just go bad like that if it was a decent power supply. Also, while in theory it could fail like this, it's very unusual for it to happen in this manner. 

 

There's no harm getting a new PSU, but I'd make sure the GPU isn't the problem first. Maybe you can borrow some computer to test it, or throw an old GPU with the same power consumption into your pc to see if the issue is still there.

My money was on gpu too, but he swears up and down he tested the snot out of the gpu and thinks it’s rock solid. There’s an argument for a new PSU anyway though. So swap that and see what happens. 

[akio123008]

8 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

There’s an argument for a new PSU anyway though. So swap that and see what happens. 

Really? It's only 5 years old. It should be able to do much longer than that. 

 

8 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

he swears up and down he tested the snot out of the gpu and thinks it’s rock solid. 

He screwed around with drivers/settings, but how would he know the GPU isn't just faulty in some way? How can he so sure about that? There's no way to tell, except testing that card in some other pc.

 

Now of course you could argue that 5 years old is a decent age to replace a PSU anyway, so just throw in a new one. That's fine, but don't do it because you simply fear facing the truth that the GPU might just be bad.

 

Essentially what I'm trying to say is, try and figure out what's wrong before buying anything at all; try borrowing a pc to test the GPU, or perhaps borrow a power supply, whatever, come up with some method to test out what's wrong and you can save yourself a load of money.

[Bombastinator]

23 minutes ago, akio123008 said:

Really? It's only 5 years old. It should be able to do much longer than that. 

 

He screwed around with drivers/settings, but how would he know the GPU isn't just faulty in some way? How can he so sure about that? There's no way to tell, except testing that card in some other pc.

 

Now of course you could argue that 5 years old is a decent age to replace a PSU anyway, so just throw in a new one. That's fine, but don't do it because you simply fear facing the truth that the GPU might just be bad.

 

Essentially what I'm trying to say is, try and figure out what's wrong before buying anything at all; try borrowing a pc to test the GPU, or perhaps borrow a power supply, whatever, come up with some method to test out what's wrong and you can save yourself a load of money.

Re: PSU.

Warranty was for 5 years. There are PSUs that do much less.  5 year warranty basically says the company that made it thinks it will do at least 5 years, maybe more.   There’s a difference between “there’s an argument for” and “obviously it’s this”
 

re: gpu

He claimed to have done multiple hours of furmark testing and that he was adamant it wasn’t the GPU.   Given his reported symptoms  GPU is much more likely.  I said so in the thread.  he won’t replace his GPU until he does the PSU.  So that’s how things go. I suspect replacing the PSU is much much cheaper. In any event it’s something that would have to be done in the near future even if it’s not the problem so it’s effectively a free or close to free move. I personally suspect it won’t solve the problem but I don’t know for sure (and neither do you, though it sounds like you think so) and he won’t do it anyway so why are you yelling at me?   I never disagreed with any of that.