Potential Dying PSU?

sgloux3470 · May 13, 2016

Hey guys.

So lately I've had some problems with my PC. It has been powering off completely when I'm sleeping (when it shouldn't) and the other day my system crashed completely while playing a game. The power button would not do anything which initially made me think the PSU was dead but after power cycling the system a few times I was able to get it to power up: with no video. The vga led on my motherboard was lit up and upon removal of one of my GPU's I was able to boot normally. I'm RMAing the GPU but noticed again last night that the system powered down on its own and required another power cycle for the power button to function.

I'm starting to think my PSU is on its deathbed. I've had it for 5 years now so it is getting old and I'm sure I've pushed it to its limit a lot of the time with an overclocked FX8 CPU and dual GPU config (+ an ass load of hard drives and fans) but I don't really have the cash to replace it. (I'd like to get a specific $200 PSU to replace it) so I wanted to ask if there are any diagnostic steps I should take first and if this sounds like something that even needs to be replaced. Has anyone ever had this sort of problem before?

doeskydoes · May 13, 2016

I cant say that I have had this issue but until you can get a new PSU try keeping out the GPU turning off the computer off as much as possible don't overclock and try not to play heavy duty games or play them on lower settings

sgloux3470 · May 26, 2016

Just wanted to update this.

Okay so I had a fucking nightmare of a time fixing this. I RMA'd the GPU (which was probably unnecessary) and replaced the power supply. The system was working perfectly fine after replacing the PSU with the one GPU. But then when I put the replacement GPU in suddenly it didn't want to work. But then I realized I had my monitor's USB 3.0 (it has 2 USB 3.0 plugs on it) plugged into a USB 2.0 slot. Plug it into USB 3.0, suddenly it boots fine.

So I'm not sure if when I was putting the replacement GPU in I plugged it in wrong or if it was always like that and was causing issues. Or maybe it had nothing to do with it and my motherboard is just damaged and being finnicky.

But whatever, I got a new GPU with a better ASIC score and the PSU is much better suited to my build as 750W was barely cutting it and it appears to be working for now.