Not enough power?

[BHB]

I just built a new pc. When I turned on the power for the first time, the fans and lights would turn on, but the CPU would not boot. I brought the PC to a repair tech. He looked at the build and said it was set up correctly. He believed that there was not enough power. So, he removed the graphics card and powered the PC. This time the CPU booted up just fine. 

 

My friend says my 650W PSU is enough and is 99% sure that the GPU is faulty. The repair tech believes that 1000W PSU would fix my problem, and that faulty GPUs are extremely rare. What do you think? Is 650W enough for this build? I don't have another computer that I could test the GPU in.

 

 

 

The full part list is here: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DgJzbj. In summary, it has the following:

 

 

Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor

be quiet! - DARK ROCK TF 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler

MSI - Z370 TOMAHAWK ATX LGA1151 Motherboard

Patriot - Viper 4 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3400 Memory

MyDigitalSSD - BPX 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive

Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AORUS Video Card

Western Digital - Gold 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

Corsair - RMx 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

 

 

Thank you!

[NoRomanBatmansAllowed]

Ehh, maybe.

 

650W should be enough. (Try booting without video card, see what happens).

 

However, if you get the chance I do recommend upgrading to a 750W sometime in the future.

[ImNotThere]

650w is plenty for this setup, anything more is overkill af, sounds like faulty gpu, your friend seems to know some stuff at first glance, ask to borrow their graphics card and see if that boots fine, if it does then for video card is dead(try to boot their system with your card aswell

[BHB]

Still conflicted: bob51zhang says it 650w should be enough, while ImNotThere says 650W is plenty and more is overkill. 

 

Also, the CPU booted just fine when the video card was removed. 

13 minutes ago, bob51zhang said:

Ehh, maybe.

 

650W should be enough. (Try booting without video card, see what happens).

 

However, if you get the chance I do recommend upgrading to a 750W sometime in the future.

[seon123]

650W is already way more than you need. Anyone that says that you need more than that immediately loses a whole lot of credibility. 

Might be the GPU that's faulty. Test the GPU in another system that you know works. 

 

Edit: Also, you did plug the monitor cable into the back of the GPU, and not the motherboard, right? Just checking

Edited December 26, 2017 by seon123
Something something

[knightslugger]

650W *IS* enough for just about any build. 

[STRMfrmXMN]

2 hours ago, BHB said:

I just built a new pc. When I turned on the power for the first time, the fans and lights would turn on, but the CPU would not boot. I brought the PC to a repair tech. He looked at the build and said it was set up correctly. He believed that there was not enough power. So, he removed the graphics card and powered the PC. This time the CPU booted up just fine. 

 

My friend says my 650W PSU is enough and is 99% sure that the GPU is faulty. The repair tech believes that 1000W PSU would fix my problem, and that faulty GPUs are extremely rare. What do you think? Is 650W enough for this build? I don't have another computer that I could test the GPU in.

 

 

 

The full part list is here: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DgJzbj. In summary, it has the following:

 

 

Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor

be quiet! - DARK ROCK TF 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler

MSI - Z370 TOMAHAWK ATX LGA1151 Motherboard

Patriot - Viper 4 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3400 Memory

MyDigitalSSD - BPX 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive

Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AORUS Video Card

Western Digital - Gold 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

Corsair - RMx 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

 

 

Thank you!

That build, with OC, under AIDA64 load with Furmark, might consume 450W. 1000W is stupidly overkill and whatever repair technician suggested that should not be getting your business again any time soon.

 

There's the potential that your PSU is faulty, sure, and the acid test of that is usually seeing if the system will POST without a GPU installed and seeing if it continues to run after the fact. Your system does that, but it could also be the GPU. Have you tried a different PCIe slot on your motherboard? Did you re-use cables from an old PSU when building your new unit?

[Stefan Payne]

3 hours ago, BHB said:

My friend says my 650W PSU is enough and is 99% sure that the GPU is faulty. The repair tech believes that 1000W PSU would fix my problem, and that faulty GPUs are extremely rare. What do you think? Is 650W enough for this build? I don't have another computer that I could test the GPU in.

Your friend is right, seems like he knows what he's talking about.

The "Repair Tech" is an idiot who doesn't know shit and only wants your money.

 

What you described can be anything, GPU, Motherboard, memory (incompatibility), CPU.

And possibly also a defective PSU.

 

What it is is what you have to find out right now.

 

[D4nt3]

On 12/27/2017 at 12:59 AM, BHB said:

I just built a new pc. When I turned on the power for the first time, the fans and lights would turn on, but the CPU would not boot. I brought the PC to a repair tech. He looked at the build and said it was set up correctly. He believed that there was not enough power. So, he removed the graphics card and powered the PC. This time the CPU booted up just fine. 

 

My friend says my 650W PSU is enough and is 99% sure that the GPU is faulty. The repair tech believes that 1000W PSU would fix my problem, and that faulty GPUs are extremely rare. What do you think? Is 650W enough for this build? I don't have another computer that I could test the GPU in.

 

 

 

The full part list is here: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DgJzbj. In summary, it has the following:

 

 

Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor

be quiet! - DARK ROCK TF 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler

MSI - Z370 TOMAHAWK ATX LGA1151 Motherboard

Patriot - Viper 4 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3400 Memory

MyDigitalSSD - BPX 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive

Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AORUS Video Card

Western Digital - Gold 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

Corsair - RMx 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

 

 

Thank you!

 

I actually blame you. You did not go to a repair tech, you went to the village idiot. 

 

Just kidding. But seriously, you will have to believe me and the rest of the people who tell you that 650W is more than enough to power your system. First, let's dispel the notion that you need a higher wattage PSU and based it purely on facts and actual usage scenarios: 

 

• The GTX 1080 Ti has a power rating of 250W and NVIDIA recommends using a 600W PSU. You can confirm the specs here https://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/10series/geforce-gtx-1080-ti/#specs. This PSU rating assumes the 1080Ti will be installed in a system that will consume between 250w to 350w at heavy load which is within the apex of the power efficiency curve of a 600W PSU.   
• I doubt that your system's power consumption would exceed 350W under normal use. To prove my point I'll show you my own system's power consumption. My system is roughly equivalent to yours  with a few exceptions: Aorus Gaming 9, Core i7 7700K, 2 x HD, 1 x SSD, Gigabyte 1080, Thermaltake Toughpower DPS G 650W PSU, 3 x 140mm fans, 5 x 120mm fans, custom water loop, custom LED strip. Below is my system's power consumption which is at 90W to 100W at idle. The spike of 180W to 230W in the graph is an example of moderate to high load, in this case, a short game of Witcher 3. 
• 

 

• Based on components alone, your system should perform better and consume less power than mine. Your 650W is not only adequate, but is exactly what you need to land you in the Goldilocks zone of achieving higher power efficiency. Based on Corsair's specs, your PSU will give you 85% efficiency at 10% load and increase as your system's consumption approach 50% load or 325W and tapers off beyond that. Let's assume you're running a game that pushes everything to their limit, your 1080Ti consumes 250W and the rest of your system eats up 120W. That's just 370W and just a hair above 50% of your PSU's power rating. Even if you overclock your 1080Ti, CPU, and RAM, that would still not add 100W, even if we throw in the kitchen sink pimped out with a 5 meter LED strip. Point is -- nothing, within reason, will make your system go beyond your PSU's rated capacity. I also hope that this shows you that spending money on a higher wattage power supply is not necessary. It will only lessen your power efficiency which translates to more money spent on electric bills. 
• 

 

Now let's try to do some trouble shooting. Please don't be offended if this seem very basic, we're just making sure you haven't overlooked anything.  

 

1. Please check all your power cables. Pay particular attention to the two 8-pin power connectors for the GPU. Make sure there are no nicks or breaks. Ideally, the technician should have checked the continuity of your cables with a power tester.
2. Your GPU should have 2 indicator lights at the back and just below the power connectors. Power on your system and look at the indicator lights. With both of them off means the two 8-pin cables are sending adequate power which this rules out your PSU and power cable. When one or both of them are on or blinking then it means it's receiving abnormal power. Blinking means they're receiving unstable power. In this case, the culprit is the PSU where it's unable to deliver steady 12 volts. If the lights are on and steady, this means there's no power being received. Again, the culprit is the PSU.  
3. I assume you've installed the card in PCI-e slot 1, the x16 type slot that's intended for graphics card. If not, then you'll need to move the card into that slot. Many motherboards will not recognize graphics cards if they're installed in other slots. The 1080 class cards in particular will not work in x1 slots. They would only recognize graphics cards if they're in the x16 or x4 slots.
4. Try installing the GPU in PCI-e slot 4. I'm not sure about the Tomahawk, but most motherboards will recognize graphics cards in this slot. If you system boots, then there's something wrong with your motherboard's PCI-e slot 1.  
5. This one's a long shot... go into the BIOS and go to Integrated Graphics Configuration > Initiate Graphics Adapter and select "PCI-Express Graphics Device'. To do this, you might need to remove the 1080Ti temporarily to force the board to use the integrated graphics, re-install the 1080Ti after you've set the parameter. 
6. Make sure your BIOS setting for "PEGX - Max Link Speed" is set to AUTO. 
7. Make sure the "PCI Latency Timer" is set to 32. 
8. Heck, if you suspect there's something funky with your BIOS setting then simply reset it to factory default. 
9. If all else fails, time to contact your vendor and get an RMA for your 1080Ti. It would help to take pictures of how your system is setup. I hope you saved all the original packaging, some vendors can be so picky about this.

That's it. I hope this helps you out. Really the best way to test is to install the card in another machine, but as you say, that's out of the question. 

 

 

[D4nt3]

10 minutes ago, D4nt3 said:

 

I actually blame you. You did not go to a repair tech, you went to the village idiot. 

 

Just kidding. But seriously, you will have to believe me and the rest of the people who tell you that 650W is more than enough to power your system. First, let's dispel the notion that you need a higher wattage PSU and based it purely on facts and actual usage scenarios: 

 

• The GTX 1080 Ti has a power rating of 250W and NVIDIA recommends using a 600W PSU. You can confirm the specs here https://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/10series/geforce-gtx-1080-ti/#specs. This PSU rating assumes the 1080Ti will be installed in a system that will consume between 250w to 350w at heavy load which is within the apex of the power efficiency curve of a 600W PSU.   
• I doubt that your system's power consumption would exceed 350W under normal use. To prove my point I'll show you my own system's power consumption. My system is roughly equivalent to yours  with a few exceptions: Aorus Gaming 9, Core i7 7700K, 2 x HD, 1 x SSD, Gigabyte 1080, Thermaltake Toughpower DPS G 650W PSU, 3 x 140mm fans, 5 x 120mm fans, custom water loop, custom LED strip. Below is my system's power consumption which is at 90W to 100W at idle. The spike of 180W to 230W in the graph is an example of moderate to high load, in this case, a short game of Witcher 3. 
• 

 

• Based on components alone, your system should perform better and consume less power than mine. Your 650W is not only adequate, but is exactly what you need to land you in the Goldilocks zone of achieving higher power efficiency. Based on Corsair's specs, your PSU will give you 85% efficiency at 10% load and increase as your system's consumption approach 50% load or 325W and tapers off beyond that. Let's assume you're running a game that pushes everything to their limit, your 1080Ti consumes 250W and the rest of your system eats up 120W. That's just 370W and just a hair above 50% of your PSU's power rating. Even if you overclock your 1080Ti, CPU, and RAM, that would still not add 100W, even if we throw in the kitchen sink pimped out with a 5 meter LED strip. Point is -- nothing, within reason, will make your system go beyond your PSU's rated capacity. I also hope that this shows you that spending money on a higher wattage power supply is not necessary. It will only lessen your power efficiency which translates to more money spent on electric bills. I believe you can expect to get an average efficiency between 88% to 90% with the 650.
• 

 

Now let's try to do some trouble shooting. Please don't be offended if this seem very basic, we're just making sure you haven't overlooked anything.  

 

1. Please check all your power cables. Pay particular attention to the two 8-pin power connectors for the GPU. Make sure there are no nicks or breaks. Ideally, the technician should have checked the continuity of your cables with a power tester.
2. Your GPU should have 2 indicator lights at the back and just below the power connectors. Power on your system and look at the indicator lights. With both of them off means the two 8-pin cables are sending adequate power which this rules out your PSU and power cable. When one or both of them are on or blinking then it means it's receiving abnormal power, however, this could also mean that the PCI slot is not sending any power at all. Blinking means they're receiving unstable power. In this case, the culprit is the PSU where it's unable to deliver steady 12 volts. If the lights are on and steady, this means there's no power being received. Again, the culprit is the PSU.  
3. I assume you've installed the card in PCI-e slot 1, the x16 type slot that's intended for graphics card. If not, then you'll need to move the card into that slot. Many motherboards will not recognize graphics cards if they're installed in other slots. The 1080 class cards in particular will not work in x1 slots. They would only recognize graphics cards if they're in the x16 or x4 slots.
4. Try installing the GPU in PCI-e slot 4. I'm not sure about the Tomahawk, but most motherboards will recognize graphics cards in this slot. If you system boots, then there's something wrong with your motherboard's PCI-e slot 1.  
5. This one's a long shot... go into the BIOS and go to Integrated Graphics Configuration > Initiate Graphics Adapter and select "PCI-Express Graphics Device'. To do this, you might need to remove the 1080Ti temporarily to force the board to use the integrated graphics, re-install the 1080Ti after you've set the parameter. 
6. Make sure your BIOS setting for "PEGX - Max Link Speed" is set to AUTO. 
7. Make sure the "PCI Latency Timer" is set to 32. 
8. Heck, if you suspect there's something funky with your BIOS setting then simply reset it to factory default. 
9. If all else fails, time to contact your vendor and get an RMA for your 1080Ti. It would help to take pictures of how your system is setup. I hope you saved all the original packaging, some vendors can be so picky about this.

That's it. I hope this helps you out. Really the best way to test is to install the card in another machine, but as you say, that's out of the question.