Diagnosing a Problem - MB, CPU or PSU?

hbunny

hbunny

hbunny

Associate
Joined
10 Apr 2007
Posts
48
I recently built a new Core Duo 2 system for my dad:

CD2 6300
Foxconn G9657MA-8EKRS2H (mATX, Intel 965G chipset)
2 x GeIL 1GB PC6400C5 value RAM
Jeantech 350 Watt PSU
ATI X800XL (with 7.2 drivers)

I build and installed XP SP 2 - all was well. While playing Company of Heroes on it, it crashed (not a BSOD): the screen went black and the motherboard made a continuous short beep. The computer needed a power off/power on cycle to come up again - pressing reset did nothing. All components are running at their default settings.

Monitoring the fan speeds and temperatures didn't show anything unusual before the crashes.

Doing a google indicated that it was either memory, MB, CPU or PSU for the continuous short beep warning/error (way to narrow it down!).

Running Memtest or 2 x Orthos (one per core) would cause the crash with both memory sticks installed in less than 20 minutes, but would keep on running (left it over an hour) with only one stick of memory.

RMA'ing the memory was a waste as Overclockers returned it saying that it had 3 clean sweeps with Memtest.

I now suspect the PSU as it wouldn't have been my first choice to buy, but 350 watts sounds good enough to me. One PSU-related issue I saw was the motherboard had an 8-pin +12V connection, but the PSU only had a 4-pin (which is OK, though not recommended, according to the motherboard manual).

SLI/Crossfire are never going to be used in this setup and it will likely only ever have one HD and one DVD drive, so what would people recommend for PSU? Or do you think that it is another component that is faulty?

Thanks
hbunny
 
Investing in PSU really does make a difference.

Corsair HX520, Tagan TG530 U15, Seasonic M12/S12 500W, Antec Trio 550/650W, Enermax Noisetaker 535W are the ones that I would personally get.

500W is more powerful than you need at the moment, but it is worth it if you consider that it will last you through many upgrades.
 
Last edited:
Is 350 watts really too weak for such a system? I thought CD2 had a fairly low power usage?

I suspect there's a degree of marketing with the push to 500/600 watt range of PSUs as most users won't be using SLI/Crossfire and I don't see the Nvidia 8800 or ATI's X2900 (if and when it launches) as mainstream graphics cards.

I remember the days of the 120 watt PSU in my first PC...

Thanks
hbunny
 
i was using it for a similar system, but i never really made the PSU do anything to labour intensive, however it did get to the point where i had to stick a 120mm fan right behind it so that it would remain cool enough to not crash :(

but yes, something 450w+ would do
 
Not that 350W is not enough but the quality of the PSU is also an issue. I have not used Jeantech so cannot comment on its quality but a poorly manufacutered PSU will likely have unstable voltage rails or have trouble to even reach its maximum wattage rating, not to mention the capacitor aging.

C2D has fairly low power consumption if you compare it with the previous generation of Prescott Pentium 4 but it's still a powerful CPU nonetheless.

Also new componants draw most of their power from the +12V rail amperage which old PSUs tend to be lacking of.

Here is a site that will give you a good idea of how much power your PC needs:

http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine
 
I tried the power calculator and arrived at 276 watts. Given that, I'd say a quality 370 - 450 watt PSU would give enough headroom in the near-to-middle term.

Thanks
hbunny
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom