Fried graphics or dodgy PSU?

JJimmyJ

JJimmyJ

JJimmyJ

Associate
Joined
21 Jan 2010
Posts
575
Hello

My mate has started getting some issues with cold starts on his PC.
It seems like it won't boot straight away, it partially starts then shutsdown.
He's tried a different power supply (not sure which make), but this made no difference.
He then tried his old graphics card (again not sure what model, but I'd guess uses less power).
With the old card it boots up fine.
I think the concern is that his new graphics card is fried. I'm of the opinion that his PSU is cheap rubbish and is not supplying the required voltage, or has indeed spiked and ruined his card.
What checks can I suggest he runs? I am personally thinking he needs to ditch that PSU asap in case of causing further disaster.

PSU in question is a CIT 750UB

Thanks
 
TBH that PSU is not on the good side... You never want to skimp on a PSU. What is the new graphics card? It maybe that its not getting enough wattage. I have found in the past even though cheap PSU quote certain wattage it dose not actually provide it...
 
That psu is garbage. Going by it's overly optimistic specs it has dual 12v rails of 20A each giving a theoretical maximum of 480w although it's not likely to get anywhere near that. Why people buy these things is beyond me!!A 750w psu for £30!! Yeah right!! As a rough guide a quality psu would be around £10 per 100w. Although you haven't told us the spec of his rig it would be a good guess that the psu is to blame.
 
Thanks for the replies. Just actually got off then phone to him.
He's running an i5 3570k. Asus MB (not sure of the make) 8gb ram.
The graphics card is a 7850 2gb which takes one 6 pin power lead.
I've just finished explaining that even although the PSU is 750w, it's cheap and won't give solid voltages and may cause huge spikes or dips etc and cause all sorts of issues. I tried exlaining about the single rail and dual rails as well.
He's tried his old PSU which is an 850w (he doesn't know the make) but it doesn't power up either. The graphic card fans spin ok.
He's looking at a new Graphics card, but I'm desperate to get him to change PSU first as I'm almost 99% sure it's the cause.
Onboard graphics work and old card works, but I'm sure that's because they require much less voltage.
I've suggested clearing CMOS and see if the new card works, even if it's just for a few seconds. If it does then I think I've convinced him its the PSU. If it doesn't I think he's going to a PC shop to try the graphics in one of their machines.
Is it likely the card could be fried? I've asked about warranty etc so he's going to check that out as well.
 
The i5 has integrated graphics, he could simply test the onboard graphics to confirm the fault is with the GPU.

Naturally if the same problems occur when using onboard, then it's not an issue with his current GPU.
 
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