I have a feeling PSU is dead - ideas for a new one?

MrRockliffe · 9 Jan 2019 at 15:06

Hi all,

I'll keep this brief.

Younger brother has a PC. He was playing a game when it locked up. Tried turning off using button, nothing, so he switched it off on the PSU. Upon switching it on again, the PC wouldn't turn on. I knew that the PSU would be right on the limit when installing the GPU, but he recently watched a video on GPU overclocking, and while he denies trying to actually overclock it, I suspect he has (he's that type of kid

) and I suspect this has tipped it over the edge power draw wise.

It's a 500W EVGA PSU I believe (only their basic one) that was bought when PC was originally built (strict budget). At first glance it, looks enough for the specs below, but when I installed it I remembered checking rails etc and noticed the primary one for the PCI power was quite low, and thought it would be on its limit.

Specs:

i5 4460
GTX 780 GHz
500GB HDD
8GB DDR3

Experience tells me the PSU is most likely dead, as no sign of life. I've yet to start properly diagnosing.

If it is indeed the PSU, what would you recommend for around £60 - budget is tight so please don't recommend £80 PSUs

Edit:

Thanks in advance for any ideas/recommendations!

EsaT · 9 Jan 2019 at 16:35

Well, cheap PSUs aren't built to last, so it has passed its intended lifetime years ago.
And shouldn't be suprise that cheap prise won't get much of PSUs with quality components.

Though also graphics card is such old that it could have failed.
Especially if it was overclocked.

MrRockliffe · 9 Jan 2019 at 19:59

EsaT said:
Well, cheap PSUs aren't built to last, so it has passed its intended lifetime years ago.
And shouldn't be suprise that cheap prise won't get much of PSUs with quality components.

Though also graphics card is such old that it could have failed.
Especially if it was overclocked.

You say years ago - the system is only 3 years old. PSU is just out of warranty

GPU is old, but the system should still boot :confused:

EsaT · 9 Jan 2019 at 21:20

3 years of enthusiast use would be enough to wear out cheap component PSU.
And there's this thing further questioning quality of cheap models...
https://www.hardocp.com/news/2017/09/29/evga_caught_sampling_psus_to_reviewers_same_as_retail

Failed PC component can well mess operation of other parts preventing booting.
Though graphics card can't mess 5Vsb, so even with broken graphics card there likely should be some kind boot attempt.

MrRockliffe · 10 Jan 2019 at 09:32

EsaT said:
3 years of enthusiast use would be enough to wear out cheap component PSU.

It's a family computer

Anyhow, I'm not looking for an explanation why I shouldn't have bought a cheap one, I'm looking for recommendations for a good one...

EsaT · 10 Jan 2019 at 10:14

Bitfenix Formula would be good starting level PSU.
Mostly those are just out of stock.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=bitfenix+formula
After that there's price jump before next available from stock PSU with good components.

If motherboard has display connector, separate graphics card could be removed for testing if that makes any difference.

MrRockliffe · 10 Jan 2019 at 10:20

EsaT said:
Bitfenix Formula would be good starting level PSU.
Mostly those are just out of stock.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=bitfenix+formula
After that there's price jump before next available from stock PSU with good components.

If motherboard has display connector, separate graphics card could be removed for testing if that makes any difference.

Yeah I noticed them being out of stock - they're probably quite popular

Thanks for the recommendation!

pastymuncher · 10 Jan 2019 at 11:00

Antec Earthwatts Pro 550w (Seasonic built) would have been another good choice bt that is also out of stock on here just like most of the other decent 550w psu's. You certainly don't need any more power than that. I would have a look around to see if anywhere else has either the Bifenix 550w that EsaT suggests or the Antec I suggested at a decent price. If you want to stick to OCUK then there is the BeQuiet Pure Power 11 600w that is in stock. It has the same fan as my 550w Straight Power 11 so should be very quiet. It's gold rated and has 576w across it's dual 12v rails along with a 5 year warranty. The downside is that the cables are all fixed. You can read a review of it here.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x be quiet! Pure Power 11 600W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply= £74.99

Just don't go buying a crappy Kolink heap of junk.

MrRockliffe · 10 Jan 2019 at 11:37

pastymuncher said:
Antec Earthwatts Pro 550w (Seasonic built) would have been another good choice bt that is also out of stock on here just like most of the other decent 550w psu's. You certainly don't need any more power than that. I would have a look around to see if anywhere else has either the Bifenix 550w that EsaT suggests or the Antec I suggested at a decent price. If you want to stick to OCUK then there is the BeQuiet Pure Power 11 600w that is in stock. It has the same fan as my 550w Straight Power 11 so should be very quiet. It's gold rated and has 576w across it's dual 12v rails along with a 5 year warranty. The downside is that the cables are all fixed. You can read a review of it here.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x be quiet! Pure Power 11 600W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply= £74.99

Just don't go buying a crappy Kolink heap of junk.

I'm not fussed about where it's from really - I'm limited by budget, so if neither the Antec or Bitfenix is in stock, I'll have to go elsewhere

EsaT · 10 Jan 2019 at 12:55

MrRockliffe said:
Yeah I noticed them being out of stock - they're probably quite popular

Thanks for the recommendation!

Actually Bitfenix Formulas don't seem to be stocked that much.
Which is shame for them being the most affordable PSUs with quality capacitors.

For example that BeQuiet pretending to be quality PSU uses second tier capacitors chosen for cheap enough price.
https://www.kitguru.net/components/...los/be-quiet-pure-power-11-700w-psu-review/3/

4460 itself would be likely about 50W consumption CPU, but GTX780 can be quite power hungry.
Though PC's max gaming draw should be 350W and average likely that 300W, which would be inside capabilities of good 450W PSU.

Danny75 · 11 Jan 2019 at 23:13

I've had two graphics cards fail in the last 5 years and the system would not turn on again with them inserted. So I would definitely remove the GPU and try onboard graphics first, as EsaT suggests.

Also, this past week my bro's computer started going into BIOS automatically on startup, with that Asus anti-surge triggered. Exploring the BIOS, I noticed the +5v line was reading 10v. I thought "bad PSU" (cheap EVGA 600W) and swapped it out for a known working one (BeQuiet), and same thing happened - still reading 10v. So I knew it wasn't the PSU. Reading up on it, seems it was either faulty motherboard voltage regulation or a faulty sensor giving a wrong reading. Since the system works anyway, and the components are pretty old and not worth much, I simply disabled the Asus anti-surge in the BIOS so it boots straight into Windows again. Only mentioning it in case the motherboard in question is a cheap Asus as well, and the issue may be related, even if with some differences (your brother's won't turn on as opposed to triggering a warning).

MrRockliffe · 12 Jan 2019 at 08:27

Danny75 said:
I've had two graphics cards fail in the last 5 years and the system would not turn on again with them inserted. So I would definitely remove the GPU and try onboard graphics first, as EsaT suggests.

Also, this past week my bro's computer started going into BIOS automatically on startup, with that Asus anti-surge triggered. Exploring the BIOS, I noticed the +5v line was reading 10v. I thought "bad PSU" (cheap EVGA 600W) and swapped it out for a known working one (BeQuiet), and same thing happened - still reading 10v. So I knew it wasn't the PSU. Reading up on it, seems it was either faulty motherboard voltage regulation or a faulty sensor giving a wrong reading. Since the system works anyway, and the components are pretty old and not worth much, I simply disabled the Asus anti-surge in the BIOS so it boots straight into Windows again. Only mentioning it in case the motherboard in question is a cheap Asus as well, and the issue may be related, even if with some differences (your brother's won't turn on as opposed to triggering a warning).

The motherboard is actually fairly new, and genuinely was bought as a brand new unit - it's an MSI Z97 G45 I believe (old motherboard broke so was in need of any socket 1150 board)

I'll check it over and see what's up

EsaT · 12 Jan 2019 at 15:49

Danny75 said:
Exploring the BIOS, I noticed the +5v line was reading 10v.

LOL
That's new record I've heard BIOS claiming for voltage.
I wonder how many parts of PC would survive alive if 5V actually increased to 10V...
Certainly not many.