Power Supply going dead....questions abound.

[djcool976]

I currently have a Thermaltake 680W PurePower PSU. This of course is in the process of dying. I'm going to replace it with a Seasonic this time. I'm not screwing around again. I'd like to know if it's possible that this has hurt anything? It still currently works and is all I have until the new one gets here. When I boot the computer I get the error from my video card stating that it isn't getting enough power and has lowered performance. Other than that I haven't seen any errors. Will this be ok until it's replaced?

Thanks in advance.

 

[kypron7]

I sure wouldn't risk it myself. Is it worth getting to use the computer for a couple days and then having the psu fry and take your system with it?

 

[stevty2889]

Have you double checked to make sure that the power connectors are still fully seated in your video card? I believe the 6800 Ultras required 2 molex connectors. Is that your only indication that makes you think the PSU is going bad?

 

[nineball9]

As stevty noted, check the molex connectors on your video card. I once got the same message from an ATI card; unplugging and repluging the molex connector fixed the problem for good. The molex connectors can get a bit of oxidation on them and unplugging and replugging the connector will usually clean the contacts.

Good luck!

 

[djcool976]

I reseated the molex connectors and will see what happens. I haven't gotten the "low power" message yet so maybe that was the problem. This PSU is less than a year old and I guess I was just jumping the gun because I had seen a lot of problems reported across the internet about this unit. It's a Thermaltake Purepower 680W.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

The ToughPowers are OK to quite good... The PurePowers are not.

 

[djcool976]

So far I haven't gotten the error like before. What would be some clues that my power supply was going out? Twice now when I plug something into the USB on my case the whole computer goes off. It seems to come back on if I flip the switch of and on at the PSU. I'm assuming this is a problem with my case though. Probably a short in the front USB or something. I've got a Stacker830 waiting for fans and a new heatsink to arrive and then I'm switching. Hopefully that'll fix the problem too.

 

[djcool976]

Ok, so the problem returns. Without having a known good replacement, is there any way to test my PSU?

 

[djcool976]

One more thought, could this be my video card and not the power supply?