Power supply overheating?

[kalrith]

I have a friend at work who was having problems with her system rebooting. I emailed her links to SpeedFan and Prime95, and we found that her system was overheating. It would shut down once it got up to 92 or 93 degrees Celcius! Anyways, I found her a used Ninja for cheap, and her temps are down to 66 degrees Celcius at load. Her system is now shutting down instead of rebooting. She said the last time it did that, the back of the power supply felt REALLY hot. She has a side case fan that required me to put the Ninja's fan on the bottom of the heatsink blowing up into the power supply. I assume that the power supply is overheating from all the extra cpu heat. So, my two questions are:

Is there any way to crank up her power supply fan to 100%?
Are there any programs that measure the power supply temp?

Here's a link to her power supply. I know it's not the greatest one out there, but if turning up the fan would help the heat issue, then I'd like to try that before switching it out.

She also increased the number of watts on her system recently. She had 2 80mm LED case fans, an FX5500 video card, and the stock LGA775 heatsink. Now she has 4 80mm LED case fans, a 6600GT video card, and a 120mm LED fan on the Scythe Ninja. So, I guess it could be a problem with the increased wattage as well. I'm still thinking that heat is an issue though. When her cpu would get over 90 degrees, the back of the power supply would only be slightly warm to the touch, and now it's getting really hot. I don't have any spare power supplies or a multimeter, or I would just use one of those to see if the power supply is really the problem. Let me know if you have any ideas or answers to my questions.

Thanks!

 

[Howard]

The PSU fan should be running at 100% anyway, if it's getting that hot.

What case does she have, and how are the fans set up?

 

[JEDIYoda]

I was running a crappy PSU on my other rigg when one day it started rebboting and shutting down during games.
I had also added a few fans to my rigg.
I would recommend disconnecting those 2 new fans and see if that doesn`t help.

Sounds like you need a new power supply!!

Good Luck!

 

[Gautama2]

Do you have a small directional fan you could just aim to blow the air away?

That would help temps significantly I'd imagine

 

[Talcite]

Try using a big desk fan to blow at the case open and see if it reboots or shuts down. If it doesn't anymore, try imagining the airflow pathways and try to put as much distance as possible between the intake and exhaust regions to avoid air recirculation. Use fans and thermal tape to block up/open up vents as needed.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
Sounds like you need a new power supply!!

Confirmed!

That's exactly what I was thinking, as I read the OP.

Sounds like a classic example of a PSU going bad!

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: kalrith
She also increased the number of watts on her system recently...

Bingo!

Missed that the first time 'round! 😉

Get her a new power supply -- the bigger the better!

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: kalrith
Here's a link to her power supply...

LoL! Did you read the first comment?

Not so hot

Pros: Was really good when i first got it

Cons: as i added an extra hard drive a better video card and after about.. 20 months with the powersupply it is starting to restart on me when i try to play games..

 

[kalrith]

Thanks for the help guys! I'll try the desk fan idea to see if it's just a heat issue, or if the power supply can no longer handle her system. I'll also try disconnecting some of the case fans.

She has a cheap case, but the fan configuration is half-way decent. She has two front intake, one side intake, and one rear exhaust fan. Obviously, the power supply fan is an exhaust fan as well.

She's going to try those things tonight, and I'll let you know what we find out. If we do have to replace the power supply, I've done some research and have found that the Sparkle 400W has more than enough juice for her system. Her system should be drawing 13A from 12V1 and 10A from 12V2. This PS has 18A on both of the 12V rails, so that leaves quite a bit of cushion for her system.

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[keldog7]

You can probably answer the question of cooling much easier than replacing the PSU... Just take the case cover off, aim a household fan at the rig, and run it for a while. If you don't get reboots - cooling is likely the problem (though I wouldn't limit myself to thinking that it could only be the PSU).

Cheers,
A

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: keldog7
You can probably answer the question of cooling much easier than replacing the PSU... Just take the case cover off, aim a household fan at the rig, and run it for a while. If you don't get reboots - cooling is likely the problem (though I wouldn't limit myself to thinking that it could only be the PSU).

Cheers,
A

All his symtoms add up to being a PSU issue.
Just a quick run through so you understand.
Becuase it seems like you didn`t read everything that was posted...
Here`s the key -- She also increased the number of watts on her system recently. She had 2 80mm LED case fans, an FX5500 video card, and the stock LGA775 heatsink. Now she has 4 80mm LED case fans, a 6600GT video card, and a 120mm LED fan on the Scythe Ninja.

She was having no issues whatsoever before she added the extra fans and all.
That right there eliminates what you assume could be a cooling issue.

Plus most of us who have had generic or not such good PSU`s have had that very thing happen when adding additional equipment.

Then you state-- You can probably answer the question of cooling much easier than replacing the PSU... Just take the case cover off, aim a household fan at the rig, and run it for a while. If you don't get reboots - cooling is likely the problem (though I wouldn't limit myself to thinking that it could only be the PSU).

Why put a bandaid on the problem?
Why open the case to additional dirt and whatever is in the air?

I personally would fix the problem and be finished with it. 🙂

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
I personally would fix the problem and be finished with it. 🙂

Heh! Yet another confirmation... from someone with 4K+ posts...

Buy 'your friend' a new PSU and quit defending this silly 'over-heated' scenario.

You were wrong! Get over it!

There's NO shame in that... 😉

 

[kalrith]

Here's an update on the situation. She took the side of the case off and pointed a desk fan on the psu without the extra fans plugged in. It worked fine and didn't get that hot. She kept the side off and the desk fan on the power supply but tried it with all of the fans and the lights. The power supply made a funny clunking noise, shut down, and now won't turn on for more that 15 seconds. If that's not confirmation that this is a power supply issue, then I don't know what is! Anyways, she'll be ordering a new psu today.

I've been looking at the power supply deals and found the Ultra 500W for $10 AR. I've heard good and bad things about Ultra power supplies, so I'd like your take on it. How would you rate the Ultra power supply compared to the afore-mentioned Sparkle?

Also, I was wondering what VinDSL meant by, "You were wrong! Get over it!".

If that's directed at me, then how was I wrong? Is it "wrong" to try to test one issue at a time? Is it "wrong" to try to do a free test as opposed to spending money replacing parts when it might not be necessary? I don't have any means to test the power supply itself, so I wanted to eliminate the heat as an issue before assuming that the power supply was just bad. Also, testing the heat issue was free, and replacing parts not only costs money but is foolish unless you know that the part is bad. Obviously you don't know the appropriate steps to troubleshooting.

Troubleshooting a computer and troubleshooting an automobile are quite similar. If this were a car and it all of a sudden wouldn't start, what would you do? It could be a bad battery cable, a bad battery, a bad starter, etc. It would be stupid to just say that the battery is bad and just replace it. Then if that didn't work, just replace the battery cable, then the starter, etc. That actually happened to my vehicle, and I "tested" both the battery and the starter and found that the starter was bad and needed to be replaced. If I were just a happy replacer (like VinDSL), then I would have spent a lot of money replacing parts that were in perfectly good condition.

Anyways, thanks to everyone who offered useful help in this situation. I appreciate it.

 

[Talcite]

10 dollars for a 500w PSU~!? lol i'd tell your friend to get a seasonic, just because they have excellent quality PSUs, but they're more on the expensive side. I think a 500w psu was $130 at newegg. Both ultra and sparkle arn't exactly power supplies i'd stick into my own system. It's up to her, but just let her know, a bad psu can take out other system components as well.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: Talcite
10 dollars for a 500w PSU~!? lol i'd tell your friend to get a seasonic, just because they have excellent quality PSUs, but they're more on the expensive side. I think a 500w psu was $130 at newegg. Both ultra and sparkle arn't exactly power supplies i'd stick into my own system. It's up to her, but just let her know, a bad psu can take out other system components as well.

That $10 PSU that he is talking about there is another thread on that and the consensus is there are better PSU`s but its an OK PSU!!

Thast $10 after rebates if I remember correctly!!

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: Talcite
10 dollars for a 500w PSU~!? lol i'd tell your friend to get a seasonic, just because they have excellent quality PSUs, but they're more on the expensive side. I think a 500w psu was $130 at newegg. Both ultra and sparkle arn't exactly power supplies i'd stick into my own system. It's up to her, but just let her know, a bad psu can take out other system components as well.

That $10 PSU that he is taling about therer is nother thread on that and the consensus is there are better but its an OK PSU!!

Thast $10 after rebates if I remember correctly!!

You're right; it is $10 after rebate. This psu is normally $75-90 after tax and shipping. If you look on pricegrabber, Radio Shack has the lowest after-tax-after-shipping price of $65 WITHOUT THE REBATE. Just because this is a good sale doesn't mean it's a crap psu. I know it's not the best psu, but why should she spend $100 on a psu for a $300 system. I am a firm believer that you should not skimp on the psu, but from what I've read the X-Finity is not a bad one. Also, it has as many amps on EACH 12v rail as her current (dead) psu has on its single 12v rail.

Anyways, she ordered it a couple hours ago. Hopefully the psu is the only problem. I'll post again if anything else goes wrong.

 

[Howard]

I think the newer X-Finities are alright... I'll come back with more info, I think.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/XFi600W/

 

[vanvock]

What was wrong with the Sparkle? Although I've never owned one I always thought they had a good rep.

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: vanvock
What was wrong with the Sparkle? Although I've never owned one I always thought they had a good rep.

There's nothing wrong with it. I just think the X-Finity will do just as good of a job for $30 less.