The signs of not enough power?

[SlingBlade]

I am curious... what is the symptoms of not having an adequate power supply? I recently got a new case and motherbaord, and have assumed the problems I have been having is caused by the motherboard. But it just now occured to me that it could be the power supply since it is a really cheap case. What happens is that the system will freeze and repeat a sound forever after playing games for a few hours. I found that underclocking the memory to 100 mhz and keeping the machine REALLY cool by putting it right up against my air conditioner will extend the amount of time it will play before locking to several hours. Does a machine use less power when cooled to 60 degrees? Or perhaps a component on my motherboard is overheating... I don't think it is my CPU or GF2, because they worked fine before. I just can't figure out the connection betwenn the overheating symptoms and my machine, since it does this even when cooled to 60 degrees F.

 

[TunaBoo]

What is CPU temp?


It COULD be your PSU. The big fan cools your PSU slightly, making it more efficient.

What PSU is it? How many watts? And what CPU you have (I didnt see)

 

[Jiggz]

If you have hardware monitor or even in the bios check the output of the 5.0V. If this voltage is less than 5% of its rated output then you could be experiencing an underrated PSU. If the output volts is within the 5% its most likely CPU Temp.

 

[SlingBlade]

Ya, but what I find hard to believe is that ANYTHING could overheat in there when the motherboard temperature is 60 degrees F. My temperature reader for my CPU isn't working :/ So I'm not sure how hot it is getting, but I can put my hand on it and just feel and tell that it isn't much above 100 degrees F. It is an Athlon 850 classic, and I remember before when it was running fine and not locking that if I put my hand on it it would just about burn me. It is running much cooler now than it ever was. I'll check the power output.

 

[SlingBlade]

OK here is what my tempertature monitor says:

Vcore: 1.68 (set at 1.7)
3.3v: 3.31
12v: 11.91
5v: 4.89
Mother Board temp: 65 degrees F

 

[corkyg]

You must be in the Arctic or Antarctic or someplace very cold. Your mobo temperature in the 60s is fiction unbless you have the computer inside a fridge. Ah yes . . . directly next to an A/C. Interesting!

Some additional Symptoms of low power:

1. Spontaneous reboots

2. Incomplete boots w/Windows Protection Error shutdowns

3. Spurious Audio beeps at random intervals

Get a good power supply. It has many benefits . . . is yours approved by the CPU maker?

 

[wfbberzerker]

are you positive its in fareinheit? if it was in C, it would make a lot more sense since a temperature that high would cause those lockups. however, since you said that you put your hand on it, and it wasnt that hot. also, what are you doing when you got those temperatures? (i.e. were you in the middle of a hardware intensive game, or were you just at desktop, or bios)

 

[moneyshot]

I have that same problem. It happens very rarely, maybe once a week. It happens when I'm int the middle of a game. I figured maybe it was my Soundblaster causing it. Since it rarely happens I don't worry about it too much.

 

[SlingBlade]

Yep, I have a window air conditioner unit (we have central AC, but my room is sort of an attic room. The window AC helps. So I just opened the side of my case and put my PC up on a chair right next to it. Cools it to 60-65 degrees F. I am absolutely sure it is not the CPU overheating :/ The CPU is slightly cooler than my hand, or at least it's outer plastic casing is.