Got newegg coupon, should I get new PSU?

Atheist

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 27, 2005
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Newegg sent me a coupon for 10% off Antec PSUs so I'm wondering if I should upgrade from my NeoHE 500 to the TruePower New TP750. I've had intermittent instability problems for years and the only components in common between builds are my PSU and my X-Fi. Although I think the cause is my X-Fi, I am nonetheless faced with the opportunity to get a better PSU for $90 ($10 less than my Neo was back in 2006) and virtually assure myself that power quality is not the issue. Plus, I'd be future-proof for the new build/upgrade I may do this summer.
 
I'm not sure I'd consider a new build or upgrade this summer, at least not a video card with next gen hitting Q4/Q1.

Have you tried removing the X-Fi card? I didn't bother looking up your mobo but I imagine it has onboard sound to test while the X-Fi is out of your system.

If that fixes your stability issues then keep your current PSU until you upgrade. If not then consider getting one now since it might fix your issues.
 
It certainly wouldn't be a bad idea to upgrade to a good PSU like that Truepower New, but I don't know if it would help anything. I suggest you go with Ultima99's suggestion and test your PC without the X-Fi card to see if the issues you've been having will go away.
 
No harm in upgrading the PSU.
It would at least give you more headroom for upgrading in the future
 
I got those same coupons but nothing seemed all that great of deal. But hey 10% off is 10%.
 
The Seasonic x650 has a $30 code. Brings it down to ~110. It's an excellent power supply.
 
Probably a good idea, you've gotten your money worth out of the neo it sounds like. Might as well remove it as a possibility of the instability. At that point you could just run the system on onboard audio for a few days and see what happens, that'd tell you for sure if it's the x-fi.
 
Well, they dropped the price of the TP-750 by $10 since my original post (now $89) so I figured what the hell - I now have a new PSU coming and for only $80.99 after the coupon.

I had a lock up 3 times in the span of 30 minutes last night while playing BC2, though I've also gotten crashes while watching Netflix or just at my desktop or browsing the net. The crashes during gaming made me question my PSU (plus having a GTX 470 on this 500W unit) but the other occasions make me question the sound card (it very rarely gets to the BSOD, instead just hard locking, but it has occasionally been stop 0x3B which some reading has shown to perhaps be related to XFi's.)

Shiny new toy incoming, upgrade itch scratched, and future-proofing taken care of. Not bad.


Edit - I should clarify that I wholeheartedly expect that my instability problems are coming from my sound card and will probably remove it tomorrow evening before I get my PSU to see if anything changes.
 
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I suggest that you do not remove it. Standard trouble shooting procedure dictates that you make one change at a time. Start with installing the new psu and go from there. If the psu is not delivering enough power who's to say that the sound card isn't getting enough juice too?
 
I got my TP-750 installed last night and booted up, checked some emails, and went to bed. I slept the computer but woke up to find it "on" at a boot screen saying it couldn't find my drives. Interesting, and probably a fluke (or something else causing it).

My comments on the TP-750
The cables on this unit are thankfully longer than those on my NeoHE 500, which really helps me route them in the awful interior of the P180.
The finish of the unit is generally good, though the sticker with the ratings felt cheap (very very small problem, really).
The packaging was the most surprising. I have a host of Antec PSU boxes, from my old True480 to my Neo 480 and NeoHE 500 boxes (great ways to store cables) and they're some of the sturdier non-motherboard boxes I have. The TP-750 box came loosely shrink-wrapped, the cardboard is not quite flimsy but not like a PSU box, and the whole presentation made me jokingly wonder if I had received a refurb.

Anyways, I have a unit that clearly exceeds the demands of what I have connected to it, so I feel good about that. No serious gaming sessions yet (finished connecting it just before 4am) or anything else to "tax" it, but it's quiet during desktop/browsing operation.

When my biggest problem with something is its box, it's likely good. So far I'm happy with the TP-750, especially for $81 shipped.
 
That is the crux of my problem. No idea. I might have bumped something in the night that woke my computer; my external HDD is temperamental when my computer is powered off and might be powering itself back up and thus waking the computer; it could just be crappy hardware; maybe my roommate is super sneaky and is messing with me. Regardless, I get random lock ups in any situation - gaming, listening to music, watching Netlflix, and, yesterday (before I swapped in my new PSU) while just browsing the internet with no sounds playing. If these lockups occur in the future, I'll know it wasn't the PSU and I can get around to finding the culprit. I'm just waiting for that to happen at this point so that I can definitely rule out the PSU.
In the meantime, my suspects are now XFi or RAM. Just gotta wait for that lock up.
 
That is the crux of my problem. No idea. I might have bumped something in the night that woke my computer; my external HDD is temperamental when my computer is powered off and might be powering itself back up and thus waking the computer; it could just be crappy hardware; maybe my roommate is super sneaky and is messing with me. Regardless, I get random lock ups in any situation - gaming, listening to music, watching Netlflix, and, yesterday (before I swapped in my new PSU) while just browsing the internet with no sounds playing. If these lockups occur in the future, I'll know it wasn't the PSU and I can get around to finding the culprit. I'm just waiting for that to happen at this point so that I can definitely rule out the PSU.
In the meantime, my suspects are now XFi or RAM. Just gotta wait for that lock up.


RAM:

Make sure you have the lastest motherboard BIOS and that RAM timings and voltage is set properly then run Memtest.

X-Fi:

Take it out, try onboard. Make sure you go to the actual mfg for the driver since most mobo companies dont keep them updated on their website.
 
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