PC tripping circuit breaker?

[demingo]

I figured this is the best place to post this.

Now and then my circuit breaker trips while playing Crysis 2/Dragon Age 2. This doesn't always happen and sometimes I can game for a few hours without issue. However the times it has tripped it has been during gaming, never while at desktop. I assume this is because the games are demanding and my 580gtx starts to pull a lot more power than just at desktop from my PSU. I am trying to figure out why this is happening though.

I have a 950W Corsair TX psu and an Antec 27" LCD rated at 45W.

With some napkin math this puts me at about 10.2 amps under full load on the psu. It's a 15 amp breaker. On the same breaker I have a cable modem, fish tank light, filter, water heater, and air pump. There are no lights or other things plugged into the line which this breaker is on.

This only happens once in a while but I am trying to figure out why it is occoring. I guess my question is, am I crazy to think the cause of this might be the extra power draw as the 580 sucks up more power during those games?

 

[DisrupTer911]

how much amperage total is all that fishtank stuff?
add it together with your psu's max draw and see what it comes out too...

 

[cyclone3d]

how much amperage total is all that fishtank stuff?
add it together with your psu's max draw and see what it comes out too...

This, plus you may have a faulty connection somewhere that is adding resistance to the circuit, which will in turn heat up the wiring and the circuit breaker more than normal.

The circuit breaker could also be starting to fail, which can also cause it to trip at below the rated amperage.

Do you know the guage of wiring coming from that circuit breaker? If it is 12 guage or larger (smaller number), you can replace it with a 20A circuit breaker.

 

[KaizerDan]

Yes, your computer can draw a lot of ampes, add in the fish tank pump/lights, you are [CLOSE TO THE 15 AMPES] you have the wrong idea of how the breaker works, the 15 is the MOST that it should reach before tripping, meaning, it doesnt want anything near that. So it will trip for less! You are never supposed to lay out a circuit with a full load of the break in mind, you are at least supposed to leave a 4-5 amps spare so it wont trip. It does not want that much load/heat going through the wires so it is stopping it from happening, that is all. Doesnt mean anything is going wrong.

And some of those damn giant video editing MAC computers cause the most trouble... have lots of problems with those tripping breakers haha.

 

[Spooony]

Old circuit brakers and modern psus ain't the best of mates

 

[nobody_here]

his pc is drawing far more power than the fish tank if it's the typical freshwater, filter, pump, heater type setup

i have a system that draws probably as much as my pc but it's got many pumps, redundant heaters, more pumps, and a 4x54W T5HO high output light fixture over it. The main pump is 100W pump by itself.....

 

[Spooony]

Test it Use two strands of wires about 1/2 a meter long, connect one end to a simple lamp holder and plug in a 100 watt bulb. Leave the other ends bare with the copper wires exposed. Go to the socket outlet. With the socket in off position, open the openings by inserting a screwdriver into earth which the one on the top hand side. When you see the two small openings at the bottom opened, insert one strand of the test lamp’s wire inside the live terminal which is the one on the right. Insert the other end onto the other terminal on the left. Switch on the socket. If the circuit is alright, the bulb will light up. If not, he circuit breaker will trip.
Now, switch off the socket again. Remove your screwdriver from the earth terminal. Pull out the wire from the left side and stick it into the earth terminal. Switch onthe socket. If the circuit breaker trips, then the circuit breaker is okay. If the bulb lights up again or nothing happens, then your circuit breaker needs to be replaced.

 

[nobody_here]

Test it Use two strands of wires about 1/2 a meter long, connect one end to a simple lamp holder and plug in a 100 watt bulb. Leave the other ends bare with the copper wires exposed. Go to the socket outlet. With the socket in off position, open the openings by inserting a screwdriver into earth which the one on the top hand side. When you see the two small openings at the bottom opened, insert one strand of the test lamp’s wire inside the live terminal which is the one on the right. Insert the other end onto the other terminal on the left. Switch on the socket. If the circuit is alright, the bulb will light up. If not, he circuit breaker will trip.
Now, switch off the socket again. Remove your screwdriver from the earth terminal. Pull out the wire from the left side and stick it into the earth terminal. Switch onthe socket. If the circuit breaker trips, then the circuit breaker is okay. If the bulb lights up again or nothing happens, then your circuit breaker needs to be replaced.

This sounds safe and perfectly reasonable.

 

[KaizerDan]

Test it Use two strands of wires about 1/2 a meter long, connect one end to a simple lamp holder and plug in a 100 watt bulb. Leave the other ends bare with the copper wires exposed. Go to the socket outlet. With the socket in off position, open the openings by inserting a screwdriver into earth which the one on the top hand side. When you see the two small openings at the bottom opened, insert one strand of the test lamp’s wire inside the live terminal which is the one on the right. Insert the other end onto the other terminal on the left. Switch on the socket. If the circuit is alright, the bulb will light up. If not, he circuit breaker will trip.
Now, switch off the socket again. Remove your screwdriver from the earth terminal. Pull out the wire from the left side and stick it into the earth terminal. Switch onthe socket. If the circuit breaker trips, then the circuit breaker is okay. If the bulb lights up again or nothing happens, then your circuit breaker needs to be replaced.

If you dont have/know how to use meters to test circuits, You shouldnt be touching anything...

 

[plugwash]

First things first, Spoony's advice is both misleading and dangerous, take no notice of it.

Now getting back to the original question

The first thing I would try would be to get a kill-a-watt or similar and monitor your current draw on the circuit. IIRC american breakers are not intended to be loaded at full rating continuously either so this may be part of your problem.

Also check your voltage, remember that unlike most loads PC PSUs will draw MORE current as the voltage goes down. a 1KW PSU with 80% efficiancy running at full load will draw about 10A at 120V but that will rise to about 15A at 80V. I could easily see a brownout pushing an already marginal circuit over the edge when the main load is a PC.

Also is the breaker in question a simple breaker or is it a breaker with a GFCI or AFCI in it, if the latter you have to consider the possibility that you are tripping that part and not the overcurrent part (though the fact it only happens duing gaming makes me suspect the overcurrent part)

If your cable isn't big enough to up the breaker and you don't want to rewire one possibility might be to convert the circuit to 240V. Obviously this would require replacing the sockets with appropriate 240V ones and moving everything that couldn't take 240V off the circuit but it may be an option worth considering.

 

[Tsumi]

A single GTX 580 system should not pull anymore than 600 watts from the wall (this is counting for a heavily overclocked CPU using nearly 200 watts, an overclocked graphics card using nearly 300 watts, and factoring PSU efficiency, with every component under the maximum possible load). A GTX 580 SLI system might hit 950 watts from the wall. With a 15 amp circuit breaker, you should have 1800 watts available to you, which should be more than enough to power everything on that breaker, even if you had an SLI system. An SLI system barely uses up half its capacity, and a single card configuration would get nowhere near half. I'm not, however, suggesting that I'm a household electrical expert, because I'm not. Your problem could be one of many things, including faulty wiring.

I would suggest using P95 and Furmark (or similar, like OCCT Power Supply Test, which just runs simultaneous LinX and Furmark) and try to trip the circuit breaker. This scenario is a maximum power consumption test for your computer, and also turn everything else on. If it does not trip right away, then your problem lays elsewhere. If it trips after a while, then it may be the wires are getting too hot and burning additional power, as another poster suggested. The wires getting hot will of course only happen over time.

Spooony... of all the posts you made... that has got to be one of the stupidest yet for the record. Of course, I don't read all your posts... but your track record is pretty bad so far.

 

[demingo]

A single GTX 580 system should not pull anymore than 600 watts from the wall (this is counting for a heavily overclocked CPU using nearly 200 watts, an overclocked graphics card using nearly 300 watts, and factoring PSU efficiency, with every component under the maximum possible load). A GTX 580 SLI system might hit 950 watts from the wall. With a 15 amp circuit breaker, you should have 1800 watts available to you, which should be more than enough to power everything on that breaker, even if you had an SLI system. An SLI system barely uses up half its capacity, and a single card configuration would get nowhere near half. I'm not, however, suggesting that I'm a household electrical expert, because I'm not. Your problem could be one of many things, including faulty wiring.

I would suggest using P95 and Furmark (or similar, like OCCT Power Supply Test, which just runs simultaneous LinX and Furmark) and try to trip the circuit breaker. This scenario is a maximum power consumption test for your computer, and also turn everything else on. If it does not trip right away, then your problem lays elsewhere. If it trips after a while, then it may be the wires are getting too hot and burning additional power, as another poster suggested. The wires getting hot will of course only happen over time.

Spooony... of all the posts you made... that has got to be one of the stupidest yet for the record. Of course, I don't read all your posts... but your track record is pretty bad so far.

Good advice. I'ts a i7 950 Oc'd to 4ghz, 12gb ram, 2 ssd and 2 7200s.

Im going to try the testing you recommended and see what happens. Unfortantely I don't know if there is much I can do since I rent and I doubt my landlord would even care to fix this. might just need to move things around to seperate breakers

 

[ShuttleLuv]

Spoony needs to be banned.

 

[heatlesssun]

Also keep in mind that the typical 15 amp/120 v house circuit isn't designed to pull 1800 watts continuously, most are rated for only 75-80% of that or roughly 1400W which is still well below what you should be pulling with your rig. If the circuit is tripping with less than 1300W of load you need to tell your landlord and get an electrician to look at that as that sounds like you might have a wiring issue.

 

[tangoseal]

There are a lot of good suggestions here but the simplest is....

Call your power company and tell them you need them to come out and assess your power needs and they will fit you with the proper breakers and power inputs from the pole. It might cost 100 in labor but it will solve all your power needs.

I had to do that to install my air compressor on a 220v circuit in my garage that I had them install and it was like 75 installed plus parts.

Its also important to call them out because your whole room might be on one circuit meaning even if you have your PC and fishtank, modem, etc in one outlet, but you have a fan, stereo, tv, etc in other outlets in the same room you might be overloading the circuit with more than the rated capacity.

This may help too:
http://www.supercircuits.com/resources/tools/Volts-Watts-Amps-Converter

 

[RamonGTP]

Test it Use two strands of wires about 1/2 a meter long, connect one end to a simple lamp holder and plug in a 100 watt bulb. Leave the other ends bare with the copper wires exposed. Go to the socket outlet. With the socket in off position, open the openings by inserting a screwdriver into earth which the one on the top hand side. When you see the two small openings at the bottom opened, insert one strand of the test lamp’s wire inside the live terminal which is the one on the right. Insert the other end onto the other terminal on the left. Switch on the socket. If the circuit is alright, the bulb will light up. If not, he circuit breaker will trip.
Now, switch off the socket again. Remove your screwdriver from the earth terminal. Pull out the wire from the left side and stick it into the earth terminal. Switch onthe socket. If the circuit breaker trips, then the circuit breaker is okay. If the bulb lights up again or nothing happens, then your circuit breaker needs to be replaced.

WTF? I means seriously, wtf? I said it before in another thread, i'll say it again here. You need to refrain from giving ANY advise. You're either completely wrong and in this case, wrong and unsafe.

 

[Tsumi]

for the record, advice has a c, not an s

Back on topic, let us know what happens when you run stress tests/running everything else. We may be able to help you troubleshoot further, or you may just have to hire an electrician.

 

[thax]

ok first how old is the breakers? as they get older they trip at less load good way to test this if you don't know how to use meter is to see if it trips more on a hot day. 2 how old is the house? if its older then they might be a lot more on that circuit then you think. if you think you can be safe and know what your doing open up you panel and see if ti all looks good

!!!!!!!!important if you never done it before just call some one you can get killed really fast !!!!!!!!

if its just a bad breaker then you looking at about 100ish depending on what type it is, if you only have number 14 wire and you pulling over 15 but under 20 just put a 20amp in there(yes awg14 is good for 20A ) If your close to 20 i would run a new circuit though

 

[ShuttleLuv]

Spoony does need to be banned. He's either a completely uninformed older adult looking to have fun, or a kid with no enough experience or knowledge on any subject.

 

[demingo]

There are a lot of good suggestions here but the simplest is....

Call your power company and tell them you need them to come out and assess your power needs and they will fit you with the proper breakers and power inputs from the pole. It might cost 100 in labor but it will solve all your power needs.

I had to do that to install my air compressor on a 220v circuit in my garage that I had them install and it was like 75 installed plus parts.

Its also important to call them out because your whole room might be on one circuit meaning even if you have your PC and fishtank, modem, etc in one outlet, but you have a fan, stereo, tv, etc in other outlets in the same room you might be overloading the circuit with more than the rated capacity.

This may help too:
http://www.supercircuits.com/resources/tools/Volts-Watts-Amps-Converter

I rent and do not own, and I dont see my landlord going that far as she would probably argue my usage is extreme. The other part of the question, there is nothing else on the breaker. I had shut it off and the only outlets/lights that stopped functioning were the ones I listed.

Also cranked up a stress test for about 2 hours last night and nothing. I'm starting to think it might just be bad wiring tripping somewhere.

Would a UPS/AVR on the PC help solve the issue? I am looking for something I can do easily as I doubt my landlord would be much help.

 

[Tsumi]

Definitely does sound like trippy wires, or it could be an old circuit breaker as someone else mentioned.

A UPS on the PC would only keep it powered on when the circuit breaker trips. It should give you enough time to go reset the circuit breaker, so if you want to keep your computer from shutting down randomly due to power failures, the UPS route is a good way to go.

 

[Zero82z]

I rent and do not own, and I dont see my landlord going that far as she would probably argue my usage is extreme.

If the electrical wiring of your apartment is not working as it should, the degree of your usage is irrelevant. It needs to be repaired.

 

[heatlesssun]

If the electrical wiring of your apartment is not working as it should, the degree of your usage is irrelevant. It needs to be repaired.

Absolutely. There's something quite wrong and potentially unsafe if that circuit trips by powering the rig that you described and your landlord is legally obligated to keep the house safe and sound structurally and mechanically.

 

[djstarfox]

Apartments' circuit breakers and wiring are cheap and probably not touched since the place was built. I had a power company tech tell me that old breakers sometimes melt and re-solidify under less than max load.

Just find which circuit breaker keeps tripping and replace it. $6 at Home Depot. Or better yet, have your landlord do it for free.

 

[GotNoRice]

A single PC shouldn't trip a breaker on it's own. My computer is about as power hungry as it gets and pulls over 1000w from the wall under load. But that is still less than the power consumption of devices such as space heaters, toasters, or hair dryers, all of which are designed to run off normal wall plugs without any issues.

 

[thax]

do any of your lights dim a lot when something like the ac comes on? power is nothing to mess around whit if you never changed a breaker before or open up a panel don't try. report it to your land lord and have him fix it its one of 3 things bad/lose wiring, bad breaker or to much load (think its 1 or 2 though) now if you fell like you can be safe changing a breaker try this turn off your main breaker should be a 125amp or higher(if you can get to it in larger places they will be outside by your meter) assuming you can kill power go buy an good rubber handle screw driver and open up your panel and change the breaker and see if the wiring looks ok after doing that if you still have trouble go to the outlet that your pulled in to and pull it out to see if theirs a lose wire in it. Once again if you don't fell safe meesign whit this then don't its not worth it have him fix it if he blows you off tell him that you hear sparks by the panel when you go to reset it some times