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PSU problem?

J

Jathanis

[H]ard|DCer of the Month - Feb. 2013
Joined
Apr 22, 2008
Messages
985
Okay, I think I got this figured out, but before giving newegg even more of my money, I figured I'd ask here... I installed the WCG client last Monday, and got a BSOD on late last Wednesday - didn't think much of it, as I hadn't gotten one in years, and just rebooted, no problem. Next day I got another, started to get concerned, so I ran the standard virus scanning, adaware, spybot, etc, and scandisked all my drives, all negative. Finally, after more random BSODs, I had three on Sunday, and the frequency was getting closer and closer. So after giving it the day turned off today, I took some canned air and cleaned everything out, made sure all memory, cards, etc were properly seated, and fired it up. After some BIOS tweaking (due to the standard failure to boot last time warnings), I got it up and running, no prob, CPU core temps in the high 30s/low 40s. Then 5 seconds after firing up both 9600gso folding, the whole thing BSODs again. Reboot again, and I sit here typing this on the same computer, no problem...

So the config in question is a 1.8 e2160 OCed to 3.2 (stable for at least 18 months) with a pair of 9600gso (stable for the last 6 weeks, even w/ the new WUs) running XP w/ WCG & 2x F@H - on an Antec Smartpower 2.0 500 watt supply. Could it be that the addition of the WCG client to the 2 FAH clients finally pushed the PSU over the edge? I know that the 500 watt PSU is adequate in theory to run both cards, but if I gotta replace this PSU, I'm thinking I should have at least 600-650 to be safe.

So today I'm gonna fire up Memtest86 to double check the memory (it's free, after all), then I think it's time to order a new PSU. Since I know more than a few of our veteran folders have tortured PSUs to death before, does it sound like I'm on the right track here? Does 600 watts sound right for the setup I'm running? This is the family machine, so I won't be upgrading the vid cards for a while (saving for my first dedicated boxen instead), so I'm not worried about future proofing this PSU. The best price/value/quality PSU I saw on Newegg was this PC Power & Cooling unit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703005
Anyone else have any good PSU suggestions, I'm game, but would like to keep it to under/around $100 before rebate, if possible...

Now I'm off to sacrifice a few chickens and hope that the PSU (if that really is the problem) continues it's slow downward spiral and doesn't take any other components out with it! :(
 
the only thing id say is fire up speedfan and monitor the voltages and see if anything looks funny when you have both cards off and when you have it on.. if the numbers start jumping excessively.. then id say for sure its the psu.. but it does sound like the psu's crapping out on you.. what psu do you have right now?
 
A $20 multi meter is a must.

I'm going to pick one up in the next few days and have some fun.

It's a tool any true geek should have.

That and I have a little project in mind to keep me busy this winter :D;)
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
what psu do you have right now?
Click to expand...

It's a 500 watt Antec smartpower 2.0 - more than enough when I built the system with a single 8600gt, and adequate to run a pair of 9600GSO in SLI per EVGA's site (min 450 watt required)... I'm just thinking that the two GPU folding clients plus the dual core WCG client was enough to push it off the edge! That's why I'm thinking of upping it to a 600+ watt unit, just to get a bit more overhead.

And unfortunately, I can't even fire up ANY of the clients - 5 seconds into any folding/crunching/Prime 95, etc, and the system just shuts down. I'll try the speedfan trick and see what it says when I get home from work.

(The real problem --> Damn folding bug made me buy that second 9600gso & install that WCG client!) :D
 
That and I have a little project in mind to keep me busy this winter
Click to expand...

If your still in the "thinking" phase of a little project you plan to spend a whole winter on, you've got something substantial up your sleeve. You are correct that a multimeter is an essential. I seem to be hard on mine. My Dad's shop has absorbed several and I ran over one with a trailer. The last one i bought for $8.88 and had it for a few weeks before I lent it to a friend this summer. Haven't gotten it back quite yet.


 
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