Is my PSU failing?

Hi guys,

It's definitely been a while since I was last here, mostly because I haven't really done any upgrades to my system. Recently however my system has started behaving odd, and I have a very strong hunch that my PSU is on its way out, just wanted to know if my reasoning makes any sense here.

Intel i5 2500K @ 4.6ghz in offset mode (1.35V max in offset load, same voltage as it would require in fixed mode)
Asrock P67-Pro3 Rev. B3
12GB ram divided between 4 sticks @ 1333mhz
Sapphire Radeon HD7950 @ 1155/1500 with 1193mV on the core
Enermax Liberty ELT-500-AWT 500W PSU bought in 2007 I believe
1TB internal drive, 2TB external drive with own PSU + 1TB external drive which gets power from the USB 3.0 port
5x120mm fans + 1x80mm fan

Now the behavior I've been experiencing these past 2~3 days is very errattic. Mostly it would happen during gaming or high load, the computer would just shut off instantly as if it has lost all power (which I suspect it has). It's different from a hard reboot or a BSOD. Don't get any memory error dump either.

It has happened once during idle when watching some Youtube, but usually it happens during load. The only thing that has changed during the last 2 weeks is that I upped my Graphics card from 1100/1500 @ 1175mV to 1155/1500 @ 1193mV. This has not raised the temperature on the card in the slightest.

My cpu isn't overheating, my graphics card isn't overheating and my RAM is actively cooled by 2x120mm fans. Is it safe to assume that my PSU is the culprit here?

You got good life out of that Liberty. More than most did. The Liberty series wasn't Enermax's best by any means.
Anyhow, replace it. That'll be the problem.

Mr.Scott said:

You got good life out of that Liberty. More than most did. The Liberty series wasn't Enermax's best by any means.
Anyhow, replace it. That'll be the problem.

Click to expand...

Yeah I suspected as much. I've put this little PSU through hell many many times and only just today realized for how long I've had it (Besides my case it has been the only thing that's been in every build since day one).

Browsing through the Dutch E-tailers I came across the EVGA 650 GQ (V2) to replace it with. Costs 90 euros and has really decent voltage regulation according to the jonnyguru review. The ripple is the only thing that "worries" me. Having said that, all other PSU's with this wattage rating and 80+ gold rating cost at the bare minimum 16~40 euro's more. Fairly new PSU so not much is known about longevity but it's built by FSP so that should be good right?

Possibly bad caps! Bad caps are still about as common in PSUs as during the pre-2006 years.
Because motherboards mostly use poly caps, most motherboards don't have bad caps anymore...

->Still mostly wet electrolytics in PSUs...

http://badcaps.net

eVGA PSUs FTW!

RJARRRPCGP said:

Possibly bad caps! Bad caps are still about as common in PSUs as during the pre-2006 years.
Because motherboards mostly use poly caps, most motherboards don't have bad caps anymore...

->Still mostly wet electrolytics in PSUs...

http://badcaps.net

eVGA PSUs FTW!

Click to expand...

No disclaimer about potentially causing serious injury or death by opening a PSU and not knowing EXACTLY what you're doing?

I would purchase the EVGA it is a good PSU.

ATMINSIDE said:

No disclaimer about potentially causing serious injury or death by opening a PSU and not knowing EXACTLY what you're doing?

Click to expand...

It wouldn't be the first time I've replaced caps on a PSU (Samsung 226CW with bad caps) , or have been zapped by one before ( Don't even go there )

After reading into the reviews a bit better I saw that the EVGA GQ650 is a bit loud under load, well, it's one of the loudest around at 40dB which is too much for my liking. Paired with the relatively high ripple compared to other units has made me up my budget. I mean, this one lasted me 8 years and at the time was not cheap (90 euro iirc).

So now I'm stuck between getting a Superflower Leadex Gold 650W and a Corsair RM750x. Both cost about the same (the Corsair is 3 euro's more expensive) and perform similarly, except for the fact that the Corsair has 100W more to spare which I will never get to use anyway and 2 years longer warranty.

Any input about one or the other?

EVGA Supernova G2/P2 series from EVGA... I believe they are SF platform, those... and a bit cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...uHuZ1Udog8JMW9wT04ZyIaAo268P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

I like the Platinum EVGA SuperNOVA 220-P2-0650-X1 650W Full Modular http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N83U90940

EarthDog said:

EVGA Supernova G2/P2 series from EVGA... I believe they are SF platform, those... and a bit cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...uHuZ1Udog8JMW9wT04ZyIaAo268P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

Click to expand...

wingman99 said:

I like the Platinum EVGA SuperNOVA 220-P2-0650-X1 650W Full Modular http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N83U90940

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The G2 was actually my preferred PSU but the 650W model here in The Netherlands is about 10 euros MORE expensive than a Corsair RM650i and about 20 euro's more expensive than the RM750x.

I'm going to pull the trigger on the RM750x, I don't dare risk to run this PSU much longer. Just tested gaming again and there it went, even though I backed down the overclock.

I would not take a chance either, you have to go with what you know works.

I had the exact same problem due to memory. Its probably rare problem but when I had the second stick of memory in the system windows would get to the boot screen and shut the computer off in the middle of the load screen and restart. I replaced the memory the problem went away. Before that it would randomly shut off during games.

Hmm, you might be on to something Shawnmcc. Today I installed the new Corsair RM750X, turned on unigine valley first and that held out well. Then I tried prime95 and it shut off during the heat up phase. Doesn't seem to be doing it without any overclock on the CPU so maybe it's just the CPU that has degraded over time. It is kind of sudden, but I'm going to run a bunch of more tests to see if I can pinpoint the issue.