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Need help PLEASE may be PSU may be other????

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dmfree88

New Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2013
I have been having strange issues with my computer since I built it. I am new to building but have taken apart and fixed many computers. I seem to be having some sort of issue with this one I cant seem to pin-point. I think it may be power supply related. I am not very familiar with the readings that come across and what they should be at. From what I understand there should be minimal fluctuations on the 12v, 5v and 3.3v rails. From my readings anytime the computer is under load the 5v drops down to around 3v. From what my MSI control center shows 4.5v-4.9v should be the LOW warning settings for 5v and it does this as soon as I open any game or anything with occasional spikes back up to 5v. Also the Vcore seems jumpy. stays around same numbers but jumps back and forth (not sure what vcore is even really).

So I guess I should really explain what has happened thus far with the PC to lead me to knowing there is a problem. I put everything together all new parts (listed below) with the exception of one piece, the graphics card. I hadn't received my new one at the time so it initially was using a Zotac Geforce GTS250. Again at the time seemingly no issues its lightning fast, the readings were still the same in control center (5v dropping to 3ish during load). But I really didn't know at the time nor do I really know now if that's bad or not. Anyways it seems to work fine but there is an annoying hiss type noise coming from what seems to be the power supply (very faint tho not a big deal). So I used it like this for about a week or 2 before my new graphics card finally arrived (Sparkle GTX 560ti). I quickly installed it forgetting to uninstall drivers (which nowadays I don't think usually causes any issues but who knows) and when I went to turn my computer on, It instantly turned off after showing the msi boot screen for a moment. I quickly turned it back on to make sure it worked and it came up with an NVidia bios screen of some sort mentioning the bios version. Everytime I start the computer (even after using multiple driver versions) this screen still appears. Not a big deal at first the card seemed to work fine. I always play with headphones on so I didn't notice at first but a couple days later I notice theres a buzz of some sort coming from the computer while playing need for speed. It seemed to be only under load but the buzz was pretty bad. It didn't effect performance (at first) but was annoying and not coming from the fan (stopped the fan with finger and sound continued). At first I thought maybe power supply because they are so close together its hard to tell, but then the next day I have gpu-z up (which I have been monitoring off and on through-out) and the noise comes back but with no game open, then all of a sudden it gets louder and quieter (best description via text zzzZZZzzzZZZzzzZZZ) and the reading in gpu-z was usage 97% (while quieter) 99% (when louder). The noise was fast and still loud (good description is it sounded like a hard drive reading/writing large file) even when on the low end. While this was happening lines were going across the screen and the screen flashed and the start menu bar changed colors and was having major graphics issues. I restarted the computer to see what would happen. It started up and seemed to be fine but when I go into gpu-z the clock speeds were all decreasing, and gpu-z does give reason for decrease and it says utilization. but the utilization was (atleast now) sitting at 0 percent. It kept going up to normal clock then back to halfish and all the way down to like 53mhz or something. it did it for a few moments then I decided to pull the card. I am now preparing the card for RMA. So I put the old card back into the computer and the NVidia boot bios disappeared and seems to run fine on newest drivers, except there still seems to be a low buzz or hiss (possibly psu hiss increasing or maybe the graphics card really hard to tell with this one).

So with the computer seemingly too loud under load. and the power supply making a strange hiss. only reason I know this specific hiss is coming from power supply is it continues to run when I shut down my pc for almost 2 minutes. I have never seen a power supply do this before but it stays on for literally 2 minutes with the fan running and hiss continues until it shuts off. Is there something really wrong with the power supply, not the graphics card? Does it just barely run the GTS250 and was only having issues because the GTX560ti takes more power? Is that 5v rail running in safe parameters? I have tried asking many people and websites (NVidia, msi etc) for help and no one has even offered a single suggestion. Please help me I cant afford to replace parts that work. I have work to do on this computer from home and I cant afford it to not function. Any suggestions or further questions feel free to reply :)

I apologize for such a long story but it keeps getting longer and I still haven't had any real answers to any of this so I have no idea what to do? Thanks for your time

Specs:
Mobo: MSI 970a-ga46 (latest bios update i think 2.1)
PSU: PC Power and Cooling 750watt Silver Certified MkII Silencer
Processor: AMD FX-8350 4.0ghz (Slightly OCd to 4.3ghz never above 50degrees)
OS: Windows 7 Pro 64bit (updated to latest updates with all .net framework installed/updated if thats relevant)
Graphics Card: Sparkle GTX 560ti (previous Zotac GTS 250)
Storage: Corsair Force Series 3 90gb SSD
Ram: G.skill Ripjaws 2x4gb ddr3 1600


Image shows 5v dropping under load quite a bit but 12v doesn't move and 3.3v only drops slightly
usage.jpg
 
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The GPU noise you are experiencing is called coil whine, and is usually perfectly normal. Some cards have coil whine, some do not. It depends on the design and the coils used.

Now, what bothers me is the 5V drop, and the noise when shutting down. Alas, that is out of my reach, as I don't have all that PSU experience. I'd guess it has to do with a cap or similar, but you better wait for someone who can pinpoint what that is.
 
Do you have a multimeter?
If so, check the 3.3v, 5v, and 12v voltages with the computer at idle and under load.
If the 5v rail really is dropping that much it's new PSU time.
(Or RMA that PSU, if it's still in warranty)
 
I don't have a multimeter but I will borrow one as soon as I can to get an accurate reading. I don't really trust the software im using, Aida64 says the 12v and 3.3v are working fine but has no information about the 5v. The MSI control center never says that the 5v goes down it just shows it drop significantly in graphing. Any suggestions on a reasonable hardware monitor with 5v monitoring? Just to give myself an idea if this could possibly be the issue at all? Or if control center is just wiggy? Either way it definetly has some sort of whine coming from the PSU. Much more noticeable when you shut down because the power supply continues to run for about a minute after shutdown. I hear this is probably a problem with the voltage regulator? and that I should not be using the PSU at all before it damages my computer? I work on my computer everyday and luckily my work doesn't put it under load but I have to work everyday with this computer and I need it to stay functioning. I don't want to damage my other parts I just spent good money on but I cant afford to take a week off until I can afford/find another psu. So I will try to find a multimeter and get back to you but in the meantime is there another psu monitor that checks 5v rails that I can actually get a READING from instead of just a graph?
 
Hwmomitor is the best in my opinion. It's still reading the same possibly bad sensors though.
 
hw monitor shows 5v rail reading at 3.237v at all times... atleast as of today. I might be getting a new psu soon im worried.. I start work in 5 minutes wish me luck I got 8 hours on this psu atleast :(
 
Got multimeter. Weirdest thing. hwmonitor keeps getting different readings everytime I login. seems strange but none of them are right based on the multimeter. Firstly its probably poorly calibrated but heres what I get with a crappy analog multimeter:

12v rail: 12v (seems exact doesn't seem to move) also first start of hw monitor says its at almost 15v
5v rail: sitting at almost 6 volts proabably 5.5v or so (hwmonitor still reading 3.2v)
3.3v rail: sitting at 3.8 volts or so.. so unless the 10 volt measurement on this multimeter is off , then theres seems to be a definite problem. just unsure why the sensors are so far off. they know its wrong, just not how wrong or even which direction.. weird... getting new psu I suppose will post when something new happens :p see if all goes well after new psu, thanks for the help everyone
 
The 5V rail is actually 5V5 IIRC, so 5.5V is OK.
The 3V3 rail at 3.8v gets out of spec (3.45v). You should look at this.
The 12V looks ok.

Get a digital one, it isn't that expensive, just for precision.

And probably the SuperIO chip died and the voltage readings are plain wrong.

Are these idle or load?
 
If that meter is correct, it's new PSU time.
5V rail is supposed to be 5V +/-5%, so anything over 5.25v is out of spec.
 
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