Right so this is not as much a shutdown as an immediate cut out. It's not heat related (as far as I know) as I keep my rig cool enough, it's an old system (4 years) amd 64 x2 based on an m2n32sli-deluxe cooled with a Gellid Tranquillo (Thanks for the heads up CPC!). I have a feeling it may be to do with my graphics card (a 7900GT) and maybe not enough voltage. It only seems to shutdown during moderate to heavy load on it but not at a point of specific "high load". Only thing I have recently done that I thought may have started this is a Full C:/ error check and repair (also performed on 2 storage drives each 90% full (windows 7 32bit)). I have one little other thing to note; around 6 months ago I noticed this (rather strange looking burn mark) on my 20pin power connector (which voltages does that part deliver?) - but despite its looks the rig ran fine up to this point in time with only some minor errors. Could dodgy voltage coming to my card be an issue (I noticed in my BIOS the other day my PSU was outing the 3.3V at a meagre 2.7V - is this sufficient or could this be the root cause?) I have mislaid my copy/copies of CPC with the various PSU reviews which I know to have contained this very information! Are there any glaring checks I have missed or quick fixes anyone can think of? I am about to update my graphics drivers but other than that I'm stuck for ideas. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I'd say your PSU is not all there. I had this same scenario and RMA'd a Mobo and a Gfx card before I was able to pin it down.
I would say its almost guaranteed that this is your problem. I had a Geforce 6800gt with a burned molex connector which was causing system to fail and cut out randomly. I soldered a new connector on and the problem was solved. It's most likely that the PSU is underpowered for your computer. Time to buy a new PSU.
Yeah I had the exact same thing with my machine when I first built it. RMA'd the PSU and GPU 4 times which they replaced every time until they finally (months after buying it all) decided the 750w PSU SLI dual rail PSU (recommended by CPC a the time) wasn't up to scratch for my measely 3Ghz Quad AMD and single GTX275!!! Anyways in the end they upgraded the PSU to a non-modular 800w and not had a single issue since. Go figure!!
Ok thanks people - now when buying a new PSU, am I correct in thinking a PSU with a 120mm fan sits in the same bay as a PSU that has an 80mm fan? I was going to go with the antec TP 650w modular - unless anyone else has a better suggestion either lower or at the same price? Edit: This was defo the power supply - dropped my mates 650w in and it's behaved all day
I would go with the power supply you have chosen. At least with the modular cabling you can keep the case tidy. What was the previous power supply?
The 80mm fan usually sits on the outside edge of the unit as an exhaust, where as the 120mm sits on the broader inner panel in-taking air from the case. So yes a 120mm fan PSU should fit just fine.
The old PSU was some hunk o' junk Mesh threw in when I first bought my pc years ago. Model number is HEC-550TD-PTE. The problem looks to be the 3.3V rail isn't delivering - its about 0.8V short of what it should be all the time...
