Instable due to PSU? Recommendations
I got myself a Corsair HX520 about 5-6 years ago for a PC rebuild with a Core2 Quad & Gigabyte X48 motherboard. I had countless problems with stability and returned one motherboard. The PSU rails seemed stable but BSOD during resume from standby and while being used was a big problem.
Last year I decided to rebuild and update the mobo/CPU/Ram. Initially things seemed better but there is some instability, especially when resuming from standby. Not every occasion but maybe every 4 resumes several applications crash on resuming.
I have tried overclocking to 4.6GHz successfully and voltages seem okay. However the resume instability is beginning to annoy me. I am not certain why it is doing it, maybe the power good is problematic and not working correctly.
Other than this the PSU is okay, nice and quiet and does what is needed.
I am contemplating replacing it with a new PSU in the hope of solving this instability once and for all and would like opinions on whether I should do this or what the problem might be. The Corsair is out of warranty, I should of paid more attention to it while it was still in warranty.
If I get a new PSU I will get a lower power PSU of about 350 to 450W. I don't game, a graphics card is only used to decode video and display a screen. I do intend upgrading the Gfx card for a GTX750.
Quietness - no coil whine or loud fans
Efficient without going OTT and paying for Platinum rating, Gold rating preferred, high efficiency at around 20% of rating best of all because that is the state it will be in for the majority of the time.
Stable voltages, I do overclock my CPU occasionally.
I have 5/6 SATA Hdd and 2 optical SATA drives. Also a fan controller 1Molex and a FDD for my Satellite card is required.
I did some testing with my current system, i7-3770k overclocked to 4.6GHz running LinX or Prime with Furmark showed up to 278W(236@85%) from the wall. I doubt the GTX750 will make a big difference hence a 400W should be plenty. My system currently idles at about 88 (66@75%)-110W(83@75%) from the wall.
These are a few of the PSU's that I have seen that might be what I am looking for:
Enermax RevolutionX ERX430W this seems fairly decent, costs £66.52@scan
Coolermaster RS450-AMAA-G1 £59.98@eBuyer
BeQuiet Straightpower E9-400W - I am not so keen on this due to multiple 12V rails and fixed connections £56.88@somewhere or other
Seasonic G-450 - coil whine seems to be a problem on some of the Seasonic PSU's which makes me wary. £65.34@somewhere or other
What are your thoughts on this?
Re: Instable due to PSU? Recommendations
In my experience instability on resume from standby can be for several non-PSU reasons. A weak PSU is one culprit, sure, but other hardware, especially GPUs and software, esp. drivers is at least as likely.
Quick fix is to reduce how deep the computer sleeps - you'll have some options in BIOS for this. Other fixes include setting the graphics cards and other peripherals not to sleep so deeply. You can run a Windows check to test how things are set up for power saving:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976034
That should give you an idea how many things there are to play with.
Re: Instable due to PSU? Recommendations
Thank you for your advice and the link to the microsoft article.
I must point out that it has been a problem with two different PC builds with both Win Xp Sp3 and Win 7 x64 Sp1. It is less of a problem with my current build with i7-3770k than it was with XP and Core 2 Q9450 which tended to BSOD on resume rather than a few applications crashing as it does now on Win 7.
Therefore different drivers and different operating systems which lead me to think that it could be the PSU at fault.
There are a few USB devices which the power management report claims could not suspend, some are related to the keyboard and hub which is usb connected. The same keyboard was used with my previous PC build but connected via ps/2 rather than usb.
It has been stable for a couple of days with standby/resume two or three times per day. However the power usage is a lot higher, the lowest being 95 watts, from the wall, with 2 of 5 drives powered. It was only using about 75 watts with 2 drives working previously.
I will test it to see how it goes. Maybe it was working at too low a power state previously. I have set the motherboard power saving to maximum, instead of medium and yet the power level is higher for some reason.
Code:
Power Policy:Sleep timeout is disabled (Plugged In)
The computer is not configured to automatically sleep after a period of inactivity.
USB Suspend:USB Device not Entering Suspend
The USB device did not enter the Suspend state. Processor power management may be prevented if a USB device does not enter the Suspend state when not in use.
Device Name USB Root Hub
Host Controller ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E2D
Host Controller Location PCI bus 0, device 26, function 0
Device ID USB\VID_8086&PID_1E2D
Port Path
USB Suspend:USB Device not Entering Suspend
The USB device did not enter the Suspend state. Processor power management may be prevented if a USB device does not enter the Suspend state when not in use.
Device Name Microsoft Integrated USB Hub
Host Controller ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E26
Host Controller Location PCI bus 0, device 29, function 0
Device ID USB\VID_045E&PID_001C
Port Path 1,6
USB Suspend:USB Device not Entering Suspend
The USB device did not enter the Suspend state. Processor power management may be prevented if a USB device does not enter the Suspend state when not in use.
Device Name USB Root Hub
Host Controller ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E26
Host Controller Location PCI bus 0, device 29, function 0
Device ID USB\VID_8086&PID_1E26
Port Path
USB Suspend:USB Device not Entering Suspend
The USB device did not enter the Suspend state. Processor power management may be prevented if a USB device does not enter the Suspend state when not in use.
Device Name Generic USB Hub
Host Controller ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E2D
Host Controller Location PCI bus 0, device 26, function 0
Device ID USB\VID_8087&PID_0024
Port Path 1
USB Suspend:USB Device not Entering Suspend
The USB device did not enter the Suspend state. Processor power management may be prevented if a USB device does not enter the Suspend state when not in use.
Device Name Generic USB Hub
Host Controller ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E26
Host Controller Location PCI bus 0, device 29, function 0
Device ID USB\VID_8087&PID_0024
Port Path 1
USB Suspend:USB Device not Entering Suspend
The USB device did not enter the Suspend state. Processor power management may be prevented if a USB device does not enter the Suspend state when not in use.
Device Name USB Serial Converter
Host Controller ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E2D
Host Controller Location PCI bus 0, device 26, function 0
Device ID USB\VID_0403&PID_6001
Port Path 1,6
USB Suspend:USB Device not Entering Suspend
The USB device did not enter the Suspend state. Processor power management may be prevented if a USB device does not enter the Suspend state when not in use.
Device Name Microsoft Internet Keyboard Pro Composite Device
Host Controller ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E26
Host Controller Location PCI bus 0, device 29, function 0
Device ID USB\VID_045E&PID_002B
Port Path 1,6,1
USB Suspend:USB Device not Entering Suspend
The USB device did not enter the Suspend state. Processor power management may be prevented if a USB device does not enter the Suspend state when not in use.
Device Name USB Input Device
Host Controller ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E26
Host Controller Location PCI bus 0, device 29, function 0
Device ID USB\VID_093A&PID_2510
Port Path 1,6,2
CPU Utilization:Processor utilization is high
The average processor utilization during the trace was high. The system will consume less power when the average processor utilization is very low. Review processor utilization for individual processes to determine which applications and services contribute the most to total processor utilization.
Average Utilization (%) 6.32
Platform Power Management Capabilities:PCI Express Active-State Power Management (ASPM) Disabled
PCI Express Active-State Power Management (ASPM) has been disabled due to a known incompatibility with the hardware in this computer.
BTW off topic, are you still connected to O2 or have you been migrated to Sky yet? I was migrated from BE and like a lot of people, my connection is a lot worse than it was while at BE.
Re: Instable due to PSU? Recommendations
Quote:
Originally Posted by
RedDwarf
BTW off topic, are you still connected to O2 or have you been migrated to Sky yet? I was migrated from BE and like a lot of people, my connection is a lot worse than it was while at BE.
I've been migrated. They switched me to a basic ADSL connection from an ADSL2+. But it's actually been a lot more stable! The router can now stay powered up for weeks on end, while before it would crash every 48 hours. The download speed is slightly higher too, however my ping is worse and it's much worse for gaming as lag spikes are now noticeable.
So it's kind of better for streaming netflix (what the mrs does) but worse for gaming (what we both does). The O2 switch offer was very good though so we're waiting for that to expire before going somewhere else.
Re: Instable due to PSU? Recommendations
Couple of things,
Coil whine, nothing is guaranteed not to I'm afraid, some are worse than others but it also can depend on what you're pulling as whine often only comes in at certain loads.
All the psu's you mentioned are good options, I'd also add in the the FSP Aurum http://www.amazon.co.uk/FSP-Aurum-S5.../dp/B00BZINDNC slightly cheaper non-modular 500w a quid more for the modular version http://www.amazon.co.uk/FSP-Aurum-Se.../dp/B00BJNSTSC
There is a 400w version of both of these but they are £5 to £10 more.
PS I was on BE too, been switched now, and I'll be leaving next week if all goes well, it's costing me slightly more and the service is worse, esp the traffic shaping sky is doing which causes youtube to really struggle at times.
Baring in mind what the EU is currently trying to do and the revelation that big isp's charge certain services to get preferential shaping I'm not surprised that netfilx is working better
Re: Instable due to PSU? Recommendations
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kalniel
I've been migrated. They switched me to a basic ADSL connection from an ADSL2+. But it's actually been a lot more stable! The router can now stay powered up for weeks on end, while before it would crash every 48 hours. The download speed is slightly higher too, however my ping is worse and it's much worse for gaming as lag spikes are now noticeable.
So it's kind of better for streaming netflix (what the mrs does) but worse for gaming (what we both does). The O2 switch offer was very good though so we're waiting for that to expire before going somewhere else.
If you had problems while at BE, didn't support try and get it working better? I had problems with my line and BE tried quite a lot, including ADSL to try and sort it out. A replacement local cable sorted it in the end.
I am 1 Mbit down on what I had at BE and 300kbps upload lower. That is 30% lower upload speed and 20% lower download connection speed.
I am considering my alternatives.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Pob255
Couple of things,
Coil whine, nothing is guaranteed not to I'm afraid, some are worse than others but it also can depend on what you're pulling as whine often only comes in at certain loads.
That is one thing that I have never experienced with my Corsair, it has always been very quiet.
Thanks for the recommendations. 400W is more than enough, 450W is stretching it a bit far but seems necessary to get the connections that I need. I would not go any higher.
Quote:
PS I was on BE too, been switched now, and I'll be leaving next week if all goes well, it's costing me slightly more and the service is worse, esp the traffic shaping sky is doing which causes youtube to really struggle at times.
Baring in mind what the EU is currently trying to do and the revelation that big isp's charge certain services to get preferential shaping I'm not surprised that netfilx is working better
Page loading on Sky is often mind numbingly slow for me. I am sure that pages loaded faster on dial up years ago.
Where are you switching to?
[EDIT]
Oh nearly forgot, the crashing has happened again. I know somewhere which can troubleshoot it so I will see if that can work out any software problems before I change the PSU. I just seems so strange that it only happens on wake from standby.
