Question Circuit Breaker trips when using new PC ?

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Nguyen2526

May 29, 2025
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I recently got a new PC with the following specs:

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
  • CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB (2024) – 360mm AIO
  • Fans replaced with Lian Li UNI Fan SL Infinity 120mm (3-pack, Fluid Dynamic Bearing)
  • Motherboard: Gigabyte B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7
  • PSU is Asus ROG THOR P2 Gaming 850 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
  • RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 CL36 – 64GB (4×16GB)
  • GPU: Zotac GAMING AMP Extreme INFINITY GeForce RTX 5070 Ti
  • Storage: WD_BLACK SN850X 1TB NVMe SSD (Model: WDS100T2X0E)
  • Case: Lian Li O11D EVO RGB
  • Power/RGB Accessories:
    • Lian Li Strimer Plus V2 (Wireless RGB w/ RF Controller):
      • 24-Pin Motherboard Strimer
      • Dual 16-Pin GPU Strimer
    • Lian Li UNI Fan SL Infinity 120mm (Standard + Reverse):
      • 2× 3-Packs (Standard)
      • 1× 3-Pack (Reverse)
      • 1× Single Fan Unit
My friend built and tested the PC before shipping it to me. It ran perfectly for two hours at his place. However, after setting it up in my room, it began tripping the circuit breaker—sometimes within 10–30 minutes, other times immediately—even during light tasks like watching YouTube or logging in.
I live in a small town where PC support is limited.
Local repair services charge around $190 just for diagnostics.
I checked the temps using HWMonitor. Most components are fine, but the CPU cooler idles at around 80°C, which seems high and might be due to a thermal paste issue (possibly an air bubble).
My brother's room and my room share the same circuit breaker. He only has a TV and a phone charger plugged in. I have the PC, monitor, and a charger.
I called my home warranty company to send someone out.



Technician 1:
Suspected the 20A AFCI/GFCI breaker was faulty—possibly heat-damaged (I’m in Texas).
Tested the wiring, ground, outlets, and for loose wires—no issues found. Recommended replacing the breaker, but couldn’t finish the job as he was leaving for vacation.



Technician 2:
When he came out, he tested and replaced the outlet (the issue persisted). Asked for wattage details. I told him the PSU is 850W and the monitor is 60W. I clarified that the PC likely only draws about 750W under load, not the full 850W. We tested the PC in the living room, and it didn’t trip the breaker or shut itself off. I mentioned the first tech’s theory about the breaker. He said he didn’t have time to check that day and would have to return. Which he never did he submitted a report claiming my system was overloading the circuit.
The warranty company denied the claim, saying they don’t cover overloads or equipment upgrades.
I tried to appeal with the third tech’s diagnosis, but they still denied it.



Technician 3 (Independent Electrician):
He opened and tested the breaker. Initially got 0.20V, then 120V after a reset. Also recommended replacing the breaker. Quoted $500 for the job.



I also had one last technician come out to be sure and he said the breaker is perfectly fine nothing wrong with it and it could be damaged wires in either mine or brother room he’s charging $280 for one bedroom just to check outlets and light switches if he finds anything he will charge extra to fix it.



Online Suggestions and Theories:

  • Faulty PSU
  • Inrush current triggering a sensitive AFCI breaker
  • Breaker is bad and needs to be replaced
  • Use a UPS to buffer startup spikes


I’m worried that the psu could be faulty or got damaged during shipment and could damage other components. I bought the psu off of amazon ship&sold by Amazon
Someone offered to replace the PSU for $175 (labor only), but I’d still need to purchase a new PSU—I’m open to recommendations.
Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated. I also tested the outlet myself with klein tools receptacle. Result: Correct.
 
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This:

"We tested the PC in the living room, and it didn’t trip the breaker or shut itself off."

Likely not a PSU problem. Try other locations/circuits to verify.

Do other high load applicances (small heater, vacuum cleaner, air dryer, window AC, power tools, etc.) trip the breaker/circuit in question?

The Klein tool - one of those basic receptical testers that lights up correct and incorrect wiring connections? And currently shows that the wiring is correct - right?

If so, the breaker is indeed suspect....

Technicians 1 & 2 likely have a vested interest in finding nothing wrong so the insurance company does not necessarily need to pay.... Both techs should have been able to diagnose the problem(s) without much effort.

Technician 3 - appears to have also keyed in on the breaker. Unfortunately the quote is what it is. Electrical work is expensive even for what sometimes appears to be simple things.

Last Electrician: How much extra will he charge to fix something? Ask the "what's and why's".

Unfortunately, you are at the mercy of the local "market" and you really need to find a licensed electrician with good recommendations and reputation. Ask around: family, friends, co-workers, etc..

Especially anyone who has had any recent electrical work or repairs done.

And you may be able to negotiate the price a bit. Be sure to get some warranty on repairs and parts.

No easy answer here.
 
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I’ve tested the PC on different circuits and in other rooms—sometimes it trips the breaker immediately, other times it takes a while.I left it on for longer when I retested it. I was nervous the first few time to leave it on for too long so I turned it off after 5 mins.

Have you tested whether other high-load appliances (like a space heater, vacuum cleaner, hair dryer, window AC, or power tools) trip the same circuit?
In my case, no other devices trip the breaker—only the PC does. This has never happened before; the breaker only trips when the PC is plugged in. I’ve tested other appliances and they all work fine.

Regarding the Klein tool—yes, it's a basic receptacle tester that lights up to indicate correct or incorrect wiring. It currently shows that the wiring is correct. Tested a few outlets in my room and all outlets are showing correct

The first technician mentioned he would try to get the breaker switch replaced under the home warranty if he had time, but apparently, he didn’t follow through. They ended up sending a different technician, which I found unprofessional. The appointment was scheduled for 10:00 AM, but he didn’t arrive until 4:00 PM. Then, at around 4:30 PM, he said he had to leave for another appointment to install a fan for a different customer. Before leaving, he told me to buy a new outlet so he could replace it—which I found odd, since the previous tech never asked me to purchase any parts. The outlet was inexpensive, so I went and bought it. He returned about 40 minutes later, replaced the outlet, and before he left, I asked to test it. The PC immediately tripped the breaker again. He said he didn’t have time to look into it and that he’d come back later, but he never did.

The third technician initially offered to replace the breaker switch to see if that would fix the issue but ended up just giving me a quote for the repair instead.

When I asked the last technician about pricing, he said it would depend on what needed to be repaired or replaced, and that he wouldn’t know until he actually encountered the issue.

I’ve asked around—friends, family, coworkers—and some electricians are quoting $150–$200 per hour, with extra charges when problem is found. A lot of people on Reddit have said replacing their psu did fix the issue so I might try that since it’s kinda the cheapest option at the moment. It been almost two months now since I received the pc and the breaker never trips unless I turn the pc on.
 
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I was about to ask the same thing as Ralston18 about the PSU.

It's hard to be sure without being there and checking things personally but I'm inclined to think it's the PSU or at least something in the PC, maybe some intermittent fault. 80ºC idling temp is really high.

The quickest way to find out is to replace the PSU. But the $175 charge for labor alone seems outrageously exploitative to me, as do the other charges by electricians. Sometimes I'm glad I live in a third-world country.
 
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The PSU is Asus ROG THOR P2 Gaming 850 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply I bought it from Amazon brand new and shipped it to his house but it was on sale I don’t know if that changes anything. Yea the labor work for an hour is wild… for the cpu temp is it not the thermal paste causing it to heat up like that? Sorry this my first pc and I don’t really know much about them.
 
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I have a PC on the same line as a microwave, coffee maker and toaster oven. If any three are on the same time I get a 15A breaker trip. Breakers trip because the load on the breaker is beyond a threshold. Faulty breakers will hair trigger trip if they are compromised. Since you get the same problem on different outlets (same line) it's likely the breaker. Breakers are not hard to replace. A GFCI breaker is pretty expensive ($60) but don't need license to change. Buy the same type, turn off house power and replace it (snap-in). That would be my first step.

Sorry just saw that you tried other circuits and it still trips. Agree, something amiss with PSU possibly.
 
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Even the cheapest thermal paste should not cause the idle temperature to go up like that - if it's applied properly and the cooler is seated correctly, that is, it's making good thermal contact with the CPU.

As to the PSU, maybe, just maybe, it's a unit that someone returned because of the effect you're experiencing.
 
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This is a example of many devices similar that a brand name called "killawatt" but there are many much cheaper ones, many in the $10 range.

https://www.amazon.com/Upgraded-Consumption-Electricity-Backlight-Protection/dp/B0D5QMK3BP?th=1

You should be able to see the actual usage of the computer. This device will also detect overloads. Hopefully you have a small amount of time where you can see some interesting number before the house breaker trips off. This should show if the pc itself is running at high power. If the pc is pulling more than 850 watts there is a huge issue.
 
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https://imgur.com/a/skABv3R
View: https://imgur.com/a/skABv3R


These are the screenshots of the CPU and the outlet. If it’s not the thermal paste, what else could be causing the CPU to overheat? Also, thank you for recommending that tool—I’ll go ahead and order it now.

I don’t mind paying for the breaker switch. I believe the one I need is around $75? It’s both AFCI and GFCI. My main concern is paying the third technician to replace it, only for the breaker to still trip—especially if the issue turns out to be the PSU. My breaker doesn’t have the main switch to turn it off so it might be outside I’m not sure really where actually..

Do you think I should call him back and ask if he can check what else is connected to the same circuit as my room?
 
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Nguyen2526 said:
We tested the PC in the living room, and it didn’t trip the breaker or shut itself off.
Click to expand...
I am not aware of anywhere in Texas that requires an electrician to replace an existing outlet or breaker, so if you are the least bit mechanically competent you could just buy one at Lowes or Home Depot and install it yourself, as after all we are in the information age and you could simply watch a Youtube video to see how.

You don't even need to remove any breakers from the panel or buy one to switch wires between the living room and your room.

I will say that while it's common for breakers to slowly deteriorate from overheating due to internal resistance and then trip at below the rated value, the most likely problem with your newer construction is the AFCI breaker is detecting something in your PC as arcing (as if connections are loose), so trips to prevent a fire. As you'd imagine this is a huge problem if you are actually trying to strike an arc using a welder or plasma cutter, but in your case it may simply not like the PSU's inrush current or something. With the welder the only fix is to use a non-AFCI breaker.

Remember GFCI is for protecting you from shock while AFCI is to protect infrastructure.

And I don't see any overheating.
 
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Red flag:

"My breaker doesn’t have the main switch to turn it off so it might be outside I’m not sure really where actually."

= = = =

That is an additional reason why a qualified, licensed electrician is needed. Something is amiss.....

There could be any number of wiring issues/mistakes, etc., that do not conform with local electrical standards.

(Such things can become an issue when trying to sell the property.)

What about any other GFCI's and/or outlets on that circuit? Or elsewhere?

All I will say is to google "gfci breaker installation wiring diagrams" and read the GFCI installation instructions.....

= = = =

And yes: in times past I have done such things myself.

For myself and for others. I can no longer do so for a number of reasons.

Overall, I am in general agreement with @BFG-9000 - DIY stuff.

However the world we now live in is very unforgiving when it comes to things like liabilities, insurance claims, lawsuits, and so forth.

Leave nothing to chance.
 
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Yeah, I’ve never worked on any electrical stuff before, and even with YouTube, I don’t feel confident replacing it myself. The fourth tech did offer to swap the AFCI for a regular breaker, but since we had loose wire issues in the past (now fixed), I’d rather play it safe and keep the AFCI. I haven’t tested on the none afci yet since I’m kinda scared
 
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If the breaker trips when you first connect mains power to the ATX PSU. it's probably the initial switch-on surge. If the PSU is plugged into a live wall outlet and the power switch on the rear panel is set to on, a high current surge occurs.

In this particularly poor example, a 550W PSU pulls 78.580A from the nominal 115V AC supply for a few milliseconds as the bulk electrolytic capacitor charges up. As the text explains, this can cause breakers to trip.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asus-tuf-gaming-550w-bronze-power-supply-review/2

"Inrush current, or switch-on surge, refers to the maximum, instantaneous input current drawn by an electrical device when it is first turned on. A large enough inrush current can cause circuit breakers and fuses to trip. It can also damage switches, relays, and bridge rectifiers. As a result, the lower the inrush current of a PSU, right as it is turned on, the better."

hSXyyqNU6wsTzL5m2i6XLf-1200-80.png.webp


Remedial Action

You might just be unlucky with your choice of PSU. See if you can find a test report for your PSU on Tom's showing the "inrush" current.

https://www.ept.ca/features/inrush-current-limiting-techniques-solutions/
iu

Good quality ATX PSUs include an NTC varistor (thermistor) inrush current limiter, but even when fitted, the inrush current will still be tens of Amps.


iu


https://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/psu/160/3

thermistor.jpg


In the photo above, the thermistor (green disc) is wired in series with the Line (live) input and reduces the input current spike. The MOV (blue disc) is wired across Line and Neutral to reduce voltage spikes.

A commercial surge arrestor mains strip will probably have little or no effect on your ATX PSU's input current spike. Many cheap strips contain little more than an MOV to clamp voltage spikes. They might provide some protection if you have a lightning strike nearby, or an electrically noisy fridge, washing machine or ACU.

If you go through enough Tom's reviews, you might find a PSU with a lower inrush current. It might be cheaper than replacing breakers.

Perhaps a mains filter will "squash" the surge slightly., but you'd need to get an electrician to wire one up in a box.

The 10A unit below would be fine where I live with 240V mains, but for Texas and 120V I'd suggest a 16A version.
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/power-line-filters/1620584

iu


Please note these filters are designed to reduce RFI emissions, but the series inductors might help to reduce the amplitude of the current spike as power is applied.
 
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Nguyen2526 said:
All four bedrooms have AFCI, the kitchen and three bathrooms have GFCI, and even the garage has an AFCI.
Click to expand...
I have good old fashioned fuses in my mains distribution panel (5A, 10A and 30A). No miniature circuit breakers, GFCI or AFCI. My house could burn down and I could get electrocuted, but I don't trip the main 100A breakers.

Although I suspect your problem is due to a high surge current when power is first applied to the ATX PSU, during the first few milliseconds an arc will form between the contacts of any on/off switch in series with the mains input to the ATX PSU. If you plug the cord into a wall outlet, you may see a bright blue flash if the room is dark. This arc might trip an AFCI.
https://www.electricaltechnology.org/2021/09/afci-arc-fault-circuit-interrupter.html

Similarly, most switched mode PSUs include Class Y capacitors from Line and Neutral down to mains earth. These capacitors provide RFI filtering, but bleed off a few mA down to ground. Connect enough computers, monitors, TVs, laptop PSUs, printers, routers, network switches and the individual leakage currents add up and can exceed the 20mA limit on a sensitive GFCI.
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/safety-capacitor-class-x-and-class-y-capacitors/

I remember one Milspec build where we had to fit a 100mA earth leakage sensor instead of the normal 30mA, The leakage currents of high power transmitters and ACUs tripped the normal breaker at over 30mA.


Nguyen2526 said:
If the psu not working with the afci will a ups help it?
Click to expand...
Buffering the ATX PSU might work if you buy an expensive double-conversion always on-line UPS where the battery powered inverter runs all the time and feeds your computer with "isolated" power.
https://www.amazon.com/APC-1000VA-Smart-UPS-Uninterruptible-SRT1000XLA/dp/B072MJDZCK?th=1

A cheaper off-line UPS routes the mains supply straight through to the output and the inverter remains dormant, unless there's a power cut. An off-line UPS is unlikely to stop the ATX PSU current surge from tripping your breakers.
https://www.engineeringa2z.com/ups-types-comparison-online-and-offline/
 
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@Misgar but the thing is sometime it doesn’t trip the breaker right way but does inrush still spike that high later on when using the pc to trip the breaker? For the ups will CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS System, 1500VA/1000W be good enough to help the inrush?

​

 
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Nguyen2526 said:
@Misgar but the thing is sometime it doesn’t trip the breaker right way but does inrush still spike that high later on when using the pc to trip the breaker? For the ups will CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS System, 1500VA/1000W be good enough to help the inrush?

​

Click to expand...
Inrush is related to the power to charge the capacitors when you first turn it on. In general a circuit breaker will tolerate this just like they tolerate the extra power your refrigerator motor takes when it first starts. If you dig around the electrical codes you can find the details on how much current a circuit breaker must take. In general it will tolerate a couple second spike well above the rated value. Not sure how much it is but you have people running window AC units on circuits like this and the surge from those is much higher.

It was fairly well explained in the above post about UPS. It is not just sine wave that is need it must be "double conversion". It will be far cheaper to just buy a new power supply than to mess around trying to hide some problem. The breaker should easily be able to handle a 1500 watt computer power supply.
 
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Nguyen2526 said:
the thing is sometime it doesn’t trip the breaker right way but does inrush still spike that high later on when using the pc to trip the breaker?
Click to expand...
The initial high current spike only happens at the instant in time when the mains is connected to the ATX PSU. It doesn't occur again until after you've disconnected the mains and reconnected it again, by toggling the rear panel switch or unpluging from the wall.

The surge does not take place when you pressi the power button on the front of a computer. The switch on surge has already occurred when the circuit from the wall outlet through the rear panel on/off switch was closed.

bill001g said:
In general it will tolerate a couple second spike well above the rated value.
Click to expand...
True. If you check the speed/current curves for many breakers, you'll find they won't trip until more than 3x to 10x or even 20x rated current flows.

There are three types of breaker in the graph below. B is the most sensitive (3x to 5x), D the least sensitive (10x to 20x).
https://www.ecosoch.com/blogdesc/66c96cc776fabd974bb980df

iu


Breakers can trip on gross over current, and they are operated by thermal and magnetic circuits, but you have two additional trip detectors, i.e. an arc detector and a ground leakage detector. These complicate matters considerably when diagnosing faults remotely.

I have no idea which function is tripping your breaker if it occurs at random times. Can you provide the trip current rating of the breaker? If it's low (10A) it's far more likely to trip. If it's higher (20A) it will be less sensitive. Ideally I need the exact part number of each breaker and detector to look up the data sheets.

If I had modern MCBs on the ring mains in my house, the rating would be 32A for each circuit. My mains supply is 240V 50Hz. so that's 7.68kW for each ring main. Since I don't have leakage or arc detectors, I don't suffer unwanted disconnections.

When a gross short circuit occurs, the fuse in my utility panel blows and I have to rewire the large ceramic fuse holder with new fuse wire (stone age technology). One day perhaps I'll get MCBs installed.

I would hope that any well qualified electrician would be aware of the huge switch on current spike that flows into many ATX PSUs, but maybe they don't have a clue. The lowest surge I've seen in ATX PSU test reports is 20A, the highest 110A. Typically it's 40 to 80A.

If you take a 10A breaker and push 60A through it, it's unlikely to trip, but then again, it might trip. ATX PSU switch on spikes are very short duration and the energy is often not enough the trip the breaker. If the spike is 100A+, who knows what a 10A breaker will do.

As PSU testers in Tom's mention, these current spikes can affect switches, fuses and breakers and I've replaced several (cheap) mains switches with partially melted contacts due to repeated surges.
 
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Unless you are willing to use a non-AFCI breaker, I agree with Bill and it is cheapest to buy PSUs from a place they can be returned to, and try them one at a time until you find one that is compatible. Any standby type UPS will simply pass through line voltage until the power goes out or voltage goes too high or low (including line-interactive which adds some voltage regulation + attempts to match the sinewave of the inverter output to what the line had been) so won't stop the breaker from seeing a PSU load it doesn't like.

GFCI is fine, with the following caveats:
These will greatly extend the lifetime of any attached surge protectors because they will cut the power as soon as any of those start redirecting surges to ground, which has the added benefit of protecting everything on that circuit even if it is not plugged into a surge protector. Unfortunately that also means you can't ride out even small surges since that always results in full power-off, which might be annoying but OK for a gaming PC but probably less than ideal if you are creating content on the PC. This only happens about once a year here but Texas is thunderstorm country!

They can also greatly reduce the lifespan of any UPS batteries, because lead-acid cannot be fully drained to the usual manufacturer selected cutoff voltage (which is too low so as to help provide decent runtime numbers) without damage. Even if the PC is off but you are not at home when the breaker trips (because all UPSes also have surge protection), the UPS will drain its batteries trying to keep the standby power running including even to power bricks, and the inverter will be extremely inefficient at such low power levels so the runtime will be surprisingly short. So you will occasionally return home to fully drained and damaged batteries even if the power never went out.

BTW the diagram for your panel shows the large main breakers controlling all of the rest of the panel are directly above 1 and 2. The NEC electrical code requires no more than six throws to shutoff all of the power (so the fireman can quickly make everything cold). Shutting those two off means the rest of the breakers have no power so can be worked on. Next to the diagram is a list of acceptable breaker types.
 
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AFCI is such a scam that breaker manufactures lobbied to have made into laws so they could make more money. It is all based on the idiots who might run a extension cord under a carpet and it gets damaged by walking on. How much do the tiny number of fires caused by idiots compare to the cost everyone pays extra for the breakers. If you even attempt to criticize this the proxies for the circuit break manufactures strap on their shields with photos of poor crying children saying you are killing kids if you are against this.

If it was my house and it really was the AFCI breaker causing issues I would swap them out for normal ones and if I needed to sell the house swap them back for the inspections.

It could be the brand of AFCI breaker, I know certain ones block powerline network adapters and other brands don't so maybe some are more sensitive to computer power supplies.

I suspect though that this is just a strange issue with that particular power supply so the easy option would likely be to get a different one. I have never heard of this issue and every new house in most states built after 2018 are required to have them.
 
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