Computer cutting off

[AntaresSQ01]

Hey guys, this maybe a little weird but my computer cuts off from time to time, what i mean by this is that its still running, but the screen freezes on the last image, and the USB devices, keyboard,mouse headset lose power (the lights go off and they dont work). The fans in the PC still run and the lights also work. Only way to restart the PC from here is to cut the power completely.

Here is my system:
2x4 GB DDR3 Ram @1333mhz base and 1550mhz OC (current)
Gigabyte H55M-S2 Motherboard (LGA 1156 Clarkedale, Socket H)
CPU: i3 540 2 core 4 thread @3.07ghz base and 3.57ghz OC (current)
GPU: Gainward GTX 760 2GB VRam, SC edition (980mhz Base clock, 1033mhz boost clock, 3004mhz memory)
Samsung HD204UI 500GB HDD
Samsung HD501LJ 2.0TB HDD
Corsair CX600M PSU

While my CPU is overclocked I've monitored its performance and temperature and even under 100% continuous stress it didnt go above 75°C, the GPU didnt go above 80°C

This is extremely annoying as it can do this mid-game causing me to get a cooldown on CS:GO or even mid-work just losing everything that autosave didn't save.

Ty for any help!

 

[Aeacus]

Sounds like a PSU issue.

Note, your PSU is a Tier four unit.
PSU Tier list: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

I suggest you go and get a Tier two unit, preferably Tier one if you could afford it.

For tier two, i suggest Seasonic S12II-620 (80+ Bronze, fully wired)
specs: https://seasonic.com/product/s12ii-620/

For Tier one, Seasonic X-650 (80+ Gold, fully modular)
specs: https://seasonic.com/product/x-650/

 

[AntaresSQ01]

Well that is very disappointing, I was told the Corsair CXM PSUs are very good and had no issues until recently, would explain stability issues tho... What i don't understand is that my friend has the same PSU with an FX-6350 and a GTX 770 that is both overclocked and he had no issues, my CPU is my main issue right now as it's a 1st gen i3 not to mention the problematic socket, I'll stick with my PSU for a while more and see if i still get these issues with the new CPU and motherboard.

EDIT: I assume not overclocking or overclocking to lower clocks would help right?

EDIT 2: I also assume the small bulk capacitors and thus low hold-up time may be an issue too?

 

[Aeacus]

Who told you that Corsair CXm series is a very good PSU? Salesperson at the store? At best, it's a medicore PSU. Corsair does sell good quality PSUs but those are different series (e.g. AX, AXi, HX, RMi).
The thing with cheaper PSUs is, that they don't last as long as one might expect.

If i'd be you, i wouldn't risk my new CPU and MoBo with a PSU that shows signs of dying.

You can try downclocking your CPU to ease the load off from PSU but only the actual testing shows if it is good enough.

 

[AntaresSQ01]

Who told you that Corsair CXm series is a very good PSU? Salesperson at the store? At best, it's a medicore PSU. Corsair does sell good quality PSUs but those are different series (e.g. AX, AXi, HX, RMi).
The thing with cheaper PSUs is, that they don't last as long as one might expect.

If i'd be you, i wouldn't risk my new CPU and MoBo with a PSU that shows signs of dying.

You can try downclocking your CPU to ease the load off from PSU but only the actual testing shows if it is good enough.

Well it seemed to work fine and as far as price goes the tier 2 seasonic is not a lot more expensive, I'll maybe use the warranty on the cx600m and get one if those, the thing is my MoBo IS "beat up" but the PSU is fairly new

 

[AntaresSQ01]

One thing this doesn't explain tho is why does the PC keep running but the devices cut off? Shouldn't it just turn off or restart?
On a different note what do you recommend for a CPU+MoBo combo, aimed at playing arma 3 on higher than 30 fps on lowest lol, budget is about £200

 

[Aeacus]

My best guess would be that PSU doesn't supply not enough power for all the components. Removing USB devices that consume power may or may not help.

As far as your upgrade goes, how about this.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (£92.91 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£119.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £212.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-11 13:07 BST+0100

Went a little over the budget but here's a few words about what you get for extra 13 quid.

CPU
Low-end LGA1151 socket CPU from Skylake family. It will do well for now. Also comes with onboard graphics in form of Intel HD 530. Stock Intel cooler included.

MoBo
The foundation of any system. Since you love to OC (overclock) i put in a Z-series MoBo for you. Do note that non-K Skylake CPUs have locked multiplier and they don't fully support OC. (There is a way for slight OC but it's better if you don't OC your i3-6100.)

A LGA1151 socket MoBo supports current Skylake and future Kaby Lake and Cannonlake CPUs from Intel. So, you're well set for the future.

As already stated, the best part about Z-series MoBo is the ability to OC K-series CPUs (e.g i5-6600K, i7-6700K). I think that in the future, you'll switch out the entry level CPU and get a K-series CPU.

MoBo comes with 4 RAM slots for DDR4, dual-channel. Base frequency is 2133 Mhz but depending on a RAM stick, you can OC your RAM to run with up to 3600 Mhz.

MoBo also supports 2-way SLI and 3-way Crossfire. There are cheaper Z-series MoBos too but this one is the cheapest that supports 2-way SLI.

For more info about MoBo, read the manufacturer's website,
link: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z170A-SLI-PLUS.html#hero-overview

 

[AntaresSQ01]

My best guess would be that PSU doesn't supply not enough power for all the components. Removing USB devices that consume power may or may not help.

As far as your upgrade goes, how about this.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (£92.91 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£119.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £212.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-11 13:07 BST+0100

Went a little over the budget but here's a few words about what you get for extra 13 quid.

CPU
Low-end LGA1151 socket CPU from Skylake family. It will do well for now. Also comes with onboard graphics in form of Intel HD 530. Stock Intel cooler included.

MoBo
The foundation of any system. Since you love to OC (overclock) i put in a Z-series MoBo for you. Do note that non-K Skylake CPUs have locked multiplier and they don't fully support OC. (There is a way for slight OC but it's better if you don't OC your i3-6100.)

A LGA1151 socket MoBo supports current Skylake and future Kaby Lake and Cannonlake CPUs from Intel. So, you're well set for the future.

As already stated, the best part about Z-series MoBo is the ability to OC K-series CPUs (e.g i5-6600K, i7-6700K). I think that in the future, you'll switch out the entry level CPU and get a K-series CPU.

MoBo comes with 4 RAM slots for DDR4, dual-channel. Base frequency is 2133 Mhz but depending on a RAM stick, you can OC your RAM to run with up to 3600 Mhz.

MoBo also supports 2-way SLI and 3-way Crossfire. There are cheaper Z-series MoBos too but this one is the cheapest that supports 2-way SLI.

For more info about MoBo, read the manufacturer's website,
link: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z170A-SLI-PLUS.html#hero-overview

I'm really grateful about the suggestion and I've heard that some newer gen i3s can perform fantastically as well, in my case I'm not worried about SLI or crossfire, the most i'll do in the upcoming year or so is get a GTX 980 Ti at the very most maybe not even that Considering this what other options are there? Maybe an i5 cpu? im looking to get 4 core cpu at least, and if it runs well i don't mind overclocking. At this point i realised, plain and simple, my PC is outdated Only salvageable part is the GPU maayybee. I may just sell my PC as is and get a full setup from the ~£600 category but i'll have to think about that

 

[Aeacus]

For mid-end Skylake CPU, go for i5-6500. Higer end Skylake is i7-6700(K).
Note, all non-K Skylake CPUs come with Intel's stock cooler.

For GPU, options are wide. Here's a good article from where to choose the GPU,
link: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

SLI/Crossfire feature is good to have when your build is about 3-5 years old or so and you need extra GPU performance to play newer games.

Without OC and SLI/Crossfire, look either for a H-series or B-series MoBo (B150, H110, H170 chipsets). Note: all H-series MoBos have RAM speed limited to 2133 Mhz. And only some B-series MoBos support faster RAM than 2133 Mhz.

 

[AntaresSQ01]

I really appreciate your help, I'll save this to guide me for future buys, i prefer to run a single GPU tho, also a 980 is about 250 pounds while another 760 would cost me about a 100 + the cheaper mobo and its not exactly worth it , maybe, I'll have to see Thanks anyway, I'm a bit disappoint in my choices up till now but better late than never! Luckily i can say that i run almost all games at 60 fps on high/ultra with a few exceptions right now, exceptions mostly due to CPU bottleneck, such games are ARMA III, DayZ, Stellaris and so on.

 

[Aeacus]

Put together your potential new build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£181.90 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI H110M PRO-D Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£47.68 @ More Computers)
Memory: Kingston FURY 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£34.99 @ Novatech)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: CiT VANQUISH RED ATX Mid Tower Case (£37.49 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£83.31 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£12.17 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £440.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-11 23:27 BST+0100

Build is missing the GPU since the cheapest GTX 980 at pcpp was about £400.

Went with one 8GB RAM stick. You can upgrade your RAM further by adding another RAM stick when needed. As far as case goes, you can switch it out if you don't like it.

But all in all, this is a good guide towards your new build.

 

[AntaresSQ01]

Put together your potential new build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£181.90 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI H110M PRO-D Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£47.68 @ More Computers)
Memory: Kingston FURY 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£34.99 @ Novatech)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: CiT VANQUISH RED ATX Mid Tower Case (£37.49 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£83.31 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£12.17 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £440.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-11 23:27 BST+0100

Build is missing the GPU since the cheapest GTX 980 at pcpp was about £400.

Went with one 8GB RAM stick. You can upgrade your RAM further by adding another RAM stick when needed. As far as case goes, you can switch it out if you don't like it.

But all in all, this is a good guide towards your new build.

Thank you very much, this looks good, I checked the prices on ebay (ye i know dodgy ) so thats where i found the cheapest around, but just as a measure, fortunately the GPU isn't really a bottleneck at this point in any of my games, hardly when i have such a CPU

 

[AntaresSQ01]

Sounds like a PSU issue.

Note, your PSU is a Tier four unit.
PSU Tier list: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

I suggest you go and get a Tier two unit, preferably Tier one if you could afford it.

For tier two, i suggest Seasonic S12II-620 (80+ Bronze, fully wired)
specs: https://seasonic.com/product/s12ii-620/

For Tier one, Seasonic X-650 (80+ Gold, fully modular)
specs: https://seasonic.com/product/x-650/

I was looking over my old posts, and i know this is necroing as hell and noone will see this but i'm still using that CX600M but now paired with an i7 7700K and GTX 980 whilst I had the i7 at 4.8ghz for a while running stable. If that's a tier 4 psu then i'm a monkey 😁😁

 

[DSzymborski]

I was looking over my old posts, and i know this is necroing as hell and noone will see this but i'm still using that CX600M but now paired with an i7 7700K and GTX 980 whilst I had the i7 at 4.8ghz for a while running stable. If that's a tier 4 psu then i'm a monkey 😁😁

Lots of drunk drivers never crash. That doesn't mean it was actually safe.

Closing up the necro.