Question OCCT reads PCIe voltage dropping to 11.0v. Should I replace my PSU?

[TheDoctorMD12]

Specs:
CPU: Intel Core i5-7500
Motherboard: Gigabyte H110m-DS2
RAM: 2400 Mhz Crucial Ballistix 8GB DDR4
Storage: 1x Western Digital G SATA SSD 1TB, 1x WD Blue 1 TB HDD
GPU: Palit Nvidia Geforce GTX 1060 6GB (Dual Fan)
PSU: Corsair VS550

Date of Purchase: November 2017

Hello,

Recently my PC was displaying black screens during heavy load (gameplay) and the fans would stop. However, the sound would remain, and the PC would need to be powered off using the power button or shutting off the power supply. Once rebooted, the GPU fans would not spin, but the PC would boot as normal, however the GPU would not be detected. Deducing a GPU issue, I removed the GPU to run on on-board graphics but the PC would fail to post, with the fans running for a few seconds and would shut off again, repeating the process. I placed the GPU back in the PC and it's working again.

Running OCCT's 3D Standard test, as the GPU load increased, the PCIe voltage dropped to 11.048 V at a temperature of 82 degrees Celsius. However I didn't run the test to the point where my GPU was blacking out prior as I'm not quite sure whether I might permanently damage the GPU. I understand that the VS550 is a really low-end PSU and it could be the issue, however I wish to make sure that the PSU really is the issue before I go and replace the power supply.

The motherboard is also reading normal voltages, going only as low as 11.8 under load.



The OCCT reading for GPU voltages are:

 

[Eximo]

7 year old PSU with only a 3 year warranty. Even Corsair doesn't have much confidence in it. I think their new minimum is 5 years.

Even if it isn't the current problem, you would want a new PSU for any new core hardware you may end up having to get. Ad luckily replacing an i5-7500, motherboard, and ram isn't too daunting. Or even the GTX 1060.

Still, seems likely the PSU is the main issue with low voltage readings. Under voltage protection would shut the system down and until the PSU is drained completely that condition would still be present.