[SOLVED] Old PSU broke - new one too weak or GPU broken too?

[raykoopa]

Hey there,

I seek confirmation in my fear that my GPU broke or either my new PSU is too weak to power it.

Specs of my ~3-4 year old PC when it broke:
- be quiet! Dark Power Pro P10 750W
- Asus Z170 Pro Gaming
- MSI Radeon R9 390, max. ~80°C under load; and onboard Intel HD Graphics 530
- Intel i7 6700K, max. ~70°C under load
- 2x 8 GB G.Skill DIMM 16GB DDR4-3400, MemTested ok
- 512 GB SSD
- Creative X-Fi Titanium PCIe soundcard (yeah hit me with this piece of driver mess 😛)
- 2x 120mm case fans

Current, changed specs:
- be quiet! Dark Power Pro P11 550W
- using onboard Intel HD Graphics, as the PC immediately turns off with MSI Radeon R9 390 connected

Backstory:
3 days ago my PC always started to freeze / crash after ~1-2 hours runtime doing office work or playing Guild Wars 2 with the following symptoms:
- Immediate black screen
- Sound still playing -or- shortly looping buffers
- Keyboard froze sooner or later (tested by toggling num lock)
I had to power off and on the PC to get it working again. The only events ever recorded in the event log where a failing AMD driver, but this was not always the case. Games ran fine though (as "fine" as laggy GW2 can run 😛).

2 days ago the PC crashed again, causing the surge protector of my home to kick in and fully power off the PC, and 5 seconds later the PSU poofed with burnt smell.
I checked the end of all cables (especially since it has cable management), sniffing if they smell like burnt hair or look burnt. I only detected smell on the cable ends plugged in to the PSU - GPU and everything else was fine.

Today:
I bought and connected the mentioned Dark Power Pro P11 550W, but the PC immediately turns off after trying to turn it on when the GPU is connected. I have to turn off the PSU completely to be able to press the power button with effect again, but it immediately turns off all the time.
It does boot and work (seemingly) normal if I use the onboard graphics and the GPU completely removed.

I tried removing any optional hardware like the soundcard, second RAM bank, hard drive, and only connected GPU and monitor to keep the power requirements as low as possible with the GPU connected, with no success.

I calculated my actual power requirements and got to around 450-500W, so I'm wondering if either
- my GPU is broken too and my PC tries to protect against a short
- my new PSU is too weak

I have no chance to test against another good PSU or another GPU, so I wonder if an expert can confirm my fear or suggest other tests.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the wall of text!

 

[shknawe]

Try using the gpu in the next pcie 16 slot and see if it will fire up in that one. Burning smell is a bad sign because you have resistence somewhere on your motherboard. Have you cleaned the inside of your computer, motherboard, fans,psu etc?

 

[jojesa]

The Dark Power Pro P11 550W is a very good PSU but it might not be enough to power a system with a R9 390.
Since it has multi rails, it might not be able to deliver the amps that GPU needs. If possible, try connecting the GPU power cables to different rails
You need around 650W minimum.

 

[raykoopa]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Try using the gpu in the next pcie 16 slot and see if it will fire up in that one. Burning smell is a bad sign because you have resistence somewhere on your motherboard. Have you cleaned the inside of your computer, motherboard, fans,psu etc?

I moved the GPU to the second PCIe slot, but it did not work.
Only the old PSU smelled, the motherboard did not, and it's seemingly running fine without the GPU.
Due to checking my PC after the crash and the PSU poof, I built it apart twice and it's now double cleaned

The Dark Power Pro P11 550W is a very good PSU but it might not be enough to power a system with a R9 390.
Since it has multi rails, it might not be able to deliver the amps that GPU needs. If possible, try connecting the GPU power cables to different rails
You need around 650W minimum.

I tried connecting the GPU to two rails on the PSU (with only required other components connected), but it did not work. I'm actually surprised 550W would not be enough, but it can definitely be true my calculations were wrong, done under slight stress from a broken PSU 🙁

Before sending back my 550W PSU I have a few questions:
- Is 650W definitely sufficient or still "just enough" and I should think about 750W again?
- If I should upgrade to an 1070 GTX, heaving heard it uses much less power (and to get rid of a possibly defect R9 390?), could I run it with the current PSU or would that be unstable?
- Is a be quiet! Straight Power 650W enough? It is a lot cheaper than the Dark Power, but especially now I'm worried about PSU quality (since a Dark Power broke down on me for still unclear reasons).

 

[jojesa]

I tried connecting the GPU to two rails on the PSU (with only required other components connected), but it did not work. I'm actually surprised 550W would not be enough, but it can definitely be true my calculations were wrong, done under slight stress from a broken PSU

Sorry to hear that.
Always look for the official PSU requirement for the GPU, which could be found on the specs.

...Before sending back my 550W PSU I have a few questions:
- Is 650W definitely sufficient or still "just enough" and I should think about 750W again?

A reliable 650W PSU, with at least 30 amps on the +12 rail, is enough to power your system with the R9 390, you do not need more wattage.
Seasonic Focus Gold plus 650W
Corsair HX or TX M 650W
be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 650W / Straight Power 11 650W

- If I should upgrade to an 1070 GTX, heaving heard it uses much less power (and to get rid of a possibly defect R9 390?), could I run it with the current PSU or would that be unstable?

The 1070 GTX will be fine with a reliable 500-550W PSU, since it requires a lot less power than the R9 390.

- Is a be quiet! Straight Power 650W enough? It is a lot cheaper than the Dark Power, but especially now I'm worried about PSU quality (since a Dark Power broke down on me for still unclear reasons).

Yes, be quiet! Straight Power 11 650W will be enough.

 

[raykoopa]

The 1070 GTX will be fine with a reliable 500-550W PSU, since it requires a lot less power than the R9 390.

Thanks for your reply jojesa. Since upgrading my GPU was a long term plan anyway, I'll probably buy a Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 OC 6G now, since the 280€ deal for a 1070 GTX expired throughout the day, and I heard the power consumption is still very low compared to the R9 390 - unless there are objections, I read the info on it on the web shop (German, stating 500W PSU requirement) and experiences from other users, saying it would be enough even for OC cards.
If that still will not work, I send back the PSU and get a bigger 650W one.
And if I ever find the R9 390 working in another PC (if I get my hands on one powerful enough), I got something to sell and get some € back.

 

[jojesa]

Thanks for your reply jojesa. Since upgrading my GPU was a long term plan anyway, I'll probably buy a Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 OC 6G now, since the 280€ deal for a 1070 GTX expired throughout the day, and I heard the power consumption is still very low compared to the R9 390 - unless there are objections, I read the info on it on the web shop (German, stating 500W PSU requirement) and experiences from other users, saying it would be enough even for OC cards.
If that still will not work, I send back the PSU and get a bigger 650W one.
And if I ever find the R9 390 working in another PC (if I get my hands on one powerful enough), I got something to sell and get some € back.

If you are going with RTX 2060 a reliable 500W is enough even if the card is an OCed version.
I would sell the R9 390
The RTX 2060 beats the R9 390 on performance on every gave, sometimes up to 50%

 

[raykoopa]

If you are going with RTX 2060 a reliable 500W is enough even if the card is an OCed version.
I would sell the R9 390
The RTX 2060 beats the R9 390 on performance on every gave, sometimes up to 50%

I'll definitely take this route, even though my money is slightly more limited now than it was when buying the old components 3 1/2 years ago. I don't agree with a GPU wasting more power than one performing better. Especially now with my 550W miscalculation on the R9 390 (damn me, I didn't know it was such a power sucker).

I keep the thread without a solution (though it will probably one of your answers) until I successfully installed the RTX 2060 which should be here in the next work days. Thanks so far for the tips!

 

[raykoopa]

Really seems to have been the new PSU being too weak. Working fine with an RTX 2060 now!

 

[jojesa]

Great!
Less power requirements and less heat while getting more performance. Win..Win.

 

[raykoopa]

Great!
Less power requirements and less heat while getting more performance. Win..Win.

Yeap! Just that the card just makes some coil noise when it's under pressure... but I wear headphones almost all the time anyway

 

[jojesa]

Does it happen on all games?
Pretty much any GPU at a high-enough FPS might make some coil-whine.

 

[raykoopa]

Does it happen on all games?
Pretty much any GPU at a high-enough FPS might make some coil-whine.

I only noticed it in one game (GW2) since I barely play other "demanding" games, with which I did not have such noise before on the old card. It's a very unusual high scratchy sound, almost as if a fan is slightly dirty or hitting a loose cable, but I double checked that, and it's also exactly dependent on what is currently rendering. I think I can live with it though.

 

[jojesa]

If it is that minor, then its is OK.
But keep an eye on it in case it get worse.

 

[raykoopa]

If it is that minor, then its is OK.
But keep an eye on it in case it get worse.

I will, thanks for your help in this case