[SOLVED] PSU? flipping breaker

[northshorepro]

I have a Seasonic 520W PSU that may or may not be flipping a circuit breaker in this new house I am moved too. For certain whenever I turn on my desktop there is a good chance the circuit breaker will flip. Do I just need to buy a new PSU or is there perhaps a problem with the house wiring and is there a way to tell?

 

[Darkbreeze]

How old is your power supply, in years of service?

What is the exact model? I'm guessing it's the S12II, but could also me an M12II if it's modular.

What are your FULL hardware specs including CPU model?

How many amps is the breaker for the circuit that your outlet for the PSU is on?

You may just have an old breaker that needs to be replaced. Yes, they do "wear out" or get old. I've dealt with MANY breakers where I spent hours trying to track down a problem when the problem was actually ONLY the breaker itself. Replacing it solved the issue and now it's one of the first things I do since they are not very expensive to begin with. Plus, sometimes previous tenants or home owners actually might stick a breaker that is to some degree below the acceptable amperage for that circuit. I've seen 10a breakers where a 15, 20 or 30a should be. It's always a possibility at the least.

 

[northshorepro]

The power supply unit is 4-5 years old and the S12II. Here are the components:
https://pcpartpicker.com/user/northshorepro/saved/#view=JWgcTW
I am at a rental at the moment and I can't get access to the circuit breaker to tell how many amps it is. I suspect its on the lower side as I wasn't having problems at other places.

 

[Darkbreeze]

At 4-5 years old, on a unit that has a five year warranty, it's getting to the age where anything is possible however aside from being group regulated, which isn't really a major issue on your platform as it might be on some others, it's decent. It was a fairly good unit back when it was new, but the platform is pretty outdated now and group regulated units are discouraged on modern hardware when purchasing new, especially on enthusiast or gaming type systems.

I would think that if you had no issues with that unit, even recently, at other locations, the problem is likely due to the wiring or breaker at this location, but obviously when you move something from one location to another (Or even when you don't) anything is possible. Stuff gets bumped or dropped or dinged and things can break or be damaged sometimes even from very light rough treatment. Even just enough vibration can cause delicate parts to become disagreeable. LOL.

So, my thought is, take it to a different location. Somebody else's house, or work, or a family member, and see if there is any problem with it there. If not, then you know it's the house not the system. IF it does still have an issue, then it is time to start troubleshooting and the PSU might actually not be a bad thing to simply replace as a matter of course if that becomes the case.

 

[northshorepro]

Thank you for the suggestion. I am going to buy
EVGA - 600W ATX 12V/EPS 12V 80 Plus Power Supply - Black
and see if that works. If not I am hoping the landlord will be willing to call an electrician. Thanks again for all your help.

 

[Darkbreeze]

No. You don't want that unit. It's going to be either the W1, N1 or B1 or BR series most likely, and none of those are good quality. For EVGA, you want to stick to units that are from the GQ, G2, G3, P2 or T2 series, none of which are 600w models. The GQ has a slightly louder fan profile than the others but is still overall an ok unit. There are much better options out there though, even though supply on power supplies is rather limited right now since China was basically shut down for four months, and ALL power supplies come from China. Plus, the shipping supply is way behind, because again, nothing was getting shipped either. It's starting to catch back up now though, but availability and price fluctuates widely and the fact that Nvidia just released their latest Ampere architecture with the 30 series cards isn't helping the PSU problem since most those cards require higher capacity units than what most users already had.

This would be a much better choice than any of those low end EVGA units.


PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: Corsair CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($74.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $74.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-23 03:27 EDT-0400


And this would be significantly better than that.


PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $89.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-23 03:28 EDT-0400


And for reference and FYI purposes, this might be a good thing to read.

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