Random shutdowns after 2 weeks on new build

[Wu Tang Wyatt]

Just made my first build a couple weeks ago and everything has been running fine until just about an hour ago.
Tonight I had some friends over to check out the rig, I got a gtx 970 going to 32" and 40" vizios. I was playing dead space, running dolphin emulater at 5k render and even played the supposedly broken arkham knight on max settings with no frame cap to positive results. The whole time I was running a game on one screen and either spotify or chrome on the other TV.

After my friends leave I turn off the computer and go take a shower, do laundry, in other words left the room with the PC off for a couple hours. When I came back and booted up I had only just launched a SNES emulator when my PC shutdown. When it shut down the the led on the case power button would blink til I switched off the PSU. I booted back up and the PC stayed on the desktop with no programs running for about a minute before shutting down in the same fashion. I've tried different outlets, disabling one of the monitor and more but the problem persists. The computer boots fine before quickly shutting off so I don't suspect faults with anything internal other than the PSU.

One very weird thing to note: when I was running tests disconnecting things, after a shutdown I leaned back to switch off the PSU and lightly bumped the case which made the PC begin to start up again almost as if something loose had been knocked back into place.


That being said though, how could a corsair power supply suddenly die only a couple hours after exemplary performance? Could it be stressed to death that quickly? because I admit I skimped a little on the PSU even though that's not recommended but I can explain why if anyone cares.

My build
Gtx 970
Amd fx8310+cooler master 212 evo
MSI 970g43a
2x4gb g skill ripjaws ram
250gb Samsung evo ssd
175gb Seagate barracuda (had laying around)
215gb 2.5" Samsung HDD (from broken laptop)
DIYPC Zondda case
Corsair cx430w

Now I know 500w is the rec for 970s but manu recs are overshot and my load on part picker was only around 350w. I also read people on partpicker with very similar builds running their 970s fine on 430s. I was in that category myself for the past couple weeks. The 500w was also twice the price of the 430w as the 430 was on sale for $15 after MIR. I didn't want to pay double for 70w more and at $15 would be replaceable if need be.

So my question is what could be causing a reputable PSU to go from 100% to sputtering in just a couple hours of non use? Or is it possible I'm experiencing a power issue external to the PC? What do we make of the bump to start?

PC is currently unplugged from everything and has been over 30 min I'll probably give it another try in case the issue was external and temporary.

Sorry for all the text, just trying to be thorough and paint the complete picture.

 

[Wu Tang Wyatt]

Basically everyone here is telling me not to do anything that everyone told me was fine during weeks of research lol

 

[bignastyid]

Everyone's saying what a bad reputation this thing has when it was 4+ stars ratings on new egg, partpicker, tiger, amazon and a positive review from johnny guru. Same with this mobo that apparently has a bad name yet gets routinely recommended. It isn't like i did zero research and bought these cuz they were the first things i saw. As i said, the 430 was just a $15 educated experiment that seems to be getting rocky, I guess that 70w made all the world of difference.

Just so yall know though; which i see alot on forums, just suggesting parts that are 2x-3x a builders price range doesn't really help said builder with his problem, not everyone can have a gaming mobo, a $70 PSU, 16gb ram, an i7 and 980s in sli. But that's now why I'm realizing the build section might not have been the best place for this as that's kinda what this sections dedicated to 😛

Thanks for info y'all I appreciate anyone who takes time out to help others

The CXs did review well because it usually takes time for the crappy secondary capacitors to start showing problems. Usually it can take a few months but with higher loads and heat the process is accelerated. A 500w CX would have likely failed as well. I bought 5 CXs(2 600s, 2 500s and a 430) shortly after they were released(mainly because of the good jg review) all 5 failed(4 in their first year of service) in systems that were pulling 50%(at full load) or less of the units max.

 

[Onus]

I absolutely appreciate your attention to budget. There are a few others, but I am one of those who lives down in the low-budget end of the spectrum myself. I do have some high-end stuff, but I prefer to experiment with minimalist components.
One issue that bites people who buy Dell or other prebuilt is that they want to add a high-end part to what is a minimalist build, only to discover that other parts must be upgraded as well.
I don't doubt that the 970A-G43 can run stock 95W CPUs without any difficulty. Put on a 125W CPU though, and it sweats like a pig and can croak if not cooled really well. Adding a nearby high power graphics card that splashes out a lot of waste heat doesn't help it.
The key here is that parts should be scaled to one another. If you only have room in your budget to improve one or a couple of parts, infrastructure components like the PSU and motherboard should be first on the list. Then, your system will support targeted upgrades as budget allows, without having to upgrade other pieces too.
A Corsair CX is fine for office builds that might pull 80W-100W, but isn't for gamer builds needing 300W-400W. That's just how it is.

 

[Wu Tang Wyatt]

Thanks for the list I'll keep in mind when shopping for a new one

 

[bignastyid]

Basically everyone here is telling me not to do anything that everyone told me was fine during weeks of research lol

Im not sure where you did your research but it obviously wasn't here, you just joined yesterday.

 

[Wu Tang Wyatt]

Onus and bignastyid thank you those were great informative answers, not just telling me "buy something better" and "the problem is your parts are crap" you're helping me actually understand the problem.
Nasty, thanks for helping me understand why these reviews on the CX are overturning, that makes alot of sense.
And Onus, idk if you knew but the 8310 is actually a 95w CPU not a 125w like the other FX83xxs. The lower power draw was a large reason a chose it. And since you say you live in the low end range you mind telling me what you got so I could maybe copy a few parts? I'm not with all the "premium" "gaming" parts bs either

 

[Wu Tang Wyatt]

I just joined to post this however I've been browsing the site as a guest for weeks. Almost any question I could've asked turned up in the search bar. This is this the first time I've had to post my own thread to find answers. Love this site

 

[jimmysmitty]

You obviously didn't read anything I wrote and the fact that I linked a decent PSU.

I never said you parts were crap. I said that PSU is not strong enough.

 

[Onus]

Well then, hopefully your motherboard will be okay. Use something like HWMonitor to check your temps.

Yes, my high-end stuff is listed, but my experiments are all low-end, like using a G3258 to test budget and mainstream motherboards, and I'm about to build an AM1 system that I'm hoping will be suitable for off-grid applications where every watt counts. It's also [almost] dirt-cheap (I could have bought a slightly cheaper mobo). As little gaming as I've had time to do lately, I really don't need a GTX970.

 

[Wu Tang Wyatt]

And I never said you did jimmy, honestly I did miss that answer though so thanks for both of your informative answers

 

[Wu Tang Wyatt]

Well what PSUs you been running or experimenting with Onus?

 

[Wu Tang Wyatt]

Can someone tell me though if the CX is now damaged? Can I post it on craigslist?

 

[tiny voices]

It sounds like either it is damaged or it has damaged your components.

 

[Wu Tang Wyatt]

Everything boots fine, what would make you think anything else has been damaged?

 

[tiny voices]

The PC boots and then shuts down with no programs running. This is either the PSU being bad or the PSU damaged the motherboard.

 

[Onus]

The PSU I was sent for my reviews is a 500W Be Quiet! model; I'd have to check for which one it is. I think it might be 80+ gold. The test systems have drawn no more than around 91W from it while stress-testing; 49W-72W is more typical.
I'm going to put an 80+ Gold 450W Rosewill Capstone-M in the new one.

 

[Wu Tang Wyatt]

Any word on the thermal take smart 650w?

BTW sorry about that down vote idk how it happened and it won't let me undo it, my bad bro

 

[Onus]

No biggie.
According to http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page680.htm it is made by CWT, the same OEM that is getting [justifiably] raked over the coals for poor capacitors in Corsair and other PSUs. Personally, I am not prepared to trust CWT, and with OEMs like Seasonic, Super Flower, and Delta out there, I have no reason to do so.

 

[Wu Tang Wyatt]

Understandable. So is there anything decent in the under $60 range? Or are quality $40-$50 PSUs simply a myth?

 

[jimmysmitty]

No biggie.
According to http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page680.htm it is made by CWT, the same OEM that is getting [justifiably] raked over the coals for poor capacitors in Corsair and other PSUs. Personally, I am not prepared to trust CWT, and with OEMs like Seasonic, Super Flower, and Delta out there, I have no reason to do so.

The funny thing is that the Corsair HXi and RMi are both CWT PSUs and use way better components than the CX series. Then again Corsair tends to design the PSUs and has an OEM build them. Could be that they just make the CX cheap as an entry level PSU.

 

[logainofhades]

Understandable. So is there anything decent in the under $60 range? Or are quality $40-$50 PSUs simply a myth?

The XFX 550w, that I linked earlier, is probably the best unit, in that price range. XFX uses Seasonic for its PSU's.

 

[jimmysmitty]

The PSU I linked is $60 bucks and is a quality PSU, it is a Seasonic which is one of the best OEMs out there.

 

[logainofhades]

The PSU I linked is $60 bucks and is a quality PSU, it is a Seasonic which is one of the best OEMs out there.

I agree, if you can splurge a little bit more, that would be a great choice. It is $65 before MIR.

 

[Wu Tang Wyatt]

Wait so is thermaltake to be avoided because of CWT? Because there's a 550w thermaltake at Frye's for $50 but I don't wanna have a similar issue. I'd really like to get something at Frye's so I can just go pick it up and not wait over the weekend but it's narrowing my selection. Fry's does online price match though

 

[Onus]

I know CWT has made some good units too, but for PSUs, I say "if it's not broke don't fix it," which means I limit my selections pretty much to Seasonic, maybe Super Flower, maybe Delta.