Which slot to use?

[BigDave876]

Hi, I have a recently blown 2 PSU's only when playing a game, for as little as an hour both times.

I took the 2nd PSU back today and it was tested in the shop. They said that it was the graphics power that had caused the damage inside the PSU.

This has only happened since I purchased a new motherboard.

Board: Gigabyte 990xa-UD3 - This is my motherboard
GPU: 1GB Zotac Nvidia GTX 550 Ti

In my old board, I'm pretty sure that I didn't have a 16x slot, and I never encountered any problems.

On the new board, I have been using the 16x slot. Could this be trying to take too much power from the PSU and overloading it in some way?

I've posted a link above to my motherboard. Could someone please tell me if I am using the correct slot for my GPU. I am using the PCI-e slot closest to the CPU.

This is my other thread, concerning the PSU issues I've had: HERE

Thanks for any help.

 

[Neospiral]

Did you end up getting the Corsair 600w? No reason that PSU wouldn't work with your setup. Put the video card in the top PCIe slot, and connect the proper power (don't use any power cable adapters). If you still have problems, either the motherboard or the video card might have an issue.

 

[lonewolf7]

What is brand/model of PSU ?

 

[BigDave876]

I can't remember the first PSU, I had it for over a year. But the last one that blew, was an Alpine ( This one ) PSU. Looking at it on ebuyer for £17 makes me laugh, because I paid £45 in a local shop, thinking it must have been half decent, for the price.

And yes, I have today, ordered a 600w Corsair PSU ( This one )

@Neospiral, I should use the far right ( x16 ) PCIe slot, in the second picture of this link?

This is the slot that my GPU has been in while two PSUs have blown. So I'm a bit dubious of continuing to use it with, yet another PSU. Even though the Nvidia site for my card says the interface is:
PCI Express 2.0 x 16 (Compatible with 1.1) - Site link

 

[Neospiral]

I can't remember the first PSU, I had it for over a year. But the last one that blew, was an Alpine ( This one ) PSU. Looking at it on ebuyer for £17 makes me laugh, because I paid £45 in a local shop, thinking it must have been half decent, for the price.

And yes, I have today, ordered a 600w Corsair PSU ( This one )

@Neospiral, I should use the far right ( x16 ) PCIe slot, in the second picture of this link?

This is the slot that my GPU has been in while two PSUs have blown. So I'm a bit dubious of continuing to use it with, yet another PSU. Even though the Nvidia site for my card says the interface is:
PCI Express 2.0 x 16 (Compatible with 1.1) - Site link

Yep, the one right under the heatsink in the center that says Gigabyte. With that Corsair, I can't see how you'd have problems unless you get some faulty hardware.

 

[BigDave876]

Thanks!

Just one other 'quick-ish' thing. I noticed you have two better GPUs than me( well, it all seems better, aha ) and you're only using an 860w PSU.

I've spent the last hour searching around for max watt usage on all of my components and if they were all at full load, it would amount to over 700w!

My GPU under load - Link - 248w ( I also use a higher resolution. The test was @1280x1024. I use 1920x1080 )
My CPU under load - Link - 309w
2x 7200rpm HDDs - 20w
SSD - ( only ) approx. 2w
8GB Corsair RAM - 200w

I never even looked for the motherboard consumption. Nor the fans, which I'm guessing don't really use a lot.

So I'm a bit worried about even installing this new PSU. I don't understand how you've done it all with an 860w, lol.

 

[Neospiral]

Hmm, not sure where you got those numbers. Remember, a lot of power draw charts show the power usage of the component in question alongside the rest of a reasonable build. So it's likely not the individual component by itself, but the system, or part of the system, in total.

First, RAM doesn't usually draw any more than about 10w at most. Not sure where that 200w came from. Second, what CPU do you have? There's no way it's drawing anywhere near that much power. It's probably closer to about 130-140w at max draw. Third, the 500 series GTX GPU's are notoriously power hungry. nVidia has improved significantly with the 600 and 700 series, but that number is probably a little closer to accurate. Fans don't consume enough power to make a difference, unless you're using like 10 of them.

With regard to my build, there are few things to consider:

First, My CPU is an Intel Haswell, which draws about 84w under full load. While it's not as power efficient as previous generation Ivy Bridge processors, Intel chips are still significantly better than most AMDs. Second, as I mentioned, the 700 series GPU's from nVidia are more efficient than the 500 series. Each of my cards pulls about 235-250w under full load. Lastly, my power supply is rated 80+ platinum, which is the highest efficiency certification there is. It means that the PSU operates at a minimum of 92% efficiency when you compare what it draws from the wall socket to what is supplies to the system and components.

 

[BigDave876]

I got these results from random pages, but not just one, most had around the same values for each component.

My CPU is an fx8350 8-core - Link - hmm, it even says 125w in the name, never noticed that, aha )

Again, thanks for helping me. I appreciate it more than you know! 🙂